{"id":2042,"date":"2015-11-27T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-11-27T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/notthemagisterium.com\/?p=1641"},"modified":"2018-03-17T22:46:40","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T02:46:40","slug":"blogs-are-not-the-magisterium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scottericalt\/blogs-are-not-the-magisterium\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Virginia, Blogs are Not the Magisterium. 7QT XXI Seriatim."},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><\/p>\n<style>\nH1, H2, H5, H6 {font-family: vollkorn; font-weight: normal;&rdquo;}\nH4 {font-weight: normal;}\np, li {color: #292e37; line-height: 1.1em; font-size: 95%; text-align: justify;}\nblockquote p {margin-left: 45px; line-height: 1.1em;}\nli {margin-bottom: 10px;}\na {color: #aa1111 !important; border: none !important; Font-weight: normal !important;}\n<\/style>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3684\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3684\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scottericalt\/blogs-are-not-the-magisterium\/pius-x\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3684\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:1px solid #292e37;padding:3px;\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/668\/2015\/11\/Pius-X.jpg\" alt=\"Pope Pius X, by Giuseppe Felici, public domain\" width=\"600\" height=\"429\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3684\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3684\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><p style=\"Font-style: normal;text-align:center;margin-top:-15px;\">Pope Pius X, by Giuseppe Felici, <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.m.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Spiox.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">public domain<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p style=\"Line-height: 1.1em; font-size: 95%; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 30px;\"><span style=\"float:left;color:#292e37;font-size:175px;line-height: 100px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:3px;\">T<\/span>his is really a post about the New Evangelization and how blogs fit in (and how they do not), but I must go through some set-up first. I had already chosen the new title for this blog, secured the new URL, and was fast at work making it pretty, when lo! over on Facebook someone\u2014let us call him A.\u2014shared a presumptuous post to my timeline. (I really should turn that baneful feature off that allows people to just post to your timeline.) The post in question was a podcast promoting some obscure Marian apparition, rejected by the local bishop. I won\u2019t give it further attention by naming it here; it is that bad.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">I deleted the post, cast A. to the winds, and sent out the following status to my remaining people:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I do not, on my wall, promote Marian apparitions that are not approved by the Church. Only the Church has competence to judge these things. Podcasts are not the Magisterium. That is all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the comments, B. showed up to exclaim: \u201cOh right! And I guess <em>blogs<\/em> aren\u2019t the Magisterium either!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">How fortuitous, since I sat at work on this wery site.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">But B. was correct: Blogs are <em>not<\/em> the Magisterium. <a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/kjv\/1_timothy\/3-15.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">1 Tim. 3:15<\/a> does not mention blogs. Christ was not talking to bloggers when he said, in <a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/kjv\/john\/16-13.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">John 16:13<\/a>, that the Holy Spirit will \u201cguide you into all truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">(Col. 4:6, however, is good advice for bloggers: \u201cLet your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">It is necessary to remind ourselves daily of such things; which is one good reason I chose the title this blog now has. I will see it each time I sit down to write. I may need to. Many Catholics have a recurring feeling that such reminders are needful. Blogs do oft proceed as though they are equal to the Magisterium, or judge the Magisterium, or interpret the Magisterium, or replace the Magisterium, or scorn the Magisterium, or wield the Magisterium like a thunderbolt to strike the bad ones down. Blogs do oft proceed as though they are giving their readers the truly true, insider, Gnostic truth; the dangerous threat to the Church uncovered in an exclusive by brave anonymous sources; the secret Marian revelation about the end of days; or the definitive list of heresies of those who must not ever by any means call themselves Catholic. But no. There is no \u201cblogisterium.\u201d Bloggers (and podcasters and people on Twitter and Facebook) do not discern the spirits, or the signs of the times, or the heresies of the pope, or the heresies in the pews, or the heresies on other blogs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">Back in 2010, the blog <em>In C\u00e6lo et in Terra<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/incaelo.wordpress.com\/2010\/06\/17\/catholic-bloggers-and-the-magisterium\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">was reminding bloggers of this<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>The Magisterium consists of the pope and the bishops in union with him<\/strong>. Their authority does not belong to man, but to God, although men can wield it, so to speak. <strong>It is not an authority that belongs to everyone, and we must not pretend it does<\/strong>. A blogger who claims to live and act in unity with the Church can certainly speak truth, even has an obligation to do so. But he (or she) should not attack or use \u2018hurtful, judgmental language.\u2019 You are not the Magisterium.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">Just last year, Terry Nelson at <em>Abbey Roads<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/abbey-roads.blogspot.com\/2014\/07\/on-spirit-of-catholic-blogisterium.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">wrote similar words<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Don\u2019t believe me though\u2014you can\u2019t trust me either. <strong>Believe what the Church teaches<\/strong>. Do what the Pope and the Synod Fathers say\u2014and if some give bad example\u2014don\u2019t do as they do\u2014but do as they say. Don\u2019t go to strangers online who sometimes are in it to make a living\u2014they are \u2018divided\u2019 by that very fact. Remember, <strong>you can\u2019t be holier than the Church<\/strong>.  Don\u2019t go to strangers online for spiritual direction.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">Now, I have no problem with bloggers who make all or part of their living doing what they do. Kudos to them. I do not think that creates, <em>of itself<\/em>, a divided loyalty. But the warning is well-taken against bloggers who have acquired a \u201cfollowing\u201d that clings to their every post as though that\u2019s the very place the real truth, and what\u2019s really going on, is to be found. In the combox is a cheering section for the our brave hero the blogger, or a hissing section for the whole lot of baneful heretics who would bring the Church down were it not for our brave hero the blogger. (One more reason I don\u2019t have a combox.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">What Mr. Nelson says, I say of myself and my own blog: Don\u2019t believe me. Believe the Church. Hold me, as I try to hold myself and all that I write, to what the Church has said. If I say it here, check it out. I am not Sacred Scripture. I am not the Magisterium. The conclave did not choose me. God is not giving me private revelations. I have no undercover sources in felt hats braving it all. I am not in the business of pronouncing anathemas on other Catholics. I\u2019m a guy with a blog who has a certain ability to put one word after another.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>None of this means that blogs have no role to play in leading people to the Church, and to the truth. Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have told us that they do. Benedict XVI <a href=\"http:\/\/w2.vatican.va\/content\/benedict-xvi\/en\/messages\/communications\/documents\/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20130124_47th-world-communications-day.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> they have the ability to be \u201cportals of truth and faith\u201d as well as \u201cnew spaces for evangelization.\u201d And Francis <a href=\"http:\/\/m.vatican.va\/content\/francescomobile\/en\/messages\/communications\/documents\/papa-francesco_20140124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">has called the Internet<\/a> \u201ca gift from God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">Blogs, like all online media, have an important role to play in the New Evangelization. That is particularly so in a world in which, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scottericalt\/the-church-is-a-communion-of-disciples-in-mission\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">as George Weigel has pointed out,<\/a> the culture is no longer passing on the faith. (For indeed the culture is hostile to the faith; and as you know, dear reader, I have spilled much virtual ink on this wery blog answering media fictions about the Church, and in particular about the pope.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">If you are Catholic, and you have a blog, that is what you do: You pass on the faith. You explain it. You defend it. But your blog is not <em>itself<\/em> the faith and does not replace the teaching Church. You are not a Protestant, and I have no time for your private judgment or what the Lord spoke to you. Your blog is not an Oracle or a list of Canons or the Quiddity of Catholic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">So for what it may be worth, here is my list of All the Things That Catholic Bloggers Must. (And one Must Not.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must know the faith<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.1em;\">Really well. This means reading, and reading a lot: the Bible, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the Catechism, the Compendium, Councils, exhortations, encyclicals. This means taking time and care to get Church teaching right, and to understand why the Church says what she does.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must be obedient to the faith and submissive to Church authority<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.1em;\">All of it. This is not an option. If you are in dissent from some teaching of the Church\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2014\/06\/pope-francis-rigid-traditionalists-and-cafeteria-catholics-arent-really-catholics\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">well, I\u2019ll let the pope speak to that<\/a>. You are not at war with the Church or the pope. It is not for you to stir up discontent. The pope sits in Peter\u2019s seat, and the bishops in place of the apostles. You don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">This means, too, that you must not shave the faith down to a narrow sliver of \u201cinfallible,\u201d <em>ex cathedra<\/em> statements, as though the pope must say the magic words or you will disregard what does not sit well on your own private stomach. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/hist_councils\/ii_vatican_council\/documents\/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Lumen Gentium<\/em><\/a> 25 puts an end to any such talk:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, <strong>even when he is not speaking ex cathedra<\/strong>; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must not presume where the Church is silent<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.1em;\">This means, for example, no proselytizing on Marian apparitions that the Church has not approved. I have been urged by\u2014let us call him C.\u2014to be careful here because (as C. tells me) even unapproved apparitions can bring much grace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">Maybe. It is not within my competence to say, or to get people emotionally invested in some supposed private revelation the Church is neutral on, still less one it has rejected. (Which was the case with the Marian apparition that was nailed to my wall like the 96th thesis.) Once you are emotionally invested, it is too easy to put your own judgment above that of the Church.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must link to their sources<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.1em;\">And make sure they are faithful sources that speak with real authority. This should go without saying for anyone who publishes. But when you are trying to evangelize others, even fellow Catholics, about Church teaching, it is particularly important to link to the primary documents. That way they can check you out, and that way you can assure even yourself that you are not in error. Hyperlink is your friend.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must choose their battles<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.1em;\">It is not for you to right every wrong, correct every error, or condemn every heresy. It is very unlikely that God has appointed you the scourge of the age or savior of Church and Man. Your only job is to speak the truth in charity. Remember <a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/kjv\/colossians\/4-6.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Col. 4:6<\/a>; and <a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/kjv\/1_peter\/3-15.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">1 Pet. 3:15<\/a>. (I really struggle with this one myself.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must frequent Mass, adoration, and the confessional<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.1em;\">Daily Mass, if possible, and frequent confession. I do mean frequent; some bloggers need it. I know I do. Bloggers, who are teachers of the faith, who evangelize a pagan and secular culture ignorant of and hostile to it (a culture for whom Christianity is, at best, an exotic and alien curiosity), need the grace of the sacraments to strengthen their mind and purify their heart and learn charity. We are called to saltness and holiness. Confession and the Eucharist and a lot of prayer are key.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Catholic bloggers must be learners and always strive for new knowledge<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This means, also, practicing the virtue of humility and being correctible when wrong. You are not infallible. Too many blogs missed the chance to call themselves <em>Knowing All Things<\/em>; <em>Being Wiser Than the Rest<\/em>; <em>Heretics Among Us<\/em>; <em>Why the Church Must Change or Die<\/em>; <em>The Smoke of Satan Exposed!<\/em>; <em>Blogganasius Contra Ecclesiam<\/em>; <em>Rebuking Peter With Paul<\/em>; and so on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">It does not fall to you to sit in judgment on the Church of Nice, or the Church of Mean, or the Church of Whatever Adjective You Hate. It does not fall to you to lead masses into your cultish angst or paranoia and say to the stomach or the head, \u201cI have no need of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">The role of a Catholic blogger is one thing and one thing only: to evangelize the culture. Different bloggers will do that in different ways. This commission comes from Christ (<a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/kjv\/mark\/16-15.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mark 16:15<\/a>) and the Church (see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/hist_councils\/ii_vatican_council\/documents\/vat-ii_decree_19651118_apostolicam-actuositatem_en.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/w2.vatican.va\/content\/paul-vi\/en\/apost_exhortations\/documents\/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>). But it must be carried out in submission to Christ and the Church, without replacing them. Blogs are not the pillar and ground of truth; the Church is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 30px;\">A last caveat here. I have been blogging about the Church for three years now, and in my experience most Catholic bloggers are very good at the above and very good not to confuse themselves with the Magisterium. And they can admit when they are wrong. But there are those, at either fringe, who acquire a very large following, act badly, and give the lot of us a bad name. That is why these frequent reminders need to be given, so each of us can examine our own conscience on how we blog.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more of this week\u2019s quick takes at <a href=\"http:\/\/thisaintthelyceum.org\/sqt-a-godly-sort-of-gift-guide\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>This Ain\u2019t the Lyceum<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h6>***<\/h6>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/scottericalt\/files\/2015\/11\/image.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2088\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/scottericalt\/files\/2015\/11\/image.jpg\" alt=\"image\" width=\"700\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2088\" \/><\/a>Blogs do oft pro\u00adceed as though they are equal to the Mag\u00adis\u00adterium, or judge the Mag\u00adis\u00adterium, or inter\u00adpret the Mag\u00adis\u00adterium, or replace the Mag\u00adis\u00adterium, or scorn the Mag\u00adis\u00adterium, or wield the Mag\u00adis\u00adterium like a thun\u00adder\u00adbolt to strike the bad ones down. Blogs do oft pro\u00adceed as though they are giv\u00ading their read\u00aders the truly true, insider, Gnos\u00adtic truth; or the dan\u00adger\u00adous threat to the Church uncov\u00adered in an exclu\u00adsive by brave anony\u00admous sources; or the secret Mar\u00adian rev\u00ade\u00adla\u00adtion about the end of days; or the defin\u00adi\u00adtive list of here\u00adsies of those who must not ever by any means call them\u00adselves Catholic. But no. There is no \u201cblo\u00adgis\u00adterium.\u201d Bloggers do not discern the spirits or the signs of the times. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scottericalt\/blogs-are-not-the-magisterium\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2705,"featured_media":3684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,49,68],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-2042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authority-of-the-church","category-blogging","category-new-evangelization","category-seven-quick-takes","tag-marian-apparitions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>No, Virginia, Blogs are Not the Magisterium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is really a post about the New Evangelization and how blogs fit in, and how they do not. 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