[Craic] Brief History of Church Authority in 4 steps; a liturgical reflection.

[Allan Baker]

Thanks Art.
One small point about this version of “history”. It omits the Reformation, and the “counter-reformation”.

From one of your “Protestant" friends;
Allan

> On Jun 18, 2023, at 12:22 PM, Arthur Blomme via craic <craic at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> From time to time I do a reflection on the Sunday liturgical readings.  For this Sunday,  June 18th, I composed the following based on Mathew 10.  
> 
> Art
> 
> 
> 
> Reflection: Brief History of Church Authority in 4 steps:
> 
> 1. Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. (MATHEW 10)
> 
> 2. And it came to pass that disciples became bishops and bishops became powerful feudal lords with authority over the minds and lives of many. The poor suffered 700 years of total domination by the Holy Roman Empire.
> 
> 3. These dark ages end with the Age of enlightenment. Immanuel Kant defines this age as using one’s intelligence without the guidance of another. Its motto: “Dare to be wise”. This was an age where tyrants were overthrown and replaced with democracy and recognition of our inalienable rights to freedom. Authority is related to reason.
> 
> 4. Today the priesthood of yore seems asleep and irrelevant to the halls of power. Critical theorist, Ivan Illich believes that the new priesthood is found in the medical system. People have faith in the scientific expertise of their doctor and become totally dependent on their doctor to the point that they have surrendered any attempt to care for themselves. These people surrender their authority of their mind and body to the medical system. They reverse the enlightenment. They no longer think for themselves.
> 
> It appears the main stream of our culture has gone back to the dark ages. Science was once about challenging and questioning an established hypothesis and creating new ideas. Now science is a dogma and medical practitioners who do not abide by this dogma are excommunicated from the medical profession. For example, this past week in Ontario Dr. Patrick Phillips joined many others in losing his medical license for holding views contrary to those dictated by the medical establishment on the safety of mRNA vaccines. 
> 
> The concept of the common good has been used by tyrants in the past and now to control and manipulate people. Over the past years the common good was used to justify the removal of rights and freedoms. 
> 
> Francis in Laudato Si clearly opposes this use of the common good to diminish our rights and freedoms. In the same paragraph he calls us to exercise the principle of subsidiarity where all levels of organization should serve the basic cell of society which is the family. I believe that Pope Francis in this chapter of Laudato Si captures the “…authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness”. (MATHEW 10)
> 
>  
> 
> (Quote from Laudato Si):
> 
> 157. Underlying the principle of the common good is respect for the human person as such, endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development. It has also to do with the overall welfare of society and the development of a variety of intermediate groups, applying the principle of subsidiarity. Outstanding among those groups is the family, as the basic cell of society. Finally, the common good calls for social peace, the stability and security provided by a certain order which cannot be achieved without particular concern for distributive justice; whenever this is violated, violence always ensues. Society as a whole, and the state in particular, are obliged to defend and promote the  common good.(Laudato Si)
> 
> Art Blomme
> 
>  
> 
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