Failed Papacy And Questionable Vortex

In today's Vortex Michael Voris discusses the latest talk of the papacy of Francis being "failed".  Apparently some leftists are lodging that complaint as they were hoping for radical changes of doctrine and practice, particularly in matters of sexual ethics.  That hasn't happened - at least not at a pace according to their liking.  I'm not so sure that their frustration is due to the pope as much as it might be to faithful Catholics "shining the light on cockroaches".

There's no doubt that Pope Francis did encourage such progressive thinking due to his extemporaneous interviews and disregard of papal traditions.  No one can gainsay that, not even Michael Voris.  However, today Voris goes through great mental and logical contortions to absolve the pope of any responsibility for this mess.  This is not the first time that Voris has made such vain attempts; I rebutted them at the time and now I'll have to do so again.

• At 3:50, Voris states that the pope's "own media people have been a disaster, failing him on every score".  Well then, why does the pope retain them?  It's been well over a year now and still the pope hasn't cleaned out that communication office of his.  Some opine that the pope desires that aura of confusion; that opinion has basis.
• At 4:40, speaking about the pope's "gang of nine" closest advisers, he says "a general is only as good as his first officers".  True enough.  The responsible general knows this and will ensure that he is surrounded by competent men.  Instead, the pope picked men like Maradiaga and Kasper.  Can he possibly claim ignorance of their proclivities?  No - not given the length of time he spent as bishop and cardinal himself.
• Following that, at 4:52, Voris goes into the pope's "governing style" saying that the pope surrounds himself with people whom he personally likes and avoids those whom he doesn't.  That is NOT just a mere preference of style, but the epitome of irresponsibility.  When one is about the serious task of governance - in this case the shepherding of millions of souls for their eternal salvation, they must select their assistants based on their assistants' abilities and vision in carrying out the mission - not based on trivialities such as personal likes and affinities.   We might expect children to do the latter, not vicars of Christ.
• At 5:25, Voris says of the pope, "many of those around him who are decidedly progressive and heterodox on various points may be actually using him        Being "used" or putting up the appearance of being used?  Are we really supposed to believe that the pope is such a dear, sweet, naive little bumpkin as to allow himself to be used?  C'mon!  How long has he been bishop and cardinal before going to the Vatican?  He's been "around the block" too many times for us to buy this "being used" poppycock!  He's a big boy now!  He owns the mess he's creating!  In the words on that plaque in President Truman's office, "the buck stops here"!  As much as Voris disdains criticism of the pope, does he realize how patronizing and condescending he sounds towards the pope?
• The following is the crux of Voris' presentation so I'll break out of the bullets now

At 6:00 he says of those evil boogeymen controlling the pope (they exist, but they don't control the pope - he has full culpability here) that they are trying to paint those of us who ask questions as "enemies of the pope".  That probably is the case; an example is the stunt that Cardinal Wuerl tried to pull a few days ago.  Then Voris's train of thought jumps the track when he says "to slam the pope" would play into their hands.

• I've said this several times before when Voris tried to scold those of us who criticize the pope's words and actions.  To raise these valid points is NOT equivalent to "slamming the pope".
• I suspect Wuerl et al are trying to silence us and to inhibit our questioning by implying that we "just don't like this pope".  Is it Voris who is playing into their hands by rehashing his call from several months ago for us to shut up?

One of his closing statements was that due to the machinations of the progressives, the pope has "little maneuvering room".  What difference does that make?  Why cannot the pope just do his job and promulgate the Teachings of Jesus Christ and give the results of that fidelity into the hands of God?  Why is that so complicated?  No doubt it would take courage but that is his responsibility.

The title of the Vortex video is "Failed Papacy".  I don't know about that.  I do know that up till now, this papacy has been one friggin disaster: from clown-nose selfies to "who am I to judge" to muslims praying to "allah" in the Vatican to telling adulterers they can receive Holy Communion - I could go on and on with this.  But after next week he will still be pope.  What will he do with the rest of his papacy?  This is cause for prayer for us, that he will make something of his papacy and do something for Christ's hurting and bruised Church.  Now the video..

Kasperites Refuted By St Thomas Aquinas

Michael Hichborn of Lepanto Institute put up a piece that refuted some serious errors that were embraced by Elizabeth Scalia.  Some might recognize her as the Patheos blogger "Anchoress".  Recently she assumed the position of editor of Aleteia.  In her piece she argues for Holy Communion for adulterers and sodomites.  I recommend you read both.  A note regarding Patheos; that network pays its site owners based upon the number of clicks that their sites receive.  Since Scalia's piece is found on the Aleteia site I don't think she'll be compensated for the viewing of her errors; else I could not have linked to it in good conscience.

Please read Hichborn's piece closely; it is excellent and there is one key reason why that's so.  Hichborn addresses the arguments that Scalia proposes and demonstrates how they've been refuted centuries ago by St. Thomas Aquinas.  As such, the words of the Angelic Doctor are most applicable to the canards being raised now at the sin-nod and by many other such proponents.  Cardinal Wuerl may wish to study them and to revisit his attitudes towards Canon 915 and the injustice that he perpetrated three years ago against Father Marcel Guarnizo.  Those of us who remember the ever-relevant Baltimore Catechism will appreciate this diagram that sums up some salient points.

In yesterday's post I linked to a LifeSiteNews interview with Cardinal Arinze.  His Eminence expounded on the obligation that each one of us has to properly form and inform our consciences in conformity with Catholic teaching.  Voice of the Family today released a piece that delves into that matter and how that relates to the need to receive Holy Communion in a worthy state.

LifeSiteNews interviewed Bishop Athanasius Schneider last week.  He stated quite plainly that those Kasperites who yap and yammer about admitting mortal sinners to Holy Communion are "following the spirit and language of Satan".  The good bishop is not afraid to call out his errant brothers by name.  God bless him and the other faithful prelates.  Pray for them because you can bet the progressives in the Vatican and elsewhere have the long knives aimed at them.

They "Just Don't Like The Pope"

More prelates are taking stands against the venom pouring from the sin-nod.

• Bishop Krzysztof Bialasik, Polish missionary to Bolivia, denounced abortion and "gender ideology" and lamented that the sin-nod did not address these matters.
• Archbishop Zbigniew Stankiewicz, on behalf of the Latvian Bishops' Conference, denounced the idea of Holy Communion for unrepentant adulterers and sodomites.
• Again we hear from Cardinal Pell as he rejects "continental Catholicism".
• Archbishop Gadecki has again denounced the none-too-subtle attempt by "sin-nod fathers" to dilute Catholic doctrine.
• Cardinal Jorge Urosa defended teaching on the Holy Eucharist, reminding all that the prodigal son was embraced by his father only after he returned home.
• Cardinal Burke stated that if being "fundamentalist" meant upholding Church teaching, then he was happy to be so, for that teaching will save souls.  Imagine that!  A Prince of the Church concerned with the mission that Christ gave to His Church, to save souls!  These days, that's a rarity.



SinNod's Moral
Theologian

• Cardinal Arinze reminded us all that those in objectively sinful situations cannot receive Holy Communion in good conscience.

God bless these prelates (and others) who are standing up to the obvious attempt to exploit the synod for heretical purposes.  Dare I suspect that Cardinal Wuerl would count them in the number of those who "just don't like this pope"?  By the way; who taught the "conscience reigns supreme" crowd their moral theology?  Jiminy Cricket?

Cardinal Wuerl Is Complaining About Us

That actually is a good thing.  He isn't playing the aloof stoic any longer.  If he's trying to poo-poo us, we must be having some beneficial effect.  He gave an interview to America magazine (that should say a lot right there) from which Joan Desmond of National Catholic Register draws.  I won't pick the whole thing apart, but will focus a bit one one very telling tidbit, a "Freudian slip", if you will.  Read the following.

"Pope Francis is calling for a church that, to my mind, is much more in contact with the Gospel, with the living out of the Gospel. Not just the articulation of the Gospel, the voicing of the Gospel, the proclaiming of the Gospel, but the personal living of it, and that seems to be what is the most attractive part of this pope, why so many people find him inviting, who so many people follow him, why so many people are coming back to the practice of the faith."

This "much more in contact with the Gospel" bit is, uh..intriguing!  "Much more" in comparison with what, pray tell?  "Much more" than:

• The Fathers and Doctors of the Church who helped crystalize and expound the teachings of Our Lord?
• Those missionaries who spread the Faith to pagans, often at the cost of martyrdom?
• Those parents of today who sacrifice to teach their children at home lest they lose their Faith in public and yes, diocesan schools?
• Those Christians who suffer for upholding the teachings of Jesus Christ in the face of opposition? Kim Davis, Linda Gibbons and (pay attention, Your Eminence!) Father Marcel Guarnizo are among that number.

My heavens!  How bereft we Catholics have been during these last 20 centuries of "contact with the Gospel"!  Now we have a pope whom many "find inviting"!  Yes indeedee!  Just ask Elton John!  As far as having lots of followers, that is no measure of anything.  Read John 6.  Many people followed Jesus - until He taught of the nature of the Eucharist.  Then they up and left.  Jesus kept proclaiming the truth of Who He is.  These truths of the Church are eternal and immutable, regardless of the number of "followers".   I will make no statement whatsoever regarding the pope's personal "living of the gospel", be it "yay" or "nay".  I wonder how the Cardinal dares to do so.

He also said that those who question the synodal process "just don't like this pope".  I suppose that would include his brother Cardinals Pell, Burke and now Arinze?  See here and here.

I do consider this braying by Cardinal Wuerl to be a good sign.  We bloggers must be doing something right to arouse their ire and to cause them to squint their eyes at the light of truth.  Let's keep it up.

Sin-Nod Proposal To Insinuate Moral Relativism In The Church

There are indications that Pope Francis may be entertaining ideas to slough off some papal authority to local bishops' conferences.  Under the proposal, these conferences would be empowered to deal with moral matters such as homsexuality and divorce as well as some doctrinal matters.  Voice of the Family has a fairly extensive analysis of the problem.

Both Cardinals Muller and Burke rightly condemn this idea as a violation of the very notion of a universal Church and an admittance of moral relativism.  Ladies and gentlemen, the Catholic Church is custodian of the Teachings of Jesus Christ.  These teachings are as immutable and eternal as the God who promulgated them.  They don't change from place to place, era to era.  What this crackpot idea would do is to create situations where the Church in one place would falsely teach that homosexuality is morally acceptable while another would hold onto Christ's teachings.  It would in fact formalize schisms (yes, that's plural) within the Church.

Readers of this blog are well aware of the many problems caused by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  I needn't rehash them here; just put the name in the search box at the top left.  Now can you just imagine the unmitigated disasters that would be spewing forth from that cabal if they were granted doctrinal authority?  The Church in the United States would be crippled beyond recognition.

Let us pray that the Church survives the remaining days of this sin-nod.

Sin-Nod Slop Oozed Into My Parish Mass This Morning Via Two Zingers

I'll deal with the more insidious zinger first.  As the name of this blog suggests, I am located in the Archdiocese of Washington and the archbishop is Cardinal Donald Wuerl.  As this Church Militant article (and so many of my own posts) states, he is decidedly on the progressive side.  The video makes mention of a priest being disciplined for upholding Canon 915 back in 2012.  Regular readers of this blog will immediately realize that the priest is Father Marcel Guarnizo and it was at my parish where Father Guarnizo attempted to prevent sacrilege.  For some refresher on that situation and the heinous treatment meted out to Father Guarnizo under the direction of Cardinal Wuerl, please click on the archives to the right and read the posts from late Feb 2012 through March 2012.

Presently Cardinal Wuerl is in Rome as one of the synod fathers.  No one doubts that he is lending his hand to the Kasper-Marx-Cupich crowd.  Recall the blasphemies suggested by both Marx and Cupich.  Both prelates are openly calling for the Church to dissent from the teachings of Christ Himself with regards to adultery, sodomy and contraception, and to allow those engaging in these mortally sinful acts to receive Holy Communion.  Hold that thought as I relate what happened a few hours ago at Mass.

One of the prayers during the "Prayers of the Faithful" was for families.  I don't have the text verbatum but still the words were clear: "For families during this time of the synod as they are under attack from addiction, immigration, deportation and poverty".  Leaving aside (for the moment) the open embrace of left-wing positions on lesser issues, do you notice what's missing from that list of malevolent forces that attack our families?  Yes - those sins against family and life that are always intrinsically evil.  I'll list them below:

• Abortion.  That should be included in that list, as abortion is literally an attack on a most helpless babies by members of his/her own family.
• Homosexual conduct.  Those engaged in such sins make a mockery of families.  Two of the same gender who "play house" together are NOT families, wicked and inane civil laws notwithstanding.  We pity and pray for the children embroiled in these situations as they are denied the mother and the father that they need and deserve.
• Contraception.  Usage of these substances distorts the meaning of true marital love and is the most reliable predictor of divorce.

Yet these evils were not included in the list of forces that tear families apart.  Thinking back on the sin-nod, it's not difficult to realize why they were deliberately omitted from that list.  These are the very behaviors that Marx et al want to legitimatize by use of the sin-nod, and he most likely has an ally in Cardinal Wuerl.  Looking at the matter from the progressive viewpoint, how could Wuerl's chancery mandate or even allow them to be included when the progressives at the sin-nod are trying to "mainstream" them into Church life?

I realize that this omission during the prayer may seem like a minor little thing, but it is precisely by these "minor little things" that they hope to change the mindsets of Catholics in the pew.  That's how these little "zingers" work; the less noticed they are, the more effective they are.  This questionable prayer is NOT the only "zinger" that happened in today's 9:30 AM Mass at St John Neumann in Gaithersburg MD.  Let's look at "zinger #2".

Satan In The Sin-Nod

Cardinal Marx Outright Shills For Holy Communion For Adulterers And Sodomites

Such was the gist of his "intervention" this past Wednesday. To complete the heretical slop, he also stated that contraception within marriage should be liberalized "to make more room for conscience".  In other words, the clear teachings of Jesus Christ are to be subordinated to the demands of warped consciences.  I saw this news on Church Militant's site and left the following comment.  It is self-explanatory, but knowing CM's reluctance to criticize the doings and sayings of Pope Francis, here's hoping that the comment remains and that they start acknowledging the proverbial "elephant in the living room".   The comment is "If Marx is allowed to remain in his various Church-related roles after this proposal of immorality and heresy, we need to acknowledge that Pope Francis approves of Marx's antics and perhaps even is applauding them.  Let us cease this fear of stating these simple truths, shall we?"

Meanwhile, the bishops from Poland and Africa are having nothing to do with Marx's antics.  Toronto Catholic Witness relates that Archbishop Gadecki refutes the idea of "being pastoral" and he has spoken in the name of all the Polish bishops.  Michael Hichborn of Lepanto Institute asks why such matters of settled doctrine are even being discussed and then answers the question; they are being discussed because Marx et al want to unsettle these doctrines.

We've had de facto schism for some time now.  This sin-nod may well formalize that reality.

Cupich's Dissidence At SinNod - Another Reason To Sign The Canon 212 Petition

I and other faithful Catholic bloggers have written copiously about the many travesties perpetrated by Archbishop Cupich of Chicago.  Recall that he is now at the sin-nod, at the express direction of Pope Francis.  Some may have wondered how the Pope could have named Cupich to the sin-nod in light of his flawed moral compass.  I don't; in fact I believe the pope knew full well Cupich's proclivities and that was the reason he brought Cupich to the sin-nod.

We are now hearing that Cupich is using his new-found bully pulpit to finagle the admittance to Holy Communion those embroiled in flagrant mortal sins: adulterers and sodomites, to be precise.  These would be people currently and unabashedly continuing in their sinful situations, not those who have repented and made good Confessions.

LifeSiteNews and Voice of the Family recorded an interview given by Cupich in which he outlines his diabolical proposal.  Let's look at a few salient points.

• Those adulterers and sodomites who feel marginalized do so because they have marginalized themselves by their embrace of mortal sin.  Let us thank God for these "feelings" as they might be the impetus that these people need to repent.  Let us pray that they do repent soon before they're marginalized for all eternity.
• "Conscience is inviolable"?  No - not if it moves in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Everyone of us - adulterers and sodomites included - have the solemn duty to form and inform our conscience in conformity with the Church.

Church Militant TV has added commentary.  I'll be candid.  Unless he's a complete dunderhead, the pope knew precisely what Cupich's pet causes were before he appointed Cupich to the see of Chicago and invited him to participate in the sin-nod.  He didn't seek out Cupich despite his leanings; he sought Cupic because of his leanings.

They are trying to use the sin-nod to "mainstream" the gay lifestyle into acceptable Church practices, and allowing sodomites to come to Holy Communion would be a major step for them.  Unfortunately it would also be a major step towards hell, for receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin is its own mortal sin.  Austin Ruse wrote a piece on the way that high Vatican official maltreated Kim Davis.  They seem to harbor malevolence towards anyone who stands in the way of these goals or who exposes their malfeasances by virtue of their own proper conduct - thus their utter contempt for Kim Davis, a courageous lady who puts these Vatican officials to shame.

This sin-nod is, at best, an abysmal joke.  Please consider signing this petition.

Time To End The SinNod Charade

At the sin-nod, some faithful prelates have been speaking forthrightly about the satanic manipulation of the sin-nod that seems to be the aim of Vatican authorities, including the pope.  Archbishop Tomash Peta of Astana likened the language of the Instrumentum Laboris to "the smoke of Satan".  He spoke particularly of attempts to liberalize Holy Communion for those in adultery and to normalize sodomite acts.  Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea also expressed concern at the obvious manipulation of the sin-nod.

LifeSiteNews interviewed Cardinal Burke recently.  Recall that he attended last year's sin-nod.  On account of the marginalization that he suffered at the hands of the pope, he is not part of this on-going sin-nod.  In that interview, Burke addressed the sin-nod proposal that local bishops decide for their own diocese whether or not they will allow sodomites and/or adulterers to receive Holy Communion.  He if that were to happen the Church would compromise her character of being universal.

While I applaud these prelates (and others speaking out), I fear their words fall on deaf, indifferent and even hostile ears within the Vatican.  They can speak all they want, but the sin-nod honchos are going to have their way, I suspect.  Many of us believe that if the good bishops cannot improve things at the sin-nod, it may well behoove them to walk out of the sin-nod rather than dignify the charade with their presence.  A walk-out would send the message that they will not allow "pastoral" slop to be issued in their name.  A group called Canon 212 Society has put together a petition asking the faithful prelates to consider a walkout should the sin-nod honchos prove to be absolutely incorrigible.   I have signed it and urge you to sign it as well, at this link.  After you sign, please share it far and wide.