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

[Tina Neves]

Hi Arthur
I read your reflection on authority and would like to say that I agree with
you
Indeed, how sad! I know a friend doctor, an excelent doctor on his
seventies now who lost his licence  for the reason you talk about.
How can they complain about shortage of doctors! It's a messy/sad world for
sure...what saves my sanity is meditation/contemplation.
Keep offering us good challenging reflections
Peace
Tina

On Sun, Jun 18, 2023 at 12:24 PM Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity 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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