PopeWatch: Saint Alphonsus Liguori v. Archbishop Rino Fisichella

6 January AD 2016
Donald R. McClarey

During this Year of Mercy, PopeWatch will hold a series of debates between saints and some of the powers that be at the Vatican. First up : Saint Alphonsus Liguori v. Archbishop Rino Fisichella. The Archbishop wins the coin toss and will go first:

Archbishop:

I think that we are in a very crazy moment for culture because in some ways for both believers and non-believers we forget the concept of mercy. We keep the word, but the word is empty. It is not filled with our witness. Probably in the past we confused mercy with piety, and not with the essence of the Gospel. And we don’t realize that especially for this moment, we need mercy. We need to be instruments of mercy. In today’s world of violence and poverty, we have forgotten mercy. Mercy is to be close to someone. Mercy means to console, to share, to dialogue, to support, to care for someone.

Saint:

“Never attend to that dog that promises to you the mercy of God.” “Woe,” says St. Augustine. “to him who hopes in order to sin.” Oh! how many, says the Saint, has this vain hope deluded and brought to perdition! “They who have been deceived by this shadow of vain hope cannot be numbered.”

Archbishop:

Several times I have had people tell me: “Mercy, mercy, you speak about mercy, but first of all there is justice. We must not forget justice.” I smile when I hear this kind of objection because they do not have the right understanding of justice and mercy. First of all justice: Because we cannot confuse the human concept of justice with the biblical understanding of justice. They are two different elements. When we speak about justice and we say we need to put justice before mercy, probably we don’t have coherent understanding of mercy. [On Dec. 8] in the homily of Pope Francis, there was a beautiful passage he attributed to St. Augustine: “How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy.”

Saint:

Say not, says the Lord, that the mercies of God are great; that however enormous your sins may be, you will obtain pardon by an act of contrition. And say not: The mercy of the Lord is great: He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins. [Ecclus. 5:6] Say it not, says the Lord; and why? For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. [Ibid.] The mercy of God is infinite; but the acts of His mercy, or His mercies are finite. God is merciful, but He is also just. “I am just and merciful,” said our Lord to St. Bridget; “but sinners regard Me only as merciful.” St. Basil writes that sinners wish to consider God only as good and merciful. To bear with those who avail themselves of the mercy of God to offend Him, would not, says Father M. Avila, be mercy, but a want of justice. Mercy is promised, not to those who abuse it, but those who fear God. And His mercy, said the Divine Mother, to those that fear Him. [Luke 1:50] Against the obstinate, threats of just retribution have been pronounced; and, says St. Augustine, as God is not unfaithful to His promises, so He is not a liar in his threats.

Archbishop:
Von Balthasar never said that hell is empty. He never said that. He said he hoped that hell would be empty, and that makes the difference. The Church can say with certitude, in a definite way, that this man, this woman is in Paradise and he is a saint. But never, never does the Church say that anyone is in hell, because this doesn’t belong to us. This is about the personal, intimate meeting between God and each of us at the moment of our death, in the moment we are making the last decision of our life, to decide for God or for our self.

Saint:

Were God to bear forever with sinners, no one would be damned: but the most common opinion is that the greater part of adults, even among Christians, are lost. Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are that go in thereat. [Matt. 7:13]

Archbishop:

He (Pope Francis) said the Year of Mercy should be a special topic for the new evangelization because mercy is the essence of the Gospel. The new evangelization should be able to show the essence, the most important thing, about the Gospel, and this is mercy. For this reason, we need to find a new language to show how mercy is real, is urgent for people today.

Saint:

Ah, my God! I have been one of those who have offended Thee because Thou wert bountiful to me. Ah, Lord! Wait for me, do not abandon me. I am sorry. O infinite Goodness! for having offended Thee, and for having so much abused Thy patience. I thank Thee for having waited for me till now. Henceforth I will never more betray Thee, as I have hitherto done. Thou hast borne with me so long. that Thou mightest one day see me a lover of Thy goodness. Behold, this day has, I hope, arrived: I love Thee above all things, and esteem Thy grace more than all the kingdoms of the world: rather than lose it, I am ready to forfeit life a thousand times. My God! for the love of Jesus Christ, give me holy perseverance till death, along with Thy holy love. Do not permit me ever again to betray Thee, or to cease to love Thee. Mary! thou art my hope: obtain for me this gift of perseverance. and I ask nothing more.

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.

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DonL

Wednesday, January 6, AD 2016 6:43am

Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if Rome would one time celebrate a year of “the truth?”

.Anzlyne

Wednesday, January 6, AD 2016 1:18pm

What a wonderful idea Donald McClarey! I love it. This format has such great teaching potential! this reminds me of that “Saints Alive” series that was on EWTN for a while- which let the Saints speak to the modern congregation. This is very good to just have the viewpoints seen together for contrast and compare. Thanks

Clay

Wednesday, January 6, AD 2016 2:17pm

Alphonsus Marie de Ligouri is perhaps that saint whom I most often come across when I do not want to find him, but absolutely need him.

Penguin Fan

Wednesday, January 6, AD 2016 2:40pm

As St. Alphonsus Liguori observed Epiphany on January 6, I wish all a blessed and happy Epiphany.

Don the Kiwi

Wednesday, January 6, AD 2016 4:23pm

Being someone who spent a number of years with the Redemptorists, and still have a great devotion to St. Alphonsus, I will stick with St. Alf any day over a bishop who speaks perplexity.

Kmbold

Thursday, January 7, AD 2016 12:40pm

The big sin will no longer be that of being “judgmental” but “unmerciful”. I have already seen shades of it: divorced Catholic radio caller can’t believe that her first marriage can’t be overlooked as she contemplates a new one (with a divorced man). Where’s the mercy?!

Steve Phoenix

Thursday, January 7, AD 2016 4:29pm

Obfuscarchbishop Rino Fisichella, “President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization,” has mastered the current Obfranciscate doubletalk — “We cannot confuse the human concept of justice with the biblical concept of justice,” he intones.
….
Then do ‘splain it to us peasants in our mud-and-wattle huts, Obfuscapiscopal leader: undo the Gordian knot of our darkness with your bright intellect. (However, he does not do so–explain and undo this confusion, that is: it is common for “churchmen” today, to explain how we are confused but only they can un-obfuscate it for us–yet however they do not do so.) Telling.
…
This is also of course the Obfuscabishop who declaimed in a Dec. 7th 2015 pronouncement that those who criticize the pope were subject to excommunication:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/papal-critics-threatened-with-excommunication-as-year-of-mercy-begins
…
And yet Obfuscatrix Rino Fishy-cella was quick to countermand Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda-Recife back in 2009 when Sobrinho excommunicated a mother for arranging the abortion of her 9-year-old daughter. In that case, Fishy stated the judgment “appeared merciless”. Mercy therefore involved procuring an abortion, we conclude.
….
Or maybe more simply put, the Obfuscapontificate and the array of Obfuscarchbishops can be resolved into greater clarity: such as,
the Fisichella rots from the head down.

Kmbold

Saturday, January 9, AD 2016 3:54pm

Great, Steve Phoenix! But better drop the ObfuscaTRIX. Doesn’t it still imply the feminine gender? Or, er, do you know something…?

Steve Phoenix

Monday, January 11, AD 2016 9:39am

Good point, Kmbold, I am not tryinig to be gender-bender-neutral, but trying to play off of “pontifex” v. Obsfusca-xxxx. How both “Obfuscafex Maximus”? Point well-noted and corrected.
…
But also: this pontificate truly has more Silly Rabbits than a box of TRIX…also lots of sweetness and air and no substance, like the cereal.

PopeWatch: Saint Alphonsus Liguori v. Archbishop Rino Fisichella

Donald R. McClarey

The American Catholic is a Little Vatican Apostolate