Father Zuhlsdorf recently exposed the ludicrous and absurd claims of a professor of moral theology (Keith Soko, PhD) at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa. This 'expert' pontificates (in the tradition of Luther, Zwingli, Hus, et al.) that EWTN "offers an outdated view of the church." Sadly, his caustic remarks were printed as an editorial on the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Messenger. Here is my comment as posted on WDTPRS:
Pathetic diatribe. The good professor claims EWTN is pre-Vatican II and yet he embraces an ecclesiology totally alien to the Second Vatican Council. Lumen Gentium reiterated what Pope Pius XII taught in Mystici Corporis and found in the epistles of Saint Paul, namely, that the church IS the Mystical Body of Christ. Jesus = Church. “He who hears you, hears Me.” Why did Christ say to Saint Paul on the road to Damascus “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” The Church IS the living, teaching, sanctifying, governing presence of Christ on earth. Jesus the Prophet teaches through His Body, the Church, via the Magisterium. Jesus the Priest sanctifies through His Body, the Church, via the Seven Sacraments. Jesus Christ the King governs through His Body, the Church via the Hierarchy.
Hence, the Church is more than a TOOL. The Bride of Christ is also the Mystical Body of Christ. She is an extension of Christ in the modern world. Dr. Soko is inaccurate when he presents the Church as some mere incidental as opposed to an essential element of salvation. Christ is the sole mediator, redeemer and savior and His Church speaks, teaches, sanctifies and governs IN HIS NAME. To reject the Church is to reject Christ, the founder, the bridegroom, the head of the Mystical Body.
EWTN does a phenomenal job showing the splendor of the Church, from the Papacy to the ordinary baptized member of the Christian faithful. Clergy and laity alike work at EWTN and are on the air. Respect and obedience to the legitimate authority of the institutional and, as V2 affirmed in chapter three of LG, HIERARCHICAL church is the hallmark of EWTN. His notion of the church being some ‘idol’ that EWTN proselytizes over the airwaves is absurd and ludicrous. EWTN is not the Vatican and never claimed to be. Neither is it the CDF. It is a precious vehicle by which the Bride of Christ and the Mystical Body of Christ is served faithfully. The Protestant Reformers of the 16th century, however, would have embraced his bizarre ecclesiology, but not Trent, V1 and most especially not V2. God bless Mother Angelica and EWTN.
6 comments:
... and yet, there are those who wish to argue the opposite: http://www.networkgonewrong.com/
As far as I'm concerned, EWTN is rapidly becoming a major vessel of grace for all people of good will who are hungry and thirsty for the Church - for where Peter is, etc.
Perhaps Dr Soko prefers the heresies of that priest in Australia who is responsible for generations of invalid baptisms, caused by his embracing of the mortal sin of pride!
Grr!
Keep up the "God" work EWTN!
(You too, father. Thanks to you, I see ferraiuole making a come back! Haha!)
I must be a naive but things like this continue to be a shock to me. I am shocked that anyone could say anything like this about EWTN, period. Then what make it more unbelievable is that is guy is the chair of a theology department at a Catholic University and this was an article in a diocesan newspaper!
Things like this make it real clear that the Church is a work of God. Although so many members act like crazy, our Mother Church continues and grows and teaches and spreads the Mercy of her Bridegroom CHRIST.
THanks EWTN for the good job! Thanks for all I have learned, for being a continous source of material for meditating and praying.
Laura
I have been brought back to the faith due to EWTN and Rev Mother straight talking and clear thinking.
Are all the crazy's coming out of the closet with Obama/Biden in play now.
"Remember My word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My word, they will keep yours also" (John 15:20).
God bless EWTN!!! The have kept His word.
I used to feel bad because I didn't get the college ed my siblings were offered.
Being the youngest of 5, I am the ONLY ONE who has remained a Catholic. Their live are filled with much craziness and new age idea's on one end and atheism on the other.
My husband is a great father to our 10kids and earns enough for us to homeschool. God's plan?
Diane
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