A Penitent Blogger
The Pope was wrong
In today’s first reading, St. Paul recounts an occasion in which he saw St. Peter as “clearly in the wrong” and chastised him in public.
This episode may be a little disquieting for cradle Catholics, raised to venerate the Apostles and to respect the Pope as the Successor of Peter.
It would be amusing to imagine this moment between the two Apostles as if it were a televised debate between politicians.
“Peter, you are not being straight with the Antiochean people….”
“Paul has got his facts wrong….”
Seriously, there was no disagreement between Peter and Paul concerning doctrine – the truth of the Gospel – in which any notion of infallibility would come into play.
The issue at hand concerned what was the best course to follow in helping specific people come to understand that truth in its fullness.
Paul, like Peter, understood that people cannot fully learn or even grasp everything all at once: people have to learn one step at a time (and sometimes they must take baby steps). Paul also understood the value of introducing the truth of the Gospel in ways that are specifically tailored to a specific audience (cf. Acts 17) and of making adjustments just to avoid controversies that would unnecessarily get in the way of the proclamation of the Gospel (going so far as to circumcise Timothy in Acts 16).
So what we have in today’s first reading is a disagreement about the appropriateness of a particular pastoral technique for a particular circumstance. As a rule, faithful and intelligent people can legitimately disagree on the appropriateness of techniques. As a rule, such disagreements must remain within the bounds of charity and not disproportionately disrupt the order of the community (of course none of us have the unique and direct apostolic mandate that St. Paul enjoyed).
None of us are perfect (I least of all). We may each be at different stages, but we are all on the same road toward perfection. Each of us – even the most ignorant sinner – can help others in some way and each of us – even the most prominent of Christian teachers – need to be helped by others in some way.
With charity, with humility, with truth, and with God’s grace, let us always help each other.
This episode may be a little disquieting for cradle Catholics, raised to venerate the Apostles and to respect the Pope as the Successor of Peter.
It would be amusing to imagine this moment between the two Apostles as if it were a televised debate between politicians.
“Peter, you are not being straight with the Antiochean people….”
“Paul has got his facts wrong….”
Seriously, there was no disagreement between Peter and Paul concerning doctrine – the truth of the Gospel – in which any notion of infallibility would come into play.
The issue at hand concerned what was the best course to follow in helping specific people come to understand that truth in its fullness.
Paul, like Peter, understood that people cannot fully learn or even grasp everything all at once: people have to learn one step at a time (and sometimes they must take baby steps). Paul also understood the value of introducing the truth of the Gospel in ways that are specifically tailored to a specific audience (cf. Acts 17) and of making adjustments just to avoid controversies that would unnecessarily get in the way of the proclamation of the Gospel (going so far as to circumcise Timothy in Acts 16).
So what we have in today’s first reading is a disagreement about the appropriateness of a particular pastoral technique for a particular circumstance. As a rule, faithful and intelligent people can legitimately disagree on the appropriateness of techniques. As a rule, such disagreements must remain within the bounds of charity and not disproportionately disrupt the order of the community (of course none of us have the unique and direct apostolic mandate that St. Paul enjoyed).
None of us are perfect (I least of all). We may each be at different stages, but we are all on the same road toward perfection. Each of us – even the most ignorant sinner – can help others in some way and each of us – even the most prominent of Christian teachers – need to be helped by others in some way.
With charity, with humility, with truth, and with God’s grace, let us always help each other.
posted by Penitens | 2:37 PM
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