Asymmetrical Information

It may just be because I learned this stuff in art history class rather than confirmation class but I vaguely remember those terms used to correspond to the 4 symbols of the gospel; the winged lion, Mark; the Man, Matthew; the Ox, Luke and the Eagle, John. The ideas behind each one; evangelism, reason, sacrfice and whatever John is supposed to symbolize, Triumphant...maybe. That's my semi-educated, semi-guess.

I did a quick Googlesearch and it seems that there are only the three you mentioned. These are symbolized in the Pope's triple crown. The triple crown also symbolizes his triple role as priest, pastor, and teacher.

The sins that "cry to heaven":

The Church recognizes five sins that "cry to heaven." Significantly, they all refer to social sin. They are "the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, and injustice to the wage earner" (Catechism 1867).

(Not bad for a Methodist, huh?)

I'm glad that Gluttony isn't one of them, or I would have been toast.

Sorry, Ralf, but gluttony is there, but on a different list. The seven deadly sins.

Good thing binge drinking isn't on any of those lists. And DON"T tell me it's part of Gluttony.
(STicks finger in ears and starts singing).

Jane, a former (current) Catholic -- I knew it! From the first moment I laid eyes on your page!

(Just kidding. What was I expecting? That a New Yorker with an Irish last name would be Pentacostal?)

"The Church Militant (on earth), the Church Suffering (in purgatory) and the Church Triumphant (in heaven) ? these are the three levels in the communion of saints."

"Sorry, Ralf, but gluttony is there, but on a different list. The seven deadly sins".

I know, Ernie, but at least Heaven won't actively go after me. They'll wait for a coronary. :)

I've heard tell of The Church Universal, but not necessarily in the same list as the others.

“What were the four sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance?”

I am an ex-Catholic who holds the Catholic Church in utter contempt. Cynically, we know that the fours sins obviously don’t include the rape of children by priests and indifference to Jews being murdered. The Roman Church is also unwittingly responsible for much poverty throughout the world. To be fair, I’m well aware that some Catholics like Michael Novak understand the importance of democratic capitalism. Moreover, I highly recommend his wonderful “The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism.” Nonetheless, on a practical level the Church is the advocate of warmed over socialism. Mr. Novak is the exception to the general rule.

Many years ago, Paul Blanshard warned about the incompatibility of Catholicism to our democratic traditions. John Courtney Murray and Vatican II attempted to address this issue. They failed miserably. At the end of the day, the Catholic traditionalist possesses a visceral hatred for the United States.

Well, that came out of left field...

God forbid we should ever elect one of these evil Catholics to high office...

I'm sorry, but I'm not Catholic, and I don't hold the church in contempt even though I know a great deal about it. And of all the forces keeping people poor, the church is the least by far I'd have to say.

"“And of all the forces keeping people poor, the church is the least by far I'd have to say.”

I’m sorry but you are simply wrong. The Catholic Church for all practical purposes advocates Socialism---and therefore it naively is greatly responsible for keeping people poor. There is no logical way for anyone to dispute this harsh fact. At best, you can argue that Catholic social teaching is “misunderstood” by many of its faithful. This is by the way the position held by Fr. Robert Sirico:

http://www.acton.org/about/staff/index.php?pid=11

I’m not buying Fr. Sirico’s contention. Nevertheless, let’s hope that his efforts are successful. There is also one more point that should be added. The Catholic Church’s pervasive anti-Semitism is due to primarily two of its major doctrinal positions: The Jews allegedly murdered Jesus Christ---and the Church’s original stance on usury.

I've been to Mass at least two thousand times, and I don't recall any anti-Semitic sermons. I don't recall ever being buggered, either, despite many years service as an alter boy and five years at Notre Dame.

I have learned that the Roman Catholic Church is many different things to many different people. As an example, a popular modern use of the Roman Catholic Church is as a scapegoat. It is easier to do this if one doesn't know much about the Roman Catholic Church.

The assertion of a Catholic upbringing carries little authority. I know many people who are "ex-Catholics" who had no understanding of the fundamental beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.

Given Mr. Thomson's range of reading, I would exclude him from the largest group of contemptuous "Ex-Catholics" -- those who are ignorant of that which they deride, too lazy to remedy that ignorance, and who use charges of "Child Rapist", "Anti-Semite" and "Socialist Pawn" as poor substitues for rational discussion.

Normally, I do not stoop to respond to such under-thought accusations, but in this case I would hope that one as well-read as Mr. Thomson could supply better critique of the Roman Catholic Church than cynical sneers and awkward over-simplifications.

After all, "Deliberate iconoclasm is immoral. One should never say anything purely for reasons of shock value."
--David Thomson

Of course, it could be that he is right. If so, then his seminal thinking makes worthless a vast body of educated Roman Catholic thought. In this case, he owes humanity a book -- indeed a series of books -- which will lead us to a higher understanding of these matters. Otherwise, I would submit that utter contempt is a form of absolutism, which he himself would argue "is rarely justified".

Of course, given the theology of original sin and its inherent assumption of human imperfection, it is no surprise that I misspelled "altar boy" as "alter boy".

Securus judicat orbis terrarum.

Speaking of Catholic anti-Semitism. These two instances occurred in just the last couple of days:

“The neocon vision is 'to conscript American blood to make the world safe for Israel....[They] seek American empire and the Sharonites seem hegemony over the Middle East. The two agendas coincide precisely.'”
---Excertp from Pat Buchanan’s soon to be released article in the AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

“Jewish organizations condemned Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) today for delivering what they said were anti-Semitic remarks at an anti-war forum in Reston, in which he suggested that American Jews are responsible for pushing the country to war with Iraq and that Jewish leaders could prevent war if they wanted.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5887-2003Mar10.html

I didn't know those two guys were in the priesthood. Or are you saying that only Catholics are anti-Semitic, or that Catholic anti-Semitism is especially horrible because... of something?

I'm not Catholic, by the way -- I just wonder if you troll blogs looking for posts to hijack to your own personal obsession.

Not being Catholic, I'll offer the following before I read the other guesses/answers:

A couple of years ago, I would have guessed the fourth incarnation of the Church is the Church Disnified. Recently, I've changed my opinion to the Church Irrelevant (the hierarchy and beauracracy, not the individuals).

"I've changed my opinion to the Church Irrelevant (the hierarchy and beauracracy, not the individuals)."

I agree that increasingly the hierarchy and bureaucracy are becoming less important. It, however, redefines Catholicism to the point where its core belief system has been replaced by a form of Protestantism. Oh well, the vast majority of Catholics are actually Protestants anyway and so the new reality should be relatively easy to swallow.

American Catholics are now in an awkward predicament due to the official Church’s undeclared war on the United States. The Pope is merely a very sick, old man who is probably lucid only a few hours a day. Almost certainly, the Roman curia had much to do with his recent attacks on American foreign policy. These wicked bureaucrats hate Israel and are enraged that the Bush White House will not throw the Israelis to the wolves. Am I saying that these Church leaders hate Israel more than the government of Saddam Hussein? Yup, that’s exactly what I’m saying!

Moran made his stupid and intemperate comments at an Episcopal church. I don't know whether he's Catholic.

"Moran made his stupid and intemperate comments at an Episcopal church. I don't know whether he's Catholic."

Moran has been identified as a Roman Catholic. The odds are very high that his Catholic upbringing encouraged anti-Semitism. He is definitely old enough to remember when Jews were described as Christ killers in the liturgy.

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