Some of these seem to be bordering on dissent to me (very subtly).

The lecture on Faith & Works seems to imply that Luther was right about Sola Fide - the Church misunderstood him and has since lifted her condemnation. That is not true at all. I may just be misunderstanding him a bit but he would do well to clarify things like that.

The talk on priestly celibacy directly manipulates the context and tone of authority used when the pope declared the Church does not have the authority to ordain women. as if the question were open for future discussion. He also does the same thing though more subtly for priestly celibacy. Of course the question has since been revisited and was met with a resolute - no we will not be changing the practice.

Just a word of warning to anyone listening to these.

Tim,

Bordering is probably the best word. The implication is one shared by folks like Peter Kreeft (who explicitly says as much) and Scott Hahn. It's not heretical, but it's close -- one should be very clear on the Catholic doctrine of justification before this is simply accepted as, how shall I say, Gospel truth.

It's worth noting the Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith, but in the same breath I'll say that one ought not read the document without ALSO reading the Clarifications Pope JPII required before he allowed the JDJF to be signed.

In any case, good feedback, Tim!

God Bless,
CA

Catholic Audio, do you mean that Peter Kreeft and Scott Hahn believe Luther was right or that they don't believe he was right?

Irene,

Briefly, both. There's a Catholic way of understanding him to be correct (see, e.g., the JDJF I linked to above) and a Catholic way of seeing Luther's position as erroneous (see, e.g., JPII's clarification). My statement was that Drs. Kreeft and Hahn place heavy emphasis on the first and fail to mention (although I'm sure they're aware and agree with) the second. I'm not intentionally implying anything more.

God Bless,
Ryan

One must understand what they're reading when reading the Joint Declaration. For instance, it's not complete, but is what we share in common. The document is generous to the point of trying to bring in Lutherans back into the fullness of truth. However, there is absolutely no denial of "faith and works." To put it bluntly, Luther was wrong in that he dissected this teaching, and oversimplified thereby making it conform to less than the truth. Those who follow Luther literally have been led astray. What the Joint Declaration reminds Lutherans of subtly and charitably, is that faith must be open to love (which is then not faith alone). The Protestants have been trying to stretch the definition of "faith alone" to include love, etc. They've been trying to redefine themselves back to the Catholic teaching without admitting they were incomplete to begin with. It's kind of funny, as the father of Protestantism is pride and arrogance... which is still alive and well in Protestantism, keeping them from humbly admitting the truth, and where they have failed.