10 Ways Bishop Barron Bosses at Evangelization

6 thoughts on “10 Ways Bishop Barron Bosses at Evangelization”

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2. 

   Greg Mockeridge

   July 28, 2015 at 2:21 pm

   In #4, Fr. Barron’s analysis regarding actual events in dealing with Just War is deficient, woefully deficient in some parts. The idea that very few wars fit the criteria for going to war is a matter of opinion, not of fact.

   In his remarks regarding certain actions in WWII, he is at best, ignorant of the actual circumstances that gave rise to these actions, or at worst, counting on the ignorance of his audience of these actual circumstances. Nowhere is this more apparent in his remarks regarding the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He says they can’t be justified on the grounds of proportionality. In fact, the decision to drop the bombs passes the proportionality test with flying colors. Not only did the atomic bombings save countless American lives, they saved an even greater proportion of Japanese lives. The alternative would have been a bloody invasion that would have wiped out millions of Japanese lives given outright militarization of practically the entire Japanese adult population. Anyone who knows anything about the historical circumstances and is serious about applying Catholic moral principles would never cite Elizabeth Anscombe as a credible source. Her ignorance of those events is only surpassed by her arrogance and meanspiritedness toward President Truman.

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   1. 

      Patrick Thornton

      July 28, 2015 at 2:39 pm

      Bishop-elect Barron’s remark on “proportionality” is based on Catholic teaching condemning the principle of “proportionalism” used by such famed theologians as Curran and McBrien to rationalize things like contraception, sex outside of marriage, homosexual acts, and abortion. The acts of dropping the atomic bombs cannot be justified by “proportionality” because evil acts can NEVER be justified even if the results seem overwhelmingly positive as they were in WWII. The Catholic teaching is that one can never choose an immoral object even if the effect of that choice would be great good. The end never justifies the means in Catholic moral theology and “proportionalism” was completely condemned by St. John Paul II in Veritatis Splendor.

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      1. 

         Greg Mockeridge

         July 28, 2015 at 3:16 pm

         To say that the atomic bombings satisfy the principle of proportionality is not to engage in proportionalism. Proportionality is not the only criteria upon which one can justify the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Catholic moral theologian Fr. Heribert Jone discusses the moral criteria for atomic warfare:

         The fourth condition required for positing an action that has an evil effect that there be a sufficient reason, i.e., a proportionate resulting good, to permit the evil effect. The morality of using either the atomic or hydrogen bomb as a weapon of war is therefore, not a question of principle, which remains unchangeable, but a question of fact, and the fact questioned is whether there can be a military objective so vital to an enemy, the destruction of which would be a sufficient reason to permit the death of a vast number of civilians who at most contribute only remotely and indirectly to the war effort. We think this proportion can exist 1) because today’s concept of “total war” has greatly restricted the meaning of the term “non-combatant”; 2) because in modern warfare the conscription of industry, as well as manpower, greatly extends the effort on the home front; and 3) because it is difficult to set limits to the defense action of a people whose physical and even spiritual existence is threatened by a godless tyranny. Therefore, while use of atomic weapons must be greatly restricted to the destruction of military objectives, nevertheless, it may be justified without doing violence to the principle of a twofold effect. (Moral Theology #219 pp. 143-44 1961 Edition”

         And given the fact that the line between combatant and non-combatant had been completely erased, it cannot be said that non-combatants were in any way targeted.

         MacArthur biographer William Manchester notes:

         “Hirohito’s generals, grimly preparing for the invasion, had not abandoned hope of saving their homeland. Although a few strategic islands had been lost, they told each other, most of their conquests, including the Chinese heartland, were firmly in their hands, and the bulk of their army was undefeated. Even now they could scarcely believe that any foe would have the audacity to attempt landings in Japan itself. Allied troops, they boasted, would face the fiercest resistance in history. Over ten thousand kamikaze planes were readied for “Ketsu-Go,” Operation Decision. Behind the beaches, enormous connecting underground caves had been stocked with caches of food and thousands of tons of ammunition. Manning the nation’s ground defenses were 2,350,000 regular soldiers, 250,000 garrison troops, and 32,000,000 civilian militiamen, a total of 34,600,000, more than the combined armies of the United States, Great Britain, and Nazi Germany. All males aged fifteen to sixty, and all females ages seventeen to forty-five, had been conscripted. Their weapons included ancient bronze cannon, muzzle loaded muskets, bamboo spears, and bows and arrows. Even little children had been trained to strap explosives around their waists, roll under tank treads, and blow themselves up. They were called “Sherman’s carpets.” This was the enemy the Pentagon had learned to fear and hate,a country of fanatics dedicated to hara-kiri, determined to slay as many invaders as possible as they went down fighting. [William Manchester: American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964, pg. 510-511)]”

         No, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not moral evils in and of themselves. And before someone like Father (soon to be Bishop) Barron to so carelessly level such accusations on this issue and others like it is a serious problem given his influence in orthodox Catholic circles.

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         1. 

            Baron Korf

            February 24, 2016 at 8:57 pm

            So why is it so vile for them to conscript their whole populace in an all out defense against an invasion, but meritorious for us to incinerate that same populace in two cities in place of the invasion? It would seem we both sunk to the pit that they themselves already inhabited.

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3. 

   PlanetJuggler

   August 18, 2015 at 9:18 am

   My biggest problem with Bishop-elect Barron is that he has – on several occasions – stated his belief in universalism (or near-universalism). He actually thinks that very few people, if any, are in hell.

   This means that his evangelization efforts are tempered because – ultimately – it doesn’t matter what people believe, as long as they are good according to their own consciences because almost nobody really goes to hell.

   This is a wrong way of thinking, and it is evident in his videos about same-sex marriage where he refuses to condemn the homosexual act or lifestyle.

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