Is the Crisis in the Church Real?

I

I've been disappointed in Cardinal Sarah's statements criticizing the consecraton of the bishops without a papal mandate. It's not the first time in Church history that a bishop disobeyed the pope. In fact, Pope John Paul II, when he was bishop of Krakow, under the policy of Ostpolitik, was  forbidden to ordain priests. He disobeyed Pope Paul VI's order that no above ground or underground ordinations should take place. He disobeyed and suffered no consequences and, in fact, became pope. 

Thoughts on the Pandemic from Lew Rockwell: Of "Criminal Manipulators" and "Pathetic Ignoramuses"

Can you find the conspiracy nut in that pile!

Someone commenting about the Sarah/Vigano fight on another blog dismissed the archbishop as a conspiracy nut with all the talk about the virus being used to move us toward one-world government. 

Sorry Charlie, but that's exactly what's happening and the pandemic panic is the perfect vehicle to take many giant steps toward that goal. An article at Lew Rockwell this morning puts it in stark perspective:

Honesty Counts: Cardinal Sarah and the Withdrawal of His Signature from the Appeal

What a sad state of affairs. If you read my post earlier today, you know about the Vigano letter/petition, APPEAL FOR THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD to Catholics and all people of good will. 

Among the several dozen original signers was Cardinal Robert Sarah. But after the letter was published, he denied signing it which led to a letter of fraternal correction from Archbishop Vigano.

Headlines about Daily Life in Looney--Tune Land beginning with THE BOOK!

I'm looking forward to reading From the Depths of Our Hearts co-authored by Pope Benedict and Cardinal Robert Sarah. The english translation release is coming out in February from Ignatius Press. I've already put in my order and can't wait to read it! Meanwhile, it's caused a real firestorm in Rome and elsewhere, particularly among "progressive" Catholics.

‘I cannot keep silent’: Benedict XVI and Cdl Sarah defend priestly celibacy in new book

Quotes to Contemplate -- Add your own in the comments section.

What the so-called "Age of
Reason" ushered into the world!

"From 1789 onward the left has ushered a great and devouring hatred into the world, drawing from a bottomless well of implacable resentment and anger that produced the Terror in the final decade of the 18th century (the "Age of Reason," they call it), the many murderous totalitarian regimes in the 20th that killed hundreds of millons, and now in the early 21st century a mass mania supported by lies, unreason, hysteria, and the denial of objective human and metaphysical reality -- oddly, by people who idolize science and technology." [They are] "driven by metaphysical hatred",,,and have "created a wasteland and called it Paradise." 

            Chilton Williamson in Chronicles, November 2018

"To borrow from St. Augustine, God made us to make the times, not the times to make us. We're the subjects of history, not its objects. And unless we make the times better with the light of Jesus Christ, then the times will make us worse with their darkness."   

                                   Archbishop Charles Chaput 

                                   Pio Laghi Lecture March 27, 2019

Monday Morning Thought: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Are you discouraged about the state of the Church? Are you scandalized by the bad guys in Roman collars? Do you imagine them at the pinnacle of the temple looking down upon the earth while the evil one whispers in their ears about what he will give them? 

Don't be!

Things have always been thus and the Holy Spirit remains with Holy Mother Church despite the ear tickling, scandalous clergy.  Here are a few situations that prove sin is never original and never goes out of style among bad clergymen. It ain't new, but it's not the "rest of the story."

THE BAD GUYS

Example #1

Cardinal Cupich is our own modern Cardinal Wolsey. Just as Wolsey was willing to mess with the doctrine of marriage to give Henry VIII what he wanted (i.e., normalization of his adulterous relationship with Ann Boleyn), Cupich is ready to dump Christ's teaching on marriage to normalize adultery and encourage sacrilegious Communion for the adulterers. Unfortunately there are plenty of others in the Church just like him. (The bishops of Malta and Argentina come to mind.)

U.S. cardinal writes foreward to new book approving Communion for adulterers

Cardinal Robert Sarah: Desacralizing and Trivializing the Liturgy Causes a Serious Crisis of Faith

Church Pop recently summarized a talk given by African Cardinal Robert Sarah about the liturgy. This is particularly timely since my book club is discussing this month the Vatican II document on the liturgy. The Church is certainly in crisis and degrading the liturgy, which hit a zenith in the '80s, played a significant part. The uglification of churches, clown Masses, jazz Masses, polka Masses, butterfly vestments, silly songs, liturgical dancers, puppet processions, removing crucifixes and tabernacles from the sanctuary, and other idiotic variations have turned full churches into empty spaces in many places. And sadly things continue particularly where bishops are married to the world.

Did Cardinal Sarah Get Taken to the Woodshed by the Pope?

Sure sounds like it!

Vatican Denies Change in Celebration of the Mass

Cardinal Sarah made his statements recommending ad orientem on July 5th. He was in a private audience with the pope on July 9th where, according to the Vatican Press Office:

Vatican Press Office Disses Cardinal Sarah

Holiness, did you hear what Cardinal Sarah said? And it
wasn't even off the cuff! We need to correct it immediately!

Are We Surprised?

Alert from Fr. Lombardi: Cardinal Sarah didn't know what he was saying!

Ah well, I was surprised when Cardinal Sarah said it. I had hoped it indicated that the Holy Father actually approved of ad orientem worship -- you know -- like Benedict requiring those who received Communion from to kneel and receive on the tongue.

We can always depend on the Vatican Press Office to champion the left. Let's hope many ignore Fr. Lombardi and listen to Cardinal Sarah instead. I, for one, have had enough of showmen priests and their one-man comedy acts.

Look East! Jesus is Coming.

Cardinal Sarah asks priests to start celebrating Mass facing east this Advent
The sun rises in the east. Every morning the sun reminds us that the Son of God will return. And so, in the liturgical tradition we always faced east (or at least liturgical east) until the madhouse after Vatican II when liturgical traditions were flung out the window in favor of clown and polka Masses and liturgical disorientation.

This One Liturgical Practice Would Make a Huge Difference in Reverence...

Shepherds lead the flock to heaven's door ad orientem.

...and it would be celebrating Mass in the ordinary form as it was ALWAYS meant to be!

Vatican liturgy chief urges priests to celebrate Mass facing east

"In an interview with the French Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne, Cardinal Robert Sarah said that the Second Vatican Council did not require priests to celebrate Mass facing the people. 

"This way of celebrating Mass, he said, was 'a possibility, but not an obligation'.
Readers and listeners should face each other during the Liturgy of the Word, he said. 

According to Cardinal Robert Sarah: In America, God is "Being Liquidated"

Gosh! Ya think?

Thousands of abortions every day and more murders through abortifacient birth control....

Persecution of believers.....

Corruption and dumbing down our children through sex ed and Common Core....

Men in bathrooms and shower rooms with little girls....

War mongering...

I think Cardinal Sarah is on to something!

Vatican Cardinal to Americans: ‘In Your Nation, God Is Being Eroded, Eclipsed, Liquidated’