To: magisterium; Serviam1
the archdiocese seems to have been unaware of their presence until members of our parish pointed this out to them last summer! The SSPX and other schismatic or sedevacantist groups have likewise been navigating in our waters without causing a blip on the archbishop's radar.The Archdiocese is quite aware. They just don't care enough to do anything other than fulminate back to these groups if they bother to write the Archbishop a letter calling him to task. In fact, they like it that all the "trouble makers" are voluntarily leaving, which leaves them a much freer hand to implement the continued destruction of God's vineyard.
the suggestion that the Holy Trinity Indult community should go into schism
It was a joking suggestion. But also half-serious to point out the sadness of the situation.
we will not sin ourselves by becoming schismatic
Its impossible to be in a situation of the sin of schism when it involves people like Bishop Lennon who are themselves clearly not spiritual members of the vine of Christ which is the Church, even though these dead limbs have yet to be visibly pruned, because their every action aims towards the decomposition of the Church. One should not fear a lack of communion with the reprobate. Lets not forget that these men are the coddlers of child molestors, the lovers of homosexual Priests, the implementers of "talking about touching", the closers of Churches, and the facilitators and encouragers of iconoclasm and eucharistic blasphemy, and the enablers of abortionists and their political supporters. To be their enemy is a badge of honor.
To: Andrew Byler
Honestly, the archdiocesan representatives who were told about the CMRI situation appeared quite blindsided by the information. Either that, or they're wasting even more of our hard-earned collection basket donations on method acting lessons.
I'll take you at your word about the schism suggestion. Fine. But it read like a serious proposition to consider.
I disagree concerning your observations about the likes of Bishop Lennon. Anyone who knows me would know that I have little use for him or any of the other bishops who were here as the abuse mess/closure fiasco unfolded. I think you go to HT at least from time to time; you can ask others about this if you need corroboration. Rob (serviam), for one, who has already posted on this thread, knows who I am. The bishops acted in a way that should give them chills whenever they read Matthew 18:1-14 or Luke 12:48, and, apart from the respect due to their office, they shall receive none from me with regard to that element of respect that is earned apart from official considerations.
Nevertheless, these men ARE the Catholic bishops of our archdiocese. Our union with the Holy Father goes through them, God help us. They HAVE lawful authority, and their extracurricular activities and monstrous personal behavior are quite beside the point unless and until Rome removes them from their current ecclesiastical standing. It is not our job to judge their interior dispositions or equate outward failings with inherent inability to exercise episcopal authority. We are not Donatists.
All the same, we are certainly within our rights to bring their behavior, manifest lack of pastoral care and disregard for the paramount importance of the Church's primary mission concerning the salvation of souls to the Holy Father's attention, and let him - via the curia, no doubt - make the appropriate decisions about their continued tenure here. Until then, we can, in the spirit of Matthew 18, virtually shun these people for the crimes you cite and others not mentioned; we can call them to task for the canonical crime they are committing in the process of closing Holy Trinity Church; we can consider their PC blatherings about social justice to be worthy of nothing else but placement in litter boxes and bird cages, but we cannot simply pretend these men are not the bishops in our diocese and thereby go into schism from Rome.
In the Old Testament, half of the kings of Israel and Judah, along with a sizeable number of the high priests, were overt idolators. Nevertheless, the authority due to their offices was retained. The Old Testament is indeed fulfilled in the New, and our situation in Boston is a mirror image to common situations in long-ago times. Do you not suppose that, in His own good time and in His own good way, Almighty God will raise up for us shepherds who will replace the current crop of wolves who plague our Church, even as He restored fidelity to the Law after the Babylonian Exile? We live-out a form of exile now. We should pray all the harder for an end to it. And we still have denunciation of these evildoers to Rome to fall back on... ;-)
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