The Stakes Are Becoming Clearer To All Now

A few days ago, Archbishop Vigano laid bare the case against Francis in no uncertain terms.  Recently, we've also heard from Cardinals Burke and Sarah, along with Bishop Schneider regarding the affronts posed by Francis to the Faith.  The bulk of their recent comments are directed at Fiducia Supplicans, the document penned by Cardinal Kissy-Face Fernandez and signed by Francis.  That document gives the go-ahead for "gay unions".  Given the fact that that to counsel for sin and to approve it are ways of cooperating with sin, the production and the promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans has been inherently sinful on its face.

On June 14, Cardinal Sarah came to Catholic University of America in Washington DC to address some students there.  In his remarks, he held out, as an example to follow, his fellow African bishops who refuse to implement Fiducia Supplicans. owing to its "grave error".  At about the same time, in an interview, Cardinal Burke stated, "we affront the Lord, we show profound lack of respect for Our Lord in love for Him if in some way we try to ask blessing for something that’s sinful."

Bishop Schneider's stance is none too nuanced.  He called Fiducia Supplicans "a mockery of the natural and revealed law of God."  And so it is.  Then he said something very wise, laying bare a part of the insidious strategy of the goons in the Vatican.  He said, "but perhaps creating a state of permanent debate, generalized uncertainty, and doctrinal and practical anarchy, was precisely its aim."  Francis seems to excel at this, to undermine the certainty that has always been a hallmark of God's truth as revealed through Holy Mother Church.

Attacks On Tradition And Piety Continue Unabated

When I endured my little insult this past weekend, I wondered if it was due to a growing trend among establishment clergy: that is, clergy slavishly beholden to Francis and his now-obvious animus towards the Faith.  I believe it is.  Indeed, two more recent examples have come to all our attention.

In the Diocese of Westminster in England, Cardinal Nichols announced that no celebration of the Triduum in the Latin rite will be permitted.  Over the past several years, people had been coming from surrounding areas to celebrate Triduum as had been done for hundreds of years.  Nichols, in his letter, stated "I realize that this will disappoint some people, but I have to keep the wider picture in view."  This "wider picture" entails the systematic deconstruction of Sacred Tradition.  Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivandi.  The "lex orandi" is under direct attack.

Closer to home in Texas, in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the Sevigny family, a Catholic family of six, own and operate a ranch and retreat center that they call Sanctus Ranch.  Archbishop Garcia-Sillar issued, on January 30, a public letter to all Catholics in his diocese not to do business with the ranch.  He specifically forbade Catholic organizations not to utilize the ranch for retreats or other spiritual purposes.  I understand that Garcia-Sillar has that authority over Catholic organizations, but what right does he have to tell the ordinary person to conduct no business whatsoever with the ranch?  Clearly he has overstepped his bounds.  He also ordered organizations that had already signed contracts to explore ways to break the contracts.

Garcia-Sillar stated as a reason that there is an "unapproved chapel lacking canonical status", forgetting that he himself offered Mass there in the past.  Might the reason be that (gasp!) the Latin Mass is offered there?   Here is Garcia-Sillar's letter as it appears on the diocese's site.  Here is the response from Sanctus Ranch. 

Two prelates have recently spoken against this trend of progressive bishops to degrade and mock our Faith.  Bishop Joseph Strickland penned an open letter to all bishops, including Francis, exhorting them to "return to Christ and His way".  LifeSiteNews has the full text of his letter.

Cardinal Sarah  has voiced full support of the African bishops who are not going to implement Fiducia Supplicans.  That would be all African bishops, except those in South Africa.  He recently stated that Fiducia Supplicans MUST be resisted for it contains heresy that will undermine the Catholic faith.  Cardinal Muller said the same thing.

Now what does all that mean for us lay Catholics?  Frankly, I live in a diocese that could easily see an attempt to "bless" mortally sinful relationships.  Will we have the presence of mind and courage to denounce these things, even to the point of protesting when and where they are occurring?

Evangelism: Out With The New, In With The Old

Since Vatican II, Mass attendance has been on the decline.  In fact, Catholic life in general has deteriorated, as those who claim a Catholic ancestry believe and live as, well, heathen.  Their level of immorality is identical to the culture of death at large as they divorce, fornicate and abort their babies at the same rates.

There was a respite in the downturn, albeit brief.  It was right after the 9/11 attacks.  All of the sudden, people remembered that God existed.  For a few weeks, the churches were quite crowded.  However, by and large, our bishops didn't know how to respond - or maybe they didn't want to see real repentance and conversions for then they'd actually have to be attentive to their duties.  I remember reading in the Catholic Standard about this return to churches when it was still in play.  Cardinal McCarrick waxed absolutely giddy and silly about the full churches.  Why?  Well, because that meant the local church would have to buy more real estate and build more buildings.  That was his focus.  Meanwhile the church hierarchy was doing absolutely zilch about meeting the spiritual needs of those who were darkening church doors after being away for so long.  I was quite exasperated at McCarrick's inane prattling, wondering why he didn't propose increased times for confession and remedial catechism for the returnees.  Not encountering real Catholicism, the returnees soon stopped returning.

So having blown what was literally a God-given field for true evangelism, the hierarchy returned to its tried-and-failed tactics.  They completely ignored the traditional means of evangelism, for those means would have entailed both fidelity to Sacred Tradition and incurring the displeasure of the world at large.  If anything, we witnessed even greater banality from the hierarchy as they tried so desperately to earn the approval of the world, particularly young people.  We witnessed priests and religious break-dancing, rap-singing, etc - all to imitate worldly fashions to trick young people into "liking us".  There have been a few who have come to the Church, but by and large the world regards these pathetic farces with derision.  Who can blame them?

There is hope, though.  A growing number of Catholics who are concerned with the Church's problems are assessing honestly the Church's failures with the "new evangelism".  They understand that the world will only respect Catholics (not necessarily like, but respect) who are in fact praying, believing and acting like Catholics in accordance with Tradition.

I recommend to your reading an article by Eric Sammons called "The Old Evangelization: Five Steps To Renew A Parish".  In a nutshell, he hits the nail on the head.  When Catholics pray and worship as Catholics in accord with Tradition stemming from the One True Faith, the world will take notice.  Conversions will happen - but more importantly, God will be worshiped as He ordered.

What Eric said about the primacy of proper worship echoes the words of both Cardinal Sarah and Cardinal Burke.  Only through authentic, proper worship will we and the world be receptive to the grace needed for evangelism and conversion.

Here is a blog piece written by Msgr Charles Pope called "Recovering The Gospel From The Notion Of Merely Happy Or Good News".  In this piece he points out that both Jesus and John the Baptist preached the entire truth.  They didn't cater to any "snowflake" wishes for "happy positive warm fuzzies".  They preached the need for repentance from sin as being crucial to the process of conversion.  Recall that in the Gospel of Mark, the first recorded word of Jesus is "repent".  Jesus and the early preachers proclaimed the joy of the Gospel, but they also proclaimed the consequences of refusal of the Gospel and preference for sin.  Some priests would do well to recall that when they are tempted to adopt some silly fad as a means of "evangelism".

Let's stop the cutesy gimmicks and return to the Traditions of Our Church.  Converts will come then, as they did earlier.

Msgr Pope Excoriates "Social Justice" Charity

Several days ago Msgr Charles Pope posted on his blog page (hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington) an article entitled "Eradicating Poverty Is Not A Gospel Value: A Reflection On A Teaching By Cardinal Sarah".  While I link to it now, I will copy and paste it below for it wouldn't surprise me if archdiocesan progressive wonks had this post removed.  It would not be the first time that they did this to Msgr Pope.  I'll post some commentary first.

The Catholic charitable organization to which Cardinal Sarah referred could well be the Catholic Relief Services.  With their endless kvetching about "poverty" and "global warming", they have engaged in serious conflicts with Catholic moral teaching including the distribution of abortifacients, harboring of gay activists in their midst, partnering with pro-abortion organizations, etc.  A whole litany of malfeasances can be found here.  These misdeeds can only be expected of Catholic organizations when they forget that the prime mission of the Catholic Church is to help souls attain heaven.

It's noteworthy that Msgr cites the abysmal failure of Johnson's "war on poverty".  Through the expansion of welfare and its devastating impact on poor families, it could well be called "war on families".  While the "war on poverty" flopped, the "war on families" has been all too successful.

Far too many Catholics - especially those in high positions of the USCCB - have made a false idol out of "social justice".  It's no coincidence that many of these dissent from Catholic teaching regarding faith and morals - especially morals regarding marriage, sexuality, life and family.  Perhaps they think that by undue focus on "social justice" they might compensate for deviance from Catholic moral teaching.  If that's the case they play "Russion roulette" with their eternal destinies.  Pray that they repent.

And now, Msgr's article..

The eradication of poverty is an oft-stated goal of the modern, liberal West. President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s pronouncement of a “war on poverty” so imprinted this notion in the Western mind that it has become almost axiomatic. It is now a fundamental pillar in the thinking of almost every person (and organization) in the Western world, from the religious pew-sitter concerned for the poor to the most secular humanist bent on a utopian vision. Poverty is a great enemy that must be stamped out!

The only problem is that this is contrary to the Gospel! It is no surprise, therefore, that even after decades of Western “do-goodism,” barely a dent has been made in the percentage of people living in poverty. In fact, some statistics show that the percentage in poverty has increased. But why should we expect great fruitfulness in something that opposes God?

I can see the look of shock on your face right now; you may even be embarrassed that I have written this. I’d like to share a quote with you from Robert Cardinal Sarah, which makes an important distinction that we need to recover. While what he says may also shock you, I encourage you to read it carefully and thoughtfully; the distinction he makes is critical. Not only does the Gospel depend on it, but cultures and individual lives do as well. For indeed, in the name of eradicating poverty some of the worst of Western arrogance has been displayed. It is an arrogance that does not even recognize that it can become willing to the destroy the poor themselves as well as what and whom they love all in the name of this “noble” goal.

Cardinal Robert Sarah is no neophyte in this discussion. He grew up in an impoverished region of Africa and later headed the Roman dicastery, Cor unum, a charitable arm of the Holy See. The extensive passage below is an abbreviated version of the Cardinal’s response to the following questions posed by his interviewer, Nicholas Diat:

How would you describe the nature of Cor unum, the dicastery to which you devoted several years of your life, in its fight against all sorts of poverty? Furthermore, why do you speak so often about the close relation between God and the poor?

In his reply, the Cardinal is reacting somewhat to Mr. Diat’s description of Cor unum’s work as “fight[ing] against all sorts of poverty.” The Cardinal’s response is nothing short of stunning. Please read it carefully and consider obtaining the book so as to able to read the unabridged remarks as well.

The Gospel is not a slogan. The same goes for our activity to relieve people’s suffering … [it is a matter] of working humbly and having a deep respect for the poor. For example, I remember being disgusted when I heard the advertising slogan of a Catholic charitable organization, which was almost insulting to the poor: “Let us fight for zero poverty” … Not one saint … ever dared to speak that way about poverty and poor people.

Jesus himself had no pretention of this sort. This slogan respects neither the Gospel nor Christ. Ever since the Old Testament, God has been with the poor; and Sacred Scripture unceasingly acclaims “the poor of Yahweh.” …

Poverty is a biblical value confirmed by Christ, who emphatically exclaims, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). … The poor person is someone who knows that, by himself, he cannot live. He needs God and other people in order to be, flourish and grow. On the contrary, rich people expect nothing of anyone. They can provide for their needs without calling either on their neighbors or on God. In this sense wealth can lead to great sadness and true human loneliness or to terrible spiritual poverty. If in order to eat and care for himself, a man must turn to someone else, this necessarily results in a great enlargement of his heart. This is why the poor are closest to God and live in great solidarity with one another; they draw from this divine source the ability to be attentive to others.

The Church must not fight against poverty but, rather, wage a battle against destitution, especially material and spiritual destitution. … [so that all] might have the minimum they require in order to live. …

But we do not have the right to confuse destitution and poverty, because in so doing we would seriously be going against the Gospel. Recall what Christ told us: “The poor you will have always with you …” (Jn 12:8). Those who want to eradicate poverty make the Son of God a liar. …

[In his yearly Lenten message in 2014, Pope Francis] espoused what St. Francis [of Assisi] called “Lady Poverty.” … St. Francis of Assisi wanted to be poor because Christ chose poverty. If he calls poverty a royal virtue, it is because it shone brilliantly in the life of Jesus … and in the life of his mother, Mary of Nazareth. …

Similarly, I often think about the vow of poverty taken by religious … [they] do so in order to be as close as possible to Christ. The Son [of God] wanted us to be poor in order to show us the best path by which we can return to God. …

The Son of God loves the poor; others intend to eradicate them. What a lying, unrealistic, almost tyrannical utopia! I always marvel when Gaudium et Spes declares, “The spirit of poverty and charity is the glory and witness of the Church of Christ” (GS 88).

We must be precise in our choice of words. The language of the UN and its agencies, who want to suppress poverty, which they confuse with destitution, is not that of the Church of Christ. The Son of God did not come to speak to the poor in ideological slogans! The Church must banish these slogans from her language. For they have stupefied and destroyed peoples who were trying to remain free in conscience(Cardinal Sarah, God or Nothing: A Conversation in Faith with Nicholas Diat, pp. 140-142).

Perhaps stunned himself, Mr. Diat follows up with the following question: “Are you not afraid of being misunderstood in employing this sort of distinction?”

The Cardinal replies,

It is a lack of charity to shut one’s eyes. It is a lack of charity to remain silent in the face of confusing words and slogans! … If you read the Latin text of Gaudium et Spes carefully you will immediately notice this distinction (Ibid, p. 143).

This is a powerful insight and it reveals the deep flaw in Western “anti-poverty” programs. Christ asks us to love the poor and imitate the best of what they are, not eliminate them and disregard the simplicity and trust that they can often exemplify. But we in the West, imbued with our materialistic notions and mesmerized by the comfort and control that wealth can temporarily buy, denigrate what the Gospels praises and seek to eradicate it.

So unreflective are we in this matter that some will even justify the most awful things in the name of eradicating poverty. Many programs (U.S.-sponsored and U.N.-sponsored) with this goal advocate for contraception, abortion, and/or euthanasia. Some have even sought to compel these sorts of things as a precondition for receiving aid. Some seek to impose certain aspects of Western thinking, something that has been labeled an attempt at “ideological colonization.” Many of us in the “First World” often speak of the “Third World” in a way that at best is patronizing and at worst exhibits a thinly veiled contempt.

While it is true that certain economic and political systems best support Western lifestyles, there is more to life than material abundance. With our own culture, families, and common sense collapsing around us, it seems odd that we so easily consider our way of life superior; that we see our relationship to the poor and to poorer countries as one in which we have all the answers and they should just listen to us.

The word “arrogance” comes to mind. We too easily assume, without even asking, that we know what is best; we presume that poor people in every part of the world want what we have (materially) and that they don’t perceive the awful price we have paid in order to get it.

We must recover a respect for the world’s poor, who have much to teach us. Even if they are not materially without troubles, they often possess many things we have lost: simplicity, family and tribal (communal) life, reciprocity, proper interdependence (as opposed to radical individualism), trust, a slower life, and a less-stressful life.

Further, we must not forget that the Lord counseled poverty (Lk 18:22), declared the poor blessed (Lk 6:20), lived simply Himself having “nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8:20), lived among the working poor, and warned of the pernicious quality of wealth (Lk 16:13). God hears the cry of the poor and Mother Mary taught us of a great reversal that is coming, when the mighty and powerful will be cast down and poor and lowly raised up (Lk 1:52). Jesus taught us that many who are now last will be first in the kingdom of Heaven (Mat 19:30). In this life, the poor will sometimes need us. In the next life, on Judgment Day, we are going to need them to welcome us into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9).

I really cannot say it better than did the good Cardinal, so I will not attempt to do so.We must surely work to alleviate the destitution that often comes in times of famine, war, or natural disaster. But destitution and poverty are not the same thing. Overlooking this distinction can be deadly for the poor we claim to serve and for their cultures, and can result in the worst forms of ideological colonization and secular utopianism.