Sunday Meditation: Be at Peace, Avoid Bitter. Zeal.

I've stopped going to several websites by Catholic authors because of the bitter tone and nasty language they use. I hate seeing Pope Leo called names (or even Cardinal Fernandez, although I use his common nickname, Tucho). There is something cringe-worthy about seeing Fernandez in lipstick and a clown nose. Perhaps my reluctance over this approach is because of my long experience as a pro-life activist. 

Some of the most effective voices defending the little ones in the womb are men and women who once were champions of their murder, covered in blood from head to toe. Bernard Nathanson comes immediately to mind. He performed thousands of abortions and even killed one of his own children.  He and Lawrence Lader (declared the father of abortion rights by Betty Friedan and a co-founder of NARAL) knowingly lied to develop a strategy that ended up securing Roe v. Wade. Justice Blackmun quoted Lader's book, Abortion, eight time in the Roe v. Wade decision.

Nathanson, thanks be to God, did not go to the grave unrepentant as Lader seems to have done in 2006. He converted -- first to the pro-life movement and then to Catholicism. I remember hearing one talk he gave after becoming a Catholic. (He gave hundreds after fleeing the culture of death.) The sorrow in his voice was so sincere it made me cry. I hope he had only a little time in Purgatory and is now in heaven surrounded by the little ones. I will offer my rosary today for the repose of his soul and also for Lader. I hope he had a deathbed conversion, although it seems unlikely. But perhaps Nathanson was praying for him. He died in 2011.

And now I'll mention another repentant soul. William Coulson helped destroy the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns with Carl Rogers and their psychological tinkering. He is one of the reasons I hold therapy at a distance; it's capable of so much damage. That was in the 60s and after their experiments with the teaching order, the IHMs collapsed and closed most of their schools. Coulson and Rogers had a three year grant, but called it off after two years because of the disastrous results. They also played a role in what the Jesuits have become. You can read an interview with Coulson here. 

Like Nathanson, Coulson too publicly repented. I heard him speak at a home school convention, probably in the early 90s. He described the tragic aftermath of his work which included a naive young nun being seduced by an older one into the lesbian lifestyle. He wept as he shared his story.

And here's a little personal confession. Back in the 90s when I first started publishing the Les Femmes newsletter in the Diocese of Arlington, I wrote an article agreeing with a diocesan priest who told me the SSPX was in schism. Two readers took issue with me. At the time, I published their letters, but disagreed. And now here I am thirty years later saying, "Mea culpa, you were right, ladies, and I was wrong. Thank you for your courageous witness to the truth. Sorry it took me so long to realize how right you were."

In view of my own past mistakes, how can I treat those whom I believe to be in error (and sometimes know for sure!) with anything less than patience. St. Bartolo Longo was once a priest of Satan. If he could convert, anyone can. Maybe the reason they haven't already is we aren't praying enough.

As for bitter zeal. I want no part of it. I've been getting a slew of comments that I don't post telling me I'm schismatic, a lost soul, etc. These folks don't present intelligent arguments. They apparently haven't looked at any of the canon lawyers saying the excommunications violate canon law. They simply make a statement about the pope's authority and that everything he says is right and true. 

I suspect they all got the COVID shot on the "authority" of Dr. Science. Yes the man in white at the Vatican has authority, but it is a limited authority. He cannot tell you what to eat for breakfast and he cannot excommunicate you without following canon law which includes the right to be personally accused and have the right to defend yourself before the excommunication is levied. So all this talk of laity having to sign a document begging the local bishop for readmission to the Church is illegitimate. We have not been personally accused and have not had the right to defend ourselves. We are not excommunicated and no trolls on anyone's blog or substack have the authority to declare canon law null and void. 

Our pastor today at the chapel advised us to remain at peace, refuse to engage in arguments with those who really don't want to listen, and to avoid bitterness. Good advice. The calm demeanor of the SSPX in the light of draconian persecution is one more demonstration of their love for Christ and His Church. May God bless us with more holy priests who will continue to pray for the Holy Father and do what they've always done -- work for the salvation of souls. The Society hasn't changed since 1988, but continue to do what they have always done. The conciliar Church on the other hand has gone from one scandal to another to the point of putting the plant symbolizing an idol on the altar at St. Peters. Be prepared for worse to come. The cup of scandal is full and overflowing.

Meanwhile, I want to follow the priests of the Society with their example that refuses to allow the injustices coming from Rome to make them bitter. They do not engage in polemics or respond to the local war against them by retaliating in kind. I've heard plenty of condemnation from anti-SSPX folks in Front Royal; nothing but urges to charity from our SSPX priests at the chapel and a reminder that everything, absolutely everything is in God's Providence.

Zeal for the faith is a virtue, but only when one follows St. Timothy's admonition to "accuse, beseech, rebuke with all patience." May Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother protect us from reacting to injustice with bitter zeal.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.