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Bishop Schneider on Prof. Seifert, Cardinal Caffarra, and the Duty to Resist

Editor’s Note: the following is an interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider, conducted by OnePeterFive’s Dr. Maike Hickson. Bishop Schneider is Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Astana, Kazakhstan. 

Maike Hickson (MH): You have signed, together with Professor Josef Seifert (among many others), the Filial Appeal confirming the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage. Professor Seifert has now been removed by his Spanish archbishop from his Dietrich von Hildebrand Chair at the International Academy of Philosophy in Granada, Spain – with the explicit adverse reference to his critique of certain statements that are contained in Amoris Laetitia. Could we ask you for your response to such a punitive measure, which was justified with the argument that Professor Seifert was undermining the Catholic Church’s unity and was confusing the faithful?

Bishop Athanasius Schneider (BAS): Professor Josef Seifert has made an urgent and a very meritorious act in formulating publicly and respectfully critical questions about some evidently ambiguous affirmations in the Papal document Amoris Laetitia, considering that these affirmations are causing a moral and disciplinary anarchy in the life of the Church, an anarchy which is under the eyes of all and which no one who still uses his own reason and has true faith and honesty can deny. The punitive measure against Professor Seifert on behalf of an ecclesiastical office holder is not only unjust, but represents ultimately an escape from truth, a refusal of an objective debate and of a dialogue, whilst at the same time the culture of dialogue is proclaimed as a major priority in the life of the Church of our days. Such a clerical behavior against a true Catholic intellectual, as is Professor Seifert, reminds me of the words with which Saint Basil the Great described an analogous situation in the 4th century, when Arian clerics invaded and occupied the majority of the episcopal sees: “Only one offence is now vigorously punished—an accurate observance of our fathers’ traditions. For this cause the pious are driven from their countries and transported into deserts. Religious people keep silence, but every blaspheming tongue is let loose” (Ep. 243).

MH: When we speak about the unity of the Church: what is the basis for the unity? Do we have to sacrifice all reasoned and prudent debate over matters of Faith and Doctrine – if there are coming up different and incommensurate teachings – in order not to cause a possible rift within the Church?

BAS: The basis of the authentic unity of the Church is the truth. The Church is in its very nature “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3: 15). This principle has been valid ever since the time of the Apostles and it is an objective criterion for this unity: it means the “truth of the Gospel” (cf Gal. 2: 5.14). Pope John Paul II said: “Over and above unity in love, unity in truth is always urgent for us” (Address to the Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, Puebla, January 28, 1979). Saint Irenaeus taught: “The Church believes the truths of the Faith just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth” (Adv. haer., I, 10, 2). In the very beginning of the Church God showed us the obligation to defend the truth, when it is in danger of being deformed on behalf of any member of the Church, even if this should be uttered on behalf of the Supreme Pastor of the Church, as it was the case with Saint Peter in Antioch (cf. Gal. 2: 14). This principle of fraternal correction inside the Church was valid at all times, even towards the Pope, and so it should be valid in our times as well. Unfortunately, whoever in our days dares to speak the truth – even when he does it with respect towards the Pastors of the Church – is classified as an enemy of the unity, as it likewise happened to Saint Paul; for, he had stated: “I have turned into your enemy simply by saying the truth to you” (Gal. 4: 16).

MH: Many prelates have now, in the recent past, remained silent out of fear of causing a schism in the Church when publicly asking questions or raising objections toward Pope Francis with regard to his teaching on marriage. What would you say to them about their choice of silence?

BAS: First of all, we should bear in mind, that the Pope is the first servant in the Church (servus servorum). He is the first who has to obey in an exemplary manner all the truths of the unchanging and constant Magisterium, because he is only an administrator, and not an owner, of the Catholic truths, which he has received from all his predecessors. The Pope must never himself behave towards the constantly transmitted truths and the discipline by referring to them as if he were an absolute monarch, saying “I am the Church” (analogously to the French King Louis XIV: “L’état c´est moi”). Pope Benedict XVI has formulated the matter aptly: “The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.” (Homily of May 7, 2005). The bishops are not employees of the Pope, but Divinely constituted colleagues of the Pope, although jurisdictionally subordinated to him, yet still colleagues and brothers. When the Pope is himself tolerating a wide dissemination of obvious errors of faith and of grave abuses of the sacraments (like the admittance of unrepentant adulterers to the sacraments), the bishops should not behave themselves like servile employees wrapping themselves in silence. Such an attitude would demonstrate indifference toward the grave responsibility of the Petrine ministry and would contradict the very collegial nature of the episcopacy and the authentic love for the Successor of Peter. One has to recall the words of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, which he spoke in the time of the general doctrinal confusion of the 4th century: “Today, under the pretext of a piety that is false, under the deceptive appearance of a preaching of the Gospel, some people are trying to deny the Lord Jesus. I speak the truth, so that the cause of the confusion that we are suffering may be known to all. I cannot keep silent” (Contra Auxentium, 1, 4).

MH: Let us return to Professor Seifert’s own polite critique of Amoris Laetitia. In his new August 2017 article, he raises the question as to whether claiming that sometimes divorced and “remarried” couples might have to maintain sexual relations for the sake of the children of that new bond does not actually lead to the conclusion that there are no moral absolutes anymore; that is to say, that many a mortal sin could, in certain situations, turn out to be not any longer sinful in God’s eyes. Professor Seifert sees this logic to be potentially a “moral atomic bomb” which will lead to moral relativism. Would you agree with him here?

BAS: I am completely agreeing with Professor Seifert on this point, and I warmly recommend that others also read his magisterial article, entitled “Does Pure Logic Threaten to Destroy the Entire Moral Doctrine of the Catholic Church?”. In his book “Athanasius and the Church of Our Days” Bishop Rudolf Graber of Regensburg wrote in 1973: “What happened over 1600 years ago is repeating itself today, but with two or three differences: Alexandria is today the Universal Church, the stability of which is being shaken, and what was undertaken at that time by means of physical force and cruelty is now being transferred to a different level. Exile is replaced by banishment into the silence of being ignored, killing by assassination of character.” This description is also applicable to the current case of Professor Seifert.

MH: Having yourself grown up in a totalitarian country, what are your own considerations concerning academic freedom in Spain when an internationally renowned professor can be removed from his academic positions merely for having raised questions, polite questions, concerning a papal document and for having pointed to the possible dangers of some of its statements?

BAS: For decades it became within the Church politically correct and “good manners” to proclaim and to promote practically the freedom of theological speech, debate and research, so that freedom in thinking and speaking became a slogan. At the same time, one can now observe the paradox that this very freedom is denied to those in the Church who in our days raise their voices with respect and politeness in defense of the truth. This bizarre situation reminds me of a famous song which I had to sing in the Communist school in my childhood, and whose wording was, as follows: “The Soviet Union is my beloved homeland, and I do not know another country in the world where man can breathe so freely.”

MH: May you tell us any words that Cardinal Carlo Caffarra related to you personally with respect to our current Church crisis, his words that might constitute, in part, a kind of legacy?

BAS: I spoke only twice with Cardinal Caffarra. Even those short meetings and conversations with Cardinal Caffarra have left in me some deep impressions. I saw in him a true man of God, a man of faith, of the supernatural view. I noticed in him a deep love for the truth. When I spoke with him about the necessity for the bishops to raise their voices in view of the widespread attack against the indissolubility of marriage and the sanctity of the sacramental bonds of marriage, he said: “When we bishops do this, we must fear nobody and nothing, for we have nothing to lose.” Once I told to a deeply believing and highly intelligent Catholic lady from the United States the phrase used by Cardinal Caffarra, namely that we bishops have nothing to lose when we speak the truth. To this she then spoke these unforgettable words: “You will lose everything when you will not do this.”

MH: Do you see it to be justified that other cardinals – such as Cardinal Christoph Schönborn or Cardinal Óscar Rodrígez Maradiaga – have rebuked the four cardinals for having ever published the dubia?

BAS: The formulating and the publishing of the dubia on behalf of the four Cardinals was a highly meritorious and, in some sense, also an historical act, truly honoring the Sacred College of Cardinals. In the current situation, the indissolubility and the sanctity of the sacramental marriage are being undermined and, in practice, denied through the normative admittance of unrepentant adulterers to the sacraments, trivializing and profaning thereby also the sacraments of Marriage, Penance, and the Eucharist. At stake is ultimately the validity of the Divine Commandments and of the entire moral law, as Professor Seifert has rightly stated in his above-mentioned article, and for which he was grievously punished. We can compare this situation to a ship in a stormy sea, in which the captain ignores the obvious dangers, whereas the majority of his officers wrap themselves in silence, saying: “All is just fine on the sinking ship.” When in such a situation a small part of the ship’s officers then raise their voices for the sake of the safety of all passengers, they are grotesquely as well as unjustly criticized by their colleagues as mutineers or as spoilsports. Even if the captain finds the voices of the few officers at the moment disturbing, he will gratefully recognize their help later, when he will have to confront the danger, looking it in the face, and when he will once appear in front of the Divine Judge. And so also will be grateful, both passengers and History, when the danger will have passed. The courageous act and the names of those few officers will be remembered as truly selfless and heroic; but surely not those officers, who out of ignorance, or out of opportunism, or out of servilism, wrapped themselves in silence or even absurdly criticized those who took saving action on that sinking ship. This corresponds in some way to the current situation around the dubia of the Four Cardinals. One has to remind himself what Saint Basil observed during the Arian crisis: “Men in authority are afraid to speak, for those who have reached power by human interest are the slaves of those to whom they owe their advancement. And now the very vindication of orthodoxy is looked upon in some quarters as an opportunity for mutual attack; and men conceal their private ill-will and pretend that their hostility is all for the sake of the truth. All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance, because adulterators of the word imitate the truth. The better ones of the laity shun the churches as schools of impiety and lift their hands in the deserts with sighs and tears to their Lord in heaven. The faith of the Fathers we have received; that faith we know is stamped with the marks of the Apostles; to that faith we assent, as well as to all that in the past was canonically and lawfully promulgated” (Ep. 92, 2).

MH: Now that there are only two dubia cardinals left – after the death of both Cardinal Carlo Caffarra and Cardinal Joachim Meisner – what are your own hopes with regard to other cardinals who might now step in and fill the void?

BAS: I hope and wish that more cardinals, like the officers of that ship in a storming sea will now join their voices to the voices of the Four Cardinals, independently of praise or blame.

MH: In general, what should Catholics – laymen or clergymen alike – now do if they are being pressured into accepting certain controversial aspects of Amoris Laetitia, for example with regard to the “remarried” divorcees and their possibly permitted access to the Sacraments? What about those priests who refuse to give out Holy Communion to these “remarried” couples? What about the Catholic lay professors who are being threatened with the removal from their teaching positions because of their actual or perceived criticism of Amoris Laetitia? What can we all now do when we are faced, in our consciences, with the alternatives either to betray Our Lord’s teaching, or to go into resolute disobedience toward our superiors?

BAS: When priests and laypeople remain faithful to the unchanging and constant teaching and practice of the entire Church, they are in communion with all the Popes, orthodox bishops and the Saints of the two thousand years, being in a special communion with Saint John the Baptist, Saint Thomas More, Saint John Fisher and with the innumerable abandoned spouses who remained faithful to their marriage vows, accepting a life of continence in order not to offend God. The constant voice in the same sense and meaning (eodem sensu eademque sententia) and the corresponding practice of two thousand years are more powerful and surer than the discordant voice and practice of admitting unrepentant adulterers to Holy Communion, even if this practice is promoted by a single Pope or the diocesan bishops. In this case we have to follow the constant teaching and practice of the Church, for here works the true tradition, the “democracy of the deceased,” it means the majority voice of those who have preceded us. Saint Augustine answered to the erroneous untraditional Donatist practice of the re-baptism and re-ordination, affirming that the constant and unchanging practice of the Church since the times of the Apostles corresponds to the sure judgment of the entire world: “The whole world judges right,” i.e., “Securus judicat orbis terrarum” (Contra Parmenianum III, 24). It means the entire Catholic tradition judges surely and with certainty against a fabricated and short-living practice which, in an important point, contradicts the entire Magisterium of all times. Those priests, who would be now forced by their superiors to give Holy Communion to public and unrepentant adulterers, or to other notorious and public sinners, should answer them with a holy conviction: “Our behavior is the behavior of the entire Catholic world throughout two thousand years”: “The whole world judges right,” “Securus judicat orbis terrarum”! Blessed John Henry Newman said in the Apologia pro sua vita: “The deliberate judgment, in which the whole Church at length rests and acquiesces, is an infallible prescription and a final sentence against a temporal novelty.” In this our historical context those priests and faithful should say to their ecclesiastical Superiors, and Bishops, as well as they should say lovingly and respectfully to the Pope what Saint Paul once said: “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your renewal and restoration is what we pray for” (2 Cor. 13: 8).

95 thoughts on “Bishop Schneider on Prof. Seifert, Cardinal Caffarra, and the Duty to Resist”

  1. “The basis of the authentic unity of the Church is the truth.”

    Amen.

    Eph 4,5-6 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.”

    There is One Lord – who is the TRUTH; there is one faith – which is the TRUTH He has revealed to us; and there is one baptism -which empowers us to believe that TRUTH with supernatural faith. All of these are necessary for being made one with the One God who is our Heavenly Father – who is the origin and end of all TRUTH.

    How anybody can believe that the unity of the Church is dependent or founded on anything less than TRUTH, beggars belief. This stuff is Scripture 101 and even the bishops who have their spines removed at ordination should be able to understand this. As ever, though, it is those who refuse to speak up for the Truth who are the greatest enemies of unity in the end. The schism, when it comes, will be entirely their doing because they preferred worldly comforts to the dangers of defending Truth. Miserable hirelings.

    Reply
      • I seem to recall that Rodriguez Maradiaga gleefully declared, in the early days of this current pontificate, that it was Francis’ intention to change the Church forever, such that what pre-existed the Bergoglian era could never be restored. Bergoglio’s enduring belligerent silence, coupled with his use of attack dogs to stifle all dissent, is surely the realisation of Rodriguez Maradiaga’ prediction. And being the best of chums, he could only have heard it from Francis himself.

        Reply
          • I have to keep reminding myself that Jesus is not asleep in the stern of the boat. Shortly before he died, Cardinal Caffarra was asked if he was at peace. He replied to the effect that, humanly speaking, no! But in spirit, he was certain that Jesus would not abandon His Church. Consider St. John Bosco’s prophecy of the Two Pillars. We may hope and pray that, after Francis will come the promised holy pontiff who will restore all things in Christ.

          • …”after Francis will come the promised holy pontiff who will restore all things in Christ.”
            Unless the hand of God intervenes in the next conclave through mysterious and hidden means, it is impossible that an orthodox and holy Pope should be elected.
            On the contrary we must prepare having to withstand another Francis, probably worse.
            – Francis deeply changed the college of the cardinals allowed to vote, exclusively appointing a lot of hypermodernist new cardinals.
            – Thus the Saint Gallen mafia increased of many new members will become more powerful than ever and prone to rig again the new conclave through the means which so successfully worked in the previous one.
            That’s exactly like Francis said: “Changing the Church in an irreversible way”.

          • You are absolutely correct in that, ‘in the normal course of events’ as it were, it is an impossibility that the pontificate of Jorge Mario Bergoglio will come to an end, either by his death or by his abdication, and then will follow a conclave that will elect a great and saintly pope. Any conclave convened under such circumstances would be certain to give the Church Bergoglio 2.0. That would, of course, be completely ruinous for the Church. But these are not the times of ‘the normal course of events’. The world is on the brink of war. Kim Jong Un is not acting completely independently. If China is the dragon, North Korea is its tail. China is committed to all-out war with the U.S. North Korea is being used to provoke a military response from the U.S. and its allies, by which the U.S. will be regarded as the aggressor. China now has everything in place to conduct a major war against the U.S. and the Asia Pacific region. It is Russia that has provided North Korea, and Iran, with nuclear know-how. Russia is currently conducting ‘exercises’ code-named Zapad, (West) with Belarus, and is plainly lying about the number of troops involved, very close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania. (They claim it involves only 13,000 troops, which does not require NATO observers, but many in the West, including the Lithuanian government, are certain that Putin is lying). It could indeed be merely ‘exercises’ but even than, the purpose is to assess NATO’s reaction and resolve. I am no prophet, and I do not have a crystal ball, but there is a very real possibility that we could be on the verge of a major war in which China will focus attention on the U.S. and the Asia Pacific region, while Russia simultaneously attacks Western Europe to eliminate NATO.
            Ever since the time of the demoniac Mohamed, the Muslims have boasted of their certain and inevitable conquest of Rome. They now have degenerate savages aplenty throughout Italy and the rest of Western Europe. They will fail in their objectives, but they will fail very, very violently. It is certainly a possibility that the pontificate of Jorge Mario Bergoglio could end very violently; with his martyrdom, no less. And that could be the means of his salvation.

          • Many will be familiar with the events and messages of Garabandal, especially the prophecy concerning the Warning, or Illumination of Conscience, and the Miracle, which is promised to be the greatest miracle that God has ever worked on earth; (far greater, therefore, than the great Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, (the centenary of which is a mere 31/2 weeks away). It is said that, according to St. Padre Pio, the price of the Miracle will be “the blood of Europe; oceans of blood.” This ties in very well with the graphic prophecies given to Blessed Elena Aiello, which also describe a Russian attack on Rome and Western Europe. None of these things, like the terrible prophecy given to Sister Agnes Sasagawa at Akita on October 13th. 1973, are guaranteed to happen; their prevention is wholly dependent upon our response, which sadly, even on the part of the Church, has been woefully deficient. But, Pope St. John Paul II stated that, even though these chastisements can still be mitigated, they can no longer be completely averted.

          • You make a very powerful case. We have to trust in God. The Russian exercises have a hidden motive. There is a great deal of military hardware going into Belarus. The idea is to then pull out the troops and leave the materiel behind. — However, you have to remember that Western society is no barrel of laughs. Amoris Laetitia is a clarion call to the “fornicating, adulterating, and sodomizing” because that is what Western society has become. JPII talked of the culture of death. Francis lionizes the conscience and the humanistic fulfillment of Western man.— Either there is sin or there isn’t. Francis says that there isn’t. JPII said that there was.— Russia and China are radical socialists. Francis is a radical socialist. That is the link.—I was stationed in Naples for six months on board ship. That is NATO headquarters out in the country side. An invasion of Italy will succeed because NATP troops no longer have the will to win. Women in uniform have destroyed the role of women in the family. Abortion is plentiful and was supported by Barry O.—The Donald is more Christian actually than the pope as far as policy. Most of his policies are God loving while the pontiff remains silent and then calls out Trump for being a “joker”. Actually, the joke is on him. There is a good chance that the Third Secret is about him and we will see his head on a pike at the gates of Rome.

          • “Western society is no barrel of laughs …..”. It is my contention that ours is the most corrupt generation in all of history. Though history is replete with examples of societies that have brought about their own abject demise because of their descent into utter moral depravity, the culpability of the post-Christian West is by far the greater, since for the last 2000 years we have had the full revelation of Jesus Christ, we have, for the larger part, contemptuously rejected it. Therefore, the unprecedented calamities that are now hanging over our heads, we have brought upon ourselves. In 1984, the Bishop of Leiria Fatima, Cosme do Amaral, quoting official Fatima archivist Fr. Alonso, stated that; “the Secret of Fatima speaks neither of of atomic bombs, nor of nuclear war, nor of SS20 missiles. Its content concerns only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with a nuclear holocaust is to distort the meaning of the Message. The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a a nation; and its is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe.”

            The phrase; “distort the meaning of the Message” is interesting. I would suggest that what is implied here is that, while the wholesale apostasy of the West and the loss of untold millions of souls is the primary meaning of the Secret, the wars and other catastrophes are the secondary meaning of the Secret in that they are the inevitable consequence of our apostasy. There is no doubt that the politically preconceived, orchestrated and heavily financed invasion of Western Europe by barbaric and degenerate muslim hordes is permitted by God as an instrument of punishment, correction and purification for the post-Christian West. This does not mean that the West will be subjugated by islam in perpetuity. It was God’s purpose that the forebears of these same barbaric invaders were used as instruments of chastisement for the Israelites. But once that had been accomplished and the Jews were restored to fidelity to the one true God, their enemies were destroyed.
            Fr. Alonso also stated that; “It is entirely probable that the test of the Third Secret makes concrete allusions to the crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves …….[and] internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence by the high hierarchy [and] …. deficiencies of the upper hierarchy of the Church

          • Yesterday, Francis stated that it is not valid to reject mass hordes of immigrants in order to preserve culture. He is out to create a new world culture in order to create a modern utopia. Even the new Mass reflects the rejection of the crucifixion and the ascendancy of a focus on the Resurrection and a New World Order as written of by Malachi Martin who was a Jesuit and wrote “The Jesuits” as a prediction of just what would happen.—-Here in St. Louis, there are more riots over a just decision in a court case. This follows similar events with Michael Brown in 1994. Our archbishop, Robert Carlson, is in the forefront of uniting for social justice. He is being used by the radical left to maneuver for the destruction of capitalism and the ascendancy of Les Miserables with all of the disgusting anti Christian beliefs of the Bolsheviks which are anti family. —- He believes that he is creating a more just society when in reality he is now in the lead in maneuvering for its destruction. Did I forget to say that he is the replacement for Raymond Cardinal Burke when he was “run out of town” by the radical left in 2008 and “kicked upstairs” to assuage the abortionists and gays. He is being used.— For some reason, St. Louis has been selected as a “Skinner Box” for the new world order. Kenrick-Glennon has always had a good reputation for the training of priests. It is documented that AB Carlson actively recruited gays for the seminary and through someone who was ordained through that system, it has been verified that anyone Orthodox was removed during training.—-I have been in two different social venues with priests in training for the archdiocese. There is a hard core group of gays which have taken over the college at Glennon. There is now rampant drug use among this cadre as well. This is beyond just the sporting use of marijuana. Where is the money for their lifestyle coming from?

          • It is indeed a horrifying picture that you paint of the current situation in St. Louis. And what is worse, it is most unlikely that St. Louis is an exceptional case. And I did note Bergoglio’s latest outrageous exhortation on migrants. It is for reasons such as this that I cannot escape the conclusion that Bergoglio is psychopathic.

          • I would like to think so but am not so sure. He has extreme self confidence almost to the point of “delusions of grandeur”. My concern is over the fact of a complete lack of humility. Benedict was a humble man.— There are visions that Francis has characteristics of the anti Christ.

          • Here’s one thing that you are missing. Bergoglio is predicted to be the final pope. That does not mean the end of the world. It just means that the Church will no longer have a pontiff. This is also predicted in the writings of Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, who predicted the merging of Church and society. On paper, that is what Communism preaches. Malachi Martin, SJ, who died in 1999, documented the blue print in his book “The Jesuits”. The final Church will not have a pope. It will be “the people of God” who make all the rules.

          • Bergoglio is the last pope in this era of salvation history. But the last pope ever, he definitely is not. The Church is the Body of Christ on earth. It is the Church’s destiny to follow in the footsteps of her Head, Jesus Christ; to ascend her own Calvary and be put to death. And, like Jesus before her, this is only made possible by her betrayal by “an insider” i.e. by the many, many Judases within her ranks. But. also in imitation of her Christ, she will be gloriously resurrected, and made ready as the spotless Bride of Christ in preparation for the return of her Heavenly Bridegroom at the conclusion of history, at a time known only to God. There is absolutely nothing in Sacred Scripture or Tradition that indicates that the Petrine Office, the commission given to Peter and all his successors, will become redundant at any time during the course of history. And indeed, many authentic Catholic prophecies speak of the holy Pontiff who is yet to come.

            As for Teilhard de Chardin, maybe you would benefit from the article; Challenging the Rehabilitation of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin by Scott Ventureya, Crisis Magazine, January 20th 2015. http://www.crisismagazine.com/2015/challenging-rehabilitation-pierre-teilhard-de-chardin

            And the enigmatic, and problematic Malachy Martin; you would be wise to hold him at arm’s length, too! Both of these were embodiments of so much that has gone astray with the Jesuits.

          • You are very naïve. Malachi Martin is the prophet who provided the key to what is going on. His book, “The Jesuits”, is the blueprint for the use of de Chardin. He was against the move to the left. He died in 1999. Read my lips. He was a “former” Jesuit. — Martin read the Third Secret. Everything that he wrote was in that context. He related how John XXIII preached in his “inauguration” about the “prophets of doom” who were the little children. There Is something wrong with someone who is afraid of little children.

      • What Francis and his cohorts are hoping to do is to get rid if all adherents to the Truth by hook or by crook, by attrition if possible, by unjust and improper dismissal if necessary – especially if it scares others into silence – and by excommunication and false charges of heresy as a last resort. Francis, as I recall, made a statenent similar to that of Louis XIV – something like ‘whatever I say is Magisterial because I am pope.’ The desire of the modernists is to hold on long enough for all those who know and remember the True Catholic Faith are deceased, leaving them totally free to declare, “The truth is whatever we say it is” and there will be no one to contradict or challenge them. If that happens the perennial Truths of the Faith will be obscurred and labeled as false, misconceptions and misinterpretations. After all, the father of lies is the ringleader of all those who deviate from the Faith and those who are complicit with them.

        Reply
        • Truly, Francis is in a weak position, betrayed by the overt persecutions against faithful Catholics. If he was in a position of strength he would ignore and even tolerate them. He has come against the Truth and it is hard and immovable as a great rock. In the end it will grind him to powder. He will be an object lesson for future generations. Evil is like a green bay tree. It seems to flourish but is suddenly cut off. Francis is no different.

          Reply
          • I do agree that Bergoglio’s fall will be sudden and, in the eyes of the world, unexpected. The Church, on the other hand, will emerge from this crisis stronger than she has ever been. Bergoglio will then be held up as a modern day Julian the Apostate who thought he could mock God with impunity.

          • I agree with you but he is skilfully working so that his successor will mandatorily be a modernist same minded as himself if not worse, with the aim to inescapably continue his destructive task.
            Unless a miracle, the next conclave will be the end of the hopes of all the orthodox Catholic faithfuls who are praying for this nightmare to stop.

        • Louis XIV was the world’s most powerful monarch of his times. Though his pride was huge he never dared to place himself above God nor even above the Pope. His title was “The most Christian King, Louis the XIVth”.
          Anyways, being an absolute monarch, he could afford saying: “L’État c’est moi” (“I am the State”). And nobody could contradict him.

          Reply
      • And the ‘end game’ of A.L. is NOT just ‘Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried’. The ‘end game’ is the (dare I say) ‘glorification’ of gay sex WITHIN the Church of Christ. At this point, acceptance is not good enough. This is the golden calf that the gay mafia within the Church wishes all to worship on the altar of Baal, and the infestation of this demonic possession is coming close to the saturation point. I’ve heard a couple of good holy Priests say that indeed this is looking more and more like actual ‘Demon Possession’. The sounds of this statement is pretty extreme, but seriously I’m beginning to wonder if they are indeed correct. The infestation seems to be ‘growing.’

        Reply
        • It has always been Satan’s game plan.
          I agree, A.L. is a smokescreen for what you have described, but nevertheless, needs to be rebuked on the face of it.

          Think about this: How many divorced and civilly remarried Catholics have been banging the walls of their diocesan doors, whining, screaming to receive our Lord at Mass?
          The Synod was about normalizing the most base perversion, so base that Satan is revolted by it!

          Until Father James Martin is rebuked by Francis, or until the prelates ask for such a rebuking, I remain very, very pessimistic about a great many things for our Church and humanity.

          A great rot needs to be exterminated within the Church……it is called homosexuality.
          Until that happens, not much will really change from an earthly intervention, in my opinion.

          I would agree with those holy Priests you have heard. It is Demonic generated to destroy not only the Church, but to destroy the essence of mankind. The hatred of Satan for our Lord and His Mother attacks the family through homosexuality and its eventual blessing by this apostate Church. And I will go one step further, the denigration of the Sacrifice of the Mass not only harmed the very essence of the priesthood, but makes homosexual priests very, very comfortable!

          Reply
          • Bergoglio just put Martin on his team. Why would he rebuke him?

            Excellent message. Putting homosexuals at the center of the evil in our midst hits the bull’s eye. That’s what it’s all about. Bergoglio is the leader of The Boys in the Band.

        • I wonder how anyone can wonder about the term ‘demon possession’, and call it even extreme, if we with our eyes and ears can clearly see and hear what demonic work those (yes!) demonic possessed people are doing. Every single day, day by day much more and much worse!

          Reply
          • Absolutely and, if you’ll permit me, it deserves repeating: “Every single day, day by day much more and much worse!”

            How any faithful bishop who keeps silent can sleep at night is beyond me.

          • Of course. I’m glad when someone just see it.
            “How some who keeps silent can sleep at night…?”
            Maybe, some do not even sleep at night, because they sleep at day…
            Today I was (accidentally?) triggered to take a read from the book of Maccabees, and I will put the same quote here, related to this:
            “Now this was not the beginning, but an increase, and progress of heathenish and foreign manners, through the abominable and unheard of wickedness of Jason, that impious wretch and no priest. Insomuch that the priests were not now occupied about the offices of the altar, but despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the games, and of the unlawful allowance thereof, and of the exercise of the discus. And setting nought by the honours of their fathers, they esteemed the Grecian glories for the best: For the sake of which they incurred a dangerous contention, and followed earnestly their ordinances, and in all things they coveted to be like them, who were their enemies and murderers. For acting wickedly against the laws of God doth not pass unpunished: but this the time following will declare.” (2 Maccabees 4,13-17)

            If we, today are not able to draw a parallel with this ‘incidents’ from roughly 2300 years ago, with the present events, then we are, indeed, just a bunch of very ordinary people as many others around us.
            Moreover, what even more important is, for us believers of the true Faith in true God, is sureness about a fact that time have no any influence whatsoever on the TRUTH (and will never have). Or any changes which arises out of different epoch. They might have more or less impact on anything except on the truth!
            “For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past. And as a watch in the night” (Psalm 89,4)

            This is so important to keep it on mind every minute of our lives, instead to worry about the times, or the changes which they might wear, because they are, good or bad, irrelevant for our Faith. And our salvation. And the truth IS, on the contrary to that. Wherein we all should live and die, no matter in which epoch.
            Anyway, my point would be this. Maybe is better question: “Why some does not sleep at night?” While we know that devil does not need to sleep at night, but he is searching, chasing the souls of those people who do not want to sleep at night. Especially those who are spending their nights in some kind of ‘hellenistic games’ or similar. Or worse.

            “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5,20)

        • Standtall, exactly. Cardinal Ejik’s essay that Steve Skojec posted about a month ago had the very same conclusion: namely that allowing the divorced and remarried to receive Holy C ommunion will ultimately lead to acceptance of homosexuality and same sex marriages. That, IMO, is the ennd game and we are seeing it played out à la Fr. Martin S.J.

          Reply
  2. Thank God for this Bishop. How words give me great hope. Can I get his email contact, please? I will love to write and thank him for his witness.

    Reply
      • I am sure that most people here support Bishop Schneider but there are also trolls and the internet can be a nasty place. May I suggest you take down the Bishop’s email address until you have a chance to ask him if he wants it published. It would be too bad if someone fed it to a botnet that overwhelmed his service provider.

        Reply
          • Joelfago, I don’t want to discourage communication. Here is the Bishop’s postal address: Tashenova St. 3, Post Office Box 622, 473033 Astana, Kazakhstan. That is public information. Please do send him thanks and encouragement. Anyone who doesn’t think that posting an email address is risky should post his own and Margaret can then send the Bishop’s email address. Or email Steve Skojek and he can decide whether he wants to give it to you.

            I will make a plea for the survival of privacy for some information, such as phone numbers and email addresses. We are entirely too exposed on these media. And I ask again that Bishop Schneider’s email address be taken down.

          • Thank you, Donna. I wish I had seen this sooner. The comment is deleted.

            The last thing we need is to have him overwhelmed with communications — good or bad — making it impossible for him to do what he needs to do. He is already incredibly busy, and I don’t want his email address published here.

          • I’m sorry, Steve. I didn’t have the postal address of the bishop, only his email. When Tanyi Tanyi asked for it, I was happy to help her. However, you and Donna also made some good points. Mea culpa.

          • Live and learn, Margaret. Let’s all pray for Bishop Schneider, as well as Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Brandmüller and Prof. Seifert.

          • I didn’t see your posts until this morning, otherwise I would have edited my post accordingly.

            Also please see my reply to Steve. Mea culpa and thank you.

    • Amen, but don’t forget that the problem is not only located in Francis. There’s a real possibility that Maradiaga will be the next Pope and the Church will have to suffer under a still more radical modernist. The rot sits very deep and the College of Cardinals almost entirely consists of modernists and theological liberals. To return the hierarchy to any sense of normalcy and faithfulness will require a massive cleansing.

      Reply
        • Well, remember that Rome is in fact built on a swamp, a real swamp. The notion that DC is also sitting atop one is a myth. But who can deny that Jorge Bergoglio takes his political (and perhaps even ecclesiastical) cues from the deepest source of the rhetorical Washington swamp, the DNC?

          Reply
          • Having been born on Capitol Hill and living now at nearly the highest point in Washington, 390 ft. above the tidal Potomac, I can assure you that the lower reaches of Washington were once a swamp. The mall area was drained and built up. The mound that the Washington Monument sits on was dug out of what is now the Tidal Basin. Actually, the Monument does not sit on that mound but on a large concrete platform buried deep in the moist soil. The area along the river where the Watergate complex and the Kennedy Center stand is still called Foggy Bottom. And speaking of Rome, Tiber Creek ran across the foot of Capitol Hill and on to the Anacostia River.

            In the good old days before air conditioning, Congress fled the mosquitoes and miasmas of summer and the country was safe for a few months.

          • Oh, well, a professor. But he admits that the river bank was low and turned to mudflats that had to be dug out and re-engineered. That area is still low and has to be protected from flooding by berms and movable barriers. And the early reporter’s failure to mention a swamp doesn’t mean there wasn’t one. She is describing the beauties of the higher ground, which I admit and love, otherwise I wouldn’t still be living here.

            For six years in the 1980s I worked across the street from the Smithsonian Castle and I watched as they excavated a giant hole for a new underground museum between the Castle and Independence Avenue. The pumps ran day and night.

      • Yes Our Lady of La Salette said there will be two worm-ridden popes (the French word she used was “vermoulu”), so if Bergoglio is the first then there is more to come.
        There are those who said Paul Vi was the first of the two worm-ridden popes but he was not even in Bergoglio’s league.

        Reply
  3. Time for public denunciations of Jorge Bergoglio. A bishop who doesn’t speak against the pope is now suspect of either cowardice or agreement.

    Reply
    • Almost all the world’s bishops are fearing being sacked by the Vatican.
      I am even a bit surprised that Mgr Schneider was not removed or disciplined to silence him.

      Reply
      • They are too clever to do that. They know that a removal of Bishop Schneider would cause a RIOT in the faithful. It would “hopefully” cause a bishop or a cardinal to come forward and correct this pope.

        Reply
  4. If God is allowing this pontificate it is for a good reason. It is separating the chaff from the wheat, the faithful shepherds from the hirelings.

    Reply
  5. Pray for Bishop Schneider and thank God for his bravery. These times are so, so confused.

    Let me tell you about my weekend:
    I went to receive the sacrament of reconciliation on Saturday afternoon. Confessed my sins and was simply asked to say an Act of Contrition. I was not told that I was saying it as penance. Then I was asked if I were brave enough to sit down for a minute, face-to-face. Sure, of course. I was then complimented on the degree of clarity with which I know my sins (that I can see to the core of what the actual issue is, for instance pride). Then I was told to buy one of those miniature baseball bats and club myself in the head whenever I do any of the sins I confessed because they are no sins big enough to confess. He never said the words absolving me and kind of mocked my confession, which as usual I did spend time reflecting upon during an examination of conscience.

    Okay, fine. This morning my wife stayed home as she is very pregnant and has a very bad cold. Just the kiddos and I. The same priest–not our parish priest but a retired priest living in our community–gives the homily. I am not exaggerating when I say there were five one liners (oh the place was in stitches….I just know God loved it….) and then he got into the notion that tradition cannot stifle the needs of the present. My eyes were already exhausted from rolling at the one liners but they summoned the strength to protrude so far as to nearly fall on the floor. He applauded Francis for negotiating about priests with the Chinese government. Yes, the atheistic, communist, abortion and contraceptive enforcing government of China. And the reason for the adulation: evidently the Chinese content that priests will need to be married or else there will not be enough to care for the flock in their country. Not a word about how exactly a priest can be married….to a woman using contraception….and who may be forced to have an abortion. Not a word either about their government forbidding children from attending church services.

    My faith isn’t shaken but my conviction that I must continue attending Novus Ordo masses is extremely shaken. The problem is that my family and I have no good options.

    So Bishop Schneider’s comment about the better of the laity shunning the churches peaked my interest. What did he mean by that?

    Reply
    • Perhaps Father RP could respond Brian W.

      The only advise i could recommend, and some will disagree, is to continue Mass there until the Lord possibly relocates you and your family to a FSSP parish.
      I am sorry for you and the family, but pray it will be short term. God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him.

      Whatever Father RP thinks, I would suggest you do as he asks though.

      Reply
        • Brian,
          Maybe email Bishop Schneider and ask him what he
          thinks. Get it from the horses mouth so to speak,
          Margaret has his email listed a few comments above here.
          I’m printing out your comment about your weekend to
          show my family. Is that ok?

          Reply
        • Brian, perhaps you should remember that it is wrong (? a sin – not sure) to approach doubtful sacraments. Also, do you really think it is right to expose your children (or yourselves) to scandal, sacrilege, irreverence, teaching/preaching which is obviously, from what you write, all of the previous? Your children will soak it up.

          I left the N.O. after a lot of prevarication, although I was convinced that’s what God was asking. It’s not easy but I now ‘attend’ daily online the FSSP Masses (I have no way of accessing a TLM) and my spiritual life has soared. That’s my really CAtholic spiritual life which had died. I read up all the arguments for and against this path and realized that God will make up in ordinary grace what we lose in sacramental grace (as He would if your Masses aren’t valid anyway), as He sees fit.

          If I was responsible for any children, there’s no way I’d take them now to an N.O. Mass because simply by taking them, I would be clearly saying that anything which went on there was OK with God and children simply can’t deal with that inconsistent approach (assuming you’re teaching them True Catholicism at home). Rather like taking them to Pride marches and then saying it’s sinful to accept gay unions and marriages. Let’s face it, all the adults are succumbing to the pressure.

          You would not be separating your children from the Church but from doubtful Sacraments etc. This could go on for years – they will have to learn what’s going on sometime but when they’re older they might just decide that if it was fine for you to take them to the N.O., then there’s nothing wrong with anything which goes on there. Personally, I think they’d be perfectly logical in making that assessment – even if they would also be wrong in their conclusions.

          Prayers with you and your family.

          I

          Reply
    • As to the laity shunning the churches the Bishop was quoting from St Basil at the time of the Arian heresy. Some think that we are in an even worse crisis.

      Reply
    • Bishop Schneider’s family were without a priest for several years. Then one arrived approx 60 miles away. +Schneider’s mother was overjoyed. Some of us travel for many hours over many miles to get Mass. That’s resistance.

      Reply
  6. I wonder how many Catholics there are in Astana? It’s probably in the single digits.

    Bishop Schneider is literally and metaphorically, “a man crying in the wilderness”.

    Reply
  7. It would be great if all Bishops and Cardinals would read what Bishop Schneider says and reflect upon their own witness to the faith.

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  8. Amen. Would that every Catholic knew the Catholic Faith and the Eternal Truth that His Her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, know one comes to the Father except through Me.” Let us Live and Die ‘through, with and in Him” and hold to the Truth and never surrender Him for anything or anyone and thereby be held by Him for eternity.

    To all of the Ordained: Pray, Fast and Do Penance and Proclaim the Catholic Faith or wait in dread that day when the Lord God will call you to give an account for the Ministry that He bestowed upon you for the Sake of the Glory of His Name.

    Luke 36-49: “And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.

    37 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them.

    38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

    39 But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open.

    40 Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come.

    41 And Peter said to him: Lord, dost thou speak this parable to us, or likewise to all?

    42 And the Lord said: Who (thinkest thou) is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord setteth over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season?

    43 Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing.

    44 Verily I say to you, he will set him over all that he possesseth.

    45 But if that servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming; and shall begin to strike the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and to drink and be drunk:

    46 The lord of that servant will come in the day that he hopeth not, and at the hour that he knoweth not, and shall separate him, and shall appoint him his portion with unbelievers.

    47 And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

    48 But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more.

    49 I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?”

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  9. I have corresponded with Bishop Schneider in the past. Of all the Bishops I have read about, he seems to possess the clearest vision of what is happening in the Church and what must be done.

    Having said that, I do not find in any Catholic prelate today, of those obviously that I have read about, a true warrior spirit. I have been told in conversation with a Traditionalist priest that such a culture simply does not exist in the novus ordo process of formation, and indeed, that it is utterly purged wherever bits of it are seen in the personality of priest candidates, so the prelature, no matter who they are, lack possession of a combative and militant spirit in the service of the Lord. ALL of them are “diplomatic” with no end to the “diplomacy” they are willing to put forth. ALL of them are compromisers. Indeed, we see this in the language that is continuous used in describing obvious heretics as “friends”.

    I know there are many who will take issue with me. They may even be angry at me for saying this. Because they want SOMETHING or SOMEONE to grasp hold of during these days of collapse of the faith and people with the obvious love for the Lord that Bishop Schneider possesses are naturally seen as Great Hopes for a dramatic sanctification of the Church.

    But I will say it once again: The sanctification, nay, first purification of Holy Mother Church from the absolute permeation of evil that exists; especially Luciferic Lutheran heresy, homosexuality, religious indifferentism, effeminacy and generalized doctrinal diminution I believe, will require a new and courageous breed of men who are not afraid to DRIVE OUT the evil. That is, men who will sweepingly press for laicization, excommunication, the inderdict and condemnation of all those who are actively, and…everywhere…destroying the message and work of the Church, whatever position in the Church such enemies of the faith may hold.

    I have not seen that sort of man in ANY of our leaders. Not one. Not Burke, not Caffarra, not Meisner, not Brandmüller, not Müller. NONE of them.

    I do not believe such a culture has existed in the prelature of the Catholic Church since Pope John XXIII’s fateful opening speech of Vatican 2 when he called for the new path for the Church that would leave condemnation behind. And, sadly, because I hold him in high esteem, from my correspondence with Bishop Schneider and what I have read of him in public, I do not think he is the man.

    But that doesn’t mean he {or others} might not become that man.

    In the Old Testament, we are told of the spies sent into Canaan who came back with the wonderful stories of what was there. The Promised Land flowing with milk and honey! But only TWO of the spies were eager to go take it.
    The rest were calculating and no doubt so very “reasonable” in their assessments. But they had not lived in a culture of true offensive action.

    Indeed, they would hear of the need for this great war and they…were busy with other things. Unwilling to join with the two who were willing to fight. So that entire generation except for Joshua and Caleb died in the desert. No doubt many otherwise courageous men died in the desert and never saw that Promised Land.

    In the New Testament we see the power of conversion. The power of actual change from one thing to another, from weakness to strength, from self to Christ, from “average” to supernatural, from passive to militant. And so it goes. I pray now for conversion of the prelature, or at least for some, for enough, who will be willing to fight to lead the people to the Promised Land and to take the gifts God has there waiting for His people.

    In the meantime, the boldness and the courage rests with Fr James Martin, SJ and those of his ilk who fear not God nor any prelate to stand in their way.

    God Save the Catholic Church.

    Reply
      • It makes you wonder.

        But in truth, I cannot remember ever reading of a priest who is willing to name names and CONDEMN specific people; fellow priests and prelates who have so defamed the Church. If they make any attempt, it permeated with diplomacy.

        I am of a mind to think this is not a mere lack of courage being displayed, but rather is a whole world view that arises in formation.

        The thing that hit me some time ago had to do with the sex abuse scandals. It suddenly hit me that I had never read of a priest who with what might be called simple common sense, simply turned another priest into the civil authorities for crimes that any normal person would turn another person in for. For example, if you knew of some co-worker who you knew was raping a kid, would you go to your BOSS and turn him in? Or would you call up the local law enforcement authorities and tell them what you know? I submit that most people would do the latter. But priests? Uh….no. They “go thru channels” which, as we know now, have been wildly successful at hiding the scum that have so offended.

        This isn’t merely an example of weakness on the part of individual priests. it is an entire CULTURE where “condemnation” does not exist.

        I think there is one guy now in Florida…and he is being persecuted for it! But such an exception proves the rule.

        Put another way, even in documentary production of the Church since V2, how many documents include anathemas? And it’s not like for brevity’s sake they lack the words……

        Reply
        • Rod,
          You say “you think there is ‘one’ such priest in Florida,… which is now persecuted”.
          You can be sure, there are more than one. And they are certainly persecuted too, each on probably a bit different way. But they are. And they are persecuted too, not just since yesterday, or a month ago. On many different ways, and by many too. By his chief-brothers, but also by colleague-brothers. And don’t forget, it’s much more and wider than Florida. Or even the US, about Catholicism and Catholics speaking. We just cannot hear every scream in the wilderness. 1P5 is widely known Catholic web-portal, and here is all good stuff written in widely understandable English, but even then, there are lot of people who do not know about this and similar sites, or from any other reason they read nothing (or very little and very occasionally) from it, let alone they write and share some own stuff on it (certainly not their life testimony).

          So, there are, and there must be in this world, a lot of good Catholic priests. Even better than good. To mention just one (kind of) example… Imagine a convert who is now around 30, or 40 years old. Yes, (imagine one pope) so young! Who are converted from the secular world, just a few years ago. And they must not necessarily came from one or another false religion. But they were already Catholic, but for many years long, let’s say, the Catholics just in the register, or a little bit more than that. Because they’ve lived such secular godless life which was far from God and from Church. So that kind of the faithful priests, which after a while, and the clear call of their Father came back Home again, what should may be even done with a bit help of intersession prayed even by our great convert St. Paul, until recently, they could not possibly know what’s really going on in the Church, not to mention all the things, in and around the VCII…
          But no one else has called right those man back to Home, than the Father Himself. The almighty Triune God. For whom is nothing impossible!

          I am sure, that time is coming, and he is coming soon enough, when every one Catholic person, but especially those among the shepherds, will be driven more or less willingly, to one of the two sides! To the right side among the sheep, or to the left side among the goats. Those who still keep thinking that there is a third option possible, than to be for Christ or for Beliaal, they should be waken up, and they should pray a lot for so that their wake-up may not become- a nightmare, for ever.

          Reply
          • St. John the Baptist makes it very clear for us how easy and simple for our Lord the God almighty must be to cleanse his church in the blink of the eye from all the brood of vipers.

            “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

            And indeed,…the axe is most probably already in the full swing…

            “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.” (Matthew 3,9-10)

          • I hope you understand I am not being personally critical of priests. I am addressing what I think is an obvious cultural reality that seems to permeate the Church.

            And I am not aware of any significant attempt by priests to aggressively attack or purge sodomites and abusers from their own ranks and really very little that has been done by the prelature to aggressively do the same. They allow the ecclesiastical authorities to do it, which means…it doesn’t seem to get done. So it shouldn’t surprise us that a fag like this Martin guy gallivants around the world spewing his rot while essentially nothing is done in direct condemnation of hi and his heresy by priests and bishops.

            Seriously, if in the secular corporation I work for we had people running around defaming the mission statement of the company and blatantly supporting competing companies, said individual would get his and fast from BOTH our leadership AND the employees.

            And this is in the world of Mammon.

            Reminds me of Luke 16:8: “…for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.”

          • Believe me, I don’t misunderstand you. At least, I honestly think, I do not. But I honestly think, we are all, more often than less, in these extraordinary times, tempted to look at things more often with our human eyes only, instead of keeping in mind that we, small tiny people, are not able to look at all these things and events in these, I repeat, extraordinary times through the angelic eyes or with the eyes of, let’s say, the saint one. And how far are we then from the ability to see or know all the secrets, mysteries and plans of God?
            Therefore, and because I am sure I am not a saint, neither I am super-smart, I stick with my Catholic Faith which tells me simple but very important things as such about God for whom is nothing impossible. And that is certainly an irrefutable fact, undeniable truth. But to have that for benefit, I must remain faithful and steady.
            How more of these bad things and details we get to know, how greater burden we have to carry, for what we get even more (and more difficult) questions in our mind, which makes it not easier, but obviously contrariwise. One of those questions is; Why this miserable condition lasts for so long?! And when we might be at least a little bit joyous to see some divine action at work?
            Rather than being impatient, it is better for us to do everything to stay faithful. And keep doing what we daily (should) do, as faithful Catholics
            Especially if this is an extraordinary time, which is also the time of separating cockle from wheat.. This work of separation probably takes more time than our patience can afford.
            And the time is, as we know, in God’s eyes, when Him that pleases; ‘a thousand years as yesterday, which is past’.

          • I don’t see much to dispute here in the sense that yes, of course, we all must “simply” remain firm and steadfast in our faith.

            The standard should be the same for the prelates that it is for us.

            And to be frank, it isn’t.

            Is it not reasonable to expect a Catholic man to be honest in his business dealings, to remain faithful to his wife and to instruct his children in the Word and…to resist and confront and fight to defend them when confronted by forces of evil that attempt to destroy those he has responsibility for?

            Our prelates have run away in the face of what for many is merely being called names.

            I submit that the leadership of the Catholic Church has left these basic standards of decency behind in their hellbent zeal to appear as charitable, “nice” to the devil. They are more concerned with being “charitable” to the devil and his minions than they are concerned about the souls that selfsame devil is claiming for eternal damnation.

            The prelature has sat back for decades and allowed chaos to rule, the “good guys” not wanting evidently to dirty their precious vestments in internal fights where they might be accused of being “uncharitable”.

            Yet defending the faith is the job of the prelates. To act as they have acted is merely passing the buck and “blaming God” for the problems when they haven’t fought to prevent the sweep of heresy though the Church. And then I hear these appeals to the Blessed Virgin {it’s the year of Fatima!!!} which I find repulsive, since God has already given them clear, standing orders. Why do they need a miracle when God has ORDAINED them to defend the faith?

            No, I am finished with making excuses for them.

    • You are absolutely right, Rod. If anything, “diplomatic” language, euphemisms and velvet gloves do nothing more than obfuscate the truth and increase the confusion.

      The few prelates who, like H.E. Bishop Schneider, have remained faithful to Our Lord, must start naming things by their proper names. “Evidently ambiguous affirmations” won’t cut it, when it comes to the AL passage that prompted Prof. Seifert’s essay. Let’s take another look at the passage in question and the censures applied to it by the esteemed authors of the theological critique published a little more than an year ago (https://onepeterfive.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/45-theologians-censure-AL.pdf):

      AL 303: ‘Conscience can do more than recognize that a given situation does not correspond objectively to the overall demands of the Gospel. It can also recognize with sincerity and honesty what for now is the most generous response which can be given to God, and come to see with a certain moral security that it is what God himself is asking amid the concrete complexity of one’s limits, while yet not fully the objective ideal.’

      Understood as meaning that conscience can truly judge that actions condemned by the Gospel, and in particular, sexual acts between Catholics who have civilly remarried following divorce, can sometimes be morally right or requested or commanded by God:

      i). Haeretica, sacrae Scripturae contraria.

      ii). Scandalosa, prava, perversa, perniciosa, impia, blasphema.

      (see Council of Trent: session 6, canon 21/DH 1571; session 24, canon 2/DH 1802, canon 5/DH 1805, canon 7/DH 1807)

      Reply
      • Thank you for that.

        Yes, our prelates must come to see that speaking in such diplomatic terms under the “concrete complexity” of today’s chaos is in actuality, SIN.

        “The 9 Ways of Being an Accessory to Another’s Sin”

        I. By counsel
        II. By command
        III. By consent
        IV. By provocation
        V. By praise or flattery
        VI. By concealment
        VII. By partaking
        VIII. By silence
        IX. By defense of the ill done

        Indeed, while we can see that our “orthodox” prelates have not counselled, commanded, consented to or overtly defended the sins of the heretics that exist in the Church today, we CAN see with total clarity that our “orthodox” prelates HAVE encouraged manifest evil in the Church by:

        1} PROVOCATION; allowing heretics to go on without militant resistance and condemnation.
        2} PRAISE & FLATTERY; by continuously referring to heretics in respectful, formal and mannerly terms while not describing such evil men by what such men have and are doing to the Gospel.
        3} CONCEALMENT; of manifest heresy and sin by not exposing it and its adherents with total clarity.
        4} PARTAKING; of the material and social benefits of manifest heresy by avoiding uncomfortable or costly fights against heresy.
        5} SILENCE; in the face of sweeping heresy and moral collapse.

        It is high time we call these orthodox men out for what they have done for 50 years; encourage sin and heresy in the name of vapid ideals such as diplomacy and tolerance and good manners.

        Reply
    • I cannot seem to disagree with anything you stated.

      Sometimes I wonder, if these prelates truly forget their “spiritual fatherhood.”
      For if they did remember, I think things would be very different.

      Or, are so many of them homosexual, that the idea of fatherhood, is far removed due to their
      their narcissism.

      Reply
      • “Or, are so many of them homosexual, that the idea of fatherhood, is far removed due to their
        their narcissism.”

        That could very well be it.

        Reply
  10. FYI for anyone in the Charlotte, NC area: Bishop Schneider will be in Charlotte NC – St. Ann Parish- on October 26th, and will offer a Solemn Pontifical Mass at 7pm, sponsored by the Charlotte Latin Mass Community for the 2nd Annual Commemoration to Blessed Karl of Austria https://charlottelatinmass.org/ According to their site it will be the 1st Pontifical Mass in the history of the Charlotte Diocese!!!

    Reply
    • People need to be asking VERY clear and to-the-point questions of these men.

      Go to confession, receive the Blessed Sacrament and meet the Bishop!!

      Reply
  11. Resist.

    Right.

    So easy to tell others what to do, it surely it is.

    Where is the resistance from the clergy regarding the ravaging of souls by Father James Martin, with the approval of Francis? Perhaps when everybody finishes their celebration of anniversary of TLM in Rome, you will find time to do so? Resist at Ground ZERO prelates – not through pilgrimages, writings, books.

    Reply
  12. As a beginning to a true march to purify the faith, when a prelate of the Catholic Church condemns that damnable idol to the Arch-heresiarch Martin Luther this Pope set up in the Vatican, and demands its removal, and by force if necessary removes it if his righteous demands are not met, THEN we will know we have a Bishop worth respecting.

    And not one second sooner.

    Reply
  13. Pope Benedict XVI has formulated the matter aptly: “The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.” (Homily of May 7, 2005).

    What a great citation. A Pope “must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word”.

    Reply

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