I can sympathize<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation. If one takes\" \/>\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\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I can sympathize\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation. If one takes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-19T16:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html\",\"name\":\"I can sympathize\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-19T16:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-19T16:05:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation. If one takes\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I can sympathize\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I can sympathize","description":"Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation. If one takes","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\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I can sympathize","og_description":"Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation. If one takes","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2016-01-19T16:05:00+00:00","author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html","name":"I can sympathize","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-19T16:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-19T16:05:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation. If one takes","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I can sympathize"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1052,"date":"2016-01-19T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T16:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html"},"modified":"2016-01-19T16:05:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T16:05:00","slug":"i-can-sympathize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/i-can-sympathize.html","title":{"rendered":"I can sympathize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Some Catholics are increasingly concerned about the tendency Pope Francis has for being open about Faith, lack of Faith and Salvation<\/a>.\u00a0 If one takes a more critical look, one could argue that he is almost embracing a form of universalism.\u00a0 Though his statements about hell and the destiny of certain groups, such as the Mafia, suggest otherwise.\u00a0 But he certainly seems to step back from the idea that Salvation and one\u2019s particular belief system are in any way linked.\u00a0 Salvation now seems overwhelmingly based on how one lives one\u2019s life.\u00a0 And this is not an exception where God is able to step in and save based on God\u2019s inscrutable will.\u00a0 This is par for the course.\u00a0 The norm.\u00a0 Salvation is based on being a good person, or even simply having a good conscience.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

So it\u2019s not surprising that some are alarmed. For me, I don\u2019t see this as anything new.\u00a0 Pope Benedict certainly made similar strides.\u00a0 And while many could say it started with Vatican II, I always saw an urgency with Pope John Paul II about being Catholic.\u00a0 Hence his emphasis on evangelizing \u2013 dare I say\u00a0converting \u2013 folks, including those legendary Separated Brethren, back into the Catholic fold.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve often wondered if the hell-pit of horror we\u2019ve experienced since becoming Catholic has to do with that post-PJPII era diminishing of importance on being Catholic as having to do with salvation.\u00a0 After all, telling Catholics, especially younger, more progressive ones, that we lost everything to leave Protestantism for Catholicism has not \u2013 I can attest \u2013 had the same umph that it seems to have had with older folks from previous generations who seem more willing to equate Catholicism and one\u2019s chances for salvation.\u00a0 After all, if one Church is as good as another, then eh, you get what you get.\u00a0 I could have stayed Protestant and done quite well.\u00a0 If I chose to leave it all to become Catholic, so be it.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have to, and if we suffer, then it\u2019s what we get.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure it is a complicated mix of things.\u00a0 But based on the differences in those who are much older and no longer running things in most Churches who were absolutely enamored with my testimony, against those closer to my age who are in most of the committees and councils who more or less appeared to say, \u201cYeah, OK.\u00a0 That\u2019s something I guess\u201d, I sometimes get the feeling I\u2019ve found a name for our pain, and it is post-denominational salvation Catholic style.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"