Bishop Barron Declares Bob Dylan A "Spiritual Poet"

Well, I have to give the somewhat lackluster bishop some credit where credit is due.  Dylan may well be a spiritual poet.  The million-dollar question is, for what spirit does Dylan produce poetry?  I grew up during the sixties and know very well the answer.  Michael Matt does a nice job unpacking the mess that Barron puts forth.

By the way, here's another sample of Dylan's "spiritual poetry" that Matt didn't mention.  It really is quite telling.  As far as being explicitly Christian in the eighties, I'll take that into consideration when he repudiates his left-wing warblings.

Bishop Barron, your feeble attempts to be "with it" are a farce".  Surely you can find better models for spiritual poetry.  How about John of the Cross?  Maybe Blessed Herman the Cripple?  St Thomas Aquinas?  There are others, as well, who wrote Catholic masterpieces that have withstood the test of hundreds of years.  Give it up!  You are a successor to the Apostles.  Please have the sense and sobriety of one.

Attempts To Silence Us In The Church And Civic Life

When truth is spoken, those who revel in falsehood and fantasy lash out at those who speak it.  They fear both the searing of their consciences and for some the threat to their exploitation of the good faith of those who might be inclined to listen and obey them.  I believe that is why a plethora of these progressive wonks are trying to cajole and even coerce us into silence.

Let's examine the attempt being made by Bishop Barron.  He recently suggested that the US bishops introduce a mandatum for those "who claim to teach the Catholic faith online".  He laments "those trading in hateful divisive speech".  One wonders how he defines "divisive", for truth is divisive.  One either heeds it, or they don't.  There really is no "meeting of the minds" here.  If the bishops were really serious about cleaning up the teaching of the Faith, they have their work cut out for them at so-called Catholic institutes of higher learning like Georgetown University or Marquette University or Notre Dame.  Then of course there's Bishop Barron's heretical "hope" that no one is in hell.  Would that cause him to be denied this "mandatum"?  Of course not!

Then we have the chief of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Bassetti, telling Catholics who question the pope's ever-increasing indiscretions to consider leaving the Catholic Church.  In other wods, he is advocating schism.  Similarly, the pope himself had similar gripes.  He coined a new term: "deepfake news".  Of course, if he had been inspired with that phrase by watching CNN or reading the Washington Post I might understand, but the context makes clear his thinking.

The close timing of these two statements by Barron and Bassetti are, I suspect, no coincidence.  They understand that they no longer have total control of the public arena of ideas.  They also know that not only will we spread the word, we will NOT spread our money; recall Saturday's post.  Both of these facts threaten their progressive schemes for the Church.

We are seeing similar backlashes against the truth in the secular arena as well.  In Virginia, the now-Democrat-controlled house is considering HB 1627.  This bill would essentially criminalize any criticism of the governor and other elected officials.  Please note that it is the progressives, mostly Democrats, who are devoid of any sense of obedience to God.  Thus, perceiving themselves to be de facto gods, behave as authoritarian, jack-booted thugs and tyrants.

As we assume the mantle of Church Militant, evil will push back.  We must double down on our prayers, particularly Mass and Rosary.  We must also stand for the Faith.

Bishop Barron's Admiration of Martin Luther Is Downright Heretical

Bishop Robert Barron, Auxiliary of Los Angeles, wrote an article on Martin Luther that appeared in Aleteia.  I link to it now and will highlight some of the more egregious parts.

• "For at the core of Luther’s life and theology was an overwhelming experience of grace."  What "grace" leads one to separate oneself from the One True Church?  What grace inspires a person to eschew the Sacraments and deposit of faith?  I believe apostasy is a mortal sin.  By definition, sanctifying grace is absent from one in a state of mortal sin.
• "Luther was an ecstatic, and the religious movement he launched was a love affair.”  If ever anyone needed proof of the dangers of exalting subjective experience over the immutable teachings of the Church, look no further.  What Barron stupidly calls "a love affair" has led to the splintering of the Church and the damnation of perhaps millions of souls.
• "At bottom, Luther was a mystic of grace, someone who had fallen completely in love."  In love with what??  No one who truly loves God separates him/herself from the One True Church.  They certainly don't hold cheap their own sacerdotal orders.
• "So overwhelmed are they by the experience of the beloved that they are given to words such as “only” and “never” and “forever.” If you doubt me, read any of the great romantic poets, or for that matter, listen to a teenager speak about his first crush"  I think in some convoluted way, Barron is trying to excuse or even justify Luther's mangling of the Bible to justify his sola fide heresy.  Look - it's one thing for a person in love to pepper his/her own language with effusive terminology.  It's quite another for the person in love to twist the words of the one whom he/she allegedly loves.  That's precisely what Luther did when he added the word "alone" to that Romans passage and removed several Old Testament books from his heretical version of the Bible.
• "What Ryrie’s characterization of Luther has helped me to see is how the great Solas;of the Reformation can be both celebrated and legitimately criticized. Was Luther right to express his ecstatic experience of the divine love in just this distinctive way?"  News flash!  One does not celebrate spiritual poison.  The answer to that last question is a resounding "NO!"  If Bishop Barron is actually regurgitating this crap to his flock, perhaps he should surrender his miter now.

Gloria.tv has some other choice quotes from Martin Luther.  Are those "expressions of ecstatic experience"?

Saint John Fisher was a contemporary of Luther's.  He wrote several works to refute Luther's heresies.  A youtube series appears in four parts.  I post the second part below.  If you watch it on youtube as opposed to this blog, you can get the whole series.  It's worth some time, especially since Pope Francis seems hell-bent on celebrating this heretic during this coming October.