Let’s list just a few of the things with which I am certainly discordant with the powers that be:
You have heard that it was said that the Ancient Rite of Mass, the TLM, is not valid as the Lex orandi, the law of praying, Jesus’ Sacrifice, and therefore is not valid as a source of Lex credendi, the law of believing, and is therefore simply hurtful rubbish which must be trashed, obliterated from the face of the earth.
But I say to you that anyone who knowingly and wittingly and willfully and freely holds that to be true is a blasphemer, a heretic, an apostate, an excommunicate.
You have heard that it was said that idol worship, say, of murderous demon Pachamama, is just some nice weaving of dialogue and that we have to incorporate demon worship into the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Novus Ordo.
But I say to you that anyone who worships a demon idol will become like that demon idol. See Psalm 115: 4-8 — “Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.”
You have heard that it was said that those who do not repent, those who fully intend to sin again, say by way of adultery, are to receive the absolution that they do not want, that they are rejecting.
But I say to you that we must recognize the moral capacity of people and power of God’s grace and then say with Jesus, having brought someone to repentance: “Go and do not sin again.” To say that all, for instance, Latinos, have no moral capacity and so must be merely accompanied in their sin is racist and an insult to Jesus.
You have heard that it was said that same-sex marriage is not to be sanctioned, but that same-sex civilly sanctioned unions are good.
But I say to you that this destroys the image of God, which is one male, one female, marriage and family life. Any same-sex whatever is an attack on the image of God.
You have heard that it was said that the pro-abortion “vaccines” are necessary in charity, to protect others.
But I say to you that the murder of children in the womb for the research and/or development and/or testing of these “vaccines” is not protecting others, but murdering others. Also, it makes those getting the “vaccine” (as with all vaccines) into super spreaders who maybe get sick less themselves or maybe die less. Murder for hire, for self-benefit, is never good, never charity, and will make you risk going to hell forever.
/// There are thousands of things which I cannot tolerate in conscience for myself, which I cannot teach others to do, regardless if it is a guy named Bergoglio or ________________ (fill in the blank) who is pushing whatever idiocy. I don’t care what abuse of authority attempts to coerce me to commit sin. I’m not going to do it.
Do you want to take me out of active ministry, also hurting Jesus’ Little Flock? I feel badly for Jesus’ Little Flock, but for me, what is that punishment compared to going to heaven for eternity for having done the right thing without compromise, standing with Jesus in His trials?
Do you want to suspend me a divinis, from offering the Sacraments and from preaching, also hurting Jesus’ Little Flock? I feel badly for Jesus’ Little Flock, but for me, what is that punishment compared to going to heaven for eternity for having done the right thing without compromise, standing with Jesus in His trials?
Do you want to excommunicate me, also hurting Jesus’ Little Flock? I feel badly for Jesus’ Little Flock, but for me, what is that punishment compared to going to heaven for eternity for having done the right thing without compromise, standing with Jesus in His trials?
Do you want to burn me to death at the stake, thus also hurting Jesus’ Little Flock? I feel badly for Jesus’ Little Flock, but for me, what is that punishment compared to going to heaven for eternity for having done the right thing without compromise, standing with Jesus in His trials?
Seriously, I would rather stand by Jesus in His Trials. I say that with hope that, even if I am as weak as Peter, or worse, Jesus will not abandon me:
Luke 22:28-34 “You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
“The Church is incapable of forgiving any sin without Christ, and Christ is unwilling to forgive any sin without the Church. The Church cannot forgive the sin of one who has not repented, who has not been touched by Christ; Christ will not forgive the sin of one who despises the Church. What God has joined together, man must not separate. This is a great mystery, but I understand it as referring to Christ and the Church.” — Saint Isaac of Stella
“Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end.(351) /// (351) In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [24 November 2013], 44: AAS 105 [2013], 1038). I would also point out that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (ibid., 47: 1039). — Francis
Thus, what’s his name, Wilton Gregory or something, Archbishop of Washington DC, corrected Joey Biden to say that life does indeed begin at conception. However, at the same time, old Wilt will still be giving Holy Communion to Joe. It’s called the accompaniment by Pope Francis. By any other name it’s called neither recognizing anyone’s moral capacity nor the power of Jesus’ sanctifying grace, you know, from Jesus, who said, “Go, and do not sin again.”
By the way, that citation of Saint Isaac of Stella is fortuitously taken from the Novus Ordo Liturgy of the Hours for this very day. ;-)
So, I’m forever asking people to pray for Pope Francis. I pray for Pope Francis. I mention his name in the Roman Canon (the Eucharistic Prayer) as expected. I always add an intention for him at the prayers of the faithful Not only that, but I offer Masses – many Masses – for Pope Francis. I announce these Mass intentions publicly, also on Sundays. Yes. I would ask anyone accusing me of being against Pope Francis as to whether they – motu proprio – go out of their way to do the same, or, if they are amongst the laity, have this accomplished by priests.
Moreover, I pray for Pope Francis and encourage people to pray for him even against heavy criticism which has it that if I pray for him, that must mean that I agree with everything he says. He says some nice things, some innocuous things, some ambiguous things, some dangerously ambiguous things, some downright wrong things. Don’t we all?
Hell would be where I would already be if many kind souls including a number of cloistered nuns (God reward them!) were not praying for me. I make mistakes. I commit sin. Thank God, I go to confession. Thank you, dear Lord Jesus.
But let’s not be ostriches. Let’s not be worshippers of Saint Peter’s successors. Saint Peter, when he was not Saint Peter, ran away and then thrice denied our Lord. Later he fell under the rather severe though entirely correct reprimand of Saint Paul. But Peter did become Saint Peter. Get it? We help each other in God’s grace to stay on the straight and narrow. If we don’t do this, we will all go to hell together.
Ezekiel 33:1-9 — The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.”
We’re all in this together. We will all look together on Him whom we have all pierced through, men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, including you and me. I myself – and I know this for a fact – have crucified the Son of the Living God with what has resulted in me because of original sin and because of all my own rubbish sin. So have you, and you and you and you… Right?
Does that mean that any one of us, say, Pope Francis, is above correction if he happens to do or say something so entirely ambiguous and misleading or just downright wrong that out of human respect the terrible scandal that is endangering people’s eternal salvation cannot be corrected? No. Those browbeating others into political correctness and all worldly niceness are simply acting ultra vires, beyond their powers. What remains as fact is that when people’s eternal salvation is endangered, a pastor who has the obligation to protect the sheep is to protect them regardless of whom the wolf du jour happens to be. Period. No, really, even one who is no more than a jackass:
Though I’m nothing but a jackass, I do try to do the best I can. I just want do the right thing, lest Jesus’ Little Flock goes to hell, lest I go to hell. Also, I’m just representing the real concerns of people who are wondering on giving up on the faith because of the inanity and total cowardice going on in high places. I am addressing those concerns for those souls as I MUST do in conscience.
But let’s be specific, shall we? Where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? But my question is as to where the fires of hell are really burning, and why the smoke of Satan has infiltrated. Not in any particular order:
(1) PACHAMAMA: I do take issue with Pope Francis worshipping the death-mongering demon idol Pachamama in Vatican Gardens, and I do take issue with Pope Francis causing, for all of us to see, the enthronement of this abomination of desolation where it must not, by divine mandate, be, that is, in the Holy Place, the high altar of Jesus’ Sacrifice above Saint Peter’s relics in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A Pope doing that. It’s a matter of conscience for me not to go along with the Pachamama prayers and liturgies which are proliferating by the sycophantic. It is a matter of conscience to correct the scandal. There are weak people, souls redeemed by our Lord whom He also wants to save, who go along with all this demonic execration. Is it a matter of bad optics that a priest charitably corrects the Holy Father for the sake of saving souls? Is this causing division? Any division is not my doing. It’s on the one who’s doing the wrong thing, who are set on keeping people from understanding how to remain with our Lord in the midst of chaos. I have remained, do now remain, and will remain in solidarity with Jesus, Divine Son of the Living God, Divine Son of the Immaculate Conception. Jesus is insulted. He hates when He sees His mother grimace at all of this evil.
(2) TRADITIONIS CUSTODES: I do take issue with Pope Francis rejection of the lex orandi (the law of praying) found with Jesus’ Most Holy Sacrifice as presented in the Mass of the Ages, the Traditional Latin Mass. That lex orandi, that Sacrifice, is the self-same lex orandi found in all rites, whatever they happen to be: Coptic, Syromalabar, Syromalankara, Ukrainian, Ambrosian… so very many. Francis says that such lex orandi, such a Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus at the Last Supper and Calvary, is only to be found in the Novus Ordo in the Roman Rite. But since this is the same lex orandi in the Novus Ordo that he rejected for the TLM, he is also rejecting the lex orandi of the Novus Ordo. He is rejecting that the Novus Ordo presents the lex orandi, rejecting that the Novus Ordo is the Last Supper and the Sacrifice on Calvary. He is rejecting the lex orandi in all other rites throughout the world. Reject one as the bearer of the lex orandi, the Last Supper and Sacrifice on Calvary, and you reject all. That’s why it’s called A LAW: it’s the same in all rites. Francis has wrongly equated the rite and the lex orandi. And just to say: that ancient saying, lex orandi lex credendi (the law of praying is the law of believing) to which he refers, means that the rejection of the lex orandi is the rejection of the lex credendi. The entire faith from the Last Supper until today issuing from the Last Supper and Calvary has been rejected by Pope Francis. So, Traditionis custodes is an evil law, and therefore no law whatsoever, neither demanding obedience or disobedience as it is simply nothing. It is to be ignored. That’s on him just for himself. This is his private opinion no matter how public he has made it, how official he has made it. It is not an ex-cathedra infallible statement. But he has caused grievous scandal. I cannot be part of that by some sort of sycophantic silence, letting people be scandalized right in front of me. Nope. Can’t do it. I can’t do that in conscience. Just because I take issue with what Pope Francis can say or do doesn’t mean I’m rejecting him as the Bishop of Rome. As I say, I pray for him, and, ever so ironically, I offer Mass for him. It’s just that I offer that lex orandi, that Sacrifice Most Holy, in the form of the Traditional Latin Mass. I do not support schism. I do not support disrespecting the Holy Father. Not to correct him is extremely disrespectful. Not to correct him is to be sycophantic. To be sycophantic is by definition to be disrespectful. To be sycophantic is by definition the fulfillment of hatred. I don’t want that for anyone. So, I help people understand. I do correct Pope Francis. That is done out of love, obviously at risk to myself, parrhesia and all that.
(3) LGBTQI+: I do take issue with heart stopping ambiguity about anything LGBTQI+, whereby a good thing is said here but then a horrific statement cancelling that is provided there. Pope Saint Pius X rejected such ambiguity as being as bad or worse than any blatant heresy. Indeed, the mind-numbing ambiguity sucks more people in, wears more people out, dispirits people, leads them out of the Church into and beyond the truly darkest of existential peripheries. I just can’t stomach that. I vomit that lukewarmness out of my mouth. It literally makes me sick to my stomach. I just cannot watch people right in front of me take scandal from Pope Francis’ ambiguity. I pray for Pope Francis, but I will present the fullness of the faith to Jesus’ Little Flock as I am bound to do by Christ Jesus Himself. I’m not going to deny Jesus even if by way of omission. I don’t want to be denied by my heavenly Father. No compromise with Jesus, no grey areas. All grey areas bleed red blood, Jesus’ blood. I can’t do that. I will teach the truth with charity for the salvation of souls. Might it seem like I’m optically messaging diversely amidst the big-community conversation? Sure. Good. I’m happy to be as divisive as Jesus. Let’s see… where’s that sword of division of His now? Ah, yes… Here it is. In my heart. I’m convicted by the truth of the Lord Jesus, whose own Most Sacred Heart was pierced through.
(4) AMORIS LAETITIA: Everything I mentioned for LGBTQI+ is good for the entirety of Amoris laetitia…
(5) DIVISIVENESS: Pope Francis repeats ad nauseam that he wants unity. I disagree with any desire for a unity which disregards Jesus. I’m with Jesus. I’m with the Church. I’m with Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the authentic interventions of the Supreme Magisterium of the Church. It is the Living Truth, Christ Jesus, who unites us in Himself, He the Head, we the members of the One Body of Christ. Always and everywhere. No compromise. Ever. And if this eats away at the consciences of people and makes them angry so that they ferociously complain – wait for it – I LOVE THAT! GREAT! Finally I’m getting through. These people just might be saved in the end. I’m glad to take the blowback for Jesus as He uses me. I’m happy to be in solidarity with Jesus who went way out of His way to provoke people with the truth He provided with such great clarity and charity that we in our cynicism crucified Him. Anyone who measures success in the priesthood by a priest not getting complaints has never even once read the Gospels with eyes open. Ever. If they have, and have rejected the Living Truth of the Sign of Contradiction, well, I pray for their conversion to Mary’s Divine Son. Division! More division! That’s what I say. The women of Jerusalem wept. The high priests shook their fists and said that we have no king but Caesar. Such division! I love it. Would that we would have more of it. But who is there? I’m the worst candidate, but if it comes to this, and, among some few others, it does, I say: Here I am Lord! Be Yourself the Cause of Division through me! And that’s not a blasphemy or pride. It’s humble thanksgiving for having the opportunity in my own small way to thank the Lord for all that He’s done for me, especially in forgiving me, and now, for having me be His priest, His instrument of His own Truth for the salvation of souls. Who cares if some have their feathers ruffled if in the end because of that they get to heaven? Yes. Here I am, Lord.
But.. but… -splutter-splutter- you’re imprudent then Father George! Imprudent! Just like that ol’ meanie Jesus!
Let’s discuss that, the prudence of Jesus: should he have been a man of consensus? You can take that and shove it where the sun don’t shine.
Now you’re being rude and inappropriate and boundary-crossing, Father George!
Really? Do you really want me to cite you God’s own extremely graphic insults in the Sacred Scriptures as inspired by the Holy Ghost? See, for example, Ezekiel 23:19 in the context of the condemnation of Religion bowing to State in all political correctness. This is an insult for those prostituting themselves to political correctness! Bwahahaha!
But, that’s a digression. Let me take all this a bit further, let’s talk about the Vaccine. ;-)
(5) MURDERING BABIES FOR VACCINES:https://lozierinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CHART-Analysis-of-COVID-19-Vaccines-02June21.pdf Click on that link to find out that all available vaccines to date in these USA have purpose murdered babies so as to research and/or develop and/or test “vaccines.” Oh, I forgot. Those pushing for vaccines also cite that article with the idea that it’s all cute but we will continue to push vaccines anyway. Pope Francis now has started up having vaccine passports for certain parts of Vatican City. Pope Francis has had vaccines mandated in Vatican City and for multiple Papal trips. I have to take Pope Francis up on that because people are very specifically taking scandal because of this actions and those of the sycophants who follow him. The question is always: “Are you with Pope Francis or not?” It’s never: “Are you with Jesus or not?”
(6) FOLLOW YOUR OWN CONSCIENCE APART FROM THE CHURCH: There are plenty of “Conferences of Bishops” of particular states, such as Colorado, which are offering letters of religious objection to the vaccine (even though this is also a matter of the natural law available to everyone). Great! But then all of them, as far as I know, praise whatever it is that individuals and their consciences come up with, for or against the vaccine. No. The vaccine is evil intrinsically. As Saint Pope Paul VI said in Humanae Vitae about contraception: It’s intrinsically dishonest. And that would be a mortal sin. Pope Francis’ Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith put out a statement affirming conscience as well, but then added, like, you know, most of the time the mandates are not right. Lots of wiggle room for steamrolling people there. And Pope Francis is smashing people down. Imagine what he would do if bishops or priests who were to greet him on his trips or who would want to continue to work in Vatican City would refuse to get the vaccine. This is a scandal, and I must do my part for the tiny portion of the Lord’s Little Flock in this parish to do the right thing, to set the record straight. How is it that even the most “orthodox” amongst priests and bishops and browbeating fellow priests to encourage people to do whatever the hell they want and it’s all good? Oh, I forgot: the stated purpose of the Synod on Synods, to say that everyone is infallible. Yep. More on that in a future post.
That baby is reaching out of the uterus and grabbing hard on the finger of the surgeon. In organ harvesting “vaccine” times, this baby’s organs would be ripped out of him. But that’s all good and holy, is it? That baby is the image of Jesus. How are you going to rationalize that to Jesus and His blessed Mother. No. Pope Francis and the bishops and priests who support him are risking going straight to hell because of their approval and encouragement of the vaccines. I have to reprimand them for the sake of their own eternal salvation, from Pope Francis on down. If I don’t, I will go to hell. But I want to go to heaven.
“While we can reflect on this communion in a theological way, we ought to examine it practically, namely by measuring to what extent we as individuals and our local churches have received the Magisterium of Pope Francis. […] The pastoral thrust of this pontificate must reach the American people, especially as families continue to demand of dioceses and parishes the accompaniment envisioned by Amoris laetitia.”
And that’s a green light for bishops to smash down priests who simply want to be priests of the Catholic Church, of Jesus, faithful to the Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Tradition and the constant and infallible Magisterium of the Church. This is bullying, and a signalling of a new inquisition in which faithfulness and goodness and kindness and actual mercy and truth is punished.
What a joke. Pfft. The grace of Jesus, friendship with Jesus, is stronger than threats, stronger than our weakness, stronger than marginalization and torture and death. What a joke. I mean, look at the hellish betrayal of China by the Holy See. What do we expect? Of course it will be our turn. As the Master, so the disciple.
Look, people: This isn’t things falling apart. As a friend in Rome said: “Finally! A persecution! It means that Jesus loves us, that He hasn’t forgotten us. Finally we have the gift, the privilege to witness to Jesus.”
So, most of the German bishops, mere politicians that they are, are pushing for NON-Catholic spouses to receive Holy Communion. Seven German bishops complained about this, asking the Holy See to intervene and, you know, kick those other bishops in the kiester. So, that makes the ol’ Vatican the bad guy bully even while the failed majority of bishops become the heroes of the oppressed Masses up to now not receiving Holy Communion. Meanwhile, priests will be brow-beaten into giving Holy Communion to spouses of Catholics anyway, and everyone is that much closer to total and declared apostasy. The seven bishops in the minority, believers that they are, nevertheless just don’t get the politics. You just can’t out-politic Pope Francis.
In a coup for the faith, Pope Francis had a message delivered by messengers. Hah. And all he said was that the whole conference of bishops was to come up with a unanimous solution, knowing, of course, that the seven bishops aren’t going to budge. So, this was an effective intervention of Pope Francis over against the heretic bishops of the majority done in such a way that they couldn’t at all make themselves heroes with “the people” and moreover would be shown what total idiots they are with the faith, unable to agree among themselves.
Mind you, even if the seven bishops were to cave to the majority, stupidly, it still couldn’t be accepted by the Holy See, by Pope Francis, for the rule of the process is that they are to come up with a solution ” in the spirit of ecclesial communion.” Hah. The only way that comes about is fidelity to Mary’s dearest Son, Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Hah. And even with the entire conference going heretical, they wouldn’t be heroes, for this would look like they were doing this in bad faith, merely for self-congratulation.
In doing this, Pope Francis has actually just insisted against “decentralization”. Are pundits really unable to see this?
The point is that we are not to use the successor of Peter to beat up on others in a first instance, but we are to evangelize ourselves, but always with the idea that the bishop of Rome (who can only be the Successor of Peter for theological neophytes) is the Supreme Pontiff. The seven bishops say that the faith shouldn’t be decided by a national bishops conference. Right. Well… Pope Francis never said that it should, did he? No. He didn’t.
Then, in a huff, all upset, ALL those bishops will complain by saying:
“That’s terrible. Because then we’ll like, you know, have to pray together, and like, pray, and stuff. And use real reason. And pray, and, like, stuff.”
I think I get Pope Francis now.
If he were to make an ex-Cathedra statement about marriage and the family as he said he would during his speech on the 50th anniversary of the Synods of Bishops, this would be nice, but it would stop the sinking in of the conclusion that we have to pray and help each other in the faith. Or am I totally totally wrong?
This guy’s number two to Archbishop Fisichella, therefore the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, the umbrella organisation for the Missionaries of Mercy.
His talk is entitled “Pastoral Indications on the Sacrament of Reconciliation.” I’m guessing this will be a rehash of the Vademecum for Confessors. It would be great to hear a few words on the Curé d’Ars. This being the closing conference, a bad and evil temptation to entrench in a bad and evil thought came to me, that this will be all about Amoris laetitia, reducing the Missionaries of Mercy to only one perspective of the ever so political chapter 8 of that iteration of what Pope Francis himself in the same papered volley calls a dialogue. In view of the other conferences, I have to doubt that. It’s been all good, in fact, fantastic up to this closing conference. It’s been my fear during these years that we would be political pawns in a much larger chess board. But that’s just stupid me, and I know it. I’m sure I’ll rejoice.
Update:
Confessors must be faithful, dedicated, joyful, conscientious.
Missionaries of Mercy are to promote the Sacrament of Confession in their dioceses.
Priests are instruments of Jesus’ mercy, acting in His Person in this Sacrament.
Those in the darkest of existential peripheries want a Confessor who totally understands them and is in solidarity with them to bring them into the light of the joy of “seeing” the risen Lord.
Don’t treat penitents badly!
Mulier adultera of John 7:53–8:11. All traditional interpretation.
Curé d’Ars! Yay!
San Leopoldo Mandić, OFM.Cap. Yay!
The joy of filial dignity provided to the penitent.
That’s it! Great!
Fisichella is adding a personal story about Padre Pio…
After Father Thomas Weinandy resigned from his post at the USCCB, I offered this comment on this blog:
“Dear Father Weinandy, I’m hoping that Pope Francis will reject the sycophants at the USCCB and reinstate you for your honestly trying your best to lay self-referential interests aside in favor of the Church and indeed the whole world. We all need such honest friendship. The Holy Father can take or leave what you say, but one should treasure any sincere words that you offer just because first of all they are offered in good faith. The USCCB has made it all about bullying. That’s so sad. I thank you for making it all about Jesus and His Immaculate Bride, the Church. May Mary’s Son strengthen you.”
Later, I received this comment from my internet bully:
“You are leading the good life as a pastor. But are you really, really following Christ? Are you not just swimming with the tide? Why don’t you support Fr Wineandy? Are you looking for a comfortable life?. Are you like the Apostles who when Christ returned the third time found them still sleeping? Are you sleeping like them? Don’t defend or support a bad Pope just because he was nice to you.”
In other words, if there is any priest in good standing actually carrying out his duties as a priest of Jesus Christ in this One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, he is therefore, by definition, a hypocrite, and the only way for him to follow Christ is to resign from active ministry in protest against Pope Francis. That’s the litmus test: resign in protest against Pope Francis or go to hell. No, really! After uncountable messages along these lines, I see this one in the moderation queue, one of the first comments for 2018. This internet bully guy has a mania, and I’m his target. This is, it is said, a citation from one of Padre Pio’s letters:
“And yet, once our last hour has come, and our hearts have ceased to beat, everything will be finished for us and the time to merit as well as to demerit. We will present ourselves to Christ the Judge just as death finds us. Our cries of supplication, our tears, our sighs of repentance, which while still on earth would have won God’s heart, could have made us with the help of the sacraments, saints out of sinners, today is worthless; the time of mercy is passed, now begins the time of justice.”
Nice citation, except that it is about whether I resign in protest against Pope Francis or not. If I resign I am saved. If I don’t resign as a priest in good standing from active ministry as a protest against Pope Francis I am surely then going straight to hell.
Someone who continuously sends such messages citing other-world eternal consequences (going straight to hell) for not complying with a litmus test having this-world life-changing consequences (resigning as a priest in good standing from active ministry as a protest against Pope Francis) – continuously for three full weeks after being asked to stop – is someone who is well able to think that he has a divine mandate to begin that “time of justice” already in this world.
Of course, if I actually resigned just to do it I would be condemned by Jesus for running away from the wolves as a mere hireling. And if I don’t resign then I am already damned by my internet stalker, who I think is at the ready to take “justice” into his own hands.
Golly! I don’t know what to do! Oh, I know! I think I’ll just be faithful to Christ Jesus, continue to be a good son of the Church in the best way I know how, continue to be a priest in active ministry (Hey! I love it!), following Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, the great interventions of the Magisterium of Holy Mother Church, and, with consistency, mind you, also be loyal to Pope Francis, that is, by supporting the person of the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ, of Christ, mind you, Jesus, the Divine Son of the Immaculate Conception, He who will come to judge the living and the dead and world by fire. Amen.
For those of you paying attention, there are those who are upset with what Pope Francis and some of his Argentinian friends have been up to in the AAA (Acta Apostolicae Sedis), and, of course, part of the process of whatever maneuvers is for the Holy See to see who says what about whatever. One of my more visited posts, with heavily renewed interest, is this one, including today from the Holy See:
By the way, if it’s still a dialogue and not any kind of teaching, if some Argentinian bishops and the Bishop of Rome in these last few days want to raise all this to some form of Apostolic letter, well, whatever, it simply means nothing as a dialogue is not ever any kind of teaching. That’s like saying that black is white and apples are oranges and 2+2=5. Dialogue is simply dialogue, not any kind of teaching. Period.
However super officially you say it, it just means that it really super officially means absolutely nothing. So, big deal. It doesn’t disturb my peace. I am in anguish that so many are thrown into anguish and so many will likely go to hell because of all this. But, hey, I don’t want to go to hell so I don’t want to lose my peace. I’m still one little happy back ridges mountain priest already in the back sides of the darkest of existential peripheries, and I’m a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. I can’t be hurt. I don’t have any sycophantic fear. I follow Jesus, and any authentic teaching of the hierarchy. If anyone wants to kick me in the face for following Jesus, that just makes me rejoice.
And if the Holy See wants to know what I really think about it, those interested should read this, and pass it on to Pope Francis:
As it is, I hold myself to be a faithful son of the Church and a faithful son of Papa Francesco. I stand in solidarity with him not necessarily meaning that I agree with everything he says, but by praying for him and getting others to do so: Hail Mary…
Dear Father Weinandy, I’m hoping that Pope Francis will reject the sycophants at the USCCB and reinstate you for your honestly trying your best to lay self-referential interests aside in favor of the Church and indeed the whole world. We all need such honest friendship. The Holy Father can take or leave what you say, but one should treasure any sincere words that you offer just because first of all they are offered in good faith. The USCCB has made it all about bullying. That’s so sad. I thank you for making it all about Jesus and His Immaculate Bride, the Church. May Mary’s Son strengthen you.
It states that the pope has, by his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, and by other, related, words, deeds and omissions, effectively upheld 7 heretical positions about marriage, the moral life, and the reception of the sacraments, and has caused these heretical opinions to spread in the Catholic Church.
The words “effectively upheld” constitute a new level of teaching, I guess, below an ex-Cathedra statement, I guess, but effectively, I guess, on par, I guess, with the Ordinary and therefore also infallible Magisterium of the Church… I guess.
Too much guesswork for me. That’s too exhausting. Here’s the deal: all this time, for years now, it seems to me that I’m the only one in the world who happens to notice that in the first paragraphs of Amoris laetitia that what the Holy Father has proffered is merely a volley in dialogue. Period. Nothing more. He actually uses the word. And while that dialogue is not nothing in itself, it actually doesn’t amount to something. Clear? No? And so, therefore, what does it all mean? Well, it all just means nothing. So, whatever.
Am I not upset that ambiguity taken up by bullies, say, in Malta, or Argentina, or Chicago is destroying the salvation of souls? Yes, I’m upset.
But I also think it’s even hurtful effectively to say that the Holy Father has effectively propagated heresies, effectively on the level of the ordinary Magisterium of the Church. That kind of language effectively leads to a mistaken ecclesiology which effectively is itself heretical.
Again, does that mean that I think that the Holy Father effectively backing rubbish in Malta and Argentina, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. [and I could go on…], isn’t hurtful? No, it doesn’t mean that. I do in fact think it’s extremely damaging to souls and to the very person of the Successor of Saint Peter. I grieve.
But we have to take great care in the ecclesiological language we use. Right? So, I will not sign. Meanwhile, another priest, for whom I have a great deal of respect, and who has given his life in the “priesthood exclusively for the salvation of souls,” the great Father Pinsent has this interview with LifeSiteNews. Here’s a snippet:
“The contradictions now being introduced deny reason, which is contrary to the heart of Catholic theology, the examples of great saint scholars like St. Thomas Aquinas, and the consistent teaching of our two most recent popes. Such divisions of faith and reason are catastrophic for the Church’s mission of the salvation to souls.”
I agree with all that wholeheartedly. And I entirely understand where the framers and signers are coming from. It’s just that “effectively upholds” and “propagates” seems effectively to say that this is all effectively part of the Ordinary Magisterium, when instead a dialogue is not that at all. One must be exact in these things, you know, to be filial about it, and so as not to cancel the very correctio that one attempts to make.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 