Are bishops who punish priests for speaking against Democratic party betraying the faith?

September 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The City of God has a problem, a big problem. Many of those charged with protecting and defending her have gone over to the enemy. Some are active members of the treasonous conspiracy; others commit treason by their silence. They are the “nice guys” who want to be liked and admired. They don’t want anyone rocking the boat by insisting on unpleasant truths. So they say and do nothing while the active conspirators within and the enemies without take jackhammers and wrecking balls to the foundations of the holy city.  [Read more here....]

Sunday Meditation: Deliver Us From Evil

St. Joseph, patron of a good
death, pray for us.

I read a sobering article this morning, Father Hyde and the Mystery of Evil, by Deacon James Toner about a pious Catholic priest who became immersed in a child sex abuse ring. It's a horror story to rival Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

As I read the article I couldn't help thinking of the psychological term, cognitive dissonance, believing two opposing ideas at the same time. Clearly, that's what happens when the rug is pulled out from under one -- when a person you believed was holy suddenly is revealed as committing the most horrific evils. How could that be? Is it the same person you loved and respected?

But perhaps a holy "Fr. Hyde" really was pious and good until, somehow, he gradually, step by step, embraced the persona of the evil "Fr. Hyde." It's sobering isn't it? To think of someone we admired and loved, a person we looked up to and respected is revealed as the betrayer. Was he always a fraud? Were we simply blinded by a false light?

Build a Community of Civility to Sustain Intellectual and Moral Life

Catholic homeschooling families:
 monasteries against the new dark ages

I've been catching up on my Wanderer reading since I got back from our Canadian trip and this morning I read an excellent article, Bouleversement by Deacon James H. Toner from the July 21st edition. (I couldn't find it online, but you can buy a copy at The Wanderer website. I'm saving mine; it's that good.)

The word bouleversement means:

turmoil and convulsion; it points to an inversion of things, especially a violent one; but it also suggests confusion and convulsion; it suggests a forceful overthrow of what we know.

Sunday Meditation: A Lament for Bubble Gum Homilies

One of my frequent laments is what I call bubble-gum homilies (or pabulum from the pulpit). They may appear to give you something to chew on but there's no nourishment and all that chewing is for naught. I thought of that today while I was reading an article in The Wanderer by Deacon James H. Toner on Rocky Homilies. Here's a bit:

As critical as it is to be kind...compassion must not be purchased at the price of truth -- any more than, say, "pastoral sensitivity" ought to be practiced regardless of the jeopardy it might pose to what is morally right. There are times when honeyed homilies are as spiritually perilous as the fire-and-brimstone sermons of yesteryear, reminiscent of the psalm's warning: "their throats are yawning graves; they make their tongues so smooth!" (5:9 Jerusalem Bible; cf. Romans 3:13)....