Irony of Ironies

WORD-FM's own Roman Catholic producer Shaun Pierce



In the aftermath of two events: (1) the firing of Marty Minto for "alienating" his listeners by having the audacity to suggest, based soley on the New Testament, that John Paul II might not have made it to heaven, and (2) the election of a conservative pope, we have this little piece from the blog of Marty Minto's former Roman Catholic producer, Shaun Pierce. Commenting on Dominus Iesus, a statement issued by Cardinal Ratzinger in 2002, Piece says:

The statement implies that "Churches such as the Church of England, where the apostolic succession of bishops from the time of St. Peter is disputed by Rome, and churches without bishops, are not considered 'proper' churches." They suffer from "defects." This statement includes all denominations of Christianity with the exception of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. . . . The document is infallible since it was "explicitly approved and confirmed by the pope." Since the Church teaches that a very lengthy interval in Purgatory or an eternity in Hell awaits the unsaved, the adverse consequences of an individual following another religion (or a Christian denomination other than the RCC) are severe --perhaps infinite infinite in nature. Some of you may be outraged by these statements but there is really nothing new in the document. It reflects long-standing inclusivist beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church: that the Church alone possesses the full truth; all other faith groups have only elements of truth.

I see. So it's okay for someone representing WORD-FM to agree and restate unequivocally that Protestant churches are not "proper" churches, have serious "defects," and that the "adverse consequences" of the individual members of those churches "are severe --perhaps infinite in nature," so long as that belief is "really nothing new" in that "it reflects long-standing inclusivist beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church: that the Church alone possesses the full truth; all other faith groups have only elements of truth." But if you say the same thing about Roman Catholics vis-a-vis the biblical gospel, you get fired.

Shameful; utterly shameful. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling rather alienated.