From American Catholic Dishonor to Roman Catholic Honor?

I have taken the proverbial path less chosen. Raised a conservative Baptist, yea, even by some lights a fundamentalist, I church-hopped my way through most all the flavors of evangelicalism before doing the unthinkable. I swam the Tiber at Easter of my 35th year.

Why did this former Ryrie Bible-toting young man become a middle-aged Roman Catholic? I have often said "The Church Fathers made me do it." I have also stated, many times, that the moral leadership and firm reasoning of John Paul II made me do it. If you have ears to hear, even the Scriptures themselves made me do it.

Lest one find the direction of this essay awkward, infuriating or even intimidating, allow me to be disarming. This is not intended to be an apologetical screed. This week, especially, is not the proper window for such a "Catholic moment." No call to ancient Latin Orthodoxy could be heard by most, for what the American Bishops are not saying screams far too loudly in competition.

Rather this Bible college drop-out and Roman "convert" addresses the U.S. Bishops gathering in Dallas. The Baptists did for me what far too few Catholic parishes have done for the faithful -- they made certain that I knew my Old Testament. Shame on the U.S. Bishops for not demanding the same of their directors of education. Rather than a backwater of basically irrelevant and embarrassing stories, as it is too often presented by diocesan-approved "teaching" materials, the Old Testament is a font of wisdom. In fact, it contains an exit strategy out of the cul de sac into which the collision of the sexual revolution and official malfeasance has landed the American Catholic Church.

Looking Back to Samuel's Day In the first book of Samuel, we meet a high priest not dissimilar to most gathered in Dallas. His name was Eli. While Eli himself appeared to color within the lines, his sons were another story. Unlike their dad, the priests Hophni and Phinehas misappropriated goods from the sacrifices brought by their parishioners (1 Sam 2:16) and committed sexual sins with those whom they were supposed to be shepherding (1 Sam 2:22).

The author of the book of Samuel, unswayed as he was by concerns over the media and political correctness, stated the truth in stark terms: Hophni and Phinehas not only "knew not the Lord," but they were, in fact, "priests of Baal." (1 Sam 2:12). If only the U.S. Bishops could demonstrate one iota of such plain-spoken courage!

The parallels between Eli's sons and the "sons" of many of the U.S. Bishops (as the priests are reckoned) are astounding. Like modern day Hophnis, more than a few of these priests have been caught red-handed "seducing" (even raping) altar boys and diverting sacred sacrifices to underwrite the high cost of their wanton, "alternative" lifestyles.

A plug should be made in defense of the sons of Eli at this point. At least Hophni and Phinehas seduced only women, and stole only to feed their bellies. The record is now clear, no matter how much it chafes the Bishops: the modern sons of Eli are grown men engaging in (most often illegal) acts of sodomy with pubescent boys. Homosexual ephebophilia is the scientific term for this malady of the soul. Given this diagnosis, parallels to Hebrew ancients do lose something over the millennia. Pagan culture and Romans 1 supplies any missing pieces, as does the pope's frank proclamation that this crisis unveils iniquity of a satanic kind.

The Fall of Eli's House Now, when Yahweh deemed it time to address the sins of Eli's sons, he started at the top. The buck stopped at Eli's desk, with disastrous consequences for his entire lineage. In Eli's defense, he had verbally chastised his evil sons, calling them to repentance. (1 Sam 2:23-25). Obviously that was not enough, for still their sins called out to heaven for intervention. Yahweh sent first a prophet, second Eli's replacement, and third an invading army. All worked, knowingly or not, out of the same playbook: Because Eli had refused to deal directly and decisively with his evil sons, the priesthood would be stripped from the House of Eli and given to another.

Just before the pagan Philistines (God's chosen instruments for purification in the book of Samuel) struck the blow that ended Eli's reign of malfeasance, the child Samuel gave the elderly high priest the following word from the Lord: "For I have told [Eli] that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the House of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's House shall not be purged with sacrifice or offering."

The Fall of the Modern House of Eli The parallels are, once again, outstanding. While a subset of North American priests "made themselves vile" and engaged in "iniquity," many of the Bishops, much like Eli, did little or nothing -- except cover-up, anoint the denizens of Sodom with oily psychobabble, and divert millions of the faithful’s dollars in a bid to "manage" that evil which should have been purged with extreme prejudice.

If Eli's sin was that he did too little, what can be said of these men of dishonor who often did too much: too much obfuscation, too much enabling, too much damage? One need only consider this horrendous fact: It is estimated that two-thirds of the U.S. Bishops moved these vile priests into unsuspecting parishes unannounced and untracked, thus loosing known, hungry, homosexual wolves upon flocks of fresh and defenseless young boys.

In drawing parallels to Eli, one certainly must pause to ask Eli's forgiveness. Furthermore, if Eli's negligence could not be expiated with sacrifice and offering, what chance do the gathered Bishops have of inventing a ceremony to repair the shame of their own outrageously gross negligence?

A pox on Eli's house. Such was the outcome of Yahweh's judgment. Eli's sins of omission and his sons’ sins of commission resulted in the total (albeit temporary) triumph of God's enemies over God's people. "Icabod," the glory departed, became Eli's legacy. (1 Sam 4:21). It would appear that the U.S. Bishops have brought the American Catholic Church to the same ignoble crossroads.

This crisis is not a new one. It has been simmering on back burners for decades. The U.S. Bishops have utterly failed to take the lead in protecting our sons from their “sons,” and have repeatedly and purposely refused to follow the strictures of their overseers in Rome. Having failed to either lead or follow, it is now time for them to get out of the way.

So as the Bishops gather in Dallas this week, may the lesson of Eli settle hard upon them. May the cry "Icabod" ring loudly in their ears, for their malfeasance has caused all glory to depart. May they see the press, in its feeding frenzy, as nothing more than the purifying hordes of Philistia, come to relieve them of the authority that they have so terribly mismanaged. And may they realize that the same Most High God who placed Eli over the people of God, only to later remove him, now weighs them in the balance.

A Healing Balm in Dallas? As for the Catholic faithful, those who yearn for true moral authority and shepherds who will not rape the sheep under their care, let us take comfort in the promise of a prophet who delivered the bad news to Eli: "And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house: and he shall walk before mine anointed forever."

May the modern-day Eli's, especially the two-thirds who have shuffled “priests of Baal” from parish to parish, now have the out-of-character courage to do the honorable thing: To step aside. To allow the next generation, men far less craven than they, to take the helm. Only such “new blood” can hope to liberate the Latin Church from the shame that the “old guard” has called down upon it.

By honorably tendering their resignations, pursuant to Canon Law § 401, these modern Eli's would humbly pass the baton to God, allowing the Curia opportunity to raise up righteous, God-fearing men in their stead. Thus I close this missive with a call for multitudinous resignations in Dallas this week; surely a drastic move, but the one move that could return trust in the Roman Catholic tradition to a sullied, “progressive” American Church.

It seems the Catholic Church leadership is far removed from the holy men of the Old and New Testaments. What a shame. True holy men (and women) would inspire the millions of Catholics in the US. Instead, we are resigned, disgusted and afraid for our sons.

I wonder how long it will be before the priesthood becomes dominated by the sodomites, and begins to persecute the real Christians in their ranks.

The Fall of the Modern House of Eli The parallels are, once again, outstanding.

Outstanding analogy.

I wonder how long it will be before the priesthood becomes dominated by the sodomites, and begins to persecute the real Christians in their ranks.

Not at all seminaries will this happen.

See this article.

In Seminaries, New Ways for a New Generation

In some seminaries, that time has unfortunately come. Hope the Vatican puts a stop to it.

See #7

This is hopeful, but it is only one seminary location. Unless the Vatican insists on the same everywhere, abuses are going to continue. Why hasn't the Vatican done so in the past, and why isn't it doing so now?

Do you remember during the Bishop's meeting in Dallas that afterwards the commentators talked about the Holy See following the proceedings there. They also mentioned that the Pope would be send an investigative team to visit seminaries (unannounced).

So I think there is room for a lot of hope here.

I am pinging a couple of posters that I think have responded with the names of the "good" seminaries in the United States. I know there is more than one. I just cannot recall the names right now.

I'd like (very much) to share your hope. But in the last round of apostolic visitation, nothing about any of these seminaries was done. I'm wary; but I hope I'm wrong.

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