Why I came to love Benedict XVI | National Catholic Reporter

Why I came to love Benedict XVI | National Catholic Reporter by MSW.  MGB: Surrendering to Christ is not the same as surrendering to the hierarchy, especially in matters of natural law ethics.  The odd irony of this Pope was that he did not see that his version of natural law was actually relativistic because it was dependent on authority rather than reason.  Once tradition beats a superior argument, the truth suffers and you are surrendering to the Church rather than to Christ.

This is the tragedy of the Holy Father's resistance to gay marriage and a saner sexual ethic, although his linking of birth control to the economic empowerment of families is right on and could be used against those in the Church who insist that families practice Natural Family Planning rather than insist that they be given a higher wage with each child.  At the time of Caritas in Veritate, I referenced that victory from a Christian Left point of view - the problem is Michael Sean does not have a complete picture of who is and who is not in the Christian Left.

As to the hermeneutic of change, I suspect that Benedict, like John Paul II were part of a hermeneutic of resistance to too much change, which included a return to the English tranlsation which existed on the vernacular page of the Roman Missal.  While some of the prayers have certainly been altered, one can bring a 1962 Missal to Mass and follow along with the responses quite nicely.

The question before us now is whether Peter the Roman will try to finish to counter-revolution or be the agent of change which brings the Church to a modern path.  In the end, the result will be exactly the same, as the Pope and the bishops cannot hold onto the privileges they have guarded since times medieval.  I expect that both Catholicism and Orthodoxy will evolve into something looking more like Canterbury in the very near future, whether by choice or fiat.