How many shepherds have lost the faith?

 

What happens when the shepherds who are supposed to protect the flock and lead them in safety, abandon the field to the wolves? How safe are the sheep?

Many of our shepherds, perhaps most, the successors of the apostles responsible to teach the faith and sanctify their spiritual children, no longer do. Look at the German bishops and their synodal way. They lost the faith decades ago and the disastrous fallout is increasingly obvious. In the United States how many of our bishops persecute orthodox priests and elevate the worst to positions of authority? The same is true of papal appointments and selection of clergy to consecrate as new bishops and cardinals. It seems that Yeats words have come true: "The best lack all conviction and the worst are filled with passionate intensity."

The life of a bishop and a pastor can be pretty cushy if the men in those positions are politicians who love money and authority and don't mind using their positions to feather their own nests. I've watched some of those clergy and the results for the faith are devastating. 

Bishop Schneider believes that many clerics have lost the faith. He recently released a document, The Core Question Regarding the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X available on Diane Montagna's substack page. 

In an interview with Matt Gaspers this week, the Bishop discussed his statement and many other issues relating to our Catholic faith and the current situation in the Church. "The Catholic faith," he said is "crystal clear" but many clerics have lost the faith and are busy creating a new church in the "fashion" of the world:

"A remarkable number of other high ranking clergy: cardinals, bishops, and so on, they have really not more the Catholic faith. They really want another church, half Protestant, half worldly church, adapted to the fashion of the world really, or lost the faith....Even though they have the title of cardinal, bishops, and so on, there are a remarkable number of them in the past 60 years [who] had influence in the Church...[with] an interior conviction to change the Catholic faith - to adapt it completely to the world and to have a new religion that is relativistic, a kind of syncretism. And so these two attitudes are present. It is difficult to know who has the attitude, only God knows. But what we can state is the results, the fruit....It is a tremendous general confusion, obfuscation, darkness in the Church regarding doctrine, morals, and liturgy.

Can any informed Catholic argue with that statement? How many dioceses are ruled by tyrant in miter and pectoral cross? Is it surprising that we are in such a state of confusion and division when the ambiguous statements of Vatican II are interpreted liberally and declared dogmas of the Church that must be accepted by all.

Bishop Schneider went on to discuss the SSPX situation. He disputed Cardinal Fernandez's  statement that Vatican II cannot be corrected. "It's wrong!" Only ex cathedra, infallible statements cannot be changed:

"We must submit our intellect and will to God...not to a pope and to a bishop who proclaims or makes statements, non-definitive statements. I think this is a misuse of the authority which we must give to God alone. And to definitive, ex cathedra teaching, there we must submit our intellect and our will. I think this was a very wrong decision of Pope [Paul] VI who until '67 (1967) when Paul VI introduced this formula in the profession of faith. The Church never used this expression -- never demanded of a Catholic to submit his intellect and will, but only referring to God, to Divine Revelation. And so this was probably maybe a method to force all Catholics to accept non-definitive and ambiguous teaching of Vatican II and all the subsequent papal and non-definitive. [Note: I'm not sure what formula in Paul VI's profession of faith was meant.] 

The discussion continued with criticism of the papal statement allowing the divorced and remarried to receive communion, Amoris Laetitia. The bishop called it an attack on the intellect to force Catholics to accept non-definitive magisterial statements. He quoted Chesterton's famous comment about Catholics not taking off their heads when they take off their hats. It is an "abuse of the power of the pope in Rome to force people to switch off their intellect." Amen to that. An apt comparison would be to say that someone in the military must commit something he knows is a war crime because a superior ordered it.

This entire interview is essential for all Catholics. There is so much error being taught as dogma by our religious leaders that we need to listen to a bishop who speaks with clarity and truth, not promoting novel teachings of his own, but the perennial doctrine of 2000 years. 

Confusion and ambiguity need to be dispelled! Today the flock experiences abuse from many of our shepherds who seem positively eager to cause conflict and overthrow past teachings of the Church fathers and popes. Many bishops demand Catholics embrace the psychological experience of cognitive dissonance. That is, we must believe  a multitude of things that are mutually exclusive. We must accept the irrational belief in gender fluidity and embrace even sodomy of our priests as Archbishop Wester of Santa Fe does. [See Lepanto's report on active homosexual priests, Fr. Steven Rosera.] And he is not the only wolf gobbing up the faith of the sheep!

It's time to fight, Church Militant. If something can't be "reconciled" to the dogmas revealed over the past 2000 years, it needs to be disputed. Ann Roche Muggeridge, daughter-in-law of journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was once so furious she considered leaving the Church. A friend told her, "Don't let the bastards drive you out." We need to discern the true sons and daughters of the faith and refuse to relinquish the beloved bride of Christ to the bastards.

Keep the faith, friends! Not the faith of Archbishop Wester, Cardinal Tucho Fernandez, and other heretics and apostates. Remember the dream of St. John Bosco and tie up your barque to the Eucharist and the rosary. The laity, as a priest friend told me, always bring the Church back. We're in the storm, so we need to bail, repair the sails, and do all we can to right the ship. 

Tomorrow the bishops of the United States will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It would be a good time to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart. Please join me in praying for our poor country and our poor Church.

Lord, have mercy	Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy	Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy	Lord, have mercy
God our Father in heaven	have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world	have mercy on us
God the Holy Spirit	have mercy on us
Holy Trinity, one God	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, Son of the eternal Father	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, one with the eternal Word	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, infinite in majesty	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, aflame with love for us	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, source of justice and love	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, well-spring of all virtue	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, worthy of all praise	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, treasure-house of wisdom and knowledge	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, in whom there dwells the fullness of God	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, from whose fullness we have all received	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, desire of the eternal hills	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, patient and full of mercy	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, generous to all who turn to you	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, atonement for our sins	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with insults	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, broken for our sins	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, obedient even to death	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, pierced by a lance	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, victim of our sins	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, salvation of all who trust in you	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, hope of all who die in you	have mercy on us
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints	have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world	have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world	have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world	have mercy on us
Jesus, gentle and humble of heart.	Touch our hearts and make them like your own.

Let us pray.

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who glory in the Heart of your beloved Son
and recall the wonders of his love for us,
may be made worthy to receive
an overflowing measure of grace
from that fount of heavenly gifts.
Through Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen.