Thank God for a Few Good Priests! Like Alfie's Defender Don Gabriele Brusco

This photo of Fr. Brusco is on the parish website of Our Lady of Lourdes in London where he serves as an associate pastor. He was ordered by Archbishop McMahon of lIverpool to leave Alder Hey and the bedside of Alfie Evans and return to the parish. Why? For daring to warn the staff about their culpability in cooperating with evil. Watch for further punishent of this good priest.

If you've followed Alfie's story, you know that there was one heroic spiritual presence accompanying (to use Pope Francis' word) the family. Fr. Gabriele Brusco never wavered in his support of Baby Alfie. He gave the toddler the sacraments of Confirmation and the Anointing of the Sick and challenged the staff at Alder Hey not to cooperate with evil. I read this testimonial to Father's heroic witness at Torch of the Faith:

In every great struggle, there are always both heroes and villains whose actions and resulting impacts remain long after the events themselves have passed.

In spite of the cruel removal, sidelining and effective silencing of this good priest, Fr. Gabriele Brusco will always be remembered by the people of Liverpool for the self-sacrificial kindness that he showed to little Alfie Evans and his family and friends.
I've just been reading Hilary White's twitter feed and, as I did so, I read this splendid piece of information.

It reads: Don Gabriele Brusco, the Italian priest who was next to the Evans' in these days, gave little Alfie the sacrament of Confirmation, anointing the sick and recited the accompanying prayers. The priest was able to speak with the medical staff, explaining to them the necessity of conscientious objection and that a human life can not be interrupted. The priest told them that even if these are the human laws, ''they can be broken to follow those of God: I have told them of the banality of evil.'' The reaction of the nurses appeared angry and annoyed: ''This is your opinion.'' ''I had to reiterate the truth,'' the priest replied, ''maybe someone will have a crisis of conscience, maybe this night he will not sleep, but it was the last thing I could do.''

One of our friends who was praying intensely at Alder Hey during that trying week was able to meet Fr. Gabriele and has conveyed to us just how impressed they were with this priest's holiness, commitment to truth and honest integrity.

In these days when false shepherds blather to us from their magisterial chairs, we have a lowly Don speaking truth to power and suffering for it. Don Brusco is the kind of priest who walks in the footsteps of St. John Fisher, the lone voice among the English bishops against the tyrant, Henry VIII. Don Brusco should wear a cardinal's hat, not men like Vincent Nichols of Westminster who can only remind us of Henry VIII's Cardinal Wolsey, chancellor of England. Remember what Wolsey reputedly said on his deathbed? "If I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs."

Many clerics will face a severe judgment for serving the lord of the world instead of our Lord God, for serving themselves instead of the sheep. And those who cooperate in the murder of God's innocent least ones will truly face the wrath of God. The murder of the innocent is one of the four sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. And there's another reminder of the accountability of these shepherds from Jesus' own words to Peter in the gospel of Luke:

"And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more." [Luke 12:48 Douay-Rheims] 

Pray for Cardinal Nichols and for the many bad bishops in our own country and around the world, false shepherds who are misleading the flock.

And let each of us diligently commit ourselves to God's will and faithfully perform the duties of our state in life.

St. John Bosco, please pray for your brother priest who clearly loved children as you did.