OK, not really. But we did all participate in a panel discussion on the Synod which aired on public radio today. I was a guest on the Public Radio Internation program, To The Point. Host Warren Olney led us through a number of questions about the just-concluded Ordinary Synod of the Family in Rome.
As you might have expected, I stood alone in my skepticism over the synodal proceedings and outcome.
You can now hear the recorded audio of the radio program online.
There were a number of points brought up by the two priests on the program, some of which were troubling. Fr. James Martin, responding to my defense of Catholic teaching on Holy Communion being reserved to those in a state of grace, said something about how Jesus gave Communion to Judas at the Last Supper.
We knew that would be an issue that would come up sooner or later, which is why Dr. Michael Sirilla and I addressed this question (and not a few others) in the latest episode of the 1P5 Podcast. (You can find our discussion of Judas and the reception of communion beginning at time marker 42:30.)
Steve Skojec is the Founding Publisher of OnePeterFive.com. He received his BA in Communications and Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2001. His commentary has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Crisis Magazine, EWTN, Huffington Post Live, The Fox News Channel, Foreign Policy, and the BBC. Steve and his wife Jamie have eight children. You can find more of his writing at his Substack, The Skojec File.
Hi Steve,
I’m not going to listen either to the radio program or the podcast, but since Judas was mentioned, I want to give you a brief quotation about him and Holy Communion from Houghton’s Mitre and Crook:
—Bishop Forester’s Pastoral Letter on Penance
Excellent quote, Leo. Thank you.
It would be an act of charity to email and snail mail it (registered of course) to Father Martin et al.
Jesus and Fr. Martin are fairly distinguishable,
One has prerogatives that the other lacks.
Put on your thinking cap and figure out which one.
Me neither. I can’t stand to listen to heterodox priests and bishops in this kind of arena. Way too frustrating. But I appreciate the quote below from Mitre and Crook. I had not thought of that. Thanks.
But then you miss the fun of me correcting them.
They either completely ignored you or totally straw manned what you said. Especially Fr Martin.
Either way, I had the chance to say it. It’s my job to plant the seeds of truth. It’s God’s job to find a way to make them grow.
Pray for the Holy Father.
Especially the next one.
…
I rather hope so, since I intended to be completely candid.
In case I’m being misunderstood, I fear greatly for the next Pope, because he will lead a wandering and confused flock, each following their own way and completely oblivious to the dangers of global statists and an increasingly aggressive and martial Islam.
“A little bread and wine does no harm.”
Who was the prelate who wanted to bless sodomites?
Whoever he was, his father is the devil.
Ah, that would be Archbishop Cupich of hel…er, Chicago.
https://onepeterfive.wpengine.com/breaking-archbishop-cupich-attempting-to-facilitate-sacrilegious-communion/
Fr. Martin, like all true Jesuits, hates the concept of sanctifying grace. I just heard his line about us not needing to be perfect in order to receive the Eucharist.
Graduated from a Jesuit college. Heard all of this before. Jesuits hate the concept of sanctifying grace. Fastest away to tee-off a Jesuit professor…
Confession is a sacrament seldom used in most parishes now. As a priest pointed out in a homily, there is a huge social price to pay for people walking around objectively and gravely in danger of hell.
Has not the Society of Jesus (with exceptions) proven itself to be the modern Society of Judas? They define “diabolical disorientation” as a group. The best and brightest in the Church have compromised the faith as a group. It’s their intellectual pride. They are supposed to be the best educated, the intellectuals, teachers and defenders of the OTF. Satan is very, very clever. He attacks our supposed strength and subverts it to our weakness and uses it against us…with our consent. Hubris replaces humility.
They really aren’t that smart. Some confuse the brand with the substance and punch way above their weight.
That’s what is so appalling … Jesuit-types keep saying really stupid things and making stupid moves (the complaint letter to the NY Times about Douthat ), all the while thinking they sound really impressively intimidating to the laity. Their endless rookie moves belie their supposed intelligence.
I should say, most Jesuits are smart, but their fixations on certain things has a tendency to quickly cloud their reason. Ideological loyalties have a way of dumbing down the clergy. The Jesuits always end up sounding really dumb.
So we can agree, they’re not smart enough to not sound dumb 😉
Where is Blaise Pascal when you really need him?
I believe your are correct. The spelling of his first name escapes me but I recall it sounds like “blaze”
I prefer “blasé.”
And all can remember his odd last name with this little mnemonic device:
Blase Cupich(ulation) [i.e. capitulation to every crackpot dissident idea that comes down the pike].
You got that right!
Bp. Franz-Josef Bode said as much: http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/german-bishop-sees-good-in-adultery-sodomy
Never heard Abp. Cupich did. Anyone have a link to that?
The funny thing is, the Rev. Martin really doesn’t believe in his Judas analogy. He recognizes it as a cheap debater’s trick. Why? I doubt he uses it as part of his pastoral repertoire toward those in adulterous unions. Or the other assorted sins modern Jesuits wink at these days. Maybe he flings it at those who use too much A/C…
Otherwise, calling people “Judas” wouldn’t be very accompanying-ish, or smelling-like-the-sheep-who-keep-rolling-in-their-own-spoor whatever the current pontifical buzzword/metaphor for affirming people in their okayness happens to be.
“He recognizes it as a cheap debater’s trick. ”
The words Jesuitical casuistry come to mind.
Which means that Steve’s go-to reply should be:
“Ah, so you’re equating the divorced and remarried with Judas. Good to know.”
Well…at that moment the devil gets into Judas, then he walk out. It was night.
From Apologetics UK: “To summarize, we can place Judas at the Passover, and at the table, and at his dipping of the sop. But we should note that sop-dipping is not part of the Lord’s Supper/Communion!
But we cannot place Judas as eating or drinking the communion elements.
It was after the meal, and the foot washing, that Jesus instituted the
Lord’s Supper; Judas was no longer there by then. The remainder of
the apostles listened to some more preaching from Jesus and then sung a
hymn and went to the Mount of Olives.”
http://www.ukapologetics.net/11/judascommunion.htm
I wonder why Fr. Martin didn’t call you a “hater” on radio, like he did all of us on Twitter just the other day.
I don’t know. I did have some fun with him on Twitter, though.
This priest was supposedly was a spiritual advisor/friend to Philip Seymour Hoffman before his overdose. Can’t help but think if Mr. Hoffman had had some genuine Catholic spiritual guidance — something it’s highly unlikely he got from this guy — he’d have had a chance. I was a fan of Hoffman, so I have a grudge.
Now he’s joined the witch hunt for Ross Douthat. I had to explain to him what the Thomistic definition of heresy is, and now he’s ignoring me.
Um, do you have the “PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS” to define heresy?
Hmmm. Jesuits aren’t what they used to be nowadays, are they? Of course I should have known that after 30+ months of watching a Jesuit tear apart the Vatican and all it stands for.
i appreciate your – our battle – but i don’t really want to hear the b.s. artists which are mere bergogilon tools…