As someone pointed out on another thread, Christ raises up saints when we most need them. Look to Church history for the patterns. At the time of St. Francis, church hierarchy were producing illegitimate children and selling penances. Everything old is new again.
Not ALL cardinals, bishops and priests are corrupt. My own parish priest serves up orthodox homilies each Sunday and the reaction is to walk away. Today's magnificent homily was delivered to 12 parishioners who showed up for Mass. It grieves me no end that those who need and want to hear this priest speak the "truth" are nowhere to be found. Those who are privileged to have him as a pastor, a veritable shepherd, reconcile his preaching to being "old world" ... i.e. "old fashioned". They pay him no heed.
The Maronites benefited from VCII. Consequently, in their case, they're now better off than before and still they prefer to attend the watered down liturgies served up at the "ultra liberal" RC churches. Why? Because, they're 'more palatable'. They don't encroach on the conscience. (One of our parishioners approached Father asking if he could incorporate some of thoe more "up beat" hymns sung at the local RC Churches. He educated her in the history of the Church, explaining that "we don't come to church to be entertained" but to worship our Lord.) Father doesn't care if 2 or 200 show up, he firmly believes that he will be held accountable in the eyes of God for what he preaches and never wavers in teaching solid catholic doctrine.
He not only attends to his Maronite parish but also assists the RC diocese of Albany in whatever capacity they need him. He has taken on the EEM's at the local hospital where he serves as chaplain and castigated the nun in charge of the chaplaincy program. Recently, at my suggestion, he met with a local K of C which has been without a chaplain for several years (I'm told that without a chaplain, a council is literally dead). I had hoped that they could mutually benefit from the relationship. During the meeting, Father told them outright that he not only believes in the K of C, is a 3rd degree knight but would also serve as their Chaplain. The two old gentlemen looked at him as if he had just landed form another planet. Not one to shirk responsibilites, much less a promise, he has now been 'officially' installed as their Chaplain, by Bishop Howard Hubbard of the RC Diocese of Albany (recall that Father is first a Maronite then a Latin priest). He has worked with them over the past few months to clean up the area surrounding their Council home. When none of the knights knew their financial status, he encouraged them to pull out the books and look them over. In the process they discovered that they were totally broke. They reluctantly decided to seel their Council Hall and Father offered them the use of his church for their meetings + his assistance in rebuilding their council.
When a local group of area catholics could not find a priest to celebrate Mass at 3am on the vigil of the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as a last resort, they called my pastor. Out of devotion to the Blessed Mother, he could not refuse. He never told them that the night on which the vigil began, he would be driving 8+ hours RT to Kennedy Airport to pick up his mother and brother who were arrivining from Lebanon to visit with him. They didn't arrive back here until close to midnight. For fear of falling asleep, Father remained awake until 2:30am at which time he drove over to the church to celebrate the Maronite Divine Liturgy for those area catholics still devoted to celebrating this feast. Word spread amongst the devout catholics that the Mass would be a Maronite Divine Liturgy. It was the largest turnout they have had in many years.
You tell me, then, why even the most devout catholics, knowing there was such a priest in their midst would shy away from the parish where he celebrates Mass. Hubbard is the product of VCII's ultra liberal, left wing promoters. He has served in that capacity for nearly 28 years and still has 8 more to go. The parking lot at my (now former) RC parish is packed to capacity each Sunday and that church is being 'wreckovated' to accomodate the large crowds. There is NO crucifix in that church, contemporary music rules and the pastor often eliminates certain words from the Creed to make it more 'inclusive'. Meanwhile, our pastor is struggling to raise money to renovate an old Methodist/Episcopal church he acquired for a good price, to house his Maronite community. He has even offered to celebrate the Latin Mass on Sundays for those catholics in the local community whose parishes have been shut down by Bishop Hubbard. (That would be 5 parishes now closed!)
This situation extends well beyond VCII and directly into the secular society in which we live. Sad to say, but we live in a world where sinners no longer believe in sin and shun any priest who suggests they confess their errors. They prefer to believe the psychologists, psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who assure them that they are okay. For those of us called to a more profound faith based on a personal relationship with our Lord, we must place our total faith and confidence in Him who was betrayed by one of His own disciples.
As I said in the previous post, if you approach our Lord with a sincere heart and ask Him for guidance and direction, He will not fail you. You must begin with yourself and then pray for the others. Pray for the cardinals, bishops and priests who have been misled. Like us, they are human and subject to the same weaknesses. We live in evil times; an age where Satan is actively at work. His primary target will always be the Catholic Church for she is the one founded by God's only Son. The temptation to castigate the errant prelates comes from Satan himself. Look within yourself to recognize the reality of this situation; then begin to pray for these prelates (it took me a year to reach that point). Our Lady of Fatima reminds us that Christ's priests need our prayers in order to remain pure.
The holy priests are there but Satan has shielded the ears of many catholics to their voices. Pray for them! They are the enemies of Satan and need your prayers as much as those who have fallen victim to his wiles.
This is a very important point. In the context of the "relocation" of the Holy Days, I think it may be the key point. In today's American society, nothing is valued that is not paid employment. As volunteers (Scout leaders, Sunday School teachers, nursery workers, etc.) we experience a lack of consideration that people would never think of perpetrating at their place of employment.
Would a person fail to inform his boss that he's not going to be able to attend a meeting? Of course not. Will he fail to inform his family that he's not going to arrive home in time for supper, or bedtime? You betcha!
People just don't see attending Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation as an "obligation," because they don't risk a financial penalty by skipping it ... and that is NOT the fault of Vatican 2, at least in my opinion.
(But I did think the "Constitution on the Church in the Modern World" had some goofball stuff in it!)