Common Core Theology From Pope Francis And Father Spadaro

Yesterday Father Antonio Spadaro, a close confidant of Pope Francis', released a tweet in which he opined "2+2 in theology can make 5 because it has to do with God and real life people".  As Mr. Olson (author of that article) points out, this statement constitutes a direct violation of the law of non-contradiction: that is, truth cannot contradict itself.

I'd urge all to read Mr. Olson's article closely.  He points out that Spadaro realized his tweet was going over like a lead balloon and issued another, essentially stepping from the frying pan into the fire: "GOD was made flesh and shows us that he is NOT only a MATHEMATICAL reason but that this original Reason is also LOVE #BenedictXVI"  He misquotes the Pope Emeritus who actually said at Auschwitz in 2006: "The God in whom we believe is a God of reason - a reason, to be sure, which is not a kind of cold mathematics of the universe, but is one with love and with goodness."  Spadaro set up a false contradiction between "love" and "reason".  Pope Benedict XVI, on the other hand, acknowledged that love can transcend reason but never contradict it.

We heard similar blathering from the newly-installed Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who took the reins at the Archdiocese of Newark.  He stated, "to believe in Jesus is not acceptance of a doctrine or a moral code, but of a person who lives now and is the source of life".  Notice the trick of setting up false dichotomies that seems now to be a perfected art form, starting at the Vatican.  The fact is that acceptance of Jesus does entail the acceptance of the doctrines and moral teachings of the Church.  If those "doctrines and codes" are not accepted, there is no belief in Jesus.  Why?  Because those "doctrines and codes" came to us from Jesus Himself.  Moreover, they are immutable because the God who bestowed them on us is Himself immutable.  Hear the words of Our Lord Himself.  I'll link to the Douay-Rheims Bible and invite you to peruse these passages:

• John 14: entire chapter
• John 15:10
• John 16:27
• 1 John 5:3
• 2 John 1:6

Notice the emphasis is on obedience, not "experience".  Too many Catholics are seduced by emotional experiences, thinking that these "experiences" have great significance.  They don't.

Getting back to Mr. Olson's article, we see a quote from Pope Benedict's address at Regensburg in which the Pope Emeritus refutes the errors that Spadaro is evincing.  After Benedict gave that address, many too umbrage at the address - including then-Cardinal Bergoglio.  By the way - after that "spit in the eye" he gave to the then-sitting pope, now Pope Francis has the nerve to sic his underlings on the four cardinals who delivered their dubia in proper canonical fashion?  How does that work?

Some might think my reference to "common core theology" to be a tad flippant.  I believe it's quite accurate, and may actually indicate quite a relationship between Spadaro's errors and the deliberate dumbing down of intellectual life that I suspect is the purpose of Common Core.  Perhaps that is a reason that too many Catholic educational institutions are adopting Common Core.  Perhaps they not only want to glom onto federal funding but they too want to facilitate the dumbing down of Catholic intellectual and moral life - to rob the Catholic in the pew of his/her rightful patrimony in the Faith.  Is this part of the "maturation" that we Catholics were supposed to undergo in the wake of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family?  It seems that a main purpose of all this "maturation" is to divorce Catholics from their moorings in the immutable teachings of Jesus, as handed down through the Church for these two thousand years, so that we will be easily manipulated by the "god of suprises" puppet as put forth by Pope Francis to cram all manners of heresy in our faces.  We cannot let that happen.