On the sidebar I have this quote:
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
– Fulton Sheen
I saw this today.
Jim Caviezel: “This is how the persecution starts…” pic.twitter.com/qI6SEsL5uM
— CatholicVote.org (@CatholicVote) September 21, 2020
What must we do?
First… get your head and your soul clear.
GO TO CONFESSION!
And all of us – collectively – must PRAY for our priests and bishops. Pray for the strong and faithful. Pray for the weak and tepid. Pray for the false. PRAY. Use the prayer I posted on the sidebar. HERE
We must all – all of us – work diligently to revitalize out sacred liturgical worship, especially through more frequent and widespread celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass. We need the mighty sustenance of the older rites, which we crafted in tougher times and polished like treasured jewels for centuries and lovingly handed down by forebears to their children who knew, as life had taught them, that hard times were ahead.
WE ARE OUR RITES!
Also, for each of you, in addition to praying for priests, pray for YOURSELVES, perhaps with the CONFIRMATION prayer which I wrote and posted. HERE
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Jim C also appeared on Raymond Arroyo’s show on EWTN the other day discussing his new movie and the pathetic shape our Church is in. FYI – The USCCB movie review of his new movie (“Infidel”) was exceptionally negative.
What Jim Caviezel says is absolutely true and there are plenty of Catholics who agree with him, no matter which form they normally assist at.
Too many bishops act more like secular non-profit CEOs than bishops — spiritual fathers and shepherds looking out for the eternal welfare of the souls in their care.
IMHO, most of the Novus Ordo priests I have known have not been tepid. The problem is that they are stuck in the middle. For example, a lot of them went to the wall in denying girl altar servers, then were thrown under the bus when JPII, after formally forbidding them, then reversed himself.
One pope speaks of a liturgical reform of the reform, and his successor says it will never happen.
One pope insists on strict sexual morals, and a successor thinks he knows a way to avoid them.
And then there is McCarrick. How many lives did he ruin while those responsible did looked the other way. And nothing was done until he was instrumental in the election of Francis.
When I look at the clerical abuse scandal it is identical to the House of Eli. The worthless sons of Eli were adulterers, and treated God’s offerings with contempt. They also ignored the complaints of the people about their abuse. The clerical adultery is obvious. Many of these abusive clergy also felt free to help themselves to the Church’s money. The legal settlements also came from out of the Church’s money. The collection plate has been treated like a clerical slush fund. This is taking the offerings to God and treating them with contempt. It took public scandal and lawsuits to stir the Church into action. All consistent with the fall of the House of Eli.
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The priests have the sacrament of Holy Orders. When they abuse they bring their ontological change and their ordinations with them when they engage in sexual defilement. They cannot be compared to other offenders without cheapening the sacrament of Holy Orders. This can also be applied to clerical corruption in general.
robtbrown,
You hit the nail on the head.
We priests do often find ourselves stuck in the middle. Bishops either walk back their rules or their successor does.
And the vitriol and rage of many laity toward us means that we are often reminded of how well the Church would be without us.
Fr Sotelo,
The irony is that one of the aims of Vat II was to strengthen the diocesan priesthood. In fact, the opposite happened.
Amen, Amen! We need more like Fr. Z, Jim C, Fr. Altman, Tim Gordon, Dave Gordon, Patrick Coffman and Michael Voris out there leading the way!
God bless Jim Caviezel. Excellent point about collaborators in our midst.
The movie review of Infidel by the USCCB, as Fulco One Eye points out, is stridently negative. That USCCB “movie review” is nothing more than agit-prop.
Fr. Z had a post back in March 2016 which took a close look at an insightful Anthony Esolen article. That article viewed the priest shortage as “a self-inflicted wound.” Good point. And some of this persecution these days is a self-inflicted wound, from collaborators such as Michel Aflaq and Tariq Aziz in the Middle East to Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden in the U.S.
While we’re at it: the recent Fr. Altman video “You Cannot Be Catholic (or a Christian) and a Democrat” is worth watching. For some, “Democrat” conjures up quaint notions of a New England town hall meeting where the mayor tosses another log into the woodstove while Aunt Bertha pounds the podium over painting the gazebo in the town square come warm weather. Nope, the “Democrat Party” is a front for atheist totalitarians.
Wisdom, Chapter 2
Thank you Jim Caviezel! Very well said. May God bless you and your family abundantly!
Fr_Sotelo praying for you. God give you strength. Thank you for answering the call!
May we all be aware of the forces we are fighting.
Thank you Fr Z! Pray! Go to confession!