"It is fully time to take action and stand with our Holy Father who is himself so admirably peaceful and coherent in fulfilling all his duties. We are greatly blessed by the quality of his teaching."
I had the chance to get to know Card. Ouellet in Rome. He is a fine man, and I was impressed by him. At the time of "papal April 2005" I opined that he would in the line of Pope John Paul and Card. Ratzinger in the Communio way of thinking. I have said that if there were to be an American Pope, it would probably be a North American Pope, and the best bet would be Card. Ouellet.
My emphases and comments.
Wednesday August 5, 2009
Cardinal Marc Ouellet Calls Out Brother Bishops for Lack of Support for Pope
By John-Henry Westen
PHOENIX, August 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a short but stunning talk before some 90 Bishops, eight Cardinals and 1000 Knights, the Primate of Canada, Quebec City Archbishop Marc Cardinal Ouellet, addressed the subject of unity at the 127th annual Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus last night. Ouellet spoke of the "hard winter" Pope Benedict XVI had to "suffer" this past year as he was "harshly criticized both within and outside the Church and was not adequately defended by those who share his ministry."
The two biggest controversies that sparked criticism of the Pope in recent months from the liberal, mainstream media, and even from some in the Church hierarchy, were the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and the Pope’s remarks against the use of condoms. Although Cardinal Ouellet mentioned by name only the Pope’s "effort to bring back the Schismatic group of the Lefebvrists to full communion," he noted the Pope was criticized "for this and various other reasons."
Only one other controversy – that of the condom comments – caused an international outcry against the Pope, even from some within the Church. AIDS "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems," the pontiff said to reporters aboard the papal plane on March 17 this year.
The comments were followed by heavy criticism from world leaders, including Catholic leaders, and even veiled criticism from bishops in Portugal, Germany, and Canada. Two cardinals, one retired and one active, were among those who were unsupportive.
While there were various cardinals and bishops that defended the Holy Father on the matter, the defense of the Pope was far from widespread.
"At every level of leadership in the Church, unity with Peter and solidarity with him has not been a great achievement in this past year," said Ouellet in his address.
In a rousing call for unity with the Pope and also an affirmation of his teaching authority, Cardinal Ouellet said: "It is fully time to take action and stand with our Holy Father [Do I hear an AMEN?!] who is himself so admirably peaceful and coherent in fulfilling all his duties. We are greatly blessed by the quality of his teaching."
The Quebec Cardinal congratulated the Knights on their theme for the convention: "We stand with Peter in Solidarity with Our Bishops and Priests."
"Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us all to give stronger witness to our loving loyalty to the Church and its Chief Shepherd, successor of Peter," he said. "Unity in the Church is the key to the realization of its mission."
The Primate of Canada pointed to dire hardships in the Church as the fruit of disunity with the Pope. "When there is a lack of unity within the Church we quickly see a decline in vocations and in Church attendance and disintegration of family life," he said. [This observation itself is worth deeper exploration. I say here "Save the Liturgy – Save the World", because I believe that the way we say Mass has ripple effects in the whole world. I think that if we are not in proper harmony with the Pope, we are in an ever more precarious place in the world.]
Concluding, Cardinal Ouellet said: "Let us stand with Peter’s successor, our Pope, at this challenging time courageously taking up our Christian duty of building unity and solidarity everywhere."
To watch the Cardinal’s full address begin at 24 minutes in this video (place mouse in bottom of video window and video controls will show).
The two biggest controversies that sparked criticism of the Pope in recent months from the liberal, mainstream media, and even from some in the Church hierarchy, were the WDTPRS kudos.
I have also the video here.
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However did we Canuckistanis earn for ourselves the privilege of having such a man as our Primate?
Oh wait, we didn’t do anything along those lines.
Thank you, God!
“North American”, my eye. Canadian. Say it! CANADIAN. Whoo-hoo!
(She does a small jig.)
Pray the Rosary everyday, this ‘year of the priest’, and the first decade for the Holy Father.
Vive le Cardinal!
A worthy successor to Blessed Francois Montmorency de Laval! [for those who don’t who he is, Bl. Francois was the first Bishop of Quebec in the 17th century].
As you said, Fr. Z, ‘Do I hear an AMEN?’…I say, DOUBLE AMEN!
I hope my bishop was listening.
Cardinal Ouellet is a brilliant and holy man, and he certainly talks the talk. But he doesn’t walk the walk. His seminary in Quebec City is probably the most progressive, indeed Modernist, in North America. The liturgy in his archdiocese resembles a dog’s dinner. The only meaningful reform he has implemented is the suppression of general absolution. Cardinal Ouellet’s election as Pope would be catastrophic for the Church.