I'm not aware that the church has ever taught that the saints were perfect,
except for Mary. One immediately thinks of Peter's denial of Jesus. It's
certainly an imperfection on an apostle's part to deny the Lord and one
hardly deniable on the church's part.
Bro Thomas
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 2:27 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: saints
>
> In a message dated 01/14/2000 12:11:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > My own plea to return to a discussion of medieval religion was prompted
> by
> > this remark in one of the messages: "Because the Church needs to be
> seen as
> > perfect, it simply cannot admit ANY wrongdoing of its saints. That is
> one
> > reason why it has little credibility in the rest of the world." I have
> no
> > problem with a discussion of John Chrysostom on the Jew nor even
> reflections
> > on their relationship to 20th century infelicities.
> >
> > Thomas Sullivan, OSB
> >
>
> Fr. Sullivan,
>
> I always thought the claim of your respondent was a popular fallacy rather
>
> than an article of faith--that the Church does not actually claim the
> saints
> are perfect, although many people erroneously believe that this is what
> the
> Church teaches.
>
> Could somebody please clarify the theology, or the logic? I'm not
> interested
> in whether the saints are perfect, but in whether the Church ever made
> belief
> in the perfection of the saints any kind of article of faith. My guess is
>
> that the Church didn't do this or wouldn't do this. If one believes that
> only
> God is perfect, it's too illogical to attribute perfection to the saints.
> It
> elevates them to the level of God, which in turn conflicts with the
> proposition that there is only one God.
>
> Sorry to sound like a warmed-over scholastic, but hope people see the
> point.
> It's certainly a very medieval point. Many of Dante's saints make small
> mistakes in what they say in the Commedia. Not everyone agrees with me
> that
> this is of any importance. I think it's Dante's way of reminding us that
> only
> God is perfect, that no human being--not even a saint--can be perfect.
> And
> I'd regard that, in turn, as a very pious, orthodox, Catholic point for
> him
> to be making.
>
> pat sloane
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