Yesterday afternoon, I received word through one of my sources that something would be coming today, at long last, in the ongoing and seemingly never-ending process that would move things in the direction of the highly-anticipated “formal correction” of the pope. I was told that it would not be the formal correction itself, but something preliminary to it. There was no clear indicator of just what, exactly, was to be expected, or when the formal correction itself would follow. Only that a statement of some kind would be issued today, November 14, 2017, exactly one year since the publication of the original five dubia on Amoris Laetitia.
When Edward Pentin’s new interview with Cardinal Burke was published today at 3PM Rome time, we had our answer. Not only was it not the formal correction, it did not even mention those words. Our summary of the document this morning included a list of important post-exhortation milestones over the past year along the path to this moment, but it is clear that this path, such as it is, continues to wind forward — for how long, nobody seems to know — into the future.
In the interview, Cardinal Burke conveys, though somewhat mildly, that things have grown untenable. He uses terms like “increasing confusion” and “gravest of matters” and “the gravity of the situation, which is continually worsening.” As he did when AL was first published, Burke insists — standing in contradiction to a number of papal defenders — that the exhortation is non-magisterial. “The magisterium,” he says, “is God’s gift to the Church to provide clarity on issues that regard the deposit of the faith. By their very nature, affirmations that lack this clarity cannot be qualified expressions of the magisterium.” He speaks of the damage being done to teaching and sacraments, of a proposed “paradigm shift regarding the Church’s entire moral practice”, and of subversion of “essential parts of the Tradition”. He speaks of the moral implications of the reasoning deployed in the so-called pastoral care recommended in AL, asking “what would happen if this reasoning were to be applied to other cases, such as that of a medical doctor performing abortions, of a politician belonging to a ring of corruption, of a suffering person deciding to make a request for assisted suicide”?
In the end, he makes a “final plea” that the pope “confirm his brothers in the faith with a clear expression of the teaching regarding both Christian morality and the meaning of the Church’s sacramental practice”.
But if the plea is actually final, then what might we expect next? What would be the consequence of the pope ignoring yet another plea, as he has done so many times before?
It seems certain that Cardinal Burke — along with those who are supporting his efforts — wants to make certain that he has given the pope every possible chance to fix what he is breaking. But with no clear indication of the repercussions of failing to do so, it remains impossible to determine what incentive the pope has to even pay this “final plea” any attention at all.
This interview, if it is indeed a final warning, should perhaps have been labeled as such. Saying “Please stop” hasn’t worked as a strategy before now, and the urgency — is there a sense of urgency behind the calm restatement of the problem? — demands more. The time for deference and patience, I fear, has passed. The faithful are seeing the man on the Throne of St. Peter flouting divinely-revealed teaching and the safeguards of his divinely-assisted office — and getting away with it. And it is making many Catholics feel tempted to wonder: If Christ’s promises to the Church can be so easily broken, can any of what we believe really be trusted?
In that sense, the pope isn’t the only one responsible for “the gravity of the situation, which is continually worsening.” The cardinals and bishops who have delayed taking action until now are, in their own unintentional way, intensifying the scandalization of the faithful. What the pope is doing is wrong, the laity think, but when even the faithful and orthodox shepherds of the Church fail to properly address it, does that mean we have been abandoned?
And while these doubts about the Church’s indefectibility are being daily introduced into the minds of the faithful, bishops around the world continue to move forward with their own subjective interpretations of what Amoris Laetitia means for their flocks — all of which will have to be unwound once the Church regains her senses. Today, at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 2017 General Assembly meeting, the agenda item of a “renewed pastoral plan on marriage and family life in light of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on ‘the Joy of Love’, Amoris Laetitia” was brought to the table by Bishop Richard Malone, who serves on the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. (For those who would like to hear the commentary themselves, you can follow it on video beginning here.)
In the ensuing discussion, popular Catholic speaker Bishop Robert Barron lamented, “I just think it’s really been a tragedy that the reception of this document [Amoris Laetitia] has been so poor in our country. If you do a web search of Amoris Laetitia, you get a mountain of literature, but it’s all about a particular chapter and even a particular footnote within that chapter. As important as that question is, I think it’s led to a overlooking of this really extraordinarily rich document, so I think it’s good for us to seize control of that process, because I think we’ve been positioned by an awful lot of people in the blogosphere who are forcing people to read this document in a particular way.”
“An awful lot of people in the blogosphere”? I wonder who he might be referring to. “Forcing people”? With what, our incredible mind powers? “Seize control”? He actually went on to mention the word “seize” — which, if we want to talk about force, means to “take hold of suddenly and forcibly” — two more times in his brief comments.
I didn’t have the patience to listen to more of the discussion.
The firing of Professor Seifert. The shaming of Professor Stark. The firing of Fr. Thomas Weinandy. The campaign of sustained ad hominems against the dubia cardinals as well as every theologian, priest, and layman who supports the work of authentic criticism of the exhortation. The Vatican-promoted heterodox interpretations of the exhortation itself, along with Vatican-promoted articles to give cover to these interpretations through an intentional obfuscation of Church teaching and the parameters of Magisterial authority. The “climate of fear” at the Vatican, where any criticism is reported and people suspected of opposing the official agenda are monitored in ways reminiscent of the techniques of the KGB. The entire apparatus of the Dictatorship of Mercy. It is in these things where the true force in the matter lies. The only reason that the orthodox counter-narrative has been able to bubble up to the top at all is because those of us who care about the truth are relentless in our pursuit of it — and because God has blessed those efforts. But there is only so much we can do, and we’re all exhausted by being constantly outnumbered and isolated.
This is why, Cardinals Burke and Brandmüller, if you should happen to read this, you should know that time is of the essence. Perhaps you do. I continue to hear whispers that the formal correction itself is not far behind. But the question after that will be the same as now: then what? What happens when every effort is ignored? How will we move forward from here?
Will an imperfect council be called? Will the pope be declared to have deposed himself through pertinacious and obdurate heresy? Will a new conclave be assembled among the tiny remnant of the faithful bishops? Will we once again have two rival claimants to the Petrine See?
Or will it be something completely different?
Everyone wants to know what to expect. Everyone is wondering, and frustrated. Everyone is speculating on how difficult things might become, but nobody I’m hearing from seems to think that they will be worse than they are now. An uncomfortable certainty is far preferable to the interminable continuation of uncertainty and doubt.
Something has to give. Please, Lord, let it give soon. Grant the successors of your apostles the courage and wisdom to see this through and begin the work of restoring the Church.
Steve- I could not have said it better myself. You took the words right out of my mouth. I am barely hanging in there and am reminded of the apostles as Jesus ascended into heaven…. standing there, staring….now what?
Pray.
Save us, Lord, we are perishing!
I pray I will be among the heroic that survives this disaster but can’t handle much more, I tell ya.
The Good Lord gives us crosses which are never more than we can bear. Be of good Faith Brother! We have been chosen by God to live in these uncertain times. Pray for the resolve to defend the Truth no matter what it may cost us!
Amen Tom!! We have to also remember in our Rosaries to ‘pray for each other!’ Pray for the resolve for ourselves AND for our brothers and sisters in Christ…….AND for the faithful Priests and Bishops who are on the very front lines of this war!!
You CAN and you WILL. Grace through prayer will sufficiently weaken the shock we all feel, and drive us on
for WE are the religion of SPIRIT not flesh and worldly concern’s.
But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.
I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?
~G.K. Chesterton: excerpt from The Ballad of the White Horse.
You must make a decision, an act of will, now, to decide you will make it through, that you will never leave the Lord’s side… then by God’s grace and persevering in prayer, you will make it through.
I would want to. But if the original deposit of the Faith is going to be held outside the formal and official structure of the Church (“where Peter is, there is the Church”) it would be difficult to say which side is the Lord’s side! Do you follow the teachings of Christ, or the organization he set up?
I fear the cardinals worry too much about ” the organization”. Have they forgotten the Church
is a supernatural one?
But it is also supposed to be a visible Church. Protestants are into the “true Christians are Christians in their hearts” stuff. We are supposed to have a visible, hierarchical, Church. We are supposed to have a teaching Magesterium that protects the Deposit of Faith given to the Apostles. We are supposed to be able to trust our clergy…
I agree, we are supposed to have a visible Church for all the reasons you give and more.
But…..what we are supposed to have, and ” have” now, is such a great loss to the faithful and those who have become weakened in the faith due to this loss.
What do we do? Look ABOVE and you will find the Church Triumphant and hold fast.
This will take great prayer and great discipline on our parts and possibly great sacrifice to attend a TLM as this is where” heaven meets earth” and one can be reassured that the faith, the Church in all Her capacity may reach the soul of man, so that he may receive Christ.
The two things can’t be separated, and we have his promises that hell shall not prevail… so… the Church will always be where His teachings are kept. Now, the true Church may not always have the buildings and the nicely set up system… but the Church will always live on.
Problem is–what if “where the teachings are kept” and “where the Pope presides” are two different organizations?
Well, we’re getting really close to seeing that, so unless the Lord grants great mercy, we’ll have to make decisions. I know I can never leave Our Lord and I need the sacraments… that’s all I really know.
Amen!
You state the crisis well. All the scenarios you list are possible. We have to hope the Pontiff will respond positively to Cardinals Burke and Brandmuller’s impending correction. Gauging that hopeful prospect from previous attempts and especially the present increasingly determined rapid effort to implement the new “paradigm” Burke mentions that does not seem likely. The trend appears to favor a banding of orthodox believers ever more determined to remain loyal to Christ, as he revealed himself in the Gospels and Apostolic Tradition. If that were to be we can expect climactic divine intervention. Our task is to gird our loins and strengthen those who waver. Valor in witness to Christ is a blessed thing.
“We have to hope the Pontiff will respond positively to Cardinals Burke and Brandmuller’s impending correction.”
That’s an extraordinary remark from you, Fr. Morello. Normally you’re much more savvy than that. ‘Impending correction’ begs the question. “We…hope the Pontiff will respond positively” is, pardon me, naive. The Pope doesn’t care what anyone says about him or his words or his actions. He expressed himself years ago when he said, “They do what they do and I do what I do.” He listens to no one but himself and his father, Satan. And he does what he does and will continue to do what he does until the end, whenever and whatever that is.
I’ll post here Winslow what I replied to RodH on similar reaction to another article: As priest Rod I’m compelled to practice the virtue of Hope, and express faith in the power of God’s grace to work, as from experience I’m convinced He can do all things. As a man like yourself with personal views I’m quite skeptical that Pope Francis will respond positively to Cardinal Burke’s expected correction. I base that on the Pontiff’s track record of ignoring previous requests and his determined efforts to implement radical change within the Church. So entirely radical that it is a paradigm shift from obedience to revelation and the Gospels to an Anthropocentric kind of religiosity. I say religiosity because God as revealed thru Christ falls under this radical revision to the extent that the God I know becomes indistinguishable from the person who pretends to be His Vicar on earth. The latter is my fearful inner sense as to what’s transpiring. At this point the best I can do is judge his works if until the moment may arrive that I must contend with him personally as some already have.
Fr. Morello, let nothing I say here alter the respect and admiration I have for you. As we all can see, there aren’t too many priests here willing to stand up for the Faith, but here you are, posting under your legal name (I think).
RodH and I are brothers in angst. We consider you one of us. Not as strident, perhaps, as we are, but certainly on the same side of the road. When we see something from you out of the ordinary, we react.
Reacting to your instant message, I see a logical fallacy. “We have to hope….” is in conflict with ” I’m quite skeptical that Pope Francis will respond positively to Cardinal Burke’s expected correction.” based on the heretic’s track record. ‘Hope,’ as a boiler plate Catholic reaction to trouble, is admirably ‘de fide’ but, under the circumstances, unrealistic. You know that, but hope anyway. I get it. Still, I am confused by “the God I know becomes indistinguishable from the person who pretends to be His Vicar on earth.” From my perspective the God I know is as far from Bergoglio as He is from Satan. Esoteric philosophical musings, no matter how valid, ought not get in the way of common sense. My hope is “Come Lord Jesus” happens tomorrow, but I’m not betting on it.
Winslow Hope is a spiritual virtue. My predilections regarding Pope Francis are my personal judgment. I realized some might misunderstand my intent when I spoke of the God I know, which like your knowledge of Him is far from what I perceive in this Pontiff. My reference was to The Apostle in 2 Thessalonians 2 that “He will seat himself in the Sanctuary as if he were a god”. Pope Francis acts and speaks as a Messiah as if he were a god overshadowing Messianic mission and divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. My long held inner sense is that the man now occupying the Chair of Peter is at least a figure of Antichrist. The reason it appears is to fulfill a challenge from Satan accepted by Christ revealed to Leo XIII. The awful reality if true is a chastisement for the growing infidelity of Christians particularly Catholics who have disobeyed true Pastors Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, John Paul II Consortio Familiaris, Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth. The rapid emergence and acceptance of homosexuality by the world and especially by the Catholic Church, that is clergy and Hierarchy who are apostate and if not homosexual themselves defenders of what God considers an abomination, an insult to His Divinity. My strong sense is we are awaiting a severe chastisement perhaps Apocalyptic.
I wish that someone could produce evidence that the papal vote was genuine or manipulated. The reason that I wish for this is because it could resolve the confusion. Please note that this is not an attempt to imply that anything was done that should not have been done. If the selection was an action of the Holy Spirit so be it.
“24Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
I think it was more an abandonment of the Holy Ghost of those who had long ago abandoned Him. If God withdraws His grace from the world big time, then we’re all really in trouble. I’m watching all those bubbling volcanoes, jittery earth and wobbly dams – not to mention noting where most lions hang out these days ;-~))
At this stage, I seriously doubt that anything will resolve the confusion except direct intervention from on high.
Dear Helosia, Thank you for your generous respect nose however do you agree or disagree that it is an obligation to challenge those that deceive? Therefore the error that is being made is to ignore those that try to shine some kind of unique light into Amoris Letitia.
Your original post has disappeared and I can’t quite remember it! I agree we have an obligation to challenge those deceiving, in line with our own status/situation/role in life. ie do what we can. If by your second comment you mean that we shouldn’t ignore those trying to pretend AL is in line with Catholic dogma and Faith, yes, I agree. Again – do what we can individually.
Amen to all the above, Steve.
I am sure that the likes of Bishop Barron are well-intentioned, but their desire to “seize” control of the agenda and no doubt turn it away from the defects of AL and concentrate on the “good bits” miss the point. The “good bits” say nothing that is not already present in the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium of the Church, whereas the errors undermine everything which has gone before. To look at it in the round, emphasize the “good bits” and ignore the errors is equivalent to feeding one’s children a sumptious banquet in which you know there are 19 grains of arsenic concealed. A good father would throw the lot in the garbage and not trust to luck that his children don’t ingest the arsenic. Bishops like Bobby B are just not good fathers – they are murderers of souls.
Absolutely, Deacon Augustine. When the AL came out, I said to someone, this is a fine cake laced with poisonous raisins. What kind of a love does a parent have to offer their children such food? And the bishops and cardinals are quiet. Shame, shame on them! They are the only ones who can do something about this. Shame, shame, and more shame on them. Too bad they don’t have the ability to feel shame!
Insofar as Steve’s angst:
“…Everyone wants to know what to expect. Everyone is wondering, and frustrated….”
I am reminded of the passage from the Gospel:
“Seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, And what of this man, Lord? Jesus said to him, If it is my will that he should wait till I come, what is it to thee? Do thou follow me.” John 21:21-22
Pray and trust in God.
AL is poison dressed up to look like Sugar. Bishop B is not to be trusted
Heartbreaking. I used to love listening to Bishop B., but he has jumped ship sadly.
I never did. There was always something off…
I heard some one call Bishop B. the new Bishop Sheen. He is no Bishop Sheen not even in the same league.
It must be noted that Martin Sheen took his “stage name” from the good bishop. Charlie came up with the name through his father. Emilio Estevez is his brother. So, Charlie is really Carlos Estevez. Hopefully, Fulton can bring Charlie up “the back fire escape” and save his soul.
That’s what many of our Bishops look like
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b61509a12fe06755738152999f0f49b33bca5c3a006fa1de5f80e5f7ab5a5061.png
Thanks for the creepy picture…
Only obeying the Pope, what could be wrong with that!
Very safe for them, for now.
“The “good bits” say nothing that is not already present in the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium of the Church.”
That jumped out at me the first time I read AL. The “good bits,” and there are many of them, mean nothing — zilch — in light of the heresies, which are a wrecking ball for the Church. If Bishop Barron can’t see that he’s just another lousy, weak Vatican II appeaser. He needs to stop the posturing and decide whose side he’s on. The choice is Bergoglio or Christ.
The “road to hell” is paved with good intentions. Is he “well intended” or “evil”. That is the question. It is either-or. There is no “choice C”.
The solution to the problem could be challenging those that try to defend and manipulate a.l. At the moment this has not been tried.
I too am trying to hang in there. It’s not easy. I was watching the USCCB on EWTN. My heart sank when they voted to implement AL.
Look on the bright side – the more openly they defy Christ, the closer we are to God intervening. Christ himself told us this would happen, and reminded us repeatedly through Catholic prophecy, so really we’re just struggling with being the ones God chose to put here at this time. Hey! You’re honoured!
Time to get tougher (fortitude) Bob, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/825343144e129ae32e0373182505937a4fa4fa3555a12b12a406e8896a2184f9.gif
Barry, my man, would you mind easing up on the gifs and memes? This is not reddit.
Garrett, I don’t know anything about “reddit” don’t follow them
but I hear you. If this helps, they now have a block so viewing
gifs and memes is optional.
I would not ( and have not ) hesitated to take anything down someone
dislikes. Let me know and thank’s.
Thanks Barry! On mobile you need to click to see whatever. On desktop there’s no such option. Nice to hear from you. Oíche mhaith.
Slan, mo chara!
I just checked the USCCB website and saw that this item passed 223 to 12, with 2 abstaining votes. Just another example of this hopelessly progressive group. And like most other USCCB documents and statements, this one too should simply be ignored.
Who were the 12 and 2 abstentions?
I don’t have that information. Does anyone else?
You apparently don’t have any information yet you seem certain the bishops will go the way of the Maltese and the Argentinians.
I don’t have the individual names of how bishops voted. Why else would they vote to include the ramifications of AL into marriage program material? If they didn’t intend to move to some level toward the Maltese and Argentinians, why would they need to revise the program? If not, they could simply leave it as is.
You may be right, but based on what we know, you’re begging the question. Cupich lost his attempt to hi-jack the pro-life committee. Do you really believe there are only 12 faithful bishops in our country?
When people talk about AL they’re usually talking about Chapter 8. There’s a lot more to AL than Chapter 8 and much of it is authentic Church teaching. Have you read all of AL?
Well, I hope that you’re right, and the USCCB uses only what coincides with Church teaching to reinforce that for the faithful. Of course, I agree that there are a lot more than 12 faithful bishops in our country, and thus we have to trust that they have good intentions for revisiting marriage program information. You have convinced me to take back my certainty about the outcome.
What item?
ACTION ITEM #4: Do the members wish to develop, under the lead of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, a formal statement by the USCCB that would offer a renewed pastoral plan for marriage and family life ministry and advocacy in light of Amoris Laetitia?
I think you can ‘plea’ all you want because there are no ears to hear a faithful one at this present time. We are on our own, clinging to Christ of course.
well, … it is dramatic. But it seems to affect the life of the author of the article a little bit too much over the top.
I mean, pray for the pope, pray for the bishops. Take care of your family. Be the best catholic you can possibly be. Do what you can to surround yourself with faithful catholics. Flee from liberals… and protect your kids from them.
But worrying has never done any good, and the sake of the catholic church does not depend on pope Francis, or any cardinal. Maybe I mistinterpret the article, … but the tone… I’m sorry to say, but even if I totally agree with almost everything written on OnePeterFive.com, it sounds more and more whiny.
I don’t know… Just try to imagine you are in the 11th century in rural Scotland: you hear about the current news from Rome about once or twice in a lifetime. But that does not prevent you in any ways to be a good catholic.
But we do have word of what’s going on – and the author is following your advice and being the best Catholic he can be.
I’m not judging in any way the life of the author. Just saying
Just saying what? We are called to give heroic witness to and defend the faith. Just “being the best Catholic you can be” doesn’t do any good if the truth of Christ is being shredded and what it means to be “Catholic” is being totally redefined.
Clinging to the eternal faith within the walls of my home and fleeing from liberals only makes the situation worse–that’s a bunker mentality. It’s cowardice. There’s nothing “whiny” about expressing frustration and relaying facts.
“fleeing from liberals only makes the situation worse” – on the other hand aren’t we supposed to avoid occasions for sin? What if someone, not very strong, was easily influenced and started falling away from the Faith after mixing with those liberals? If someone knows they’re a bit weak in that department, perhaps best for them not to mix.
We’re talking about Steve and people reading this site, all of whom seem very comfortable with the truth of Christ.
I’m talking about Catholics. Being ‘comfortable’ with the truth of Christ doesn’t mean one should not heed the warning to avoid occasions for sin. If you – or anyone – personally feels strong enough to give heroic witness without ever stumbling or being tempted, fine, but I feel it is pointless praying ‘lead us not into temptation’, whilst making a regular date with it by mixing with those we know may play on our weaknesses and lead us astray or start us wondering whether they might just be right. Perfect opportunity for Satan (it’s why I don’t go near the NO church any more, even socially – been down that road and bear the spiritual scars – the temptation to seek a bit of social chit-chat can be amazingly seductive).
Well some are all called to the cloistered life. The rest of us have to work, provide and interact. If one cannot differentiate between being of the world and being in the world then, again, the cloistered life is the answer.
Thanks be to God that His apostles didn’t hold up in a cave just waiting for Him to come back or waiting to die.
We are indeed all called to serve in a different way – some by speaking, some by writing, some by devoting more time to prayer etc. We must all do what we think God wants of us.
I’ve no idea what your comment about differentiation meant – people don’t go into the cloistered life to escape the world (or shouldn’t anyway).
I think that cave you’re referring to was called the Cenacle;-)) They did indeed go into hiding waiting (or more likely hiding from the authorities) and were probably very fearful, so how about letting the Holy Ghost do His job with each one of us individually?
good luck having your kids taught by a feminist nun who think that purgatory does’nt exist since 1965.
we are bound to do what we can.
In the case of the Pope, we can pray. Worrying won’t do any good. That’s all I am saying.
Probably that the author does not worry so much about that topic, … I just wrote what was my impression on that matter after reading the article. If I am wrong, thanks be to God. If I am right, I simply want to encourage him to hope and have faith, which he does I’m sure…
Pretty much the same as life in rural Scotland in the 21st century – only they possibly had access to the TLM back then, along with the odd Priest who at least knew his catechism………
I do not know what rural Scotland was like in 11th century. What we have at the present moment is a raging apostasy within our Church and world
Whiney? For me, I see it as a very faithful man, who is begging and pleading for ” scraps” like a dog.
I wish more faithful Catholics were ” whiney” in this manner.
Worrying is useless, and in that I would agree. We must carry on as faithful Catholics and be dutiful to our station in life. And yet…….I do believe, by the grace of God, we shall be blessed to witness for Christ in some manner; big or small, it shall not matter to our Lord.
I just watched the session from the Bishop’s Conference. I strongly encourage all of you to do the same. It really does reinforce the fact, if you had any doubts or need a good reminder, that we are in serious trouble. I suspect that if it had been possible to record meetings of Bishops at the height of the Arian heresy it would be somewhat similar (albeit not in style). A room full of parboiled frogs. And just think of what they cost us.
Pretty sure I would succumb to despair. I am guessing there is no way to know how each Bishop voted, right? Ha! That would be like politicians!
“That would be like politicians”. Ha! That’s what a good number of these Bishops have morphed into!………..POLITICIANS!
I am guessing about a third are good, a third are bad and a third are weak. What say you?
I think there are 3 groups, but not so much a third. In the book “The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story” by Prof. Roberto de Mattei, the council seems to have been similarly divided. There was a faithful, conservative minority, a heterodox, progressive minority, and a moderate, quiet majority. The issue was that the progressives were in the right positions, had the ear of the pope, and were much better organized, so they got the moderate majority to go along with them. I suspect the USCCB is similarly composed, but I could be wrong.
Hi Leslie,
Your question isn’t directed at me, but if you do the percentages on the
vote from the USCCB : You have 94% (bad) in favor of AL (223 out of 238), 5% (good) opposed (12 out of 238) and 1% (weak) abstained
(3 out of 238). I guess some of the “bad” could actually be “weak”,
but if they are going to flop over that easily, you may as well just
consider them bad. I doubt you would get any better figures anywhere
else except probably the countries in Africa and maybe a few others . Here’s the link with the vote figures.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u.s.-bishop-its-not-in-my-providence-to-say-if-amoris-laetitia-allows-commu
Thank you for responding to my inquiry. The percentages you posted look correct, but terribly bleak. So I read your link; “ Malone refused to say”
“ It’s not in my providence”……….
Ok, well then I will just call my psychic hot line and ask them. What a fright. Margaret asked if anyone knew which Bishops were good. I’d like to know that also. Thanks again for your reply.
I think the situation is summed up by “I continue to hear whispers that the formal correction itself is not far
behind. But the question after that will be the same as now: then what? What happens when every effort is ignored? How will we move forward from here?”
When and if it happens, and when, as I’m pretty certain he will do, Francis ignores it, what will change? Nothing in my life, for sure. Unless, of course, God has a formal correction written into His plan as coming immediately before His intervention. Trust in God.
“Everyone wants to know what to expect. Everyone is wondering, and frustrated. Everyone is speculating…”
Actually, no. Only the tiny fraction of Catholics who actually care want to know what to expect, or are wondering, or are frustrated, or are speculating. Somewhere around 85% of Catholics are basically oblivious to the whole thing. Which is sad.
I would say 98% of Catholics. Perhaps 20% of Catholics who are in a state of grace. Whatever it is, this is dire. We can’t unknow this stuff, brothers. Stay with the Queen of Peace. Her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
Actually, the majority of Catholics are well aware of where Francis, with support from Barron and others, is leading the Church, and they support it. To characterize 85% of our fellow Catholics as “oblivious” is an obvious disservice to them and to the Church to which we all belong.
I am quite familiar with the Catholic parishes on the Big Island. Now, perhaps Hawaii is more prone to Polynesian paralysis, as it is called. I would say that 5% at most has any clue to the issues discussed on One Peter Five. And I venture to say the same percentage obtains state-wide. Were they to get a clue, I agree with you that they would follow the Francis Barron Cupich pipers, for the most part.
Everyone who’s anyone, I meant.
I just said that to my wife, who is one of them.
Actually Cardinal +Burke didn’t use the term “final plea”. That was Edward Pentin, and while +Burke agreed, he did not repeat the term.
Which makes one think this was not a “final plea” in the mind of +Burke before the interview began.
I don’t believe it will be +Burke who delivers us. It will be someone we never considered.
I’m inclined to agree
Barron is a wolf in sheep clothing, he apparently subscribes to the heretical Universalist view.
When wolves begin to lose their power, they get more aggressive, as Bishop Barron does by using words like “seize.” It does not take much effort to see his phoniness. Its not something I enjoy writing, but it is an accurate statement. Barron is a wolf.
A wolf of the most dangerous type, as he is most articulate and intelligent. I have tried to warn to authorities at Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, Ca, where he often visits and speaks to the students with no results.
Bishop Barron ? Nice Guy, I guess.
Meanwhile, Bishop Soto is doing a okay job in Sacramento.
Do the students stay awake?He could put you to sleep in 15 seconds.
Oh my, I thought I was the only one who didn’t “get” Robert Barron… everyone it seems gushes about him and I could never get through an entire video… same with Fr. Spitzer, I’m afraid.
as Bishop Barron does by using words like “seize.”
That is an oddly martial term.
Forgive my cynicism, but I am convinced (hoping to be proven wrong) that Burke will do nothing as far as a final confrontation with Francis—which is precisely what Francis by his silence and through agents provocaterus is hoping to provoke. Burke will not do it because, like for most Catholics today, the Pope=the Faith and vice-versa—a true distortion of the Petrine office that Catholics in most previous centuries would not have recognized as harmonious with the Catholic Faith. Poor Cardinal Burke: he meant well, among so many episcopal cowards he has a measure (and only a measure) of courage, and he would love to defend boldly the Faith. But he does not dare: he is no match for the Machiavellian Bergoglio. There is a new religion afoot masquerading for the religion of our forefathers.
I agree with Dr. Carballo who said, “Burke will not do it because, like for most Catholics today, the Pope=the Faith and vice-versa—a true distortion of the Petrine office that Catholics in most previous centuries would not have recognized as harmonious with the Catholic Faith.”
Every defense offered in Pope Francis against his critics can be reduced to this simple but grave error: ‘The pope is the rule of faith therefore whatever he says or does is what every Catholic must say and do!’ Many also believe in its corollary that the Indefectibility of the Church means that the pope can never lead any Catholic into error. The consequences as we are seeing can be a matter of heaven or hell.
The remote rule of faith is scripture and tradition. The proximate rule of faith is DOGMA. The Indefectibility of the Church is evidenced by faithful Catholics who will not be lead into error even by the pope. The problem for Cardinal Burke is not just that he believes that the pope is the rule of faith, he has taken oath in the 1989 Profession of Faith to submit his “mind and will” to the “authentic magisterium” of Pope Francis and Amoris Laetitia is an act of the authentic magisterium.
Drew
“The pope is the rule of faith therefore whatever he says or does is what every Catholic must say and do!’”
In other words, as Protestantism is placed in a syncretic embrace; the defenders reduce the faith to the calmunist caricature of papolatry that has been heaped on us for five centuries.
++Burke said that AL is not magisterial.
What Cardinal Burke means is the AL is NOT part of the Extra-ordinary or the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium which is based upon the Church’s attribute of infallibility and is always infallible. AL is a teaching of the authentic ordinary magisterium of Pope Francis based upon his grace of state. The problem is that those who hold the pope as the rule of faith it really makes no difference whether or not he teaches by virtue of the attribute of infallibility which God has endowed His Church or by virtue of his grace of state.
For faithful Catholics, Dogma is the rule of faith and it is the faith that is the essential cause and sign of unity in the Church. The pope is only so secondarily and accidentally so. Those that hold the pope as their rule of faith will follow him even when he betrays the faith.
Now the problem with Cardinal Burke is that he holds the pope as the rule of faith. The easiest way to see this is with respect to the dogmas that there is no salvation outside the Church, that is, that the sacraments, that belief in the revealed truths of the Catholic religion, and submission to the Roman pontiff are necessary for salvation as a necessity of means. Cardinal Burke has long ago understood every one of these dogmas, formal objects of divine and Catholics faith, in a non-literal sense. He believes that dogmas are not definitive truths of faith but rather human approximations of truth that must be continually refined by the authentic magisterium of the pope, thus, the pope becomes his rule of faith.
Every prelate in the Church to hold any office of authority is required to take 1989 Profession of Faith with its third addenda which vows submission of the mind and will to the authentic magisterium, or as Lumen Gentium says, submission of the soul. This unconditional oath to submit to the personal will of the pope has been taken by Cardinal Burke.
Cardinal Burke will either have to affirm the literal meaning of dogma as the definitive formal objects of divine and Catholic faith which he expects Pope Francis to submit, or fall into line with Pope Francis. For someone like Cardinal Burke who has been denying the literal meaning of dogma for years it is unlikely that he will suddenly figure out what the problem actually is. But, God’s grace can do anything. If not with Cardinal Burke, God will raise up someone else.
Drew
“Burke will not do it because, like for most Catholics today, the Pope=the Faith and vice-versa.”
That’s the one thing I can’t understand about Cardinal Burke. He obviously sees what Bergoglio is doing, yet he continues — and there’s no other way to say this — to support him. If the Pope is the faith, then Bergoglio is not the Pope. There’s no way around that, so the only path for all faithful bishops is to declare it a fact that Bergoglio has removed himself from the Chair of Peter and buy him a one-way ticket to Buenos Aires.
Cardinal Burke is under Holy Obedience to support the Pope. Cardinal Burke is also under Holy Obedience to Jesus Christ. I think he’s doing the best he can under the circumstances. It’s better that Burke be in the position he is than another heretic in his place….that would make matters worse I guess.
There is no way to serve Christ and Bergoglo at the same time. Cardinal Burke should know that. As I said above, it’s either Christ or Bergoglio. One or the other. Fence straddling is for the weak.
What position is Cardinal Burke in? He’s been marginalized. Okay, he’s back on the Court. Big deal. Having taken him off and put him back on, Bergoglio can’t take him off again. While the Cardinal is fiddling around the heretics are being promoted. Every day.
” If the Pope is the faith, then Bergoglio is not the Pope.”
Pope Francis is NOT “the faith”. A human person (body & soul; material & immaterial) cannot be wholly immaterial (the faith).
Even if that was possible, Pope Francis is NOT the object of divine and Catholic Faith (de fide divina et catholicam) – and giving him the benefit of the doubt, imo I think he’d agree.
The Pope is infallible only under the exact conditions laid down by Vatican I (1869-70). Otherwise, he’s like the rest of us. (And yes, I know about the OUM. ????)
Cardinal Burke suffers from the effeminacy the rest of the hierarchy does, due to the VII poison in his bloodstream. It’s been over a year since the “Dubia,” and nothing from him. Like everyone else, he doesn’t wish to be cut off from the easy life; he’ll say just enough to be considered a “Trad Hero,” then he can fly around the world and speak at fancy banquets and receive adulation from his adoring fans. Bergoglio is the biggest disgrace in the history of the Church, obviously hates the Church, and no one from the hierarchy has done anything. Archbishop Lefebvre, pray for us!
I think you’re making unsupported allegations there, John. Cardinal Burke is a faithful servant of Christ and His Church. He may be a little too cautious in these times of terror, but ‘effeminacy’ and VII poison are unconscionable accusations. Financial allegations are things I’d like you to prove. Cardinal Burke has lots of friends and admirers and he’d be welcome in the best homes and sacristies in the world. He’d never have to pick up a tab for food and drinks.
Shooting your mouth off is comforting at times, but it won’t get you points in heaven. Say something serious and you may get some credibility. It’s not true nobody has done anything. You mean done anything to depose the heretic. That’s true, but is isn’t as easy as we’d like to have it. Cardinal Burke is a Canon lawyer in the first rank of the law. He has to deal with things you know nothing about. The Church is his first concern. If you think otherwise, you’re not up to date.
How many more days does he (Burke) remain silent? You know, it’s been over a year since the “Dubia,” meanwhile the Bergoglio debacle continues, unabated. What is he afraid of losing? These guys (hierarchy) don’t have to worry about feeding a family, earning a living day to day; time for him to stand up like a man, defend the Faith. Countless souls continue to be lost with this current disaster upon us.
With regard to his not being affected by VII poison, I don’t know how you make the case, given his constant praise of liturgy wrecker and author of the “Theology of The Body” disaster, “Saint” JPII. JPII “The Great,” he who compiled the Chatechism saying the Muslims worship the God of Abraham, a heresy. Remember our Lord’s words, “no one comes to the Father but by me.”
I find it difficult to disagree with much of your message. JPII is greatly overrated, I agree. Cardinal Burke is a disappointment to many of the faithful, including me, but as a Canon judge and lawyer he must dot every i and cross every t. He can’t simply pontificate like a pope on an airplane. He can’t make mistakes. I have no love for Vatican II, but “Vatican II poison” is vague. I don’t know what he’s doing. I have ceased having any expectations from him. Now I just wait and pray. When I’m day-dreaming I like to think he’s trying to convince enough bishops to join him in declaring Bergoglio a manifest heretic and depose him, but that’s up to God. When He’s had enough, He will act. That i’m sure of. Keep the Faith.
In August of 2008, I attended the farewell Mass for then Archbishop Burke in St. Louis. He was removed through pressure from Catholic pro abortion Democratic politicians. The agent was the previous archbishop Justin Rigali who became a cardinal when he moved to Philadelphia. Benedict removed him and I have proof from the chancery.—-I met Archbishop Burke once after Mass. I was very suspicious and did not know what to think. He shook my hand and was very gracious. —When Archbishop Burke led his entourage into the St. Louis Cathedral with the Knights of Columbus being prominent, I was privy to a supernatural event. This “supernatural vision” stated that Burke was in the right and that the Church was splitting. Radical women (read lesbian) have taken over the American Church and this particular agent was Sister Charlotte Rigali whom Cardinal Rigali left behind to spy on Burke. —-During the march, there were three lesbians cackling in a corner. One was the press agent for the archdiocese. Another was a major in the St. Louis Police Department who was also a prominent liberal Catholic. which told me that Burke was under surveillance. The third was another female archdiocesan official. — This agenda is cold and calculating. It is also deadly. The same forces which shot John Paul II are moving to reform the American Church in line with the new world order.
You have to understand that all bishops in the Church are equal. The pontiff is a bishop who is first among equals. The stacking of the hierarchy is a clever way to take over the Church.—- Here in the U.S., every bishop is considered legally to be the CEO of a corporation. Here is Missouri, there are four dioceses. The Metropolitan is in St. Louis. Kansas City, Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and Jefferson City are considered subservient but equal. Each is a corporation in its own right—-In Jefferson City, the bishop was just replaced. You might say that Gaydos was asked for his resignation and was replaced. Actually, he could have refused and started a schism. Legally, he was the CEO and could very easily have retained his power in the state capitol.—Now, you have to know the history of politics for bishops. The only way to remove a bishop is through death. That would be plenty of incentive through the Middle Ages for assassinations.—The Vatican has had plenty of mysterious deaths. Malachi Martin has stated that Pope Pius XI was murdered by Mussolini. He also wrote that John Paul I was killed by the Russians through one of their agents in a high position inside the Vatican.
Sadly, as a Burke supporter here in St. Louis, you have a point.
The Pope is not the faith. The Pope is entrusted by Christ to defend the faith. Popes can and do fail at their office not only in their character but also in teaching. Look at Peter.
At least Cardinal Burke is doing something perhaps not as swiftly or effectively as we would wish, Why criticize let alone be cynical of him. He’s 69, I don’t know he may have health issues, he is treading a very difficult fine line I’am sure he never anticipated. My cynicism is reserved for all those who not only don’t support him but remain silent, very likely even amongst themselves. Who else trying to take their duty as seriously as Cardinal Burke is, like in saving souls. He seems to be getting flak from every point on the compass, try placing yourself in his shoes. We better not only pray for him but support him in every way we can not many seem inclined to take his place.
In your hyper-clericalism and possibly desperation to have at least one bishop with manly courage (better look to Bishop Athanasius Schneider for that) you, Rick, overlook the fact that I made clear I wish Cardinal Burke well, give him the benefit of the doubt as far as his desire to defend the faith goes, and do not state but what the evidence shows: that standing up to Francis, as Paul did Peter, takes a special initiative from the Holy Ghost that so far has been absent, even in Burke (who accepts every humiliation from Francis in silence with the conviction, I am sure, that he is practicing the virtues of humility and obedience; perhaps he is). So, spare us your sermon about Burke the Confessor of the Faith—so far that seems to be only a fond desire of many of us who justly feel orphaned from our pastors.
It’s not a sermon just the way I see things, we could very well have no one doing anything and then what would you say? Shoulder your cross your not alone besides things are very likely to get worse soon. Not a condescending sermon just my take on things. You don’t begrudge me that do you?
What is very little known is that Archbishop Raymond Burke was removed as the ordinary in St. Louis in 2008 by Pope Benedict to placate the liberals in the Democratic Party. I have emails from the chancery to prove it. Once John Paul passed on to his reward, there was plenty of political jockeying going on in Rome. Benedict was elected in 2005 and abdicated in 2013.—Benedict was not anywhere near the conservative that he was made out to be. He was a supporter of Teihard de Chardin and evidently worked out a deal with Bergoglio who was the runner-up in 2005. There is very little doubt that Benedict was moved out of the way by the Bergogio juggernaut with his liberal Jesuit agenda.—Malachi Martin died in 1999. He was also a Jesuit who read the Third Secret in the original Portuguese. By the way, it was a one page document with 26 lines in a letter format. He foresaw in his writings a future Jesuit pope and was able to prophesy every little detail for the movement toward “the new world order”.
He was asked if it was a final plea, and he said yes. He could have said “no,” or he could have said, “not exactly, it’s more like this…” Burke parses words very carefully. His confirmation was the next best thing to him saying it.
As for deliverance? I think God is going to surprise us.
Yep, I think He is too Steve! 😉 The ‘God of Surprises’ will ‘surprise’ even (and maybe especially) Bergoglio.
But consider, the surprise, might be a big disappointment, like the Apostles experience of the crucifixion, perhaps only later will we see the Ressurection of the Church, and maybe not in our lifetime. We need to do what the apostles did in the upper room, gather the Faithful together and pray. A schism may be God’s way of bringing the faithful together in one room, that in itself would be a welcome relief from what we have now.
I think that’s what we have now. It just needs to steep for a while.
Is he ever!!! Thanks for this article Steve. Keep up the good work, don’t get too discouraged, but make sure your seat belt is fastened and your tray table is in the upright position…oh and now’s a good time to go over that oxygen mask stuff when it pops down. The engines are malfunctioning and we’re headed into a (crash) landing of some sort. WWIII? Great DepressionII? Civil War II? or some combination of those three? At some point, probably within the next few years, if not sooner, God will say “enough is enough!” Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison
I believe we, the laity, should take the initiative by means of a Profession of Faith, a clear statement of unambiguous and unquestionable orthodoxy treating the principle errors of our day and age, not only reiterating the matter of the Oath against Modernism but also clarifying the many difficulties which have plagued us since the close of the Second Vatican Council. Let it be drawn up by lay and religious theologians in good standing and possessed of a healthy sensus fidei, and blessed by those faithful Bishops who have already indicated their support for such action (Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Bishop Emeritus René Henry Gracida spring to mind). Most importantly, let it be used by the members of the laity to strengthen their faith, to revive their hope, to renew their commitment, and to consolidate their efforts around the world. Let it serve as a proclamation, a clarion call, a rallying cry from the laity to the laity (and beyond): This we believe, this we hope for, this we defend.
To the radical Catholic, I hope you can find a copy of the letter authored by Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy written to the Pope this past summer. He really spelled it out about everything Pope Francis jas done to create chronic confusion with a complete lack of clarity risking sins against the Holy Spirit. As a result of his letter father Thomas was asked to resign by the USCCB from the USCCB position as consultant to the Bishops
I’m familiar with the contents of the letter. While it was something needful, what I’m thinking of wouldn’t be addressed to Pope Francis or to any member of the Episcopacy, but to the faithful laity. Historically, the laity provided a certain counterweight to the hierarchy; they knew their faith by heart, and were extremely skeptical of even the smallest changes being made. For example, when Pope St. Gregory the Great added the words “diesque nostros in tua pace disponas” to the Canon of the Mass in the 6th century, the laity in Rome were so outraged that it came to death threats. Since the Counter-Reformation, the laity have withdrawn more and more from such matters, leaving them in the hands of the expert theologians. At Vatican II, they provided no resistance at all, and the pace of deterioration has only accelerated. The laity has never been so poorly catechized as it is today, and one could be forgiven for wondering whether this has been intentional on the part of the innovators. The internet, however, represents an opportunity to change that. We now have access to documents which used to be accessible to only a select few, and we can coordinate in ways never before possible. An increasing number of people are informed with regards to the problems in the Church – which is a good thing – but we have yet to take the next step and consolidate our energies as a body. (Before I am accused of fomenting rebellion: I am not suggesting anything outside the framework of classic Catholic Action; without the blessing of faithful priests and bishops, the laity can and should do nothing.) A Profession of Faith as I have described it would serve as the foundation of such a consolidating effort.
I did not understand your point that you wanted the message to go to the laity. I’m reminded of Matthew Kelly telling us that’s 7% of Catholics in the United States ate what he considers Dynamic Catholics. Sometimes I get the impression that the hierarchy does not want that number to increase. Several years ago I called the priest who was in charge of our county’s Deanery and asked him this question. Every Parish has a small number of men we can call the remnant, guys who are very serious about their faith and practice it regularly Kama many daily. I asked him for permission to try to contact each Parish to have all of these men from these different churches meet together. The good priest almost literally blew me off telling me that each Parish does their own thing and there’s no need for us all to get together. I think this was during the time of Father Corapi that I wanted us all to to meet with him. At one time the group Legatus allowed us all to come together for a speaker who came to St Louis. Only once. I don’t know how you’re ever going to accomplish your idea which I really respect. How could we ever reach the 7%?
That’s the idea: To raise that number by means of a simple yet comprehensive Profession of Faith. The online Filial Appeal to the Holy Father from 2015 received in the neighborhood of 800,000 signatures (link). If a Profession of Faith were to receive even a fraction of that, it would be a tremendous success. Imagine 80,000 souls praying and working toward a common goal; 80,000 souls willing to act and speak – perhaps even donate – as a block. The mere existence of such a group would be enough to encourage and strengthen the resolve of faithful bishops and priests around the world to step up and defend the Faith. And that would only be the beginning of the possibilities such a Profession could afford.
There were two bishops just appointed by Pope Francis. One was in Jefferson City to replace the disgraced Gaydos. The other was in Nashville to replace a bishop who died.—In reality, they were appointed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both were simple priests with no bishopric experience. The one for Jeff City, McKnight, from Wichita was an official with the USCCB.
I pray to God it will be Cardinal Sarah as he hands in his resignation to the Pope.
A good indication as to the reaction could be if there is a baseless attack on Cardinal Burke through the media in the next few weeks.
Bishop Barren is obviously a modernist cretin and AL is an “extraordinarily rich” piece of shit.
God, save us from these knavish imbeciles.
And Bishop Soto is just standing by going ” What the Heck is going on ?! “
After the first stacked Synod Barron wrote a piece criticizing critics. He said it is like watching sausage being made and nothing unusual.
He is part of the problem.
But they’re not imbeciles. They know exactly what they’re doing.
I agree that it’s intentional, but they still haven’t worked out the internet. 🙂
They are intellectual imbeciles.
Louise, a felicitous error on your part, the misspelling of Bishop Barron’s name. Barren, indeed.
I hate spelling mistakes, but I’ll let that one stand. 🙂
I’m not sure what it is with these men – some combination of fear of persecution, instinctive desire for normalcy, and/or cognitive dissonance that shrinks away from recognizing what seems so clear to many of us, that the Church’s human element is in an uprecedented spiritual crisis worse than any since at least the 4th century. To the extent that it’s the latter, I can sympathize – I’ve been there. I wish I hadn’t been here for it, but in the words of a certain popular Tolkien character, ‘so do all who live to see such times’. I wish they could get inside our heads and see the fatigue, heartache and outright scandal that ordinary believers have to deal with on a daily basis, and just maybe it would spur them to more timely action. This mess has dragged on long enough, thanks.
I think it’s a very Romans 1 situation – for their lack of faith God gave them over to the reprobate mind. These men, ultimately, don’t really believe in God; if they did, they wouldn’t dare the things they dare, and they’d be unwavering in their defense of the Faith out of holy fear for the fate of their immortal souls. But they don’t – they float here and there, they vacillate, they equivocate, and ultimately end up begging the approval of the enemies of the Faith. They are spiritually impotent because they spurned the protection of the Lord and are now under the influence of the Evil One – those who are not his active agents, that is, of whom there are sadly many. They are being revealed before our very eyes for what they really are. It’s the greatest scandal I can imagine, and I agree with the author, many will be disheartened by this spectacle and lose heart. The Church is about to get very much smaller, including in the episcopate, but those left will be believers in truth, as Pope Benedict prophesied.
This isn’t direct at Cardinal Burke or the Dubia Cardinals, etc. But in general, this part of Our Lady’s message in Quito, Ecuador sure seems to fit the specific times we are in: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent!” Such silence.
Also such illusion; that is, the devil, he is a master of illusion. The fact of course is that souls are being lost and the devil is raging about unchained, but the other fact, which the devil is clever to hide by putting on an overwhelming show, is that Jesus has not and will not abandon the Church to utter doom. It’s like what happens at an exorcism of a possessed person but writ large: At an exorcism, the devil does everything he can to distract and put on a show of force: levitation, talking in frightening voices, etc and so on. “Parlor tricks” exorcists call them, actions that the devil uses to draw attention to himself and take the focus of God and Our Lady. The thing to do is to ignore them and keep praying.
In the midst of this crucifixion of the Church, this unprecedented and calamitous time, it is a time for saints. I don’t know about others, but in these moments I feel a surge of something like Lewis’ Reepicheep talking to Eustace–Eustace of course is massively armored at this point as a dragon (of all things) and is able to breathe fire. Reepicheep says, “You, you’re a dragon! You have skin like chainmail! You breathe fire! Come on, let’s meet our destiny!” We can change this a bit: “You, you’re a Catholic, a son of the Father, a prince (or princess) of Heaven! You receive the Body and Blood of God and are transformed into Him! You have spiritual armor like chain mail! You wield the weapon of weapons like a scourge to the devil, the Rosary! The Princess has given you her Heart and protects you! Angels surround you! Come on, let’s meet our destiny!”
What we are doing–Masses and Rosaries. There is one great reason the devil gives us the idea that we can do little to nothing: he is scared, he is a coward and puts on a show, putting us down and making us think it’s all useless. That’s a very good sign that it is not useless. The devil told St. John Vianney that three more like him would destroy the devil’s kingdom. We are (mostly) not priests, but we can become saints, true saints, by God’s grace. What can 100,000 saints do? Even 10,000? If we each conquer the devil in our own little patches of the world God has given us, what wonders will happen. Let’s meet our destiny…look what we are after all, unworthy as we are! Do we really think being a Catholic, going to Mass, praying the Rosary, living in intimate union with Mary, the Queen, is nothing? On the contrary, the devil fears such a person like we cannot imagine.
Like St Gemma Galgani said, “Without Jesus I can do nothing; with Jesus I can do everything.” And Mother Angelica…send us your holy feistiness!
A superB comment Herman! God bless you.
Ditto Ivan! Wonderful comment from Hermann Joseph!! We ARE Our Lady’s ‘army’. She has gathered us just for this moment! Yes, it is very difficult not to become frustrated at the seemingly ‘foot dragging’ of the Cardinals, and sometimes we (or I guess I should speak for myself-‘I’) become snarly with the situation as it is indeed exhausting. But, we pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and continue on, trusting that Our Lord has the situation well under control. And yes it HURTS to watch His precious Bride, the Church being drug through the mud by the current Pontificate, but if we can keep our eyes focused on Jesus through His Mother, the Church will some day have a GLORIOUS victory! He will make all things ‘new’ again! Keep those Rosary beads ‘warm’ in your hands.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/447aa72467770578ff0863be247c03e354fdaf19d5323349b4ddc3e60090f91a.jpg
In the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ephesians 6: 10-17 (you have v. 13) is the Epistle for the 27th Sunday after Pentecost, the Feast of Sts. Eustratius Auxentius, Eugene, Mardarius and Orestes (Dec. 13th – that’s St. Lucy on the TL calendar) and any feast of a confessor of the Faith.
????????
My dad was ukrainian Catholic. I’m traditional latin mass catholic but I love the ukrainian church as well and try to visit it often.
My late father was Ukrainian Greek Catholic and my mom is Byzantine Catholic. In which Eparchy/diocese do you live? I’m in the Archeparchy of Philadelphia.
I was in Tucson and attended st michaels.. I’m back up in upstate NY now and I’m not sure what patchy they are here. I’m not close to a ukrainian church where I am right now- unfortunately. But I’m going to change that soon. It is a very beautiful Divine Liturgy the ukies have.
New York, New England and part of New Jersey is the Eparchy of Stamford: http://www.stamforddio.org/page13.html
St. Nicholas in Watervliet is breathtaking.
Pennsylvania east of the Susquehanna River, part of New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and D.C. is the Archeparchy of Philadelphia:
http://ukrarcheparchy.us/parishes-2/
If you don’t think that the Byzantines are being targeted, then you are living under a mushroom? The goal of Francis is to destroy all traditional religion and to turn the Church over to the laity. The ultimate goal is to “create a new spiritual belief system based on world unity” which is a euphemism for the new world order.
Several years ago, I attended a Byzantine church service here in St. Louis. The Eparchy is Parma in Ohio. A Jesuit said the Mass.—I hate to tell you that he was there to “infiltrate and destroy”. There were ten people present. I went up for Communion and feel that I was ambushed. He literally mugged me because I did not know how to take the bread dipped in wine on a spoon. I came close to “punching him out” when he grabbed my face with both hands and forced open my mouth.—He made it a point to ensure that women had an equal spot in the service. Actually, that was forced as well. The Jesuits carry lots of guilt from their evident gay mentality that women deserve to be priests. That may be. However, the efforts are forced.—-To make things even weirder, the acting director of the Byzantine rite was also pastor at a nearby parish. I noted an obvious situation of gays being prominent in a Sunday service. There were two men and two women and there was a child of one of the women involved. I wrote up the situation and notified the pastor by certified mail. By law, this should have been reported to the police. There were physical signs that the little boy was being molested by the two gay males and the mother was allowing it to happen because she had a girl friend who was “spffiy on” with the wife of the deacon administrator.—-The horror is reaching even into the Byzantine rite. The Maronite Catholic parish is part of another different rite in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Their allegiance is to the Patriarch of Beirut. So far, the gay agenda is being resisted.—Because of the violence in Lebanon, there is a strong mafia connection to the Maronites. Sadly, that may be part of the solution to the tragedy which has now inundated the Latin rite.
My heart sank as I read your post.
Lord, have mercy!
Ready on the right. Ready on the left. Ready on the firing line. God bless you.
Arturo Sosa, not Sammy, doesn’t even believe in the devil. He is the fairly new director general of the Jesuits. He is also from Argentina.
I could be wrong, but I believe Arturo Sosa the Heretic is from Venezuela. Being of Hispanic heritage and knowing too well the Hispanic clergy of Miami, I can assure you that perhaps one in a hundred is “somewhat” orthodox—and I really think I am being generous in this assessment. In Latin America the Church started with Vatican Council II (or so they think), with glorious exceptions of traditional Catholics in Mexico, Chile and Argentina. The rest is gone.
You are right on target. I checked with past episodes of Carnac the Magnificent and Johnny Carson says that you are spot on. I found a 2 minute summary of the election and he is pictured taking fealty from those who elected him who number about 200. He has two Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Theology with a doctorate in Political Science.—–In 1981, a priest friend of mine drowned. He had just received his doctorate in Moral Theology (not Political Science). The Rev. Clarence Deddens had been sent by the Vatican to meet with the priest-secretary for AB John May. He had been the priest-secretary for John Cardinal Carberry and was being groomed for a “ticket to the top”.—Sadly, he was on holiday with two priests one of whom was the just “fired” bishop of Jefferson City, John Gaydos. They were picnicking at a state park in Southeast Missouri. There was a sudden downpour and my friend met his maker. He was strong and a good swimmer and a red headed Irishman.—I know that AB May was under interdict by the Vatican and Pope John Paul II. There does not appear to be any mischief involved although the timing was very suspect. Sadly, God allowed the event.— God has also allowed Pope Francis. He has made many pronouncements which I believe are heretical in nature. Arturo Sosa (not the Chicago Cub) fits right in. I analyzed him closely and he has the look of evil in his face.—A final note on the fired B. John Gaydos. This appears to be just an incident of moving a troubling carrier of the new morality out of the limelight. I would say that the new bishop who was ordained from the low level of priest to bishop, no longer consecrated, is “as gay as the jack of hearts”. Again, it is noted that being gay is not a sin. However, you tell me how many gays which include the aforementioned AB John May do not act on their impulses? —- By the way, AB May died of a brain tumor which is often symptomatic of AIDS and lymphoma of the brain. He was replaced by Archbishop Justin Rigali who was sent specifically from the Vatican by John Paul II to “straighten out” St. Louis. Rigali even arranged a visit from the Polish prince of the Church. Once he stabilized St. Louis, he was transferred to Philadelphia and received the red hat. He was replaced by Archbishop Raymond Burke from LaCrosse—-With the death of JPII, Burke was removed by Benedict to placate the liberals in the Democratic Party. I have emails from the chancery to prove it.—–Sosa is only one of the “refugees from the theological gutter” whom Francis has rehabilitated to take the Church to the left. By the way, the Jesuit John Carney was from St. Louis University and also a chaplain with the Sandinistas who was hunted down and killed by the Nicaraguan government. Mayor DiBlasio of New York has a similar resume from working in Nicaragua for the Jesuits.
An amazing comment to an amazing article. Never thought about Cardinal Burke as possibly being the “one who should speak”. From being tired of the battle, I feel my spirit coursing though me again! Let’s keep fighting the good fight, God bless us all and…
Viva Cristo Rey!
Perhaps a Bishop in white needs to speak!
Yeah, you’re not wrong there Jules
Keep up the good fight brother!
Peter
Wow!
WOW doesn’t even begin to describe it.
“If Christ’s promises to the Church can be so easily broken, can any of what we believe can really be trusted?”
That terrible question has been lingering on my mind for months but i never had the courage to express it. Now is sinking like a dead body on my soul.
We all need to realize that this is the devil trying to make us doubt the indefectibility of the Church.
Yes. The point is that if this structure defects is because it is not the Church. There is not Communion, no Sacraments, no Faith. This hollow, void, structure cant be the Church. The Church, the Real Church is hidden and probably we never had the idea of what it is to be a real Catholic. Maybe we are just about to know it.
The anti-Church has real and valid Sacraments, even the True Eucharist (just like the Eastern Orthodox).
But it does not have the Faith.
I cant answer to that. My English is not good enough and, in fact, I just dont know.
The Church is still here and alive…. bruised. But Alive. Jesus said that his Church will never fall but he also said that It would face Challenges.
Imagine we’re on a ship. The Ship has no compass.
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Don’t lose heart. Pope Francis has been so brazen lately that, paradoxically, it has given me hope that God will straighten things out. Everything this Pope has done with regard to the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation has been off-the-charts bizarre. Last year, when he invited himself to the celebrations in Germany, I’ll bet the Lutherans were ticked-off. After all, how much fun could it have been to celebrate the anniversary of having kicked Rome to the curb with the head of the Roman Church there, cheering them on? Just to be polite, they probably had to curb their rhetorical excesses. Since then, the Pope has preached pure Lutheranism when it comes to faith versus works, meaning he has contradicted Catholic theology. And that stamp the Vatican issued to commemorate the Reformation! Removing Christ’s mother and John the Baptist and replacing them with Luther and Melancwhathisname?! “God is not mocked.” Really, folks. Look what has happened to Mainline Protestant churches as they’ve watered down their doctrinal differences, accommodated their teachings to the world, and made leftist politics the center of their world: those denominations are moribund. God is not going to allow the One, True Church to suffer the same fate.
I, too, am frustrated with the slow pace of the “correction” of Pope Francis. However, I never will for a moment waver in my determination to remain where I am: in the Church. And, if we are driven into the basement of the Church, so be it. Whatever happens, I know that Jesus is no liar. He said that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church, and I believe Him.
Pray for Cardinal Burke. We don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. Two of the four original Dubia signers are dead. Who knows what he is up against? When you are tempted to call him a coward, say a prayer for him. Michael Jackson recorded the song “Man in the Mirror”, but it was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Barrett. I love the message: start with the man in the mirror; do what YOU can to make a change. The other morning, I was despairing of everything going on in the Church, and felt a nudge, “Well, you could go to 7am Mass on the way to work…today, you COULD make it…” I ignored the nudge, but I kept feeling it…finally, I thought, “Alright then, I’ll go!” And I made 7am Mass, and prayed as hard as I could that Pope Francis be taken to the woodshed ASAP.
“Take a look at yourself, and then make a change…”
[In the ensuing discussion, popular Catholic speaker Bishop Robert Barron lamented, “I just think it’s really been a tragedy that the reception of this document [Amoris Laetitia] has been so poor in our country. If you do a web search of Amoris Laetitia, you get a mountain of literature, but it’s all about a particular chapter and even a particular footnote within that chapter. As important as that question is, I think it’s led to a overlooking of this really extraordinarily rich document, so I think it’s good for us to seize control of that process, because I think we’ve been positioned by an awful lot of people in the blogosphere who are forcing people to read this document in a particular way.”]
I suspect Bishop Barron is referring to the fact that many people in the “blogosphere” insist that AL can only be read in a heterodox way. Those on the “left” are gleeful about it; those on the “right” are dismayed. Perhaps he’s in line with Archbishop Chaput – i..e., that the only way to read AL properly is to resolve all ambiguities (and even misstatements) in favor of orthodoxy and then get on with it. I believe Cardinals Burke, Brandmuller, and Muller (and I suspect many more) hold this view as well.
If we read confusion and error as orthodox we are dishonest.
An expression I hate: “X must be read in the light of Y.”
As in: “AL must be read in the light of the Church’s constant tradition.”
What does that even mean?
Nothing.
AL is either heretical or it is not.
And it is. It is therefore not magisterial, and must be nullified, expunged from the AAS (Is it even there?), and burned as soon as we have a Catholic Pope.
Yes, precisely. If AL were not heretical, its defenders would not need to resort to dodgy, misleading language to defend it.
Pope Benedict should speak clearly and now. He is the only person on earth that can put an end to this situation. And in my opinion he has the utmost responsability on his shoulders to do it. NOW.
I don’t think he has the strength. Nor do I think there is anything he can do. Ganswëin would never let anything of the sort get out anyways… I’m afraid we can’t look to the “Ratzinger Rottweiler” for a solution anymore. The task has fallen to younger men.
He’s not pope. He’s irrelevant.
Or is he? ????
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“The firing of Professor Seifert. The shaming of Professor Stark. The firing of Fr. Thomas Weinandy. ”
The smackdown of Cardinal Sarah.
That too!
Bishop Barron has turned out to be a big zero. I hope that Cardinal Burke does not cave with whatever this “correction” is supposed to be.
He always was. A spin artist.
God does not, will not abandon His Church, His Bride. Have faith. Like Jesus, His Body, the Church, is being crucified. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and opened not His mouth. The Church may also undergo a similar “death,” but then comes the resurrection. Keep the Faith. Pray the Holy Rosary, offer sacrifices for souls, frequent the sacraments.
Spot on
This comes to mind: “Then his disciples leaving him, all fled away. “
Steve? Please excuse my impertinence here, as I’m just a lowly combox warrior. But, you have given me cause for great alarm. You said: “The faithful are seeing the man on the Throne of St. Peter flouting divinely-revealed teaching and the safeguards of his divinely-assisted office — and getting away with it. And it is making many Catholics feel tempted to wonder: If Christ’s promises to the Church can be so easily broken, can any of what we believe can really be trusted?”
What promise was broken? Do you mean this promise? (Matthew 16:18) “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The word “prevail” basically means to “triumph.” It does not mean that the Church won’t be attacked and left wounded and scattered.
Your entire article gives me the impression that Hope is waning……people are throwing the towel in and walking away, disgusted with the whole Church.
We are at as much of a crossroads today as Moses was when he had Pharaoh racing up his backside or when the Apostles, expecting an earthly King, fled Golgotha in fear they had followed the wrong Man.
God’s got this. He really does! This is a testing of our FAITH! DO we believe that He meant it when He said that the gates of hell would not PREVAIL? Do we REALLY believe it?
We’d better, because to run from Him now or deny His omniscience says that our Faith is small. I am actually crying as I write this. We are so much better than this speculation of what may come. You say: “But the question after that will be the same as now: then what? What happens when every effort is ignored? How will we move forward from here?”
What HE has planned is not our RIGHT to know! He brought forth water from a rock. He calmed the seas with his words. He fed His people Manna and quail for 30 years! He ISN’T going to tell us what the NEXT STEP IS, but we have to have FAITH that He sees the Big Picture and WE DON’T!!
Thankfully, based on the history of God, there is a track record which we can hold fast to. He KNOWS His people. He LOVES His people. He WILL NOT ABANDON HIS PEOPLE! He is the SAME GOD today as He was when He created the heavens and the earth.
WE have an obligation to lift high the Cross, pointing others to the immense privilege we have to be alive at this moment in time. We have to encourage people to have FAITH! To PERSEVERE, in spite of our fears!
Our lot is not one of easy, armchair affirmations of our Faith, but the witnessing of real-life crucifixions and calumniation of faithful clergy and laity. The “remnant” that prophecies have spoken about may very well mean that the faithful will have to flee into the hills and convene in caves again. We don’t know. It’s God’s call; not ours! Will we be READY??
Laos Deo!
Awesome post. Thank you!!!
Hope IS waning in the hearts of many. This is the danger of scandal of this magnitude.
Remember how Our Lord only took those of the apostles who had seen Him transfigured into the garden the night His Passion began? He knew that if they were to see the torments He would undergo, without having seen Him in His glory, they would lose their faith.
This is very much like that. There are many believers in many different places in their faith. Some have attained a level of maturity and perseverance that will hold them fast. Others will be swept away. It’s not entirely fair to put the burden on those who simply do not have a strong enough faith to see what the Church is enduring and believe she’ll make it through to the other side. And the devil and his minions are actively, aggressively planting doubts in the minds of the faithful, to add even more burden to their natural temptation to question and flee.
Telling people He’s got this is, in a very real way, a beautiful sign of faith. But to the man who has already been swept overboard, it’s too little, too late. This is the tragedy of our present situation, and this is why the guilt that those responsible will be held accountable for is no small thing.
For those who do not have a strong faith at this moment, is the reason it is even most imperative
for a formal correction to ensue, in my opinion.
cs, there is no getting around the travesty that this Pope has caused among the Sheep. He is deliberately scattering them while simultaneously proclaiming, “Who me? I didn’t do anything….”
WE must encourage those with a weak faith to PERSEVERE! They scatter because they are looking to human leaders and NOT to The Leader — Christ. We all need to put ear plugs in our ears and hunker down to STUDY and PRAY as never before in our lives.
Every person will be accountable to God for their faith journey. Did they take up their Cross or did they run from It? We are all bearing a Cross which we never foresaw. How we respond to it will be what matters.
And for those who have been given the graces, the duty, the authority, need to respond and reaffirm the teachings of the Church and alas, the failure of this pontificate.
What is the point of a bishop or a cardinal if they cannot do this at such a grave moment in our Church?
And yet, in spite of the failures of our hierarchy at large, by the grace of God: we keep the faith and
pray for God to use each of us as He wishes.
Absolutely….there are those who have become so disillusioned with this charade in Rome that they’ve picked up their marbles and gone home. We have to pray for them to come back! Get back in the boat!!
That is what happened after Vatican II as well. People walked away in disgust at the changes. When their exquisite parishes are torn down and turned into apartments (much less mosques or Protestant places of “worship”) people also walk away from the Faith. It’s quite devastating.
I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: The capital virtue we must have now is just plain stubbornness, pigheadedness. For centuries, my Irish ancestors told the English to go straight to Hell with their Protestant nonsense, and we must tell the collared and mitered prevaricators the same. We have to say obdurately to these weasels, “I will not take the soup!” (The Prots offered the Irish food in return for apostasy, thus this phrase.)
No, Steve, you’ve got it wrong. I say “He’s GOT THIS” because I KNOW our God! He DOES have a Plan! And part of our job is to get back to the basics and ask ourselves if we really BELIEVE Him! IF we believe Him, then we must stretch our Faith to the point where we throw ourselves down, flat on our faces and tell Him that! We DON’T know His Plan, but we must force ourselves to stand on the ledge and proclaim I BELIEVE! I TRUST YOU, LORD!
How do I know this? I will make this as succinct as possible. I never had any “Spiritual Leader” growing up. My birth father was an alcoholic and left my mother with five young children. She quickly aligned herself with an abusive man who sexually and physically abused us — me in particular because I was the one who tried to stand up for my siblings. The nuns and priests in our Catholic school ignored the obvious signs of abuse and, as a result, all five of us left The Church after high school. (I am the only one who has returned.) After 20 years of marriage (and three children) my ex-husband left for another woman. Then, after throwing myself into my Church family for a dozen years, I found out one of the clergy was abusing my son.
To make that even more difficult, when my teenage son came to me and admitted the abuse, my first phone call was to a dear friend who had become a priest. He knew me and knew my heart. I asked him what to do and he immediately said that I had to go to the Archbishop. I balked — severely balked — knowing that this would likely put my son and my family in a whirlwind of publicity that none of us wanted. I told him that I felt like I was standing at the doorway of a tornado. This priest assured me that he’d walk with me through the whole process, BUT shortly after the abusive clergyman was found and arrested, this very same priest was assigned to minister to this clergyman while in jail. He called me to say that he could not walk with me as he had promised, as he had to be obedient to the Archbishop and minister to this wayward clergyman. And it would be a conflict of interest if he tried to minister to both of us at the same time.
When my husband left, he had just moved the family to Atlanta and I literally didn’t know anyone other than the next-door neighbor. And I pretty much only knew their first names.
When I insisted on a personal meeting with my Archbishop, I explained that I had trusted my clergy as they were acting “In Persona Christi.” You know what the Archbishop’s response was? He said that we laity put priests up on pedestals and we should remember, after all, that the clergy are human men first and foremost. This Archbishop is now dead, but I’ll never forget his response.
I was all alone. In each of these instances, I was ALL alone. I knew nobody in my new city. My Church family was ripped out from under me as I was told I couldn’t come back to that parish. My siblings were all Protestant and thought I was crazy to go back to the Catholic Church; so they would offer me no comfort. Even the priest who had assured me that he would walk with me had been taken away!
I railed at God. And I DO mean RAILED! EVERY man I had EVER relied on to “lead” me had been taken away from me!
And, you know what God said? “My Grace is sufficient.” That’s all He kept saying to me. Over and over again. That’s all I’d hear. What the HELL did that mean??
I had the choice to walk away from Him, but I couldn’t. I had come to Love Him deeply and knew I couldn’t walk away from the Eucharist. So….I hunkered down…knowing that this was going to be difficult because I was so alone. Satan kept attacking me, trying to make me run from Him and the Church. So much so that each time I saw a priest raise the Consecrated Host a nasty voice inside me would scream “Liar! Liar!” I physically had to stand at the back of Church with my heart racing in panic. I had to stop going to daily Mass for a while as my sense of panic was just too great.
I refused to succumb to that sense of panic. I had to learn ON MY OWN! He was telling me that every other “man” was going to disappoint me; but He wouldn’t. His Grace would be sufficient to carry me and I had to learn to TRUST HIM. He would be my Spouse. He would be my Provider. He would be my Confidant. And, He would shine a light on the Path He wanted me to follow. He just wanted me to TRUST HIM…..but I was so scared.
That was more than 20 years ago now. He has been FAITHFUL. He threw me into a career which was 100% commission and permitted me to make a living which still allowed me time with my children and for charitable work. He found a house for me to buy which, in 20+ years, I’ve been able to maintain without ever coming across a repair which I couldn’t handle. I could go on and on, but needed to let you know HOW I have come to have Faith! I KNOW our God!
I had to learn the hard way that God is EXACTLY Who He says He is. He would put Bible verses in my mind that I’d go and search for and then ponder, understanding deeply Who He is. My Faith grew as I learned to Trust and then SUBMIT to Him. That was the key….submission. I had trusted too many “leaders” who had left me adrift. God taught me that HE ALONE can be Trusted. As I learned to Trust, I learned to Submit. And supernatural Joy has replaced the fear.
I totally understand that many people don’t have that kind of Faith. Maybe they’ve never been tested in the crucible as I have. But, it is incumbent on me — and others who have a strong Faith — to stand firm and point fiercely at The Way so that our brothers and sisters DON’T succumb to despair. We must create a living chain, grabbing others by the hand, lifting them up and out of despair by showing them the LIVING GOD who KNOWS THEM INTIMATELY and SEES their circumstance! We TEACH them how to be with God in their own personal space as it may very well come — soon — when we will ALL be alone with our God until Help arrives!
I’ve LIVED His Mercy! I KNOW our God! How could I NOT shout it from the rooftops? DON’T DESPAIR, fellow travelers! God is TRUE to His Word! HE WILL SUSTAIN US!
I am NOT the person who will rub your back and say “There, there…I know how hard this is for you! This is all so sad!” Oh, HELL NO! God didn’t bring me through what I went through to smugly look at all the poor people who are now cringing in fear and leave them in their muck. NO! (I stupidly begged God, years ago, to give me a meek and gentle countenance like some of the women I knew. He immediately said, “I didn’t create you that way.” I knew He meant that my fierce tenacity was there for a reason. I believe that the reason is NOW!)
So….listen up all of you who are weary and wanting to flee. God DOES have a Plan and YOU are part of it! Believe that with every fiber of your being! HE CHOOSE YOU to be here! If you’re reading this blog, there’s a darn good chance that you’re not a lukewarm believer. Great! Then get on your face and ASK God what HE wants you to do in THIS BATTLE, for this is a Battle of Principalities — Satan versus God — AND GUESS WHO WINS?? WE DO!
Stop chasing after a Pope who has thrown away his blessing. Same with his cronies. We KNOW the Truth. We know WHO to follow! Let’s hunker down and follow Him!
PS – Sorry, but his really stuck out at me and I needed to address it.
“the guilt that those responsible will be held accountable for is no small thing.” Totally agree with you, but holding them accountable is the Lord’s job, not ours.
Just as you said in the original article that the Pope is “getting away with” what he is doing, we have to be careful here. NO, the Pope is NOT getting away with what he is doing. That is a very “earthly” way of looking at it. We want God to do the Royal Smackdown….NOW!
God is Sovereign. He sees EVERYTHING. He PERMITS everything. And ALL of it is to HIS GLORY.
How can that be? We don’t know YET. But just as it was only hindsight that illuminated the reason for Christ’s scourging and crucifixion, we must believe that God HAS A PLAN here, and we’re the lucky ones who may yet get to witness it to its completion. (Maybe it will be our children who witness the “completion.”) But it will only be in HINDSIGHT that we will fully understand that He had a Plan all along!
Pope Francis will not “get away” with one iota of heresy. God will see to that.
I agree with that last one, Granny. I tweeted Bergoglio yesterday that there is a signpost in hell reserved for his skull. I haven’t heard back from him.
I hope you are not holding your breath. (Maybe that’s what happened to Meisner and Cafarra!) 🙂
I am definitely not holding my breath. As to the Cardinals, they were good and faithful priests. My feeling is, they were so accustomed to venerating the Pope, whoever he was, they were unable to get their minds around the possibility of an evil Pope. I don’t know, of course, but my instinct tells me they were true servants of Christ.
Oh, I have no doubt they were true servants and are receiving their just reward for a job well done. I was just joking….but for sure they had hoped and prayed hard that Pope Francis would have honored their wishes to treat the Dubia with the respect that it deserves. Unfortunately, they passed before seeing that prayer realized. God rest their souls….
Amen.
I loved your story, BTW. It was well-written and gripping. It would make a great movie. Going through what you went through and remaining faithful to Christ and His Church puts you in the front row in heaven. I’m not judging you, understand. But if I did, that’s what I’d judge.
Thanks, Winslow. It’s not my story, it’s HIS story. I tried to be as succinct as possible in order to get my point across, but there is SO much more to “my” story. I can take no credit….it’s been God all along. For me, I’ll be the happiest woman in the world if I finish the race and slide into Purgatory!
That’s exactly how I feel about it, Granny, and I’m getting close. Let’s pray for each other.
You got it, Winslow. Me too. I can’t wait to go Home!!
I agree with every word you said here. Well said. But there is a certain reality we need to be aware of: converts, who became catholic because of the truth of the faith, are leaving because they’re not seeing what the books they read and people told them was there. Fervent Christians are leaving the Catholic Church because of what Pope Francis is doing. Lifelong Catholics are giving up. I admit even I am growing weary in this fight (some reading this may have noticed I haven’t been around much for the past few weeks…) I’m not losing hope, and you certainly aren’t, but many are.
Our Lord hasn’t broken his promise, like you say, but some are starting to think he has… and that’s the horror of what’s happening. Even the elect are being deceived.
That’s the reality that’s out there. We need to pray, and remain strong. Otherwise we may fall too…
Jafin, one of the biggest differences between Protestant believers and Catholic believers is that Protestants tend to follow after a person — a pastor — and align with that pastor so long as what he says conforms to what they personally believe. When they hear things which don’t sit well with them, off they go in search of another church to align with. (All my siblings are Protestant and I see this happen a LOT with them.)
In Catholicism, it isn’t that way — or it shouldn’t be that way. What we have is a uniform belief system, taught in all countries and in all circumstances which we can easily gain access to through the Catechism. While we SHOULD be able to hear each of our priests and bishops teach in conformity to this Catechism, we all know this isn’t always the case. In many areas, it’s rarely the case.
What that wayward priest is teaching is NOT what The Church teaches. Ex-Protestants may be inclined to see this and walk away, believing that because what Father So-and-So is teaching isn’t what they learned, then they bought into a lie. NO! We have to teach THEM that, even if Father So-and-So is teaching his own particular brand of Catholicism, it doesn’t mean the CHURCH is wrong. Or that Catholicism is wrong. It means Father So-and-So is wrong.
We, as adults, are responsible for forming our consciences to conform to the Church’s teachings. We need to learn what the Church teaches….on our own, if need be. In that way, our conscience becomes like a tuning fork, able to discern discordant phrases and beliefs that we KNOW are not what the Church teaches.
We are lucky in that Catholicism’s greatest strength is her adherence to the Deposit of Faith. It is something we can proudly show has been in existence for two millennia. Do some priests, bishops or cardinals try to twist the Deposit of Faith to fit in with their own humanistic reasoning? Yes. All the time. What is our recourse? It is to become committed to learning as much as we can about the Faith of our Fathers and then sticking to it.
Walking away in disgust is the worst possible solution to this problem.
Right, I know, and agree. But the facts are the facts. It should be noted I’m a convert from evangelical Protestantism… People are leaving because what they see is not what was promised. Things are bad. You’re right, but that doesn’t change what IS.
What IS can’t be changed by us. What the Pope IS doing IS downright despicable. What can WE change? That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. Let me try a different angle….
You say “people are leaving because what they see is not what was promised.” Okay…what was promised? Has what the CHURCH teaches changed? NO, it hasn’t!
Historically, it has been said that the Pope steers the “Barque of Peter.” Francis has jumped ship and is sailing a totally different boat, gussied up to look like the Barque, and is trying to get everyone to jump on board with him and his cronies. He’s spray painted it with graffiti and it’s now festooned with the words “Luv” and “Compassion” and “Mercy” and has a disco ball at the top of the mast in the hopes that millions upon millions of Catholics will become enamored of his “new” vision and sail with him.
The TRUE Barque of Peter is still sailing, rudderless at the moment, but IF we believe what Christ Himself has said — that the Gates of Hell will NOT PREVAIL — then we know Christ will keep His Barque afloat. We have to have Faith and trust Him.
Watching people jump ship is a sign of our own weak faith. Do WE believe Christ’s promise? If the answer is YES, then we have to grab these people and explain to them that Pope Francis is NOT teaching what the TRUE Church teaches. He’s a fraud! He does NOT represent the TRUE Church! Don’t jump off the TRUE Barque because you believe that Francis will win this battle BECAUSE HE WON’T! We KNOW Who wins!
STAY on the TRUE Barque and help man the oars!
When we die and meet our beloved Savior, He will not tolerate us telling him what Francis did. Or what Burke DIDN’T do. He’ll ask us what WE did. Did we WATCH people abandon ship, believing we were helpless? Or, did we reach out to them and bring them back onto the boat, handing them an oar so they can help steady it?
God is TESTING each one of us to see what we do in this crisis. It will matter in the End.
How many tears have I (and a lot of us) shed over this monumental betrayal of Christ!!! I load up on Kleenex now when going to Mass, and believe me, I’ve never been one to cry easily! But, I cry at Mass now every time I go.
I can imagine that soon people will be able to choose bet Pope Francis ( who will be perhaps classified as a heretic) and another Pope. In this way people will get the chance to choose their salvation by choosing what is Truth and what is lies.
Isn’t Steve simply saying what he believes/knows many others are saying, not himself? I bet there are lots of people who think that since things have got to this state it’s time to start querying the existence of God. Time to join the ‘let’s just enjoy life brigade’. That’s just a fact- doesn’t mean Steve thinks that (or myself!)
Yes, Heloisa, I believe that is EXACTLY what Steve is saying.
What I am saying, though, is that WE WHO HAVE FAITH must grab these other people by the hand and LEAD them to Safe Waters.
A few years ago I read someone’s questioning what we were to do when “SHTF,” so to speak. The whole world is in chaos; not just the Catholic Church. The best advice was that we were to prepare and when everyone else started running around like chickens with their head cut off, we’d be cool as a cucumber and they’d naturally wonder why.
I really took that to heart and God showed me that this was EXACTLY what He wants ALL of US to do — meaning those who are earnestly seeking Him every day. He wants us to PREPARE for such a time as this so that, when the Spiritual realm starts spinning out of control we would be so attuned to God, and be so connected with His supernatural Peace, that we stand out in the crowd and be able to effectively LEAD others to that Peace.
Steve (and others who direct Conservative Catholic websites) have a large megaphone as compared to many of us small combox warriors. I sincerely believe that God is calling them — and us — to help re-direct the paths of those who are running scared and TEACH them how to stay calm and TRUST GOD in the process.
I truly believe God holds us to a higher standard than to simply point out that others are running away. He expects us to grab the hand of those people who are in our sphere of influence and teach them how to live in God’s supernatural Peace, in spite of the circumstances.
Does that make sense?
Yes, thanks for that explanation – I wasn’t too sure what you were saying, but yes I agree with you.
Burke is tiresome, weak and effeminate.
There are 218 Cardinals. Burke represents .46% of them. He did submit the Dubia when 98.17% of the Cardinals did not. Weak, relatively speaking, he is not. Tiresome and effeminate are your subjective terms I will ignore.
“relatively speaking”…..high praise indeed!
Precisely – The few who do stand and say something are maligned by the so-called Faithful. I wonder how many actually pray for them?
what good does this comment serve? Pray for this lone cardinal doing something however small, don’t malign him!
What good does it do pretending Burke is something he’s not? He’s a man of the council and he drank the Kool-Aid. He admits things are getting worse and does nothing.
Cool it with the insults. Jafin is right; it does no good; additional comments like that also won’t be tolerated.
At long last! The really, truly, truly cross-my-heart final warning with peanut butter!
I have lost my confidence in Burke and the Dubia cardinals. They keep on talking without acting.
Perhaps I am going to sound harsh, but: “And it is making many Catholics feel tempted to wonder: If Christ’s promises to the Church can be so easily broken, can any of what we believe can really be trusted? ” If you can ask that truthfully, then I would say “No, you can’t.” How can you say you believe in Christ, the Holy Roman Church and anything It teaches and then say Christ has broken His promises? What Promise has He broken?? This is the 2nd time in as many months I’ve seen this written, how can you say that? If Christ’s Promises can so easily “be broken” then there IS no Christ, there IS no Church, there IS no hope. How ridiculous to have to say that Christ shall keep His promises?! We all need some time in that quiet room He said to enter and pray, and not to “faint”. Stop allowing your mind and others to be filled with temptations against the faith.
Well, v, we are witnessing a concerted assault on all aspects of the faith: the morals, the dogma, the mass, even the hierarchy….and nothing is happening. Not a single thing. We have Bishop Schneider occasionally chiming in; Cardinal Burke playing Kim Jung Un issuing several threats and verbally attacking heresy but doing nothing substantive; and a bunch of other cowards keeping quiet or actually applauding this garbage. If the Church completely abandons truth or starts claiming–as it is– that truths change with the times, that truth is relative, then how do we believe Christ is God? If truth isn’t truth at all times then what do we make of claims about God being outside of time?
Look, we all believe Christ is God. We all believe that the Church has taught truth, even those who were scoundrels. But this time is unprecedented and anybody who brings up the Arian heresy or this time in history or that time in history is looking at the situation piecemeal. Overall, this is the worst situation the Church has faced since Christ was crucified. And there are no signs of improvement. So we pray and believe the Church will not be surrendered but let’s not act as if it’s easy: to have faith in the Church right now is to totally abandon reason. Perhaps we are called to do that but it sure is hard.
Brian, my entire Catholic life, the last 50 years, when I was 14, was when all hell broke loose with this garbage. I learned over time what you must keep grabbing hold of – this war is between Principalities and Powers, God and Lucifer; there is no help coming from anyone but Our Lord. He is our rock, fortress, stability. These doubts, and the anguish come from looking down at the waves like Peter, but when Peter kept his eyes on Christ, he walked on water. We can too. Pray short bursts of prayer “that pierceth Heaven”, constantly call on God for stronger faith, courage, strength to witness to Him. Hit the Confessional every week, Holy Communion every day that you can, read, read, read, pray the rosary and avoid all willful sin – there are no small sins. He will pull you out of the dark place and fill your with a joy to be granted the privilege to live now. And don’t stop. He will hold you in the palm of His hand and nothing can take you from Him – THAT is a Promise.
Brian, v is right. You are placing your Trust in the Church, not in God. God is faithful. He doesn’t abandon His people. The Church is run by humans who….at this point in time….have abandoned His Church.
If the Pope and his minions continue down this road of heresy and apostasy, we know that we cannot remain under the church he is creating. We will be forced to follow Christ and that means going underground. We will become the prophesied “Remnant.” Christ has promised that Satan will not prevail against the Church; but He never said that the Church won’t be persecuted. As a matter of fact, He guaranteed it. He will bring up His Remnant to His Glory….on His timing.
As a matter of fact, I believe I read here on 1P5 or similar website, very recently, that Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the Church being whittled down to a very small number….and that was back before he was Pope. Prophetic? We’ll see.
You are right that we are sitting at an unprecedented time in history. No doubt about it. But what a great time to witness saints being made! Our job, like v said, is to put on our armor and fight with the greatest weapons we have; prayer and the Sacraments. Cling to God with all you’ve got and He will lead you. Perhaps you will become a saint before this is all over.
“Then what?”
LOL – then certain hierarchy realize they must ‘recognize but resist’… kind of like SSPX has been doing for… oh, how long?
Cardinal Burke mentions a “paradigm shift regarding the Church’s entire moral practice”. What about the paradigm shift regarding the Church’s entire ecclesiology which was effectively neutered under ALL of the Post Pius XII Popes?
It’s hard to imagine how effective any cardinal or bishop can be who still clings to the idea that Vatican II was anything but a disaster for the Church.
True, but at this point I’ll take what I can get!
It does baffle me that no prelate but Bishop Schneider sees the clear problems with Vatican 2…
Because they just don’t want to. The dissenters want to act as if Vatican II was a reset button for the Church, through which 1960 years of doctrine and discipline was suddenly made irrelevant and obsolete. The “conservatives” (neo-Catholics, actually), along with the establishment Catholic media, seem to fall into two camps:
1. Those who genuinely believe Vatican II was necessary due to some unexplained and inscrutable shift that required the Church to stop being so “trimumphalistic” and engage in “dialogue” with the world, and are so wedded to this ideology they literally cannot fathom the notion that anything could possibly be wrong with the Council (these, as we all know, are the “there’s nothing wrong with the documents, just the implementation” crowd, as well as the “JPII was the greatest pope ever who brought out the true meaning of the Council” people).
2. Those who may have finally awakened and realized something went horribly wrong in the ’60s, but are afraid to speak out, either for concern for their own careers or for fearing the faithful will be scandalized if they are suddenly told that everything they’ve been led to believe for the last 50 years has essentially been a lie. And again, this arises largely, in my own opinion, to the cult of personality built around JPII. If suddenly bishops go around saying, “No, Vatican II was not wonderful”, then people are going to start wondering how that can be, when JPII was saying otherwise (and he’s a saint now, don’t you know, so how can you argue with him?).
Never in history has the fable of the king who had no clothes been more germane.
Obama’s “birth certificate,” and the preposterous “kerosene theory” of 9/11 (i.e., the official fairy tale) come to mind. Swift banishment is inflicted by “conservative” radio hosts and websites. (FreeRepublic)
For 54 years, “grassy knoll” has signified “kook.” A couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump released documents that revealed that shots came from–the grassy knoll.
The Popes of the past 60 years–even the canonized ones–could give the CIA lessons in disinformation.
Organizational conditioning and intellectual inertia are powerful things.
Barron is a good bishop. He is just trying to save a worst situation created by Francis.
Good bishops defend the Faith – period – without equivocation – and without self-concern. That’s the whole meaning of the office of the bishop. What evidence do you have of that from Bishop Barron?
No, the truth matters.
Honestly all I can think of when I hear USCCB is a bunch of men sloshing about in the blood of 60 million aborted babies. It is way way later than we think folks. Francis meets with the Mufti this week and does not take Burke’s phone calls for over a YEAR, and we are waiting for exactly what? Francis fired him, what employer takes calls from fired employees? Duh? This is a Pope that directs the faithful “don’t be obsessed with abortion”. So here we are people, we have arrived at Apostasy. No fanfare, no parade, this is what it feels like. I always thought it would be more dramatic. Study Pius X his 1907
Pascendi-Dominici-gregis and truly grasp what we are up against. Find a Mass that in your heart you know to be Valid and worth dying for.
“I always thought it would be more dramatic.” …….me too! But….that doesn’t mean it’s not every bit as painful!
Listen to these rogues wringing their hands over “the blogosphere”! Imagine if we’d had the blogosphere in 1965! How differently things might have turned out if we’d been able to shine a flashlight on all the ‘roaches scurrying around in the Roman darkness. It’s clear that it’s going to be the laity who rescue the Church from these clerical scoundrels and the blogosphere is our means of communication the means by which we rally the troops. No wonder these faithless renegades hate it!
Thank God for the internet! These crooks know now that railroading stuff through will not be easy in this era of rapid global communication.
They won’t be seizing the narrative from me, that’s for sure.
😉 Indeed!
For all their lip service to the “important voice of the laity” they truly hate the democratization of information, opinion, and perspective that the internet has birthed. Whether it’s commies in the mainstream media or in high ecclesial office it is a thing of beauty to be able to shut them off, and find alternative voices willing to actually proclaim the truth.
The humiliation of Ottaviani, the trashing of the schemata, the hijacking of the council, the imposition of the Novus Ordo–all this and more would have been thwarted by the blogosphere!
Sorry, dear Cardinal Burke, but this is beginning to sound too much like Obama’s “red lines in the sand” that were also ignored with impunity (be that for good or ill in that example). But in this case, the pope ignoring these various corrections and criticisms can only be for ill. Can you see any way that steering the Church back to wholeness and theological sanity will not split the Church? Will the pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, and religious who have abandoned truth and clarity for the fog, smoke, and fuzzy feel-good of modernist double talk suddenly come to their senses barring lightning from on high? I doubt it. So please, all good churchmen who have not abandoned the sacred truths and traditions of the Holy Faith, stand up and be the light that all those others have ceased to be, and if there is to be a split, let it be so, and let it be clear what the differences are on each side of the split so that the faithful can choose between the true Faith of our Fathers, and whatever it is that the other side is selling.
Yes, it seems to make things more difficult when +Burke throws out a bone for us only for us to be cast into the darkness when nothing happens for so long a time. Kind of like being on a roller coaster. But, I do think his intentions are worthy. He’s trying to keep us in the boat!
I don’t really think that’s it. I believe that Cardinal Burke is utterly sincere, and that he, and the other dubia signers, should get full credit for being courageous and honorable in having presented PF with the dubia. They did it out of love for the Holy Church and for the benefit of we the faithful. But I believe that, to Cardinal Burke, the necessity–and it is a necessity–of having to present the dubia to the pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church is a repugnant, but unavoidable duty, and I believe that he is holding back on taking the next step for as long as he can in the faint hope that Bergoglio will realize that he must answer in accordance with what Church has always taught, because failing to answer the dubia in a way that upholds immutable Catholic teaching could lead to charges of heresy (whatever shape that may take) as well as upheaval in the Church.
I will not say a bad word about Cardinal Burke, I just think that his giving PF more time before issuing the formal correction will weaken it’s effect when/if it is issued.
Fully agree with you
Nothing will happen until one man prelate or simple priest tells it like it is blunt and to the point. Whether he is listened to by many or few does not matter. His truth like that of Athanasius will shine through. So far politeness and vapid exhortations to clarify etc is all we see. The time for that has expired. Francis’s system is to ignore and push ahead. Ok,if that is the case let him be denounced and not corrected. Because the correction at this point is merely symbolic and ineffective.
Not to run afoul of Steve, but what if, as Miss Barnhardt so stridently insists, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is not, in fact, Pope. How does this change things? Because she does make a pretty convincing argument for her contention.
Look, Benedict resigned the papacy. He even said “from 20:00 this evening the See will be vacant”.
What people need to realize in regard to Benedict is, he used a Hegelian dialectic in regard to his resignation.
Thesis: Resignation is real. He resigns, and is no longer pope.
Antithesis: He tells himself, his resignation was not real. Therefore, following his resignation, he dresses like the Pope, lives in the Vatican like the Pope, etc.
Synthesis: A man who is no longer pope tells himself he still holds the Petrine office, sort of. Because this is how the Hegelian dialectic plays out.
But step 1 really happened, and was accepted by the whole Church. This “thesis” had to happen, in order to get the dialectic into motion.
So he is no longer Pope, regardless of what Hegelian games he plays in his mind. That too, is the reason why Benedict will never, in the short time he has left on earth, come out and declare his resignation was invalid. He is in a prison of his own constructing.
This does indeed make sense to me. We will know absolutely some day.
Thank you. I think you have diagnosed Benedict’s malady correctly.
I have corresponded a little with Barnhardt. Brick wall time.
My argument: The absolutely critical words are “the See will be vacant.” That is absolutely synonymous with “there will be no Pope.”
There was no “substantial error” involved in the resignation. All the errors are about who and what Benedict is AFTER the resignation.
Barnhardt’s retort is: “…the See was never vacant…”–i.e., a circular argument.
Barnhardt’s theory is seducing a lot of people.
Unfortunately Ann Barnhart believes that a press conference, in which BXVI declares he didn’t intend to resign the office, will solve all the problems we currently face.
But it won’t. All that would do would make Benedict an antipope and cause a lot of faithful Catholics to follow this antipope.
Ann very foolishly thinks a there is a simple earthly solution for this crisis. There isn’t.
Barnhardt appeals, not by calm logic and reason, but by intimidation and sheer force presentation. Her cocksure, emotionally overwrought, this-is-so-obvious, everyone-who-doesn’t-agree-with-me-is-effing-stupid style of delivery has been demagogue’s the preferred method of persuasion for ages.
A little research will reveal any number of examples of when Bardhardt has been ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN about something, I mean soooo certain cause it’s so obvious and everyone who disagrees is a complete moron, only to turn out to be dead wrong.
And there’s the rub. All we can ever say, and this includes Ann Barnhardt and Louie Verrechio, is “what if”? And why is that? Because none of us have sufficient information to make that determination, and those who claim otherwise are utterly deluded. Moreover, should the need ever arise for such a determination to be made, it is something that the Church alone has competence and divine mandate to settle. All we do in making such speculations is sow confusion, doubt, and demoralization. Leave it alone; the Church will sort things out in God’s time.
Friends, let’s face it. We are living through the chastisement that Our Lady warned would happen to us IF She were not obeyed! The Third Secret was not fully released as She asked. Russia was not consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart, by name, in union with the bishops of the world, as She asked. And, we are reaping the whirlwind. What is the worst chastisement? It is not wars or plagues or earthquakes or the like. These things harm only our mortal bodies. The worst chastisement is bad shepherds — shepherds who are mere hirelings that lead the flock astray and betray the flock to the wolves/lies of the devil. This chastisment harms our souls! We are now living through this in spades. I have just returned from my second trip to Fatima in the past several months. The loss of supernatural Faith on the part of the clergy/hierarchy is so very evident there. This summer we saw “artwork” of Our Lady and St. Elizabeth that was sexual in nature with homoerotic overtones. It was sheer blasphemy. This past month, we saw the same in images of Our Lord. One asks how can this be? How can the clergy in charge and the clergy who visit Fatima allow this to stand? There is no human explanation. The “diabolical disorientation” that must be discussed in the real 3rd Secret has indeed taken over the Church – and made its way all the way to the top. What can we do? Our Lady told us that only She, the Lady of the Rosary, can save us. We must pray our Rosaries like our life depends upon it, because it does – our spiritual life that is! And, we must bolster our Rosaries with fasting and other penances. Additionally, we must keep the First Saturday devotions Our Lady called for at Fatima. And, finally, we must live the Catholic Faith, daily, in all its rigor, with great love. And, oh yes, pray for the Holy Father, whomever you think that is — as Our Lady has asked.
“whomever you think that is”…..funny you should say that because that’s EXACTLY what I do every day!! I pray for both Francis and also for Benedict and tell the Lord daily that only He knows what’s going on with this ‘Papal confusion’. I think it’s right to include Benedict because he must be suffering a great deal when looking at this horror show.
…and that’s the truth!!!
Thank you, Dr. Desjardins.
In my prayers I read St. Paul. It gave me renewed strength. “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction and persevere in prayer.”
Bishop Barron has been trouble: he teaches that Christ did not have knowledge of his messianic mission until later in His life and, more commonly known, he thinks we can have hope that hell is empty.
The former of these two positions is also problematic with regards to Christ possessing the Beatific Vision. Barron is a Balthasarian, and he needs to recant from this heresy about Christ’s knowledge and the error that we can have hope that hell is empty. Barron needs to stop whining about this issue, which has cause REAL harm in the Church, not just form blogs, and focus on his own soul and overcoming his heresies.
He needs to stop plastering his face and personality everywhere; you can tell how much of a media darling he wants to be with all the attention and face plastering he does.
He is a from the school of the new theology, albeit a more moderate version, but it still reeks with heresy and watered down liturgies none the less.
More on Barron:
http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2015/11/bishop-barron-and-evolution-of-christs.html
Thank you, Amos, for this sad, but candid, assessment of Fr. Baron’s theological errors. I had suspected as much from snippets I have heard from his talks. In my “gut” I have always had the sense that something was totally off-base with him. Your comments are very helpful! I would say you are right, we should “beware” of this false shepherd with his cunning internet face –. This so-called bishop is NO friend of Our Divine Lord and Savior, due to his [Baron’s] heretical, modernist Christological positions, which are totally opposed to those taught by the universal witness of the Fathers of the Church. It is no wonder that he thinks there is “health” to be had in Amoris Laetitia!
Those pesky bloggers who speak, we must seize their ability to do so.
Whilst this revolution.is unfolding inside the Church, a totalitarian stranglehold is being put into place in the many societies of our world. We need a true Pope invested with his priestly, prophetic and kingly powers to stand up and warn the elites that their destruction is coming, and like Moses call out to Christians of all stripes and people of good will that the choice is theirs – between life and death. Give people a deadline. Then pray as Peter did and ask God to give signs and wonders as He has in the pastto show His dominion and glory. A true Pope has that power and has that authority. Such a Pope exists now.
Card. Burke needs to realize that not only Bergoglio but he himself, and nearly every member of the hierarchy, has lost credibility in the eyes of the remaining faithful. Perhaps it is time to submit some DUBIA of our own to Cardinal Burke and his super-patient ilk. Dubia #1: Is it the case that you are a coward, or should we simply accept and apply the teaching “Who am I to judge?”
Dubia need to be yes or no questions… 😛
Too, too harsh, there Vox, in my opinion. I thank C. Burke for what he is doing. I think it is taking its toll on him physically and otherwise. Let’s pray for him, too, along with the pope.
Bishop Barron is dangerous, he’s trying to fool everyone, you see a beautiful delicious cake needs only one drop of poison in the recipe to mak it deadly and that is exactly what AL is. Barron knows this and he’s angry that this is clear for faithful Catholics. Keep up the good work Steve, the Anti Catholics working in the church HATE that we have the internet and websites like yours. Change is coming, I think Pope Francis will be declared a heretic, a new Pope will be elected and then we will have the split we so desperately need. Its all in God’s hands but for sure he has not deserted those who seek the Truth . God bless
No…..He will NEVER abandon His Church! ‘prevail’ is the key word here. The forces of hell will and are surely beating us to a bloody pulp, but His Church will never succumb to a true ‘death’. It reminds me somewhat, or at least I reflect on from time to time, situations in my life that I’ve had to hang on for dear life thinking at times I’d never make it. Praying for the grace of perseverance, I always got it. And just when I would be absolutely sure that my hands were slipping uncontrollably from the rope, the sun would break through brighter than bright! The same will happen this time you can be sure!
This notion that “gates” can pursue us and beat the Church up, etc. When did “gates” become so aggressive and mobile?
Thanks, Steve, for this.
May God have mercy upon the princes of the Church.
They will, each and every one of them answer to God Almighty for each and every soul lost under their care. May they be granted at least servile fear before it is too late for them. It is already too late for far, far too many souls lost under their care.
Penance. Penance. Penance.
As Our Blessed Mother and St. Michael instructed is THE calling for the faithful of our age.
And Hermann Joseph, thanks for this, I’ve tucked it away:
“You, you’re a Catholic, a son of the Father, a prince (or princess) of Heaven! You receive the Body and Blood of God and are transformed into Him! You have spiritual armor like chain mail! You wield the weapon of weapons like a scourge to the devil, the Rosary! The Princess has given you her Heart and protects you! Angels surround you! Come on, let’s meet our destiny!”
If we have a schism with two Popes as Steve mentions, I wonder if the relevance of Portugal will be that it is the seat of the new Pope, didn’t C.Burke mention that Portugal will become very important? For what other reason?
I did read, Paul, where C. Burke supposedly spoke about the importance of Portugal. However, this is the type of thing that really sickens me about Burke. He is so duplicitous and speaks “out of both sides of his mouth.” Such a comment would lead you to believe that he knows the contents of the full 3rd Secret of Fatima. Yet, he will not admit that the full 3rd Secret has yet to be revealed, when he talks about Fatima. The same is true in regards to the Consecration of Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. He says we need to do it again – and implies that Pope John Paul II had the intention of doing it when he consecrated the world to Our Lady in 1984. Why cannot Burke just clearly say that Russia has never been consecrated to Our Lady as She has asked and that the 3rd Secret has not been fully revealed! What we need are shepherds who are willing to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth and take whatever “heat” may come their way. I thought that is why cardinals wear “red” – i.e., they are willing to die for the Truth. C. Burke is a shepherd who is always “hedging his bets” and looking over his shoulder to see how he can keep from offending anyone – and, consequently, he is not a clear voice in these troubled times. I also read that he said the formal correction would be made, IF it is still deemed to be needed. More double-speak — as Steve’s article correctly points out! I pray for C. Burke daily – that he will be converted, which means he will have to admit the errors of Vatican II, at some point. It may be his unwillingness to do that – and all that such an admission would entail – that is at the bottom of his duplicity.
Burke has said repeatedly that Muslims do not worship the same God as we Christians.
This is nonsense. Any person on the face of the earth who INTENDS to worship the Supreme Being is doing so.
I see both Catholics and Protestants asserting that “Allah is Satan,” or “Allah is a desert Moon-god.”
History has absolutely nothing to do with it. It does not matter if, as seems probable, Mohammed had contact with demons.
Anyone who INTENDS to worship the Supreme Being, no matter how defective his knowledge, is worshiping the one, true God. This is true no matter how Satanic Islam actually is, or what its history.
Burke is a puzzling man. Puzzling enough to warrant a very cool and cautious attitude about him.
Maria, i can understand where you are coming from, it is a very complex situation, and frustrating. I get the feeling the pressure is building up to such a critical point the top will soon blow on this.
Will an imperfect council be called?
If it was, could more than three (non-SSPX) bishops be found to actually attend it?
Five years ago, the thought of an imperfect council would have been unthinkable. Three years ago, I would have answered your question, “probably.” Today, after seeing the so-called “conservative” bishops do 180 degree turns in order to move with the winds from Rome, I would answer “probably not.”
There may be more than three faithful bishops, but I don’t know who they are, nor do I think they would be allowed—God help me for even thinking this—to live long enough to convene a council should Rome discover what they are planning.
Great essay, Steve. You covered all the bases. It seems you are the only person in the debate we can look to for a continuing expose of the truth. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. Keep the pressure on Cardinal Burke. Let him know he’s losing much credibility with his weak excuses for inaction. Bergoglio is tearing the Church apart while he fiddles. Our Lord can’t be pleased with him.
Steve Skojec writes, “An uncomfortable certainty is far preferable to the interminable continuation of uncertainty and doubt.”
Yes, we Americans have little experience with this kind of situation. Here in Europe, though, the Germans – God bless ’em – have had so MUCH experience with that sort of thing that they’ve even developed a a succinct, popular saying: „Lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne Ende“. (“Better an end to the horror than horror without end.”)
Somehow, to my mind, that pithy saying perfectly describes the current situation in the Catholic Church, under this pope.
“Better an end WITH horror than a horror without end.”
Literal translation: “Better an end with horror than horror without end.”
Talk talk talk and nothing but talk from the Dubia hierarchy. It’s more than a year since the Dubia were submitted and the rotten fruit from the rotten tree continues to spread.
“The firing of Professor Seifert. The shaming of Professor Stark. The firing of Fr. Thomas Weinandy. The campaign of sustained ad hominems against the dubia cardinals as well as every theologian, priest, and layman who supports the work of authentic criticism of the exhortation. The Vatican-promoted heterodox interpretations of the exhortation itself, along with Vatican-promoted articles to give cover to these interpretations through an intentional obfuscation of Church teaching and the parameters of Magisterial authority. The “climate of fear” at the Vatican, where any criticism is reported and people suspected of opposing the official agenda are monitored in ways reminiscent of the techniques of the KGB. The entire apparatus of the Dictatorship of Mercy.”
Does anybody else find it odd that the same man who publicly questioned the Pope (Benedict, after Regensberg) can’t seem to take a question?
Benedict should have buried him after that.
Publicly questioned Benedict after Regensberg? This is the first I’ve heard about this. Could you expand on the theme?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/9931030/Pope-Francis-run-in-with-Benedict-XVI-over-the-Prophet-Mohammed.html
Thank you. I had not seen this. I guess there may some comfort in knowing Francis is consistent….consistently wrong, that is.
The man who would not defer to Papal authority now insists that it requires fealty.
Clearly, you’re all bound up with rigorist notions of logic and reason; you even throw knowledge of history into the mix! But modern, Bergoglian Catholics know that the new religious battle cry is “Kahuna and to blazes with logic!”
I think we can all agree that Francis has answered the Dubia by ignoring them. Some are calling on the Cardinals to issue a formal correction, but what gives them any right to do so? What is the basis in doctrine for Cardinals to correct the Pope? Is not their choice to resign or relinquish their doubts and endorse Amoris Laetitia?
Our Lord…Luke16:18 [18] Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery.
Douay Rheims.
Cardinals involved in the Dubia also have the choice to remain IN the Church they have sworn fidelity to
and given their life to.
And a duty to protect the integrity of Our Lord’s commands regardless of where the obvious departure of basic
Gospel tenets comes from.
The most encouraging thing anyone has said recently about Bergoglio is Fr. Weinandy’s diagnosis: This papacy is flushing out the heretics and the weak. Bishop Barron’s meretricious defense of Amoris is just the latest example.
Bergoglio: a deep-cleansing pore strip on the nose of the Church.
And when he is swiftly removed, all the pimples defacing the Holy Church’s beauty and splendor go with him.
Or to a usurer making mutuum loans for profit?
The Jesuits have a long history of working to make the Church forget core moral doctrines: https://zippycatholic.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/gonna-party-like-its-1312/
Why is Burke apparently dithering? Tactics. The longer this goes on, the more closet modernists will expose themselves. A lot of the priests and bishops who are now jumping on board with AL were, under Benedict, very circumspect. This is the way to separate the sheep from the goats, and then let the hammer fall.
Expect things only to get worse before they get better. I believe God is allowing this as a punishment on the good for not being good enough over the past 40 years to uproot the heretics in our midst. God has now allowed the heretics to assume control. These are testing times, akin to days in the Old Testament when faithful Israelites laboured under corrupt priests and evil, idolatrous, kings. During these evil times God’s face was absent but always eventually showed itself through the voice of prophets and medicinal chastisements. There are some faithful prophets speaking out today, but like the OT prophets they are being ignored by the modernist ascendancy. What will eventually follow will be the medicinal punishments appropriate for our times. Keep praying.
Revelation 1:17-18
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
—
“Thou hast shown us the way of resurrection, having broken the gates of hell, and brought to nought him who had the power of death-the devil.” – St. Gregory of Nyssa
For the sake of argument. Yeah it is an excellent bottle of wine. With a drop of sewage. May i pour you a glass?
God bless Cardinal Burke
Perfectly stated.
And your throwing some light on the Bishop Baron is much appreciated. That one for all his charisma, knowledge and talent is a grave disappointment. His promise is dashed. No credibility at all. A climber. How regrettable.
Ok, so here it is two weeks later and…what?
Cdn Burke is a very brave and holy man.
But with this interview one month ago he drew a line in the sand.
It is time, now, to either light the fuse or stand down.
Silence is no longer effective or desired.