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Sunday, June 11, 2023

A Matter of Interpretation

It was brought to my attention that Tim Rohr was using my posts to mislead people. According to  Rohr (the bold is mine):

Diana goes on to copy a portion of an article from Crux and emphasizes the following:

An exception exists for “national churches,” like the U.S. Catholic community at St. Patrick Church in Rome, and for members of the Neocatechumenal Way, whose Vatican-approved statutes allow for small-group celebrations of the Easter vigil.

Sounds pretty authoritative, coming from Rome and all. However, the excerpt is from a document distributed by the "episcopal council of the Rome diocese" to the Rome diocese, which is why "the U.S. Catholic Community...in Rome" is mentioned.

Rohr misleads people by focusing that the letter was to the Rome Diocese. However, what I placed in bold clearly showed that the Statutes of the Neocatecumenal Way allowed for small-group celebrations of the Easter Vigil. Does Tim Rohr think that the NCW in Rome have a DIFFERENT approved Statutes? Rome was referring to the Statutes that all NCW worldwide have.  Rohr goes on to say: 

Meanwhile, the episcopal council of Rome appears not to have read the NCW Statutes which say nothing about "small-group celebrations of the Easter vigil." 

 So what? Nowhere in Scripture does it mention the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, where did we get this teaching? Well, certainly not from Tim Rohr. We got this from the Holy See...the Vatican. Tim Rohr is simply taking a stance that all Protestants use against the Catholic Church. Who is Tim Rohr to dictate what should be and should not be in the approved Statutes?

In the same way, just because one does not see "small-group celebrations of the Easter Vigil" in the Statutes does not mean that we should not celebrate it in small groups. The NCW have been saying all along that we are allowed to celebrate the Easter Vigil in small groups, and it was that document from the Episcopal Council of the Rome Diocese who interpreted the approved Statutes in that way. So, why should one listen to Tim Rohr? The NCW received its instruction and interpretation from the Holy See since the approval of its Statutes. And the NCW recognize only Pope Francis...not pope Tim.

2 comments:

  1. Spot on! Who is Tim Rohr? Is he a bishop? Is he the Pope? Who is he that he should decide what goes in the statutes? Who died and made him pope?

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  2. Rohr is exactly like the Pharisees in the Bible who accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. Just because the letter of the law says that God commanded the Israelites to work for 6 days and rest on the 7th day doesnt mean that you should refrain from helping your neighbors.

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