Comments on: Neuhaus Annoys Again

By: Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and Morning’s Minion « Vox Nova

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and Morning’s Minion « Vox Nova — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:40:50 +0000

[...] the issue of prudential judgment is once more raised prompted by Morning Minion’s recent post Neuhaus Annoys Again. Fr. Neuhaus pays small tribute to MM, describing his post as “among the more thoughtfully [...]

By: Jay Anderson

Jay Anderson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:32:47 +0000

Thank you, Henry.

By: Henry Karlson

Henry Karlson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:21:30 +0000

Jay

Actually I would have thought it. I disagree with you on many things, but I also find you reasonable.

Just remember, Balthasar wrote words of praise about Rahner.

By: Katerina Ivanovna

Katerina Ivanovna — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:20:42 +0000

Jay,

I’m writing this date down so it can go down in history! :)

By: Jay Anderson

Jay Anderson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:43:25 +0000

Who’da ever thought I’d type these words:

“I think … Tony A / Morning’s Minion['s] point is valid.”?

;)

By: Jay Anderson

Jay Anderson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:40:36 +0000

Actually, Patricia, I think the author's (Tony A / Morning's Minion) point is valid. He's not calling Fr. Neuhaus a "lefty", but rather pointing out that Fr. Neuhaus engages in a form of ad hominem that has been reserved for those who want the Church to "mind its own business" and "clean up its own house" whenever the Church speaks out against issues like abortion or same-sex marriage, etc. What Tony A has exposed is that there are those on the right, as well, who are perfectly willing to engage in this ad hominem when it suits their own purpose.

By: Patricia Sharp

Patricia Sharp — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:25:21 +0000

A good discussion, but for the author to suggest in his first paragraph ” Basically, Neuhaus is engaging in the kind of attacks most common on the left: why should should we trust the bishops on any topic (abortion, gay marriage etc.) when they are simply a bunch of pedophiles and pedophile enablers?”

That is blatantly unfair, and makes the author’s argument worthless. Besides, though Father Neuhaus can fairly be called a neo-con, he is not a man of the left, unlike perhaps the author?

By: scriblerus

scriblerus — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:34:25 +0000

The distinction that Neuhaus wants to make between “matters of faith and morals” on which the Church can speak and matters in which secular experts decide is simply untenable. There are many soi disant experts who would like to revise Catholic teaching on sexual matters, but the Church rightly refuses to budge.

In any case, his rather petulant use of the abuse scandals to tar and feather the bishops can easily be turned back to question the Bush administration’s handling of foreign policy.

One final point, prudence is a virtue and should not be confused with expertise.

By: FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » Aphorisms, Sartre, Bishops, and Prudential Judgment

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:43:10 +0000

[...] most of the responses to my comments were positive, this from the blogsite Vox Nova was among the more thoughtfully critical: If I understand [Fr. Neuhaus] correctly, the Church [...]

By: Katerina Ivanovna

Katerina Ivanovna — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:39:23 +0000

Anonymous,

AMEN!!!!

But if we broaden out what “morals” means beyond sex and abortion then where does it stop?

This was exactly my point with my question regarding where morality starts and ends on one of the other posts.

God is One, the world is one, and the only dualism we should ever be prepared to contemplate is that of the eschatological tension

Yes!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:29:29 +0000

Sorry, this latest tosh from Neuhaus is yet another example of the right wing definition of “morals”: from the waist down only. Everything above the waist is only prudential judgement. This is so blatantly obvious to everyone except those who choose not to see it. But if we broaden out what “morals” means beyond sex and abortion then where does it stop? From Anagni onwards the emergent state has struggled manfully to carve out a sphere for itself over which the Church has not merely no control, but not even a right to have an opinion on. God is One, the world is one, and the only dualism we should ever be prepared to contemplate is that of the eschatological tension. The saeculum is a period in time, not a sphere of space. (See Milbank, passim). And while a profoundly Augustinian approach to the world, that sees its deep woundedness, can in the hands of vulgarisiers can lead to inaction, passivity, and quasi-gnosticism (salvation as escape), it is nonetheless the only antidote to superficial Pelagian Whiggery with its gospel of “hard work” and self-righteous voluntarist moralising. The world is wounded deeply, but God does not show us an escape route out of it, but offers the Church, always one, holy, and “tota pulchra es et non macula est in te”, ravishingly beautiful in the fire of Pentecost no matter how sinful her members, as the sacrament of the kingdom that the wounded might once more be healed. The solidarity of all in sin is the first ground for the solidarity of all in redemption, and the compassion that flows from the heart that is wounded to the depths both by the fallenness of the world and the depths of the divine love for it (the depth measured by what the divine love wishes restore that world to), is the ground for all authentic action, for all authentic praxis, all authentic works. Theory and praxis, faith and works: their dialectical union is unbreakable. for the bond of that union is nothing less than the very bond of charity beyond measure, the Holy Spirit shed abroad in our hearts, who has spoken through the prophets, past and present.

By: First Things Touts Global Warming Denialism « Vox Nova

First Things Touts Global Warming Denialism « Vox Nova — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:19:04 +0000

[...] instances, is it not abundently clear where this group’s loyalty lies? Case in point: Richard John Neuhaus on the Iraq war. And now I see First Things has waded deeply into the tedious realm of global [...]