{"id":468,"date":"2013-11-01T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/?p=468"},"modified":"2014-12-23T23:27:59","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T04:27:59","slug":"mere-catholicism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/","title":{"rendered":"Mere Catholicism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog<\/a> a couple of days ago, and quoted my post \u201cRighteously Bad Theology<\/a>.\u201d One of her readers left a rather cryptic comment on her post:<\/p>\n

wonderful selection, I\u2019m Catholic patheos is taking the progressive approach\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m assuming that some word like \u201cglad\u201d or \u201cpleased\u201d or \u201chappy\u201d was omitted between the words \u201cI\u2019m\u201d and \u201cCatholic\u201d, in which case the reader is assuming that I\u2019m going to be a progressive voice at Patheos. I think this would surprise anyone who knows, so I thought it would be a good ideal to put down just where I\u2019m coming from.<\/p>\n

As I indicated a while back in \u201cAs Catholic as the Pope<\/a>\u201c, my goal is to be a faithful son of the Church, believing what the Church teaches and doing what the Church requires, while following Christ as an intentional disciple<\/a>\"\". This is not to say that I don\u2019t struggle with what the Church teaches and requires\u2014I do.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the part I struggle with most is the Church\u2019s social teaching. See, I spent twenty years as an Episcopalian; and in that denomination the quest for social justice has led many of the leaders right out of Nicene Christianity and into the wilds of I-know-not-what. (I base this on published remarks about the divinity of Christ, Christ\u2019s resurrection, and such-like.) As I result, I\u2019m suspicious of people who use phrases like \u201csocial justice\u201d, and it\u2019s hard for me to accept and internalize some of the Church\u2019s teachings in that area. (I\u2019m working on this.)<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I don\u2019t struggle at all with what Pope Benedict once called the \u201ccanon of dissent\u201d. I\u2019m perfectly happy with a celibate male clergy, I\u2019m opposed to abortion, and I think sex outside of heterosexual marriage is sinful.<\/p>\n

But on the gripping hand, I\u2019m not a traditionalist either. I was born in 1963; if I\u2019ve ever been at a Latin mass, I don\u2019t remember anything about it. I don\u2019t pine for earlier eras in the life of the Church. I don\u2019t object to beautiful Masses with all of the trimmings; as I say, I was an Episcopalian for twenty years, and if there\u2019s one thing Episcopalians are good at it\u2019s beautiful liturgies. But for me, it\u2019s all about the Eucharist. When Jesus is there, I\u2019m good.<\/p>\n

As a Dominican, my primary interest is the salvation of souls. And that requires holding two things in tension: the reality of sin, and the love and mercy of God. Both are real; both must be taken seriously. I can\u2019t do anything that will make God hate me. Equally, I can\u2019t fully receive God\u2019s love without leaving my sins behind. And when it comes to others: I will not lie to them, and say their sins are not a problem, because they are. But neither will I cast others into the outer darkness because of their sins. (At least, not in my best moments.)<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m not progressive; and I\u2019m not traditional; I\u2019m just sort of mere.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post \u201cRighteously Bad Theology.\u201d One of her readers left a rather cryptic comment on her post: wonderful selection, I\u2019m Catholic patheos is taking the progressive approach\u2026 I\u2019m assuming that some word like \u201cglad\u201d or \u201cpleased\u201d or \u201chappy\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,43],"tags":[10,21,26,22],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-deep-thoughts-from-the-doghouse","tag-catholic","tag-christianity","tag-dissent","tag-holiness"],"yoast_head":"\nMere Catholicism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post "Righteously Bad Theology." One of her readers left a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mere Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post "Righteously Bad Theology." One of her readers left a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cry 'Woof'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-01T17:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-24T04:27:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=crwo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B008H4NAPI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"willduquette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"willduquette\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/\",\"name\":\"Mere Catholicism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-01T17:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-24T04:27:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#\/schema\/person\/ff6351804d01f835d127aa686467fa2c\"},\"description\":\"So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post \\\"Righteously Bad Theology.\\\" One of her readers left a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mere Catholicism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/\",\"name\":\"Cry 'Woof'\",\"description\":\"And let slip the dogs of whimsy!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#\/schema\/person\/ff6351804d01f835d127aa686467fa2c\",\"name\":\"willduquette\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8075b1526bb772efdba031f0e814158b?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8075b1526bb772efdba031f0e814158b?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"willduquette\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/author\/willduquette\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mere Catholicism","description":"So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post \"Righteously Bad Theology.\" One of her readers left a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mere Catholicism","og_description":"So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post \"Righteously Bad Theology.\" One of her readers left a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/","og_site_name":"Cry 'Woof'","article_published_time":"2013-11-01T17:00:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-24T04:27:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=crwo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B008H4NAPI"}],"author":"willduquette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"willduquette","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/","name":"Mere Catholicism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-01T17:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-24T04:27:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#\/schema\/person\/ff6351804d01f835d127aa686467fa2c"},"description":"So Elizabeth Scalia welcomed me to Patheos on her blog a couple of days ago, and quoted my post \"Righteously Bad Theology.\" One of her readers left a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/2013\/11\/mere-catholicism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mere Catholicism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/","name":"Cry 'Woof'","description":"And let slip the dogs of whimsy!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#\/schema\/person\/ff6351804d01f835d127aa686467fa2c","name":"willduquette","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8075b1526bb772efdba031f0e814158b?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8075b1526bb772efdba031f0e814158b?s=96&r=g","caption":"willduquette"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/author\/willduquette\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crywoof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}