Worthy Shepherds

 

 

 

In the terrible situation the Christians in Iraq and elsewhere are living, it is of great consolation to know their prelates seem to be authentic shepherds.

Rorate Caeli has an appeal from the Chaldean Patriarch, whose beauty and Christian spirit is such that I think it fit – albeit the text will soon be everywhere in the Catholic blogosphere – to copy it here in its entirety.

Pray every day for the poor persecuted Christians in Iraq and elsewhere.

If we had a decent Pope, the appeals to end the suffering of the Christians would be frequent, passionate, and harsh.

But we have an indecent Pope, who talks of persecuted Christians very much in general, and never ever points the finger to those who persecute them.

Which is why most Western government allow themselves to ignore the events: there’s no political price to pay.

Again: pray for the poor persecuted Christians.

Mundabor

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I’ll start my speech by the Word of Christ as His Word is the source of strength and salvation of us, the poor of this lost world: “There is no need to be afraid, little flock” (Luke 12:32).

Our present pain is associated with our Christianity and with the mystery of our Passover (i.e., Easter). Our suffering if joined to the suffering of our Savior Jesus, “Man of Sorrows”, will turn out to be a blessing and salvation to us and to others. And the current challenges are faced with more faith, hope and prayer and solidarity and wisdom. Be brave in front of what you are facing, do not be afraid, you have deep roots in Iraq, do not give up for frustration and despair, confident that “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52) and evil does not last! You are the small mustard seed, the Lord will not let you fall. He is with you today, tomorrow and after tomorrow and forever.

We are your shepherds, and with our full responsibility towards you we will stay with you to the end, will not leave you, whatever the sacrifices. I repeat, do not be afraid; stay strong as you are with your faith and your hope and love. We thank God for your safety, as no matter what, your life has no price.

God’s blessing be upon you.

Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako
[Chaldean Catholic Church]
July 20, 2014

Francis For The Stubborn

The amount of questionable or outright heretical statements of the Unholy Father has reached such dimensions that it discourages amateur bloggers like your truly from creating a section dedicated to the collecting of Francis’ heretical statements, divided by category, for the benefit of those who want to learn Catholicism the right way and avoid the pitfalls of this pontificate. 

It is, therefore, always very useful when a blogger posts a little collection of flowers – or rather, carnivore and poisonous plants – from the treasure trove – or rather, landfill – of Francis’ more or less official statements.

Steve Skojec has an excellent one.

He also points out to the impossibility that everyone – even his close friends – conspires in giving the wrong account on the Pope’s mindset and intentions, without being ever rebuked or corrected by the man himself. 

The result is, as Mr Skojec very pointedly says, that “there is simply not a shred of evidence that Pope Francis wants to disabuse people of the notion that he both believes and said these things”.

I add to this that even more than this is happening: Francis’ hammering on “these things” is so insistent, so obvious, and so shameless that, on the contrary, he is launching the very clear message that the faithful are not allowed to have any doubt about what he thinks, even if he will not formally state it. I cannot explain otherwise the barrage of interviews and other statements – some of first, some of second, some of third hand – that always follows the … lack of correction concerning the latest scandal. 

Francis gives heretical interview (off-the cuff comment, etc.) number one. Father Lombardi says to the press he doesn’t really mean it, and does not mean to be a heretic. There is no word of Francis to disavow the heretical interpretation of what he has said. After a short time, another interview or statement follows, with exactly the same content. Father Lombardi says you should not read too much into what the Pope says. The process starts again.

In the end, the whole planet understands. Only the Pollyannas don’t.

Mundabor

Forty Years Of Abuse

Bishop Matano’s dance performance was appreciated by the experts.

 

 

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Matthew 10: 34-36.

In my peregrinations amongst the Novus Ordo parishes of this once Christian Country I have, fortunately, never ever been confronted with a homily (or other kind of sermon) delivered at mass by a layman. I imagine it must have happened somewhere in the past, but in my optimism I think in this country at least it must have been isolated episodes; promoted or tolerated by priests who were certainly at odd with Catholicism; possibly with a mistress on the side, or homosexuals, or pedophiles.

I was, therefore, somewhat surprised to read that in this XXI Century, and after two papacies (JP II and Benedict XVI) with some effort to restore some sanity (some and some are the operative words here), this ridiculous practice was going on in the Diocese of Rochester, in the United States (we have a Rochester here too, of historical and Dickensian memory, which I think gave its name to all the other ones). Both the text and the comments are very rich of insights.

What was more surprising? That the abuses had gone on for 40 years? That the old bishop tolerated the practice for 25 years? That the old bishop tolerated the other farce of mass absolution? That the new bishop was installed in January and needed six months to act, and said he looked at it on a case to case basis as if to say he was really, really careful not to hurt anyone? That the same man felt the need to point out his action was prompted by complaints of parishioners; without which he would, it is implied, have done perfectly nothing? That the new bishop has now released “guidelines” to explain that water is wet?

Well, everything was surprising, and again nothing was. We live in a world in which a bishop must tread extremely carefully to end horrible liturgical abuses, and feels he can only do so without any fear of an earthquake if he “listens”, “examines on a case by case basis”, and issues “guidelines”. A world in which we must be grateful for every bishop who, with a very subdued voice, tries to explain to his priests and parishioners that if they really pay attention and read carefully, they will discover they might do it somewhat better.

Predictably, this little act of cleaning of a small part of what must be, in that particular diocese, a sea of excrements reaches the press, and they punctually echo the “feelings” of some old hag who goes on record with saying that not seeing a female playing priest  from the pulpit “challenges her faith”; which, whatever faith it may be, certainly isn’t Christianity.

When I read such horror stories I begin to think that even the most horrible revolutionaries here in England must feel orthodox because hey, they do not have “lay preachers” at Mass.

I wonder how not only the bishop, but at least two Popes (JP II and Benedict XVI) could go to sleep at night knowing such abuses were taking place, as it seems impossible to me that a diocese near New York could go on many years with such abuses without the news reaching the highest echelons in Rome. Notice I mention here only the former Popes, as I have no doubt the present one really doesn’t give a fig for anything but himself.

I also wonder how many souls got lost, or how many of them left the Church or stopped attending, due to the obscene circus with which they were confronted at Mass.

We need bishops who not only act, but act by saying things as they are rather than dancing on the eggshells of political correctness. Bishop Matano should have at the very least condemned the practice as a liturgical abuse, rather than pretending these are good intentioned people who must have missed something whilst reading the instruction manual.As it is, he has – for the moment – put a remedy on this from a position of weakness, and this attitude will limit his ability to act further (imagine what a cesspool such a diocese must be) as it encourages disobedience. I can’t see such exercises as helping much in the long term. It will end up to centimetres work, when we need metres.

We will never go anywhere if even the most obvious measures are made in a spirit of appeasement and fear of turmoil. We will never go anywhere as long as things aren;t called with their proper names: liturgical abuse, disobedience, enmity with Catholicism.

Let Catholicism divide the people. It’s there for that.  

Mundabor

 

 

 

 

Facta, Non Verba

Mundabor's Blog

The question whether he “fosters adoration” was taken very seriously by those present.

From Rorate Caeli: emphases theirs.

Pope Francis then asked: “Are our temples places of adoration? Do they foster adoration? Do our liturgical celebrations foster adoration?”. Judas Maccabeus and the people “were zealous for God’s temple because it was the house of God, God’s dwelling place, and they went as a community to find God there, they went to adore”.

“But, I think – I say this humbly – that maybe we Christians have lost a little the sense of adoration, and we think: we go to the Temple, we come together as brothers – that’s good, it’s great! – but this is where God is. And we worship God.”

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Yes. Have we?

What about the Pinocchio Mass, for example? Does it foster adoration?

Or perhaps is the Tango Mass more in tune with…

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