Nabi Sayeth: An Historical Look at the Plague of Homosexuality in the Church

Cardinal Walter Brandmuller

Nabi would like to call your attention to an article written in L’Espresso magazine dated November 5, 2018. The focus of the article is on the recent writings of a distinguished Catholic historian, Cardinal Walter Brandmueller. The good Cardinal takes an historical look at the scandal plaguing our beloved Catholic Church….

“The situation is comparable to that of the Church in the 11th and 12th century.” As an authoritative Church historian and as president of the pontifical committee of historical sciences from 1998 to 2009, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, 89, has no doubt when he sees the present-day Church 'shaken to its foundations' on account of the spread of sexual abuse and homosexuality 'in an almost epidemic manner among the clergy and even in the hierarchy.'

“'How could it have come to this point?' the cardinal wonders….”

"He takes a look back in history and illustrates how the roots of and reasons for the Church corruption centuries ago are similar to those having an effect on the Church today….

“Brandmüller refers to the centuries in which the bishoprics and the papacy itself had become such a source of wealth that there was 'fighting and haggling over them,' with temporal rulers claiming that they themselves could apportion these offices in the Church.
The effect was that the place of pastors was taken by MORALLY DISSOLUTE PERSONS who were ATTACHED TO THE ENDOWMENT (money) rather than to the care of souls, by no means inclined to lead a chaste and virtuous life.

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."     1 Timothy 6:10

"Not only concubinage, but HOMOSEXUALITY too was increasingly widespread among the clergy, TO SUCH AN EXTENT that Saint Peter Damian in 1049 delivered to the newly elected pope Leo IX, known as a zealous reformer, his 'Liber Antigomorrhianus,' composed in the form of a letter, which in essence was an appeal to save the Church from the 'sodomitic filth that insinuates itself like a cancer in the ecclesiastical order, or rather like a bloodthirsty beast rampaging through the flock of Christ.' Sodom and Gomorrah, in the book of Genesis, are the two cities that God destroyed with fire on account of their sins."

Nabi Sayeth: A SECULARIZATION of the clergy took place. Priests/bishops were bought and sold like cattle. These clergymen had as their first object of loyalty not Christ and His people, but rather, their governmental bosses and their own bellies. It followed then that carnal lusts replaced prayer and spirituality as, “Not only concubinage, but homosexuality too was increasingly widespread among the clergy…”

Our Lord called the very humble Peter Damian to the role of Prophet and prophesy he did, and in so doing garnered the support of the papacy. 

But then something even more powerful occurred:

“But the thing more worthy of note, Brandmüller writes, was that 'almost simultaneously a lay movement arose that was aimed not only against the immorality of the clergy but also against the appropriation of ecclesiastical offices by secular powers.'

“What rose up was the vast popular movement called ‘pataria,’ led by members of the Milanese nobility and by some members of the clergy, but supported by the people. In close collaboration with the reformers associated with Saint Peter Damian, and then with Gregory VII, with the bishop Anselm of Lucca, an important canonist who later became Pope Alexander II, and with others still, the ‘patarini’ demanded, even resorting to violence, the implementation of the reform that after Gregory VII took the name ‘Gregorian’: for a celibacy of the clergy lived out faithfully and against the occupation of dioceses by secular powers.”

Nabi Sayeth: Our Lord used as His instruments the Prophet Peter Damian, the Pope and the committed laity. Together they were able to restore to a significant extent both sanctity and sanity to Holy Mother Church.

But what about today? What can history teach us so that with the help of God’s Grace we can cleanse our Church today?

“What is similar, Brandmüller notes, is that then as now the ones expressing the protest and demanding a purification of the Church are above all segments of the Catholic laity, especially in North America, in the footsteps of the 'marvelous homage to the important role of the witness of the faithful in matters of doctrine' brought to light in the 19th century by Blessed John Henry Newman.

As then, so now these faithful find beside them a few zealous pastors. But it must be recognized - Brandmüller writes - that the impassioned appeal to the upper hierarchy of the Church and ultimately to the pope to join them in combating the scourge of homosexuality among the clergy and the bishops is not meeting with correspondingly adequate responses, unlike in the 11th and 12th centuries.” 

Holy Father, when will you deal with the scourge
of homosexuality among the clergy and bishops?

Nabi Sayeth: It is frustrating to the laity to witness the lack of acknowledgement of the root of the problem, and therefore a lack of commitment on the part of the hierarchy to do their part in cleaning up the mess that THEY created….

“The risk is that on account of this lack of initiative on the part of the upper hierarchy even the most committed Catholic laity, left on its own, might ‘no longer recognize the nature of the Church founded on the sacred order and slip, in protesting against the ineptitude of the hierarchy, into an Evangelical-style communitarian Christianity.’ And instead, the more the hierarchy, from the pope down, feel supported by the effective resolve of the faithful to renew and revive the Church, the more a true housecleaning can be performed.”

So, what will it take to “get the job done”?

"Brandmüller concludes: 'It is in the collaboration of the bishops, priests, and faithful, in the power of the Holy Spirit, that the current crisis can and must become the point of departure for the spiritual renewal - and therefore also for the new evangelization - of a post-Christian society.'"

Nabi Sayeth: I would like to “Bottom Line” the good Cardinal’s insights for you:

• Know the problem! At the root of the whole ugly mess is a secularization of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church which has led to an attempt to conform the Church to the world.

• The Church and every dimension of Her life must always be “IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD.’ Remember the words of Our Lord...John 17:14-16

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” 

The bishops must stop acting like CEO’s of secular corporations. They are called to be shepherds of the very BODY OF CHRIST. Pleasing the Good Shepherd as they humbly serve His people must always be their goal. 

Homosexuality has no place in seminaries and among the clergy at any level. It is long past time for the bishops to reject the LGBTQ narrative and practice the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. The priesthood must be cleansed and made Holy again and homosexuality is not the way to do it. It is not a matter of tolerance and compassion as the LGBTQ movement would have us believe, but rather, the practice of righteousness, honesty, integrity and HOLINESS. 

All clergy must take up and live a life of Holy simplicity and poverty. Expensive cars, dress, vacations, dining...do not help the clergy in giving faithful witness to Christ. Luke 9:58: ““Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

The clergy, to a man, must promise to live a life in conformity to Christ and their “job description” must be: Mark 10: 45….”For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

There is no option any longer for the laity to be involved in the cleansing of the Church.They have no choice but to rise up, step forward and work to make and keep the Church Holy. Looking the other way or remaining silent when one witnesses unholy behavior on the part of any clergyman at any level can no longer be tolerated. Hold their feet to the fire, and in so doing, you will save their souls. Cleansing the clergy will lead to a genuine cleansing of the Church.

My Friends, We have no time to waste. Souls, many souls, are being lost each day. If you truly believe that “Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life”...please get to work!