Two weeks ago I broadcast the planned lecture of Catholic school children by a flaming lesbian on school property, and urged a protest if the invitation was not rescinded. Happily that lecture didn't happen, owing to the looming prospect of a picket. If nothing else, it demonstrated the good that can transpire when good people stand up and speak out.
Today LifeSiteNews published a piece by Phil Lawler entitled "The Laity Can Take Credit For The Defrocking Of McCarrick. What Next?" I think I would thank Our Lord first, but He did see fit to work through us. What if we had not been responsive to His promptings? Lawler was speaking of the summit that will start in two days. While he shares my belief that the summit is a staged sham, he acknowledges that the Vatican wouldn't feel it necessary to put on such a show had it not been for faithful Catholics raising their voices and yes, closing their wallets. He has a point.
In the center of Rome, faithful Catholics gathered to protest the Vatican's silence on the role of homosexuality in the abuse crisis in anticipation of this summit. I believe that Michael Matt of the Remnant is among them. This is the first activity of its kind in Church history. Even if the bishops don't heed these Catholics (and they probably won't), they are again put on notice that we are watching and won't take anymore flapdoodle sitting down.
While more and more Catholics are praying and acting like they are part of the Church Militant, there remain some Catholics who insist on being horrified by righteous anger and calls for direct action. They erroneously believe that prayer alone will solve the various crises that afflict the Church. When we speak out, they often rebuke us (not the wrongdoers but us) for so doing. All too often I have been chided by those saying "Tsk! Tsk! We mustn't get angry! We must remain peaceful and joyful! Don't you trust the Lord?", and so on. These sorts of people are: 1) in deep denial regarding the true state of the Church, 2) confusing true spirituality with the luv-n-peace flower-child-hippy mentality of the 1960s, 3) masking their own cowardice and/or indifference behind a sanctimonious demeanor, 4) harboring some serious sin of their own that is facilitated by the sickness of the Church. Whatever their reasons, they make themselves part of the problem.
If these misguided individuals won't listen to reason, they must be rebuked. Faithful Catholics, understand that there will be costs in so doing. I have found myself ostracized and mocked by people who I thought would know better. Such is life.
Regarding outrage and anger, Msgr Pope wrote an excellent article about that. In that article, he quoted St. John Chrysostom, one of the Fathers of the Church; "He who is not angry when he has cause to be, sins. For unreasonable patience is a hotbed of many vices."
Let us also recall the words of St. Catherine of Sienna, a Doctor of the Church: "We've had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence". Ora et labora.
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I could not agree more!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I believe the traditional perception of how many are saved needs to be revisited (downward).
Great post, Janet. Thank you for being a front-liner! Your faithfulness is edifying. I hope to participate in GAP's program at George Mason University in April. Abortion is so fundamental, exposing its reality needs to be constantly in the face of the enabling culture. Will the Democrats' embrace of infanticide finally wake some people up? Let's hope and pray.
ReplyDeleteOPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENTS OF THE CONFERENCES OF BISHOPS
ReplyDeleteDear Brothers, Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops,
We turn to you with deep distress!
The Catholic world is adrift, and, with anguish, the question is asked: Where is the Church going?
Before the drift in process, it seems that the difficulty is reduced to that of the abuse of minors, a horrible crime, especially when it is perpetrated by a priest, which is, however, only part of a much greater crisis. The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence. The roots of this phenomenon are clearly found in that atmosphere of materialism, of relativism and of hedonism, in which the existence of an absolute moral law, that is without exceptions, is openly called into question.
Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel. The even public denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law, is at the root of the evil that corrupts certain circles in the Church.
In the face of this situation, Cardinals and Bishops are silent. Will you also be silent on the occasion of the meeting called in the Vatican for this coming February 21st?
We are among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions, “dubia,” which were dividing the Church in the wake of the conclusions of the Synod on the Family. Today, those “dubia” have not only not had any response but are part of a more general crisis of the Faith. Therefore, we encourage you to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the Church.
We pray to the Holy Spirit, that He may assist the Church and bring light to the Pastors who guide her. A decisive act now is urgent and necessary. We trust in the Lord Who has promised: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28,20).
Walter Cardinal Brandmüller
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
Those pew sitters are legion. We cannot waste additional time as all I have tried to convince of the crisis- do not want to believe it or take ANY action. We have lost MANY friends & previously fellow parishioners. We knew something was wrong decades ago, but we now know it is the homosexual mob. We shake the dust from our sandals, pray & move on.
ReplyDelete