Fr. Rob Johansen repeats the adage that we get the bishops we ask for as a Catholic culture. And our Catholic culture has so degraded that it is unrecognizable anymore. There was once a time when Hollywood made movies for Catholics, and the mainstream publishing industry put out Catholic books, and Archbishop Sheen was on national TV. And these weren’t fringe products, they were blockbusters, bestsellers, and ratings winners.
But now there is hardly anything left of a mainstream Catholic arts and culture movement even to the point where we mourn the passing of “Touched by an Angel” as a loss to good TV.
So Fr. Rob says we should start transforming our culture by supporting arts and entertainment that support a Catholic worldview. And he has a practical suggestion to start with.
Update: As usual, Blogger’s permalinks aren’t working. Just go to Fr. Rob’s page and read the current entry.
Todd, I had to laugh out loud at what you wrote. Where exactly are the hyperorthodox bishops? Give me a break: the reason we’re where we are is because of the “progressives”/heterodox clergy and laypeople who have tossed out 2,000 years of Church teaching and invented a whole new religion. Too slow to change? The Church in America has changed so much in the past 40 years that it is almost unrecognizable.
Todd, you just crack me up.
I think the problem is the categories you’re using. You use orthodox as a synonym for conservative or traditional. There is no such thing as hyperorthodox.
Someone who is orthodox either lives and believes the Church’s teachings or not. I would even say that someone you consider to be “progressive” would certainly be called orthodox.
I don’t care about political labels. All I care is whether someone lives the teachings of Christ.
My guess is that Warburton was a relativist. In the Catholic Church, there is only one standard of orthodoxy: the teachings of Jesus Christ as guaranteed by the Holy Spirit through the Bishop of Rome and the bishops of the world in communion with him.
Of course, I know what you meant, I just thought I’d take the opportunity to expand on my previous thought.