Salt, Pepper and Steak?

I have read on Vox Cantoris that Father Rosica is now in a sort of rehabilitation centre for confused priests, or something of the sort.

Mind, this is not the French Guyana. Actually, it seems not bad at all.

Church Militant has a short essay on the exploits of this remarkably pernicious individual, even before trying to ruin the life and destroy the livelihood of a good Catholic blogger. I have seen no signs of any heartfelt apology to Vox Cantoris. I will, therefore, allow myself a healthy dose of scepticism about this event.

Personally (your mileage may vary) I would be interested in knowing the following:

1. What was Rosica “recovered” for? Is this some serious problem (like, say, alcoholism or, more likely, homosexual tendencies) he wants to deal with, or is it just something that is so fashionable to have today, like “stress” (the disease of the rich; peasants can’t afford to get into a clinic for “stress”) or the like?
2. Who pays for this? It seems a rather nice place. Can’t imagine there is a great scarcity of good food, beautiful gardens, and the like. I’d say that the one or other t-bone steak might find its way to Father Rosica’s salt, too. It would be a shame if this were financed by, say, diocesan money out of the collection of good, Catholic people.
3. What happens next? Because you see, if at the end of the “treatment” we see that Father Rosica recants all of his atrocious homo interviews and apologises to the blogger he has tried to ruin, then it is one thing. If this is just an exercise in battery recharging or – worse – pretension to be undergoing a “spiritual rejuvenation” at the end of which the man spouts the same rubbish as before, then this is seriously bad.

Before I go, let me say a couple of things about forgiveness, because on the Vox Cantoris blog there are some comments that I found strange.

The way I understand this – and please correct me if I am wrong, or if I am using the wrong terminology – a person who forgives his enemy does not mean to say that his enemy is right in being such, or that he is even a good guy. It does not even mean that a good guy must make a public offer of reconciliation if he does not believe in the good faith of the counterpart.

It means that we do not desire that our enemies go to hell because of the horrible things done to us and, as far as we are concerned, we ask God to enlighten them so that in some way – with our knowledge or not; apologising to us or not – they may merit to escape hell in the end.

Santa Maria Goretti forgave, in dying, her rapist and murderer. She did not approve of his actions in the least.

This is the spirit with which I pray for the people who, in my life, have seriously and viciously hurt me. It’s not that I think better of them. I think of them now what I thought of them before, and it cannot be published. But certainly, I desire for these people to, one day, be with me in paradise. We all help each other asking God to forgive our trespasses as we forgive the trespasses of others against us. In that other realm, where there is no division and discord, may we, one day, be all at peace with each other. But in this one, there is a time for peace and a time for war.

Of course, it does not have to be this way. Renzo sincerely forgives Don Rodrigo *after the man is repentant*, and this forgiveness is, therefore, also a reconciliation. But the one does not mean the other. Reconciliation cannot be a unilateral, much less obligatory, exercise. The “other cheek” means that we do not handle aggressively at the first slight, and try to be slow to anger. It does not mean that we have a duty to be abused by the people who wish us harm.

I sincerely wish Francis salvation, because even a tool like him is an immortal soul, with infinite value in the eyes of His Creator. But make no mistake: as I wish him this, I do not consider him a bit less of a tool.

And I’d still like to know who pays for Father Rosica’s apparently quite comfortable “retreat” in a luxury which, likely, most of us can’t afford.