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

[Arthur Blomme]

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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