The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #154680   Message #3633377
Posted By: Joe Offer
15-Jun-14 - 08:04 PM
Thread Name: BS: Dead babies and Tuam Bon Secours nuns
Subject: RE: BS: Dead babies and Tuam Bon Secours nuns
But then, Q, you might consider that Humani Generis was written in 1950, and that it was a great advance for its time - a major step toward the general acceptance of evolution by Catholics. In 1945, Pius XII gave official approval to modern methods of scripture study, thereby abandoning the last vestiges of biblical fundamentalism. By the time I got to college in a Catholic seminary in 1966, I was taught that evolution was a fact.

I think it's important to consider these things in the context of the times when they happened. If you want to evaluate the Catholic Church, I'd suggest that you focus your attention on the last twenty-five years. Most things that happened before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) are irrelevant. There are places (notably Ireland and Poland) where the Catholic Church has evolved much more slowly, but even they have changed significantly since Vatican II.

I'm sorry you didn't like Evangelii Gaudium, the recent "apostolic exhortation" by Pope Francis. Perhaps it will comfort you to know that when Catholics evangelize, they wait until a person walks in the door and starts asking questions. I'm sure some overzealous Catholics will prove me wrong and find a call to start preaching door-to-door, but I don't think that will become a common practice. I find Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) to be a refreshing change in attitude. Notice that Francis says, "It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but 'by attraction'”.

-Joe-