Anglican/Roman Catholic – Anglicanism.org

Pope Benedict XVI and Modernism—an assessment

Pope Benedict XVI and Modernism—an assessment

Professor James Stevens Curl assesses Pope Benedict XVI in the light of today's modernism: The death of Joseph Maria Aloisius Ratzinger (1927-2022), who reigned as Pope Benedict XVI from 2005 until 2013, triggered various sobering thoughts in these benighted times. A diligent scholar, with a fine mind, he was unusual: a Pope of Æsthetics, a lover of Bach and Mozart, he reminded an increasingly ugly and debased world that there is such a thing as beauty, a term which Modernism denies has any validity, because relativism has devalued it, even questioned its very existence. He connected the Church with Art, championed Latin and Tradition, and valued the Tridentine Mass. Given that Southern Germany possesses a wealth of delicious Baroque and Rococo churches, the architectural parallels of the music of Bach and Mozart, it is hardly surprising that Ratzinger responded to their astonishing, joyous, exquisite beauty. ...

2023-02-14T15:22:55+00:00By Curl, Professor James Stevens|Tags: Anglican/Roman Catholic|

SYNODALITY AND TOGETHERNESS IN THE ANTIOCHIAN, SYRIAC MARONITE CHURCH

SYNODALITY AND TOGETHERNESS IN THE ANTIOCHIAN, SYRIAC MARONITE CHURCH

Maronite Archbishop Paul Sayah writes: One of the important theological developments brought about by Vatican II is the emphasis on the concept of Synodality and Communion in the theology of the Church and its evangelizing Mission. Lumen Gentium defined the Church first of all as the community of the baptized, the “People of God”, and then it talked about the hierarchy. The Church is not a democracy, but it is not a monarchy either, nor is it an oligarchy, nor an autocracy. It is the community of believers journeying, together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.