Internet Monk, Roman Catholicism, etc, etc
Advent 1 2008 – Tuesday
Eagle eyed blogreaders might have realized that I have added a few more entries to the Bloggers category of links to the right. Two of them have been for Michael Spencer: one for his Internet Monk blog and the other for his Jesus Shaped Spirituality blog.
There is a heckuva lot I’ve learnt from reading his entries whether I agree with him or not; he’s a Reformation Christian who is closer to Calvin’s position than I will ever be. Quite a fair bit of humor too, as evidenced by the referral I made to his post entitled “Dear Ed Young” a couple of entries ago.
His own struggles to relate and take the best from Roman Catholicism while remaining a Protestant echo my own struggles in some aspects. Except that I’ve probably asked myself seriously whether or not to convert over more often than iMonk has.
But a recent post of his on Thomas Merton strikes a chord with me. Because this December 10 will be the fortieth anniversary of the death of “Fr. Louis”. And with his death, there is a reminder of the fairly inclusive catholicity that Merton exhibited to his fellow Christians: Roman Catholic or not. Given that EWTN broadcasts over the net, I’ve watched a few hours or so of it and while I do love certain programs, there is still a lot on there that still set me off with unease. Particularly the papal love-in’s that happen fairly often on it.
Don’t get me wrong, my views on the Pope are a far cry from a few years ago when I would have branded him (or rather John Paul II at the time) as the Antichrist and the spawn of Satan. The current Pope (Benny XVI) and his venerable predecessor are Popes that I have a great deal of respect for and sincere admiration (I’ve mentioned that before on here). To get a chance to speak with BXVI in private would be a dream come true for me. But EWTN at times reminds me a lot of Australia’s version of TBN, the Australian Christian Channel. Some of it is truly barf-worthy. Inclusive catholicity my ***…
The inclusive catholicity that led Merton to view his non-Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ is lacking in certain quarters of Roman Catholicism here in Australia (and in the reverse as well, particularly with the comments made by senior clergy of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in the leadup to World Youth Day this year that were published in the Sydney Morning Herald).
It’s especially apparent in one of the Theology on Tap recordings from earlier this year when Cardinal Pell (Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and Australian RC Primate) spoke on the role of the Pope. I understand where the Cardinal comes from as he is a traditional Catholic and I appreciate his candor in his ToT talk (honesty is the best policy). And I’ve had younger Catholic apologists attempt to convert me over (on the XT3 forums) by declaring that lovely Latin phrase extra ecclesiam nullus salus applies to me because Protestants are outside the Church. Once upon a time, I used that phrase against Roman Catholics so I guess what goes around… Those words for me are not as clear cut as I once thought they were.
But we still have ultimately an issue about ecumenism at heart here. And that’s what I attempt (rather pathetically if I’m honest) to do on this blog here. iMonk does that much better than myself (especially after his own wife’s recent conversion over into the Roman Catholic Church which he has talked about). Given that most of the readers to this pathetic piece of internet real estate are from the youth group of CMCA EMP, I hope that my own thoughts and struggles in my own faith give you some entertainment but more seriously, to spur on your own thinking about your own faith and the relationship of us as individual Christians to the wider Christian community: Protestant, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.
And if you think that my blog is rubbish, by all means, I’ll gladly point you towards Michael’s instead. 
+ bf 2041hrs
