Thought For The Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Amen.
What Mary De Voe said.
Amen.
And quick, someone needs to tell many of the bishops this.
I often wonder what would happen if the USCCB had a group of rival bishops just leave it and set up a new entity to represent orthodox bishops (yes, there are a number of those, some under the cloak of night though). This happened with religious women, it’s to be hope it can happen with the bishops. The USCCB has not helped to spread the faith.
Matthew,
I agree with your premise completely, but since a “national episcopal conference” is part of the bureaucracy, a second conference would automatically be dumped on, especially if the *wrong kind* of bishops are starting it.
Josh-
Yes, they would get dumped on.
All the more reason to do it.
All the more virtue in doing it.
Sit down and shut up was never the reaction of saints to heresy and error.
But also, the saints were obedient to the hierarchy. When unfairly punished, they’d beg for forgiveness for any wrong actions they may have committed. When silenced, they remained silent. Church history is littered with figures who stood up in self-righteousness and declared that here they stood, they could do no other. They weren’t saints.
Only partly correct Pinky. Athanasius Contra Mundum comes to mind. Paul remonstrating with Peter when Peter was wrong. Saint Catherine of Siena, convincing a Pope, very much against his will, to return to Rome and ending the Babylonian Captivity at Avignon. Pope Julius II attacking the memory of Pope Alexander VI. The way in which popes routinely deep six the initiatives of prior popes. Silence and obedience have been honored often in the breach rather than in the observance by perfectly orthodox Catholics.
Trust me, I’m not advocating sit down and shut up. I have already paid a price in life specifically for not following that dictum. I was merely pointing out the practical consideration of having a rival episcopal conference.
Athanasius always gets mentioned. For every one of him, there’s 100 Savonarolas. If we’re talking doctrine, you can defend a true position, but if we’re talking discipline, you cannot be correct in a stand against the Church. And what we see as a doctrinal stand probably looks like a disciplinary matter to others.
As for Catherine, she said we should obey the pope even if he were the devil himself, because he is for us sweet Christ on earth.
Thoughts on the subject via St. Kolbe.
“I rejoice greatly, dear brother, at the outstanding zeal that drives you to promote the glory of God. It is sad to see how in our times the disease called “indifferentism” is spreading in all its forms, not just among those in the world but also among the members of religious orders. But indeed, since God is worthy of infinite glory, it is our first and most pressing duty to give him such glory as we, in our weakness, can manage – even that we would never, poor exiled creatures that we are, be able to render him such glory as he truly deserves.
Because God’s glory shines through most brightly in the salvation of the souls that Christ redeemed with his own blood, let it be the chief concern of the apostolic life to bring salvation and an increase in holiness to as many souls as possible. Let me briefly outline the best way to achieve this end – both for the glory of God and for the sanctification of the greatest number. God, who is infinite knowledge and infinite wisdom, knows perfectly what is to be done to give him glory, and in the clearest way possible makes his will known to us through his vice-gerents on Earth.
It is obedience and obedience alone that shows us God’s will with certainty. Of course our superiors may err, but it cannot happen that we, holding fast to our obedience, should be led into error by this. There is only one exception: if the superior commands something that would obviously involve breaking God’s law, however slightly. In that case the superior could not be acting as a faithful interpreter of God’s will.
God himself is the one infinite, wise, holy, and merciful Lord, our Creator and our Father, the beginning and the end, wisdom, power, and love – God is all these. Anything that is apart from God has value only in so far as it is brought back to him, the Founder of all things, the Redeemer of mankind, the final end of all creation. Thus he himself makes his holy will known to us through his vice-gerents on Earth and draws us to himself, and through us – for so he has willed – draws other souls too, and unites them to himself with an ever more perfect love.
Breaking God’s law.
(?)
I’ll say one more thing. I’m terrified by spiritual pride. It’s the final boss, designed specifically for all of us who take the faith seriously. I think it burns more of the devout than we can imagine The further the saints get from the ordinary temptations, the more they talk about the danger of pride.
And we’ve earned it, right? We fought back against the flesh, and we walked away from the world. We’ve earned the right to jump off the Temple roof. People *should* marvel at our faith. I know the Church documents better than the chancery office, and frankly if the new pope doesn’t impress me out of the gate I’m going to call him out. It’s so easy to fall for it. I think we have to watch out for it in our circles, and make sure we’re not encouraging others to fall into it.
“For every one of him, there’s 100 Savonarolas.”
Savonarola was completely orthodox. His mistakes were getting too involved in the politics of Florence and living during the reign of Alexander VI. His call for Christian renewal, if heeded, might have avoided the Protestant Reformation.
There is a lot to cherry pick in Saint Catherine’s transcribed writings, but her comments to Popes Gregory and Urban were often in the mode of those from a mother to beloved but errant children:
“No more simony, no more unbridled luxuries, no more dealers in blood, no more swindlers in what ought to be the temple of God,” St. Catherine wrote to Pope Urban (St. Catherine of Siena, I. Giordani).
I’m terrified by spiritual pride.
Rightfully so. We should all guard against it. Thus Lucifer fell. It is the number two most popular sin of the clergy, right after love of Mammon.
See, I bet I’ve read more of St. Catherine than you have, and it really ticks me off when people present her the way you are…and there it is again, this time against me, I’m dealing with my own spiritual pride about the need to watch out for spiritual pride! The thing is a Chinese finger trap!
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