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.

[NYer]

For Catholics-What shall we do? ==Find a new religion

Unless you have forgotten. Jesus said to Peter: "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you."

Peter is buried below the Vatican. Our catholic tradition dates back to Peter who was the first vicar of Christ on earth. Can you say that about your church leader(s)?

[NYer]

Bump on Aliska's suggestion for prayers of reparation. To that, might I add a Novena to the Holy Spirit, source of all wisdom.

Pax et Bonum

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I grew up Catholic, but I've been a "born again, bible believing Christian." Now I am a born again, bible believing Catholic.

Frankly, I'll put the desire among committed Catholics to root out personal sin from their lives up against the same among born again non-Catholic Christians any day.

I've seen both sides, and I've attended every flavor of non-Catholic bible-only Christianity. I've even been on mission trips with them.

I have yet to see the depth of faith or desire to root out sin or depth of prayer life as consistent among those with your reformation theology as I have seen it among committed Catholics who know their faith.

Sorry, I'm not impressed with bible only Christian spirituality nor their committment to rooting out sin nor their prayer practices.

And I never received an intellectually honest or scripturally honest and sound explanation of John 6:52-66 in any non-Catholic or Orthodox Church. And the mental gymnastics they employ to undercut the clear sense of Jesus in the "You are Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church" texts is so intellectually dishonest that any other of their interpretations cannot be trusted.

They all go to such lengths to deny the clear sense of scripture that I cannot possibly accept any of their other personal interpretation of scripture.

I left Christ's Church, thinking the bible was taking me away.

I read scripture and re read it, and what the earliest Christians thought scripture meant.

Early Christian writings brought me home, not into fanciful reformer theology that is intellectually bankrupt.

If you read the bible, and understand early Christian beliefs and sacramental system and hierachy, you can ONLY be Catholic.

Anything else is at least partly lies, and we all know the author of lies.

[Ex-Wretch]

"How do you get around not receiving the Eucharist?"

We have Holy Supper. However, we do not believe that the matza bread we eat and the juice we drink to celebrate our Lord's death and resurection is the physical body and blood of Jesus. We do it in memory of Him and look forward with much anticipation to His returning for His bride. At that time we will actually banquet with Him.

"I don't want to get mixed up with charismatics, laying on of hands, speaking in tongues, because I think they are deceived . . . but I've never been able to prove it."

Well, I was skeptical also. But I can tell you on the authority of the Word of God (see Mark 16:14-20) that these things are manifested today. Having said that, satan can and does masquerade as an "angel of light". This is where having the Holy Ghost will aid the believer in discerning the spirits.

"I've read the bible and old church documents are we are supposed to believe that we should receive Christ's body and blood . . . literally."

If it were the true and literal body and blood of Christ it would look, feel, smell and taste like human flesh and blood. I was an altar boy for many years. Aint so. I don't believe the Lord would have us to be cannibals.

[John W]

Could you be more specific as to how "the Mary, Pope, Idols and rituals are certainly in conflict with my scriptural understanding of the Bible".

I'm looking here for what your understanding is of the things mentioned and what their real place is in Catholicism.

[choirboy]

I, too, was baptized and raised a Catholic. I could have written your first paragraph in your posting above.

I've studied the Faith all my life (including the Bible!). I have a personal relationship with Jesus.
And . . . I remained a Catholic.

I am throroughly convinced that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Jesus of Nazareth based on my life-long study of history and theology and the Bible.

Now, why did I stay and you leave?

I've always had a strong prayer life. What was your prayer life like during the period prior to and during the time you left the Church? Did you have a strong prayer life or were you just going through the motions of being a Catholic?

[M. Thatcher]

doubting in and of itself is hardly a crime.

Who said it was? Sheesh.

I get impatient with idiocy.

I said his mindset explains his posts. Which it does.

DUH.

[Ex-Wretch]

"I've always had a strong prayer life. What was your prayer life like during the period prior to and during the time you left the Church? Did you have a strong prayer life or were you just going through the motions of being a Catholic?"

In all honesty, prior to my salvation, I did not have much of a prayer life. Once the Lord touched my life, I could no longer neglect Him. His words "My house shall be called a house of prayer" took on real meaning.

[Ex-Wretch]

"yep, its true, gone for Lent. See ya' after Easter."

I don't get it. Your "Easter" isn't for another week. Will you now have to say more Our Father's, Hail Mary's and Glory Be's to make up for breaking your Lenten sacrifice? (just kidding)

[choirboy]

I have never met an ex-Catholic who had a strong prayer life prior to leaving the Church.

As a young man, I attended a mission at our parish (mission = traveling priests going from parish to parish giving talks for a week). One of the priests said that if we ever heard that he had left the priesthood, we would know that he had stopped praying. This was prior to Vatican II when priests leaving was almost unheard of. I was very impressed with that comment (to the point that I've never forgotten it).

[ELS]

Thank you for your sugestions and the link to Emitte Lucem. I received the March issue of Inside the Vatican today and there is a section about the situation in Sudan.

[dansangel]

"Ask the Holy Father that churches be required to restore the Tabernacle back to its proper location, in the center of the altar."

Excellent suggestion and a pet peeve of mine.

In our parish, it has center stage as it should be.

In my parents' parish in Palm Beach County FL, it is in another room entirely, as is the crucifix and all statuary. When we visit, we have to keep reminding ourselves that we are not in a Protestant church.

[pgkdan]

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I plan to write the Holy Father this evening. I already decided to say a daily rosary for the intention of repairing the Church in America.

Please remain visible and involved in this action, as you have been. You've been a comfort and a source of inspiration for a lot of Catholic Freepers. Many of us are embarrassed, angry and broken hearted over these scandals. May God bless you and your efforts to help heal the Church.

[pgkdan]

What about prayer? That's the most important thing YOU can do and it's the first thing Father Elijah suggested.

[Aliska]

We have Holy Supper. However, we do not believe that the matza bread we eat and the juice we drink to celebrate our Lord's death and resurection is the physical body and blood of Jesus. We do it in memory of Him and look forward with much anticipation to His returning for His bride. At that time we will actually banquet with Him.

All right, if you are sure that's what you believe.

Well, I was skeptical also. But I can tell you on the authority of the Word of God (see Mark 16:14-20) that these things are manifested today. Having said that, satan can and does masquerade as an "angel of light". This is where having the Holy Ghost will aid the believer in discerning the spirits.

All right, if you are certain that it is the Holy Spirit manifesting. Some of it is clearly from somewhere else. It finally occurred to me that if people are attributing to the Holy Spirit and God things that are not from God, they are committing blasphemy of the worst sort. In that case, it brings us back to catholic teaching . . . they may be excused based on invincible ignorance . . .

But if you examine closely the lives of many who teach these things, you will soon find that they have serious disordered thinking . . . to put it mildly . . . and there are no proofs or medical certificates for the claimed healings . . . and I noticed that many who claimed to be healed from one thing soon came down with something much worse . . . and the healing cycle started anew . . . That's not even going into a serious discussion about so-called tongues and what they are and from whence they come.

If it were the true and literal body and blood of Christ it would look, feel, smell and taste like human flesh and blood. I was an altar boy for many years. Aint so. I don't believe the Lord would have us to be cannibals.

I don't believe that Christians prior to the Reformation, had gotten it wrong. Actually, the belief in "sola memorial" came much later than the Reformers who retained certain aspects of a real presence. There were isolated sects in both east in west after about 1000 that departed from traditional teachings. That's tradition with a small 't' BTW.

Think about it.