Predictable and Despicable
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
We have more in common with Protestant true believers in Christ than we do with a Cardinal of the Church
Anzlyne, you are so right…and unfortunately it’s a whole lot more than just one Cardinal. The Church I thought I was converting to 15 years ago is not very visible today above the parish level–and even that is a hit or miss proposition.
The good thing is, Frank, that – as Christ warned us – do not put your faith in princes. Christ is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be forever. We can ignore, even condemn the hierarchy for their failing to adhere to the teachings of the Church: but we must continue to pray for them. In these times of our shepherds betraying the Church and us, we must stick to the One True Faith. God bless you for your persistence.
Absolutely Don! If bad clerics sank the Church she would have been lost soon after the Crucifixion, or as Boccaccio put it seven centuries ago:
The Jew mounted his horse, and as quickly as possible went to the court of Rome, where arriving, he was by his fellow Jews honorably received; and living there without saying to anybody why he came, began cautiously to study the manners of the Pope and the cardinals and the prelates and all the other courtesans; and he learned, being the honest man that he was, and being informed by other people, that from the greatest to the lowest they sinned most dishonestly, not only in natural but in unnatural ways, without any restraint or remorse to shame them; so much so that for the poor and the dissolute of both sexes to take part in any affair was no small thing. Besides this he saw that they were universally gluttons, wine-drinkers, and drunkards, and much devoted to their stomachs after the manner of brute animals; given up to luxury more than to anything else. And looking further, he saw that they were in the same manner all avaricious and desirous of money, so that human blood, even that of Christians, and sacred interests, whatever they might be, even pertaining to the ceremonies or to the benefices, were sold and bought with money; making a greater merchandise out of these things and having more shops for them than at Paris of stuffs or any other things, and to the most open simony giving the name and support of procuration, and to gluttony that of sustentation: as if God, apart from the signification of epithets, could not know the intentions of these wretched souls, but after the manner of men must permit himself to be deceived by the names of things. Which, together with many other things of which we will say nothing, so greatly displeased the Jew, that as he was a sober and modest man it appeared to him that he had seen enough, and proposed to return to Paris.
Accordingly he did so; upon which Gianotto, seeing that he had returned, and hoping nothing less than that he should have become a Christian, came and rejoiced greatly at his return, and after some days of rest asked him what he thought of the Holy Father, the cardinals, and the other courtesans; to which the Jew promptly replied:—“It seems to me evil that God should have given anything to all those people, and I say to you that if I know how to draw conclusions, there was no holiness, no devotion, no good work or good example of life in any other way, in anybody who was a priest; but luxury, avarice, and gluttony,—such things and worse, if there could be worse things in anybody; and I saw rather liberty in devilish operations than in divine: on which account I conclude that with all possible study, with all their talent and with all their art, your Shepherd, and consequently all the rest, are working to reduce to nothing and to drive out of the world the Christian religion, there where they ought to be its foundation and support. But from what I see, what they are driving at does not happen, but your religion continually increases; and therefore it becomes clearer and more evident that the Holy Spirit must be its foundation and support, as a religion more true and holy than any other. On which account, where I was obstinate and immovable to your reasoning and did not care to become a Christian, now I say to you distinctly that on no account would I fail to become a Christian. Therefore let us go to church, and there according to the custom of your holy religion let me be baptized.
There has been some talk about the “American schism”.
I am starting to think that it may come in the not so distant future. These bishops and cardinals do not have the cojones to stand up for the teachings of the Catholic church. Politicians, Catholic ones, who support, legislate, finance abortion, infanticide, same sex matrimony and euthanasia should not be given the Eucharist. Gregory is a protégée of Mr. McCarrick just Wuerl is. If O’Biden is inaugurated most of the bishops will be fawning over him. It’s not going to save religious practice in the US.
In St. John’s Gospel, 16:33, I give great Thanks. Many are not to be of the world but they fail under the accepted excuses they tell themselves. They fool themselves into believing what they think instead of believing the Truth, hence my Thanks goes out to Truth. He set me free.
He is Thanksgiving Day every day;
Douay-Rheims Bible
“These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.”
God’s Peace be yours TAC.
“ We have more in common with Protestant true believers in Christ than we do with a Cardinal of the Church.”
So True.
“your religion continually increases; and therefore it becomes clearer and more evident that the Holy Spirit must be its foundation and support, as a religion more true and holy than any other.”
The TL:DR version by Hilaire Belloc: “The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.”
True Elaine. Villainous misgovernment of the Church is not exactly news to most of the Laity.
We’ve known for some time that Gregory is a skeevy organization man. A somewhat disoriented traditionalist priest of my acquaintance told me 16 years ago that the collegium of bishops ‘is like the masons. You don’t rise in the organization unless you commit a crime’. It sounded outlandish at the time, but no longer. (Well, his fixation on the masons still sounds outlandish).
Thanks, all. Ain’t going anywhere. 😁🙏🏻
Prof. Kwasniewski has a marvelous essay posted over at One Peter Five about why we remain Catholic in spite of it all. Highly recommended.
I would remind all that, unlike deacons, priests and bishops, the title and office is man made. Possibly the time has come for a thorough organizational review of this institution and its function.