For Catholics: What shall we do...

23 March A.D. 2002 | father_elijah

[father_elijah]

SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER?

We Catholic Americans are at a crossroads. Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Light of the World is exposing all those who wound his sacred Body by abusing children and youth. Our Lord is also exposing rot and disease within the structures and leadership of the Church from within provinces of religious orders, Catholic universities, and diocesan chanceries.

It is time to clean house. Not only do the pederasts, sex abusers, and homosexuals need to be removed from leadership and the ranks of the ordained, but also the Church needs to excommunicate all Catholic politicians in the United States of America whose votes continue the holocaust of abortion.

PREPARATION
In order to serve Christ and his poor Church in this time of crisis, each of us are called to avail ourselves of the sacraments that we may trample the devil under our feet. Let each of us 1) make a good confession; 2) receive the Eucharist on the Feast of Divine Mercy and receive Christ’s promises to St. Faustina of mercy and pardon; 3) engage in works of mercy; and, 4) encourage others to do the same.

We lead by prayer, and we are made strong by Christ’s self-offering of his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We have a great weapon for fighting evil in the rosary. We do not turn to prayer as a last resort, but we turn to prayer as the beginning, center, and end of all that we strive to do for Our Lord Jesus Christ. We engage in prayer for the Church knowing that when we pray we are not alone in prayer or in action. Our Lord, Our Lady, St. Joseph, and the whole communion of saints join with us in interceding for the Church.

We who long for the cleansing of the Church from these grave evils have the means of prayer through which we can grow in holiness even as we pray for the Church to be cleansed of evil and made holy as Christ is holy. Let us avail ourseves of these gifts of prayer:

The Daily Mass or a daily Act of Spiritual Communion
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration
Benediction and Adoration
The Holy Rosary
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Litanies
The Liturgy of the Hours
Other Chaplets and Devotions

Let every action we undertake be covered in prayer and overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that only God’s will is desired and achieved through our efforts.

ACTION
For love of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to action against evil. Let each faithful Catholic offer themselves at Mass or at home to be the beginning point of the Church’s cleansing and renewal. Ask the Lord’s blessing that we may each speak the truth in love and walk in the Holy Spirit.

There are a variety of actions that one can undertake to be part of the solution. The following are suggestions that have been made on various internet discussion lists.

*Show up at your parish and pray at 3pm every day
*Show up at your diocesan Chancery and pray
*Show up at the nearest Chancery on the Monday after Easter
at 12 noon and pray the Rosary for the Cleansing of the Priesthood
*Write, telephone, and e-mail your bishops and priests and express your horror over the sexual scandals and tell them you expect full disclosure and immediate action.
*Write to the Holy Father -- write in Polish if you can -- and beg him to intervene and clean up the Church in the United States. Be sure to copy your bishop and pastor.

The following are some actions you may consider asking of the Holy Father(and recommending to your bishop):

1. Ask the Holy Father to lead the Church in a worldwide Day of Penance for the sexual sins of the Church’s leadership;
2. Ask the Holy Father to declare that homosexuals may not receive Holy Orders;
3. Ask the Holy Father to remove Cardinals, bishops, priests, and deacons who have covered up cases of sexual abuse.
4. Ask the Holy Father to give the Church in the USA new Cardinals especially elevating Archbishop Chaput of Denver
5. Ask the Holy Father to shut down religious orders or provinces of religious orders (like the California province of the Society of Jesus) that are a scandal in themselves.
6. Ask the Holy Father to give Cardinal Law, Cardinal Egan, and Cardinal Mahony new jobs at the Vatican.
7. Ask the Holy Father to suspend the US National Conference of Catholic Bishops and to appoint either a triumvirate to clean house or an Inquisitor General to root out evil and liberate the Church in the USA from error and crime.
8. Ask the Holy Father to restore the prayer “St. Michael the Archangel” to the close of every Mass.
9. Ask the Holy Father to extend the faculty to every priest in the Church to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Missal.
10. Ask the Holy Father to excommunicate Catholic politicians who support the holocaust of abortion.
11. Ask the Holy Father to give the Cardinal’s red hat to Archbishop Chaput, Bishop Bruskewitz, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.
12. Ask the Holy Father to disassociate the Church from those once Catholic universitiies and colleges that no longer affirm the magisterium of the Church or loyalty to the Pope.
13. Ask the Holy Father to make Fr. Benedict Groeschel the next Archbishop of New York.

Some will find these ideas too presumptuous, but it is clear that the Holy Father and the leadership of the Church in the USA need to hear from the rank and file faithful.

Finally, be sure to pray for the Pope, and write to the Holy Father a letter of encouragement. Assure him of your prayers for his intentions and for him personally. Also, write letters of encouragement to any deacon, priest, or bishop whom you know to be defenders of the faith and devoted to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our good and faithful priests need to know that they are loved and cherished.

Jesus, King of the nations, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Good Saint Joseph, pray for us.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us.

[father_elijah]

Bless you. Your posts have moved me deeply, and I will keep you in my prayers. Such a trial and testing, but I have faith in the Living Lord, and I will ask him to rekindle your faith and comfort you in a special way now that so many you love are gone from this world.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

On a completely different note: I believe it was Monty Python who said, "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition." Well, its time to start expecting it. Guess whose coming to dinner!

[saradippity]

It is so good to see the writing of someone so sure of their facts.Unfortunately most of them are fabrications and constructs of men to be believed by others who feel they are endowed with the ability to interpret and/or know God's Word.

I have been asking,and you are the19th person I have asked for anything Biblical that clearly supports your contention that celibacy was not in accord with Jesus's plan for His Apostles. No one has been able to support it. Was Peter married. Yes. Was he married when Christ selected him? Well,notice we only know that he had a mother-in-law. Three or four references and no mention of his wife being around. I had a mother-in-law for twenty years after my husband died.

Paul's reference to "carrying a wife"? Did you know that the word,now interpreted as wife is the word used by Jesus at the wedding at Cana to address His mother? Am I saying that none of the Apostles were married? No,I actually don't know and the Bible is silent and God did not tell me personally but I certainly would argue that I have more to support my position taken directly from the scriptures than you do.

Therefore to relax relax the discipline of celibacy now would be a dangerous thing to do and play into the enemies'hand. You need to take Father Elijah's plan to heart and pray,you might see and perceive,and hear and understand. We all need to pray.

[Ex-Wretch]

"They lie because they belong to the Father of the Lie (no, not Martin Luther, John Calvin, or King Henry)"

I was a Catholic born and raised. At 33 I was born again. Would you call me deceived by the Holy Ghost bcause He opened my eyes to the truth? You kill the messenger because you despise the message. Just like Jesus' persecuters.

[Conservative til I die]

Yeah, but my Protestant friends told me that the Inquisition killed millions....no....TRILLIONS of good Baptists and Fundamentalists that had been in hiding since the time of Christ and are the true Church and just ahppened to have no recodred history or written documentation of ever existing.

But I digress.

[Pyro7480]

Exactly! They would have the Bible they're reading from unless some courageous monks and religious saved their copies from the destruction at the end of the Roman Empire and spent their time copying them for hundreds of years until the invention of the printing press.

I will go further in saying that there shouldn't have to be any animosity between the evangelicals and the church-going Catholics. It is from these congregations that the bulk of the people involved in the defense of the American Founding and our God-given liberties come from. If it weren't for Jack Chick and his fellow-travelers, and some Catholics, we would be closer allies, especially in the culture war over abortion and homosexuality.

As William F. Buckley stated in God and Man at Yale 50 years ago, it is mainly the elite from the Northeastern mainline White Anglo-Saxon Protestant churches that have ABANDONED the defense of American liberties. This assault didn't start in the 1960's. It started much earlier in the 20th Century. "Buckley's attackers thus saw themselves as custodians of a great tradition; their religion was liberal Protestant, their outlook 'modern,' and their sensibility elitist. To them, Roman Catholicism, like Evangelical Protestantism, was the religion of the lower classes - publicly "tolerated" (my comment: hardly so today) but privately derided (Taken from Austin W. Bramwell's article "The Revolt Against the Establishment: God and Man at Yale at 50" in the Fall 2001 issue of the Intercollegiate Review, printed by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute)."

[Snuffington]

Why should a truly celibate homosexual be denied Holy Orders? Isn't homosexuality, when not acted upon, merely an inclination to sin? And don't all priests, bishops, etc., have inclinations to sin, just like all the rest of us?

This is an issue I've struggled with myself. Merely using the term "homosexual orientation" is a tacit acceptance of an anti-spiritual school of thought - the kind in which the world is all shades of grey, there is no black or white, and evil can be explained away as blameless illness at the worst, but more often is turned back to condemn the intolerance of those who refuse to accept it.

I would think a truly Catholic mindset would reject the hyper-sexualized ontology of "sexual orientation" as a defining trait for a person. That notion belongs to a spiritually bankrupt ideology, and Catholicism should have no room for it.

On the other hand, strong temptation toward sin is something that fits squarely within the realm of Catholic inquiry. It is wrong, and even cruel, to knowingly put someone in a position where they'd be subject to a constant bombardment of the very sinful temptation they're least able to resist.

Unlike the current hyper-sexual modern mindset, I don't think the priestly life is inherently more sinfully tempting homosexually than heterosexually. Priests are around male and female parishioners constantly. The life is celibate, but not cloistered.

However, there is clearly something structurally wrong with the modern priestly institution that is creating more problems for those tempted for homosexual sin, rather than other sexual sins. Until this can be corrected, I think it is entirely proper to question whether homosexuals (as the modern term is used) should be admitted to the priesthood.

[Alas Babylon!]

Sorry, I don't speak Latin and neither did Jesus (while He walked with us on Earth). I prefer my Mass in the language I speak. Why is this so wrong, as long as the thoughts articulated by the words are the same?

This is not due to ignorance, as I speak German, some French, and some Italian (having lived in these countries while in the USAF). I've been to the Vatican numerous times and have been in Mass led by the Holy Father (who spoke it in several languages). Most of my parish, however, speak only English. It helps their faith to understand the words and teachings laid out by the English-spoken Mass.

[Conservative til I die]

LOL, how arrogant to compare yourself to Jesus being persecuted. When was the last time you were crucified for the sake of all humanity.

Blasphemous and disgusting.

PS-Let me guess, you also grew up in a parish that worshipped Mary, sacrificed animals to St. Joseph, forbade reading of the Bible, and was molested by a priest. Have I got the usual spiel correct or no?

[Judith Anne]

I agree with you. Their boundless, blind hatred of the Church clearly reveals their origin.

I know many Protestants who love our Church and disagree in peace. Some are in my very family, and I honor their love and service to Christ.

[father_elijah]

Thank you for your respectful suggestion. If you were interested in learning about the Catholic Church, I would love to introduce you to our shepherd, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Jesus loves to share his mission with others, and we in the Catholic Church feel especially grateful to have had handed down to us the truth his Gospel.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

[Alas Babylon!]

I was born again in the Catholic Church. Can you believe this can happen? In any case, I'm glad you walk with Him! So do I and million of others, who call themselves Christian and are called by Christ. I can't explain why He calls some of us out of one Church or into another. I am very grateful, in any case, that He does. His ways are more than my little mind can understand, but I trust in Him.

[RnMomof7]

Priests were married in the church untill questions of inheritance stopped the practice..There are some very holy deacons in your church that would love to be priests..it needs to be seriously considered..

[father_elijah]

I rejoice that you have a living relationship with Jesus Christ. You could not praise Him unless the Holy Spirit was with you. I invite you to come back home to the Catholic Church and bring your zeal for Jesus with you. At the least get a copy of the "new" Catechism of the Catholic Church and read it, if only to understand better those of us who remain faithful servants of Jesus Christ within the Catholic Church.

[Conservative til I die]

Also, so what you are saying is that you grew up in the Catholic Church and believed it to be the Truth, and then intentionally turned away from it?

I'll make sure to pay some indulgences for you, praty that St. Mary intercedes with Christ for you, in order to lessen any time spent in Purgatory.

[Conservative til I die]

moron.

[Pyro7480]

Here's what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about homosexuality:

Chastity and homosexuality

2357

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,⁽¹⁴¹⁾ tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."⁽¹⁴²⁾ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359

Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Notes

141. Cf. Gen 19:1-29; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10.
142. CDF, Persona humana 8.

[Conservative til I die]

Actually many born agains I know are reformed alcoholics and drug addicts who found Christ as a new addiction, albeit this time, a benign one. It is usually not a researched or refined decision.

[father_elijah]

Imagine that you could be so constructive! God bless you.

[timestax]

Truth hurts eh!!