The status quo:
The Synod on Synodality has threatened non-compliance by those in authority (including priests) with penalties. Cardinal “Burn-’em-all-at-the-stake” Fernandez speaks of dissenters who pit themselves against the power-participators at the Synod as heretics and schismatics, so that the envisioned penalties for a priest would be a declared excommunication, therefore loss of faculties and ministry, and dismissal from the clerical state, viz., laicization.
But that’s all too nice of him. Heresy involves merely this or that topic. The truth of the matter is that I don’t accept anything whatsoever that the Synod vomits out, so it’s not just that I’m a heretic in his eyes, I’m an apostate, someone who is heretical in everything and, because of that, also schismatic. So, I’m just waiting for the notice that I’m cancelled with no chance of appeal.
Specifically, the crime is that I believe what the real Holy Spirit has always taught by way of supernaturally provided faith, by way of the Sacred Scriptures. I accept all the extraordinary interventions of the Magisterium of the Church.
Specifically, the crime is that I don’t believe in Pope Francis or any “magisterium” of Pope Francis. I believe in God the Father Almighty. I believe what the Church has always taught. Pope Francis’ opinions are… wait for it… mere opinions. But my not worshiping Pope Francis, or Tucho (same difference), is criminal.
The bad news If I cancelled forthwith:
- I won’t be able to collect any pittance of social security until 2027. My health conditions don’t permit a wide variety of other jobs and I have to continue to pay in until 2027. Uh oh.
- I won’t be able to collect any retirement from the diocese until 2030. Uh-oh. Seven more years as of this writing. I had better get used to going into dirt-poor poverty and obscurity with no insurance and therefore no meds and therefore no life, for, in that case, without meds, I’ll just die forthwith.
The bad news doesn’t matter, because:
- I’m guessing there won’t be any social security when 2027 rolls around anyway.
- I’m guessing that always more violent wokeness will bring churches into ruin anyway.
The good news:
- I’m content to live in a van down by the river[!] in this life until I die, and that wouldn’t be long anyway and isn’t that great news? Yay!
- I’ve got my sites on eternal life whereby hard times in this life don’t bother me but simply bring, instead, the joy of looking to heaven. Great!
- Our Lord has trained me in to rejoice in Jesus as the Only Way, the Only Truth, the Only Life.
- Brow-beaters, no matter how full of adrenaline, don’t affect me at all. I gotta do what I gotta do, which is make it to heaven by being faithful.
The best news:
- I have so very much support, as Jesus promised, with so many praying and sacrificing for me. I am so unworthy, making my thankful all the more. What I can do is to say many rosaries and chaplets everyday and “throw in” everyone who has been so good and kind to me.
Upshot:
- I used to think of these times as extraordinary, without precedent, commenting as so many have done that our Lord has called us specifically in these times, etc., etc., etc. And while all that is true, another aspect of all this has taken my attention, that our Lord is always the same, yesterday, today and forever, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, with His friendship being so personal, so instructive, so supporting, not Yes and No but always Yes to all that which, in Him, is goodness and truth, and kindness and truth, and… Truth, Truth Incarnate, who takes us deadly seriously and wants that we take Him deadly seriously. Finally!
Finally:
Pope Francis has been congratulating himself for years that he’s surely going to be known as the Pope who provokes a schism, that he will be the one, the only one to head up the new Synodal Church, Francis-Church, and will declare all others to be in schism. But, no, Pope Francis. It’s the other way around. In doing all that you will head off into apostacy and, therefore, your own little schism. We will stay true Catholics in the always One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
And a reprimand:
Where are all our bishops? As the world and the Church go to hell, where are they? Are they reprimanding Pope Francis and the power-participators of the Synod in an attempt to alleviate the scandal being given by them all to the world and the Church? They are not to be found. Perhaps some have no health, no mind… but there are some who know better but keep silence. Is that the silence of fear? The silence of complicity.
For me and my house, we will follow the Lord:
- I will not fall down and worship whatever pantheon of demon-idols that Pope Francis or Tucho come up with, even if the pinch of incense that they would like me to throw on the charcoals in front of the demons smells, you know, nice, like lavender or some such thing as they might prefer.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 
Excellent post!
Thank you Father. Our Blessed Lord will look after you and other faithful priests.
Father, if the worst happens, I am wondering if there is a family who might offer to share their home with you, and who have sufficient income for you to live with them board free and for them to pay for your meds etc. I know a family here who invited an older priest to live with their family when he retired, and built him a little chapel on their land. They are rural and feel blessed, and rightly so, to share their home with a good priest (he was persecuted for years before he retired because of his orthodoxy) living close and offering Mass every day.
Perhaps…
It just dawned on me that, like you, Father T (the priest I mentioned above) was also a writer, helping his readers grow in the faith.
I hope you are not put out of your parish, Father, but should that terrible event occur, it may be God’s way to give you more time to write and to have a family on hand to care for you when you are ill. What was it Maria said in the Sound of Music when forced from the convent? When God closes a door, He opens a window.
You are in good company. Our Lord went through it also. He is with you.
Of course, there are really a lot of us…
Father, you say there “are really a lot of us (priests facing cancellation),” and although it is terrible that faithful priests could face such a future, it may be that which will save the Church. I used to wonder how a world-wide underground Church would come into being toward the end of time and how it would operate but now the matter is becoming clearer. Should the Synodal Church with an “ecumenical” false mass and sacraments come into being , it will be the faithful priests forced from their presbyteries, along with a faithful bishop here and there, disappeared among the laity, who will quietly continue the true Mass and Sacraments from wherever they are.
Dear Father George, bless you!
I wanted to respond to some of your other writings but this site was asking for info that I never had to give before so I had to bypass the comment section. I had to give my concerns to God in prayer.
The future prospects do look grim right now. (“Do not let your hearts be troubled”) I know that He will provide. I want to share what I consider a God moment that I had a week or so ago. I do sometimes experience doubts and wonder if God hears my prayers. This particular day was overcast; a kind of gray and angry looking day. I was at my desk and reading the news on the internet. It was nothing but grim stuff. Eventually, I slowly shut down my computer and closed the lid on it. I bowed my head, closed my eyes and prayed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and gave it all over to Him along with the sadness in my Heart. Suddenly, a flash of lightening filled my room and caused me to open my eyes. The whole room was filled with a clear brilliant light. I looked out the window and saw that the light was coming from a hole in the sky and that it had broken through the black clouds. The beam of light danced around and pulsated. This was not an ordinary light. It was extraordinary! I observed it for a couple of minutes and then it withdrew and the sky closed up around it. The sky went back to being dark and angry. It was a wow moment for me. God shines His blessings and love upon our weary world when we most need it. Thanks be to God!
I have to work hard sometimes so as not to let the darkness of evil get me down. Its hard to fight off when it gets really oppressive and the worries mount up. Then I remember to call on the Presence of the Holy Spirit to come to me. The Holy Spirit knows that satan hates the prayers of praise to God and the singing of the Akathists. It also gives my soul relief and drives away the evil darkness. God is great and so good! God bless you Father George. You are always in my daily prayers and I have called on God to also send you the angels and saints. With Jesus, and the angels and saints, you aren’t alone. God provides.
Sincerely,
catherine
I think Bishop Strickland would take you in! I know a guy who knows a guy.
But then, the two of you might be living in vans down by the river? Nah, The Catholics in Tyler would never stand for it! Besides, with Mother Miriam and her sisters building their new digs, they’ll be needing someone to say Mass in their chapel.
Father George,
Like you I have been stewing over the latest news about the church. It is hard to feel good about things that go against everything we have always been taught and believe.
Just as I was hitting the depths – I discovered this novena. It almost instantly lifted me up out of the doldrums and I believe it is too good not to share.
The Surrender Novena – I believe it is miraculous.
The prayer is so healing – “Jesus I surrender myself to you, take care of everything. ” ( it is simple bit POWERFUL!)
To see the entire novena prayers and readings go to:
https://catholicexchange.com/the-surrender-novena-let-jesus-take-care-of-everything/
Thanks, Joisy Goil. It seems good. I’m currently happy with “Jesus, I trust in you!”