Hello George,

>LL>The Jewish concept of Messiah is different from the Christian concep
>LL>of Messiah.

>GP>According to Christianity, their concept __IS__ the fulfillment of
>GP>the JEWISH one!

>LL>No, no, no, no.  You've got it all wrong.  There is a Jewish concept of
>LL>Messiah, and there is a Christian concept of Messiah.  The two concepts
>LL>are very different.  The Christian view is Jesus as Messiah, being both
>LL>human and divine.  The Jewish view is a Messiah who is strictly human,
>LL>one who will live and die, just as any other human.  Since Jesus lived,
>LL>died, and rose again, according to the Jewish view He could not be the
>LL>Messiah.

GP>But the Christian view is supposed to be the Jewish one -- as there's only o
GP>Messiah promised in the Scriptures! (okay, that's not true -- Cyrus was call
GP>"a Messiah"!)

One way to look at Christianity is Jesus' authoritative interpretation
of Torah.  IOW, instead of asking individual rabbis how they interpret
Torah, each rabbi having his own interpretation as being authoritative,
Christians accept Jesus' interpretation of Torah as being the one and
only authoritative interpretation.

>LL>For something to be regarded as being the Teaching of the Church,
>LL>it must be noted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or in a
>LL>Papal Encyclical.  Otherwise, it is not part of the Teaching of
>LL>the Church.  Since "co-mediatrix" (or similar terms) is not noted
>LL>in either the Catechism of the Catholic Church or in any Papal
>LL>Encyclical, it is not part of the Teaching of the Church.

GP>Ahhh, but the Rosary IS part of the Catechism, and the Rosary prayers are
GP>clearly seeking mediation between man and God by Mary, quite in opposition t
GP>the Scriptures!

The Rosary is a prayer consisting of may prayers.  The "Hail Mary" is
one of the prayers contained in the Rosary.  However, it is not a prayer
seeking mediation between man and God by Mary, but rather a prayer
asking Mary to "pray for us sinners" -  "...Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death."

>LL>If a pope says something at a cocktail party, it is an opinion.
>LL>But if a pope writes a Papal Encyclical, it is part of the Teaching
>LL>of the Church.

GP>And the Popes have since used the Papal Infallibility  clause twice, (once t
GP>declare Papal Infallibility, and the second time to contradict the Bible by
GP>saying Mary was born sinless and died a virgin)

It is not a contradiction, given there is nothing in the Bible saying
Mary was not born sinless or did not remain a virgin.  The same may also
be true with Papal Infallibility, although that one seems to be based on
Sacred Scripture ("What you bound on earth shall also be bound in
heaven").

Catholics believe in Sacred Tradition, in addition to Sacred Scripture.
However, nothing in Sacred Tradition can contradict Sacred Scripture.

For example, one of the Teachings of the Church, based on Sacred
Tradition, is that of Veronica's veil, where a woman named Veronica
wipes the face of Jesus with her veil as Jesus was dragging the cross
to the place of crucifixion.  There is nothing in Sacred Scripture
describing a woman named Veronica, or the veil she used to wipe the face
of Jesus.  But it is not a contradiction to say a woman named Veronica
wiped the face of Jesus with her veil.  It would be if Sacred Scripture
said a man named George wiped the face of Jesus with his handkerchief,
substituting Veronica for George and Veronica's veil for George's
handkerchief. Anyway, Veronica's veil is part of Sacred Tradition, which
is a bit different than Sacred Scripture.  Nothing in Sacred Tradition
can contradict anything in Sacred Scripture.  But what is in Sacred
Tradition is not necessarily in Sacred Scripture.

>LL>Some Catholics might believe in the concept of a "co-mediatrix".
>LL>Those who do are merely stating an opinion.  However, there is no
>LL>truth that the concept of a "co-mediatrix" is part of
the Teaching
>LL>of the Church.

GP>See the prayers to Mary. . .

Asking Mary to "pray for us sinners" is not the same as making
Mary a "co-mediatrix".  Asking a departed loved one to pray for
us is not making that departed loved one a "co-mediatrix".

If a soldier tells you he/she will be leaving for Iraq next week,
that soldier might ask you to "pray for me".  That does not make
the soldier a "co-mediatrix".

We pray for others, and hope others will pray for us.  Whether
Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or some other faith, it matters not.
For Catholics, asking Mary to "pray for us" is very natural.

--Lee


 * SLMR 2.1a * This tagline is umop apisdn
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5