A corporal work of mercy.

A corporal work of mercy.
Click on photo for this corporal work of mercy!

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Father Thomas J. Rosica describes Pope as "first among equals"

Originally published on February 19, 2013 in advance of the conclave which elected Jorge Bergoglio as Bishop of Rome.

While charity suggests that we should give him the benefit of the doubt that he was caught up in the discussion and that he was running off at the lips to the CBC's Peter Mansbridge, we do need to ask Father Tom Rosica, Executive Producer of Salt + Light, President of Assumption University, Papal Consultor to the Pontifical Council on Social Communications and spokesman for the English media for the upcoming Conclave; was this a sequencing conflict in grammar production, was it a "Freudian slip" (1) or does he really believe that which he has stated at 7:28 of this interview. The Catholic people deserve a clarification; the people do not deserve to be lead into scandal or heresy by such a prominent priest.

So, may we have a clarification?


Fr. Rosica: “What I think this resignation has done is to take us one step further now about examining the role of the papacy, the collegiality that is necessary for the papacy; that is the pope who works in conjunction with and dialogues with the bishops of the world. The papacy is not some kind of a myth that’s way out there and making this almost a super human role. For example why didn't people get all upset when Archbishop Rowan Williams stepped down after leading brilliantly the Anglican Communion through some turbulent times? He did his work and now to know that Rowan Williams a great theologian a friend of Benedict has gone to Magdalene College to continue research and writing. He did his work, so somehow what Benedict has done to us is put the church in a new trajectory into understanding the role of Peter. The leadership of the papacy requires somebody who can connect with people somebody who has health somebody who can move around and not be afraid of long flights. Somebody who’s got energy and stamina; it’s really a respect for life what he’s done.”

Mansbridge: “Does it also need someone that connects with this generation….that the Church has to move forward into a whole new era?”

Father Rosica: Oh sure…a leader, that figurehead this first among equals in the person of the pope is absolutely essential. He is a symbol. He represents who we are. And so, for the past two papacies especially the last part of John Paul’s papacy and this papacy, we got to know an older man, an elderly person; John Paul certainly dying before our very eyes almost the last ten years and Benedict who came in elderly and who goes out now weak and that’s very important because we respect elders, in our culture we respect elders…  

One more question for Father; Was the Blessed Sacrament in repose when St. Paul's Basilica was turned into a news studio?


"And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew." John 2:15


130214_one_on_one_02
CBC journalist Peter Mansbridge interviews Father Thomas Rosica


Nota Bene: "Freud believed that verbal slips come from repressed desires. However, cognitive psychologists would counter that slips can represent a sequencing conflict in grammar production. Slips may be due to cognitive underspecification that can take a variety of forms — inattention, incomplete sense data or insufficient knowledge. Secondly, they may be due to the existence of some locally appropriate response pattern that is strongly primed by its prior usage, recent activation or emotional change or by the situation calling conditions (MacMahon, 1995). Some sentences are just susceptible to the process of banalisation: the replacement of archaic or unusual expressions with forms that are in more common use. In other words, the errors were due to strong habit substitution (MacMahon, 1995)"

14 comments:

Freyr said...

The pope really is known as first among equals but it is in the Eastern Orthodox Church, not the Roman Catholic Church. Is Fr. Rosica expressing a preference for the Orthodox understanding of the church? On one hand he extolls the mystery of the conclave and on the other hand he wonders why the pope's election should be any more mysterious than the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is all over the map and his theology seems to be pretty vague. Perhaps we could have someone who's actually read the catechism do commentary at the conclave?

Barona said...

We really have a very serious problem here. It is tragic that a prominent priest is unable to speak with clarity or (God forbid), that he actually entertains an episcopal view of the Church.

Freyr said...

What is "an episcopal view of the church"?

Anonymous said...

Maybe, in this instance, he doesn't know what will endear him to Peter Mansbridge, so he vacillates rather than clearly explaining. And he is to go to guy for the media? Ugh

Capebretoner

TH2 said...

It is very symbolic that we have this Gallican-clericalist busybody loving it up with the public face of our state broadcaster, whose representatives and reporters for a long time have clearly expressed their contempt for Catholicism.

That the interview was conducted in a church with the altar clearly visible, directly in the backdrop, makes it all the more despicable. "We are friends with you, Caesar, and there is no real distinction between us", says the set design symbology, likely orchestrated by FTR.

Fr. Lombardi and his team at Holy See Press Office must be receiving only rudimentary, distorted information about what's going on in Canada via Morse Code or teletype. Because if he had the full picture of the damage this cleric has done, and is doing, then the likelihood of him being spokesman would have greatly diminished...Unless, that is, if the wolves aren't pulling the strings, which is likely, considering reasons for the pope's abdication.

Anonymous said...

I better go back to Orthodoxy having converted from it many years ago. It is absolutely astonishing that a priest who will be the spokesman for all of the English-speaking world can make such a error regarding the Papacy.

A convert

Anonymous said...

that should be "an error."

Anonymous said...

I take it from one of the comments over at Rorate there has been no clarification as to what he meant. Your work at this blog is greatly appreciated, Mr. Vox. Thank you for the time you spend oon this!

capebretoner

Barona said...

The Pope is much more than a symbol, much more than representing who we are? Precisely how does he do that? The Pope represents us, in as much as we are good loyal Catholics.... but, this type of language is totally vague and meaningless. As Freyr noted above: Fr. Rosica really needs to take some time off from his interviewing etc. and study the catechism. Has he ever read the dogmatic teachings of Vatican I?

Damask Rose said...


Can somebody please dismiss Fr Rosica from this position now....

Sixupman said...

"Pastor Inter Pares" as reference to the papacy in the old Anglo-Catholic Missal. That Missal identical to our own of pre-war II vinatge, except for lack of imprimatur.

Vox Cantoris said...

It did not have an "imprimatur" for a reason, it was "Anglo-Catholic" and First Among Equals is not Catholic, it stems from Eastern Orthodoxy and the Anglican discommunion.

Sixupman said...

Vox: of that I am well aware, I was merely pointing-out how one could discern that it was not[Roman] Catholic. I was relating my submission as another source to the "First Among Equals" issue earlier.

When I first went to London, many many years ago, my grandmother warned me to be aware of churches, services and masses which were not Catholic, but had every manifestation of being so.

Unknown said...


I was told and believed this many years ago, wthout ever thinking it through properly.
Changes and many false ideas, such as this one, were promoted by so many after Vatican ll.
Obviously some traces are still sitting in my brain.
Thank you for this clarification. geraldine