Coming From The Rubble Of The Referendum

News is coming forth of some Irish clergy who are raising their voices in defense of the Church's teachings regarding life in the wake of the referendum debacle.  Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin said that Catholics who voted for the repeal while knowing that it would result in abortion being unleashed in Ireland should take their vote to confession.  He stopped short of telling such errant Catholics that they should not receive Holy Communion until they do.  That last waffling was to his discredit.  Now I presume that the ballots are secret, but if any Catholics in his diocese were flagrant in their disregard for the laws of God, I pray that he would have the decency to obey Canon 915 and deny Holy Communion to them until they repent of the public evil they committed.

Northern Ireland was not impacted by last week's vote, although the pro-aborts have that area in their crosshairs.  One Northern Irish priest laid down the law to a couple in his parish that advocate for abortion.  Father Damien Quigley of the Diocese of Armagh told the couple that they'd need to discuss their advocacy with him before he allowed them to be married in his church.  He relayed this message to the couple privately, so one has to imagine that the couple themselves leaked the matter to the public.  They are behaving in much the same way as did Barbara Johnson did six years ago in my parish when Father Marcel Guarnizo denied Holy Communion to her since she was openly engaged in a lesbian relationship.  Now the question remains if the Bishop of Armagh will through Father Quigley under the bus as did Cardinal Wuerl to Father Guarnizo.

Now hear from Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

With Bishops Like Him, No Wonder Ireland Is Going Down The Sewer

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dairmuid Martin, stated that the Church in Ireland needs a "reality check".  What kind of "reality check" he has in mind is anything but reality.  He started out by saying "we have drifted away from young people".  Young people!  Not the truth, not Jesus Christ, who is the Way, Truth and Life, along with His teachings - but young people!

He said he voted "no" in the referendum (well we should hope so!), he said he wanted Irish society to be (get this!) "creative in finding ways in which people of same-sex orientation have their rights and their loving and caring relationships recognized and cherished in a culture of difference, while respecting the uniqueness of the male-female relationship."  Wow!  Talk about satanic double-talk!  Let's unpack this heresy, shall we?

• There is nothing "loving and caring" about sodomy.  Actual love happens when one  desires what is beneficial for another.  Sodomy is a mortal sin: one that will, unless repented, damn the sodomites to hell for all eternity.  How can sodomites claim to "love" one another when they act in ways that will facilitate the eternal damnation of those whom they claim to "love"?
• In saying he wants Irish society to be creative, well, let me translate. "We want Irish society to facilitate the mortal sin of sodomy".  Martin is also saying that he wants the Irish church to cooperate formally and materially in mortal sin - which would be its own mortal sin.  That is what we call the blind leading the blind straight into hell.

Here's the kind of "reality check" that the Irish Church really needs.  This vote happened the way it did precisely because of the de facto treachery of bishops such as Martin.  A real "reality check" will involve an admission that the Church has been wimpy and lackluster about proclaiming the Faith and moral teachings of Jesus Christ.  The Church should not concern itself with "drifting away from young people" but drifting away from Jesus.  It's time that the Catholic Church should drop all this fascination with "climate change" and progressive "social justice" (euphamism for socialism) and get about its real mission of saving souls.

Will the Church be ever so popular for doing so?  Probably not.  But Jesus was not crucified because He was popular.  We can expect no less - certainly not from a world that has become not only indifferent but murderously hostile towards Christianity.  We have been given a mission by Jesus Himself - a mission upon which hinges our own salvation.