When The Church Had Courage: Cardinal Siri

The picture says it all. Cardinal Giuseppe Siri

Read here the Notification Concerning men’s Dress Worn by Women, from Giuseppe Cardinal Siri.

Cardinal Siri was the Archbishop of Genua for more than 40 years. He was a staunchly conservative prelate, one you could have well imagined in the same room with Ottaviani and Lefebvre. He wasn’t the one to say it half. I wonder how many we have nowadays who would have the sheer guts to talk that way.

Some flowers carefully picked for you:

The wearing of men’s dress by women affects firstly the woman herself, by changing the feminine psychology proper to women; secondly it affects the woman as wife of her husband, by tending to vitiate relationships between the sexes; thirdly it affects the woman as mother of her children by harming her dignity in her children’s eyes.

The motive impelling women to wear men’s dress is always that of imitating, nay, of competing with, the man who is considered stronger, less tied down, more independent.  This motivation shows clearly that male dress is the visible aid to bringing about a mental attitude of being “like a man.”⁵  Secondly, ever since men have been men, the clothing a person wears, demands, imposes and modifies that person’s gestures, attitudes and behavior, such that from merely being worn outside, clothing comes to impose a particular frame of mind inside.

Then let us add that woman wearing man’s dress always more or less indicates her reacting to her femininity as though it is inferiority when in fact it is only diversity. The perversion of her psychology is clear to be seen.

This man is so politically incorrect, you would want to make him a monument. He is so on target, you are at a loss to understand how can a prelate dare to talk in such a plain, strong language. And he is so different from most Archbishops of today, you wonder whether the latter haven’t come out from a convent for schoolgirls.

You also wonder what a man like this would think of knowing that colleagues of him approve of “civil partnerships”….. truly, what an insensitive and non inclusive chap….

What do our archbishops dish the faithful today? When they are not openly heretical like our wannabe Christian, parody-Archbishop, walking joke Vincent “Quisling” Nichols (just type his name in the “search” bar of this blog, or click under “bad shepherds”; and I have spared you the last exploit…..), they are suavely whispering wimps who spend their time telling us how “green” Pope Benedict is, how oh so connected the Church is with modern issues, and how so very worldly the Church has become. Yes, there will be some very slight warning about that chap, Jesus. But only if it really, really can’t be avoided, and always in a way meant not to excite or upset anyone.  When was it last time you heard your Bishop mention Jesus – unless it was to link him to some popular cause, which doesn’t count – ? If you exclude a handful of brave men, when was last time you heard an Archbishop expressing himself with one fifth of the guts of the late Cardinal Siri?

Alas, this generation will not experience many of Siri’s courage  and energy, but possibly many of Nichols’ cowardice and utter betrayal of Catholic – nay, Christian – values. Still, we are called to love the Church and be faithful to her irrespective of how many Nichols come our way. Be assured, they will have their reward.

In the meantime, I suggest you read the linked piece in its entirety. And cry.

Fifty years of V II and of relentless quest for popularity have made the Church a ghost of her old self. No doubt, sanity will unavoidably prevail one day, and we already see signs of improvement here and there. But make no mistake, decay and stench of modernism are everywhere not only at the peripheral level, but in the Curia, where still too many see the SSPX as if it were the work of the Devil – or should I say, of the angels – and have no problem at all when an archbishop says he is fine with “civil partnerships”.

Siri was made Cardinal by Pope Pius XII.

I do not doubt Nichols will be made Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

We must pray.

Mundabor