Posted on 03/23/2002 5:34:00 AM PST by 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 Christs 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 Christs 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 Gods 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 Churchs cleansing and renewal. Ask the Lords 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 Churchs 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 Cardinals 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.
God and Man at Yale is still in print and available
And the basic argument still applies.
Liberals & socialists dominate higher education.
You will find this paradoxical, but your post is reassuring to me that there is hope that this rot will bring a renewal. When the faith of the faithful is challenged and the roots themselves are poisoned, the institution will either be restored and grow again or it will totally collapse and barren ground will mark its former foundation. Depending on what will happen in the fairly near future we may see with our own eyes if Christ's promise to Peter will be confirmed.
It took a catastrophe such as this homosexual infiltration of the clergy, and the acquiescense to it by the hierarchy, to bring the status quo to its knees. (No puns please!) And your crisis of faith, unfortunately, was also forced and is a signal that drastic change is now being forced. I do not wish to patronize, but speak with utmost respect.
For the loss of your parents, I offer my sincere condolences. My father, whose favorite quote was "If two people agree all the time, you only need one of them" also died last year at age 90. Who would have thought that one would grieve the loss of one whose life was blessed with good health, productive work and a loving family and lasted 90 years. But the grief remains just the same.
Perhaps he and your parents together are breaking bread in the great mystery that awaits us all.
Regards.
You're a nurse,let me try a different analogy.How many good doctors would operate or set a bone under anesthesia if the patient was a surgical risk because of a preexisting grave condition or a simultaneously occurring graver injury? Thats where the Church is now. It cannot handle another assault against the body until it is healthier. It must be cleansed first.
I know it will survive and I hope we in the United States will see that blossoming.It will be purer,poorer and stronger,so why not come back and fight with us? You're a fighter.
"non-contradictory reasoning" -- My pleasure! I'm a big fan of Rand, too. I just think Objectivism needs a good theology. Like Christianity.
Galatians 3:27-29 --
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Mark W.
Thanks for posting that info. It doesn't answer the immediate question, but it does provide the proper moral framework within which it ought to be resolved.
Ah. This completely explains your FR oeuvre.
Click on Canada or US or wherever you live and then the specific area of the US for grief recovery weekends and other programs near you.
That being true, we need to look at the church's historic handling of pedopilia. The church has always treated pedophilia as a sin, not a crime, something to be dealt with inside the church family. It is only in recent years that a large part of the population felt any differently. I believe that pedophilia, especially incestual pedophilia, was and is alot more commone than most of us would like to believe. Think about it, 6%, that is only 4% less than the total homosexual population.
I think that the best thing that the church could do to turn this around is end celibacy.
Stop and think back ten or so years ago, with all the people talking about incest from their childhood...those incestuous parents were pedophiles...married heterosexuals...how would a married priesthood change anything? And where are all those victims today? Did the glare of media attention put an end to the "problem"?
Larry Lied has a list of TEACHERS who have committed abuse, molestation, etc. on his homepage. Yet do we hear that in the lamestream media?
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