LexiOG

YouTube

As a convert from Evangelical Protestantism, one of the things I treasure most about the Catholic Church is the authority of her Magisterium. The Second Vatican Council teaches in Lumen Gentium 25 “Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff… are to be respected as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth… and the faithful are to adhere to their teaching with religious submission of mind and will.” I accept the documents of Vatican II with that religious submission of mind and will. But the same passage makes something very clear. Individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility every time they issue a statement. Catholics are bound to the Magisterium of the Church, not to every memo or public accusation from a particular bishop. This matters because Bishop Bambera @BishopBambera has now decided to get involved in something he obviously didn’t watch or listen to. He misrepresents what I actually said. At the hearing I raised a straightforward question about free speech and modern definitions of antisemitism. According to the IHRA definition of antisemitism this is included: Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis Could one of the IHRA definitions be used to label parts of the New Testament itself as antisemitic? For example, St. Paul writes: “The Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets…” - 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15 That is Sacred Scripture. Quoting the Bible is not antisemitism. Even Nostra Aetate states:“True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ.” The same document also teaches that this guilt cannot be charged against all Jews then alive or against Jews today. I accept that teaching fully, but it doesn’t take away from the historical fact of the Jews at the time who sentenced our Lord to death. Now here is the part of Bishop Bambera’s letter that makes this even more remarkable. He writes: “Catholics can appreciate the religious attachment that the Jewish people have to the land of Israel, but interpret the re-emergence in 1948 of a Jewish state in a historical rather than theological context.” That is precisely the point I made at the hearing. The Catholic Church does not teach that the modern State of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy. This is exactly what I said at stage at the hearing. The Holy See consistently interprets 1948 historically and politically, not theologically. In other words, the bishop’s own citation confirms the point he accused me of making improperly. Catholic doctrine is clear: The promises made to Abraham reach their fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the New Covenant. St. Paul writes: “The promises were made to Abraham… and to his offspring… and that offspring is Christ.” -Galatians 3:16 @BishopBambera You write this letter behind my back to the bishops and say “If God’s covenant with the Jewish people has not been revoked, what, then, of God’s promises to Abraham concerning, not only descendants, but land?” Are you following the post Vatican II like Pope Saint John Paul II? In Redemptoris Mater: According to Gal 4:4 and its context, “it is the coming of the Son of God that reveals that time has, so to speak, reached its limit. That is to say, the period marked by the promise made to Abraham and by the Law mediated by Moses has now reached its climax, in the sense that Christ fulfills the divine promise and supersedes the old law." So my question is, Your Excellency, are you following the Catholic magisterium? And would @Pontifex affirm the interpretation you are presenting to the bishops? 🧵⬇️

Trump has privately told his inner circle that some of his administration’s deportation policies have gone too far on.wsj.com/4blPduX

@JMcMurdockMP You should be ashamed sharing misleading rubbish. As an MP I’d bloody hope you understand this is about protecting women in desperate situations from criminalisation, & that legal abortion remains very strictly limited & regulated, authorised by 2 doctors up to 24 weeks.