Posted on 09/08/2002 7:30:52 PM PDT by american colleen
While Father Z isn't sure about Mahony's plans for a priestless Church, he believes the archdiocesan hostility to traditional Catholicism has taken its toll on vocations. "I do know that a lot of priests have left. The cardinal likes a certain kind of priest. You can tell that they don't want vocations, because they do nothing to inspire vocations. He's purposely put a very liberal, feminist Sister (Kathy Bryant) as the vocations person.
"I think if we got a reasonable archbishop of Los Angeles, all of a sudden things would just switch. There's such a small minority of the real liberals and 'protestantized' Catholics that things would switch right away."
If Father Z's assessment of Mahony seems to contradict his gentle public image, Father Z is not alone in his view. Both Father Y and Father Z are firghtened of Mahony and spoke only on assurance of anonymity. "The cardinal is a tough man," one explained. "He will just crush you. He won't stop. I know of a priest who spoke out against something the cardinal was behind and he would not back off until the priest resigned. He even threatened to withdraw financial support. He has a lot of power because Los Angeles is one of the richest dioceses in the world and money is power. That's one of the biggest ways he throws his weight around.
"I pray for a real conversion (for Mahony). If he were to convert he would just be a powerhouse for the Church. He is a very engaging person. When he's in your presence, he really wins you over. He has a way of gauging you and he holds all his cards to his chest. He lets you break the ground and, once that happens, he's very agreeable to whatever you say. Everyone walks away from him saying, 'what a wonderful man!' When you're with him one on one, he really does fool you. It's when you find out what he's done later that you realize what you're dealing with, and it's not gentle. I know a lot of priests who have suffered under him. If you want holy priests, you need a holy bishop."
I attempted several times to reach Sister Kathy Bryant for response. She did not return my phone calls before this article went to press.
(Excerpt) Read more at losangelesmission.com ...
Sorry, I did quote you accurately. I cut this from the post:
Your position is known as the Donatist heresy and was dealt with by Saint Augustine in the fourth century.
Please check post 28, and then tell me if the above is not what the post says.
And how do you know that. I would say by the casual way you throw around your terms, you haven't evinced much understanding of the concept. You obviously don't understand Church history much, if you don't know the complexities of Donatism.
Then the schismatics and the orthodox Catholics fought. It was bloody as Hell. That battle still wages, but its one that, unfortunately must be fought. The remnant must survive. They must save the faith.
Now the orthodox Catholics fight the orthodox Catholics, over stupid misunderstandings, pride, and refusal to admit when one is wrong, or when ones' approach, while orthodox, was used as a weapon, not an instrument of Christ.
God have Mercy on us.
And so ends the Fellowship of the Ring?
What the Hell has happened to our Cathoilic Caucus, dammit?
How can the orthodox remnant survive, how can they save the Faith, when we bloody each other on this battlefield, and beat Christ's plowshares into swords?
God have Mercy on us all.
It just seems we've entered into a period where it is beyond human effort to evangelize and activism is non-productive, if not rendered counterproductive by the sins of our priests/hierarchy. God alone will straighten this out.
Time to shut up, back off, pray, and fast, and hope for divine intervention. Human words are simply falling on deaf ears, or being heard as words of attack.
This new phase we've entered, of internecine warfare not with liberals or schismatics but between orthodox members of the faithful remnant itself, is so troubling it can only be seen in apolcalyptic terms.
Another sign.
Who has eyes to see?
For more info, alhthough it looks like you have encapsulated it quite well.
Looks like good advice to me.
Some have said, "The time of Mercy is over. The time of Justice has begun."
I fear this is the beginnings of that time of Justice.
I hope you know I was trying to interject a little levity into a bad situation. :-)
I'm with sandyeggo here. She said "I am a faithful Catholic who has not read the encyclicals, can't name all the heresies, hasn't read all of the documents of Vatican II, but I truly love God, receive Holy Communion in reverence, try to live the Word of God in my daily life, and want to learn more about my faith every day. The fact that I don't know more is my own fault, which I am trying to rectify. "
One problem is that it is hard to know someone's intentions when we communicate via keyboard instead of in person. You have to just assume that the person has good intentions, because, IMO, most often, they do. Being Catholic is being part of a community, we are all responsible for one other, to a degree. It is a wonderful gift, and one that I'd not like to lose here on FR.
"appear" being the operative word! Who cares about posters that appear to know all! IMO, off the top of my head, the only ones I can think of are the ones who are of the opinion that John Paul II is not really the pope.
One thing I love about FR and the Catholic Caucus is the variety of posters, all with different strengths. Half the stuff people post goes over my head. I just keep plugging along praying for understanding!
No, I think we are rudderless right now. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
I think JPII is still at the rudder, fighting the storm. But in a storm of this magnitude it sure feels as if we are rudderless...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.