It has now been nearly four weeks since the ravenous wolf known as Amoris Laetitia was introduced into the sheepfold, the gate having been thrown open wide by the Argentinian Jesuit in white, and as of this moment not even one of the Successors to the Apostles has come forth in defense of the flock.
Cardinal Burke, in whom many unwisely placed great hope, knows very well the danger that is posed by this poisonous text, and yet, he has decided to play a round of Passive-Aggressive-Roman-Style by suggesting that Amoris Laetitia merits no more consideration than a blurb in the parish bulletin.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller likewise understands what is at stake, but has relinquished his unique duty to safeguard the faithful from error in favor of engaging in some gamesmanship of his own. For those with ears to hear it is rather obvious that he is slyly accusing the humble pope of deception by saying:
If Amoris Laetitia intended to rescind such a deeply rooted and such a weighty discipline [as expressed in Familiaris Consortio], it would have expressed itself in a clear manner and it would have given the reasons for it. However, such a statement with such a meaning is not to be found in [Amoris Laetitia]. Nowhere does the pope put into question the arguments of his predecessors.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider has thus far been the boldest of the episcopal lot (the full communion variety that is), but limited himself to calling for an “authentic interpretation” of the odious text while saying:
It must be admitted that certain statements in AL could be used to justify an abusive practice [Communion for those who persist mortal sin] that has already been going on for some time in various places and circumstances in the life of the Church.
Then there are those who also see the document for what it is – not only a pathway, but more properly an expressway to Holy Communion for practically everyone, regardless of their situation – and they celebrate it as such.
In this camp are hirelings like Archbishop Blaise Cupich, who said of Amoris Laetitia, “This is not about a reform of rules. This is about a reform of Church.”
When asked in what specific situations he would allow a divorced and remarried person to receive Holy Communion, Cupich said, “I wouldn’t exclude anyone.”
The greater number of bishops who have spoken publicly, however, appear to be mired in some form of denial or disorientation or both. It is difficult to say whether, and to what extent, self-preservation and careerism is driving their actions, but in any case the bottom line is the same.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gushed like a school girl after her first kiss, “It is a love letter to families!”
The Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Archbishop Arthur Roche, told Vatican Radio that Amoris Laetitia is one of the “best documents I have read” and “a light in a very obscure world…”
So much for discipline of the sacraments.
According to the Catholic Register of Canada, Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto (who as one of the signatories of the infamous letter of thirteen that was sent to Pope Francis during the Synod may have fooled some into believing that he actually possesses a Catholic backbone) claims to have had his misgivings allayed by Amoris Laetitia.
Most of all, Collins praises the Pope for bringing prudence into the discussion about marriage and pastoral accompaniment of all kinds of families.
“We are a people who seek to include and not to cast away. Jesus wants us to help people, whatever the situation or weakness, to be integrated as much as possible in the life of the Church,” he said. “This is what is traditionally called the virtue of prudence — wisely applying the principles that guide us in our life to particular situations rather than simply, mechanically imposing rules.”
Speaking with the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Bishop Robert Vasa, a longtime “conservative” favorite in his own right, called Amoris Laetitia an intriguing, engaging, and delightfully challenging expression of hope for married love.
“It does not change any doctrine,” Vasa said; rather it’s really more about the need “to accompany everyone to see their own innate goodness and at the same time acknowledge that sometimes our behaviors are not consistent with the moral law.”
Asked by NPR how he interprets Amoris Laetitia with respect to Holy Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, Bishop Robert Barron said:
Those who are in the state of mortal sin and have not received absolution, or have failed to exhibit either remorse or purpose of amendment, should not present themselves for Holy Communion. That has been, and remains, the teaching of the Church.
Indeed, but what Barron and others are ignoring, perhaps even deliberately, is the way in which Francis boldly set about undermining this “teaching of the Church.”
Precisely how did he do so in Amoris Laetitia?
The answer is twofold.
At first blush, it would appear that the much written about footnote (the same that His Humbleness doesn’t quite recall) is the point upon which the entire matter turns; at least, this is where most commentators have focused their attention.
The real epicenter of Francis’ attack is far more fundamental, and that is his treatment of mortal sin:
“Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any ‘irregular’ situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace.” (AL 301)
It is as if he is saying to “those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion” (AL 308):
So, you want to cling to the traditional understanding concerning access to the sacraments for those who persist in a state of mortal sin? No problem, we’ll just have to rethink what mortal sin truly is.
If those who persist in adultery and fornication can no longer be considered as living in a state of mortal sin, then there is no need for such persons to demonstrate a firm purpose of amendment. If this is the case, then no basis whatsoever exists for denying them access to the sacraments.
We must admit; this particular attack is so simple that it’s flat out brilliant. It’s also entirely diabolical. In fact, it’s reminiscent of Satan’s deception in Eden wherein he convinced our first parents that man himself can determine what is good and what is evil apart from God.
Bishop Barron seems to recognize the centrality of AL 301, but he attempts to defend Francis by saying:
The Pope is insisting that one cannot move, without further ado, from the fact of objective disorder to the declaration of mortal sin. The determination of that state of affairs can take place only through a careful discernment with one’s confessor or spiritual director, with special emphasis placed on circumstances that might mitigate one’s personal responsibility.
Nonsense. Adultery is intrinsically evil; it is always mortal sin, period. Likewise, fornication. That’s Catholicism 101.
As for an examination of the “state of affairs” and “circumstances that might mitigate one’s personal responsibility,” that’s not the purview of anyone but God. In other words, no individual sinner, no priest, not even the Bishop of Rome has the power to declare that a particular person isn’t culpable for their persistence in such sins.
Satan, of course, would insist otherwise.
So too does Francis in AL 301; a text that provides precisely what Cardinal Müller claimed to be missing from Amoris Laetitia.
The inconvenient fact of the matter is that Francis has most certainly expressed himself in a clear manner. And in so doing, he has put forth heresy, plain and simple; not because I say so, but because the Council of Trent says so.
If just one of the bishops had the faith of a mustard seed, and a modicum of zeal for the salvation of souls, he would say so as well.
Let’s face it folks; it is time for us to make the cry of Jeremiah in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction our very own:
We are become orphans without a father… (Lamentations 5:3)
This is our punishment for our sins. So few do penance that God will be forced to punish us even more. 2017 will be interesting.
Louie, the bishops of today remind me of the apostles huddling in fear in the upper room as Our Lord suffered His passion and death. Only one, John, remained at the foot of the cross standing by Mary as She shared this horrible agony with Her Son. As you say, where is the ONE bishop today who will remain steadfast as Our Lord’s Church suffers Her own passion? The remaining apostles believed only when their faith was restored after the Resurrection and became True Apostles even unto death after receiving the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. What will it take to wake up our bishops? Did we need another Pentecost? “Come, Holy Ghost!!”
Regarding the above comment:
http://www.catholictradition.org/Tradition/holy-spirit.htm
St. John’s Gospel helps fortify my Faith in these grave times, with three promises Jesus made to the Apostles, (Ch 14, v. 16-18):
“I will ask the Father, and He will you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever. “The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him” but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you” “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.”
I can imagine Our Lady living by those, as she prayed with the Apostles before Pentecost, (while they had the doors locked for fear of the Jews). May she help us now to have firm trust in God’s plans- through whatever is still to come, before her Immaculate Heart triumphs as promised.
Heresy! Plainly Spoken by a layman. So why are the Successors to thr Apostles so afraid of The Truth?
Back to the catacombs it is.
“The inconvenient fact of the matter is that Francis has most certainly expressed himself in a clear manner. And in so doing, he has put forth heresy, plain and simple; not because I say so, but because the Council of Trent says so.”
Citing Trent has no more meaning than a ham sandwich to this group of apostates. To date they are all wearing their “girly pants”. The only difference is size and fit. It’s going to get much worse before it gets better. The clergy and laity are asleep with a few exceptions.
Thank you for leading me to the Novena to the Holy Spirit.
And, God bless you.
Grave matter + full knowledge + full consent of the will = mortal sin. Period, end of sentence. Die in that state and ya go to hell forever. Forever.
Francis and his gang of blatant modernists throughout the Church have officially rejected this with the acceptance and publication of this exhortation. All the mute bishops have also rejected this basic catholic teaching by their refusal to condemn this document outright.
This is the Great Apostasy.
THE LORD IS MY PORTION
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:21-24
So even an public adulterer does not have the mental capacity to know he or she is an adulterer do Francis and Bishop Barron and others believe Canon 915 somehow disappeared? No priest can let a public adulterer partake Our Lord in the Eucharist period due to Canon 915.
“Nonsense. Adultery is intrinsically evil; it is always mortal sin, period. Likewise, fornication. That’s Catholicism 101.”
So why when your lapsed Catholic friend died suddenly in that state was he buried as a VC2 saint in the Catholic Church w/his “loving companion” in attendance? What does the Council of Trent say about that? You have one standard for your blog in the abstract, but when it comes to everyday life you make the same “merciful” decisions as those you criticize–or as St. Paul said in his Letter to the Romans: “Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest. ” Romans 2:1
“The Joy of Luv” gives cover for just such ‘case by cases’:
http://www.hubbardfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Gary-X-Curley-4382447943/#!/Obituary
And indeed as Barron & Chaput and many others have acknowledged (but all Pharisees ignore): “[this] has already been going on for some time in various places and circumstances in the life of the Church.”
We indeed have a Good Shepherd and the sheep not only hear his voice–they FOLLOW it.
“Know that I Am with you always ,even to the end of the world”
“What is this ‘modern man’? Who is he? What does he represent, if not often the man who does not believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and who does not want to believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ. . .who refuses the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. . .who refuses His grace? Men no longer want to believe in the supernatural; they no longer want to believe in the grace of Our Lord. They now believe only in man – in man, who now by his science seems to want to govern the world in the place of God.
As for us, we affirm the contrary: the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We want Him to reign: and that is why we adore Him, and seek to adore Him in a manner worthy of Him, worthy of His presence in the Holy Eucharist. That is why we love our ceremonies, why we are attached to this Liturgy which truly expresses what we think in our hearts, what we think in the depths of our souls: that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist and that we honor Him as God. He is our King: He has the right to our reverences, He has the right to our genuflections, He has the right to our bows; He has the right to songs worthy of Him, worthy of heaven, which recall the chant of the angels. This is what we wish. We wish to honor Him also in our faith, in the doctrine we teach to the young men who come here to receive it: to receive the true faith, the doctrine which teaches us that God is everything and that man is nothing, that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, and that He is the only means of salvation that we must preach to all those who wish to be saved.
This is what we affirm; this is what we believe…
…It is not on details that we are attacked. We are attacked because we want the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ; because we affirm as much, because we do all that this reign might be established – that the reign of God, the reign of Our Lord might be established, the reign as well of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That is why we are persecuted; we know it well.
And particularly by those in the Church who collaborate with the enemy. Unfortunately among those who collaborate with the enemy there are some who have important posts in the Church and who, through their important posts, strive to compel us as well into this pact with the enemy; who try to draw us into compromises that are absolutely inadmissible and that are contrary to the royalty of Our Lord Jesus Christ, contrary to the honor of God, contrary to the honor of Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And that we do not want… none of these intercommunions, for example, of ‘eucharistic hospitalities’ as they are now called. These are all blasphemies and sacrileges which we cannot accept.
“Quis ut Deus?” This is what we must say. “Quis ut Jesus Christus?” Who is like Our Lord Jesus Christ? This is what we must believe. This was the cry of Joan of Arc, the cry of Saint Michael the Archangel that she repeated, and it is this that we ought to repeat, that we ought to keep ever in our hearts.”
Archbishop Lefebvre, 1975
Why don’t you list the SSPX priest who commented so critically about the Amoris?
Clearly SSPX is carrying the cross of tradition. Isn’t time the complaining about Amoris stops and the teaching of SSPX be given its just due.
The traditional Church has passed. It’s over! The Pope and the Cardinals are not going to change their minds. SSPX is the Phoenix that is rising out of the ashes of the Church that burnt in the Vatican II flames.
Louie gets it – the intent is to approve of all mortal sin. Adultery is just the camel’s nose under the tent, ready to tear it all down. The approved prophecy of Akita indicates a schism, so something will happen to force a decision.
The symbolism of apostate Jerusalem being destroyed by the Babylonians is apt, as it will happen to apostate Rome with communists and Muslims. Recall La Salette: “Many shall abandon the Faith, and great shall be the number of Priests and Religious who shall separate themselves from the True Religion; among these there will be found likewise several bishops” and “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of Antichrist.”
Tom V, I agree with you. That is why I worry when I hear reports of SSPX being recognized as being “in full communion with Rome.” Some say this would be a wonderful step toward saving the Holy, Roman Catholic Church. This may be true. However, I just can’t get over my deep distrust of Bergoglio and the Modernist postconciliar church. Even if this “generous” offer were made unconditionally, I can’t help but see a plot on the horizon. The excommunication of the SSPX bishops were lifted by Benedict. Is this Bergoglio’s way of re-excommunicating them when they refuse to take part in the great façade? Prayers needed!
It seems the SSPX will really be ex-communicated this time.
There is an eerie silence in the Catholic world. Faithful Catholics are reeling from the abject horror of being abandoned by our shepherds. The tinny distant strains of the latest banal pope video break the silence mockingly.
We huddle awaiting relief from this madness. We love you Lord Jesus and await your intervention.
Akita, I love the way you have put it. Indeed there is an eerie silence in the Catholic world. Breaking that eerie silence is the banality of this present bishop of Rome who continually mocks what is holy. The eerie silence is prelude to the schism wherein each and every one of us will have to make a decision for God and it will cost. Let us draw very close to Jesus christ and His Mother.
I understand what Louie is saying here in terms of church leadership but in reality we are not orphans we truly have the most wonderful Mother and She is not off in some faraway place but rather amongst us in all our struggles and sorrows. The late, great in my estimation, Fr Gruner has written profusely about what would happen due to the disobedience of the heirarchy concerning Our Lady’s humble request for the Consecration of Russia. We are witnessing first hand the sinister plan of the perpetrators of the Bolshevik Revolution to destroy for their own ends the existing order of things in Russia and the whole world. Our Lady has given us the remedy and we who visit this bastion of True Catholicism all know why it is and must take heart. Her Immaculate Heart will Triumph, however late it will be .
Yes, Theresa.
I was thinking the same. Our Mother has given us the remedy at Fatima.
Tomorrow is first Saturday.
I received a pamphlet from Fr. Gruner’s Fatima Center to aid in First Saturday Devotions. It provides meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary in order to fulfill Our Lady’s request to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary for 15 minutes. The pamphlet also explains that it was/is Our Lady’s request that we offer communion, confession (within 8 days), meditation for 15 minutes, and our Rosary (in a church or in a group) for the specific intention of “REPARATION FOR THE OFFENCES COMMITTED AGAINST THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.”
Each of the above listed offerings must be made with such intention “at the time of the offering.” I have been “making” first Saturdays for 25+ years and was not aware of this “specific instruction” of Our Lady’s.
But just as the pope must conform to Her exact orders, so must we, Her children.
There is still much we can do.
Tomorrow is First Saturday. Under Our Mother’s Banner, let us take our places on the battlefield and fight for Her honor.
Also, another point that Theresa makes above —– that Our Mother has not left us orphans —– is detailed by Heaven in the statue of Our Lady of Good Success.
Although (as Louie explains most clearly above) our church leaders have abandoned us, Our Most Holy Mother (in Her heaven-designed statue of Our Lady of Good Success) makes known to us in an atypical manner that She will never abandon us.
When in the history of Her apparitions has Our Mother ever appeared carrying a “bishop’s crosier” as She does in the statue of Our Lady of Good Success?
http://amazingcatechists.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Our-Lady-of-Good-Success.jpg
Is She telling us (from the 1600’s) that She will guide us in a unique way in these times when the bishops abandon us?
Remember, She appeared to Mother Marianna de Jesus Torres in the 1600’s FOR OUR TIMES.
Of course, there is more to this apparition of Our Lady of Good Success than our limited understanding can grasp.
Our Lady of Good Success, pray for us.
“Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?”
– —-Solomon 6:10
Today is the first day of the noveana to the Holy Spirit. This is a suggestion, but is anyone thinking of saying this novena? We are beginning our novena today.
Here’s a voice to listen to:
Rorate Caeli reports an instructive, well reasoned speech by Roberto de Mattei yesterday, condemning Amoris Laetitia as “a scandalous document, with catastrophic effects for souls.”:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/05/de-mattei-current-crisis-in-context-of.html
“At Fatima, Our Lady showed the three little shepherds the terrifying vision of hell where the souls of poor sinners go, and to Jacinta it was revealed that the sin which leads most souls to hell is the one against purity. Who could have imagined that to the already great number of impure sins there would be added the diffusion of “common-law marriage” often ratified civilly? And who would have thought that this condition would be backed by a pontifical exhortation? Yet this is what has happened. One cannot pretend not to see it…”
“..Amoris laetitia releases conscience from the objectivity of morality….”
“..the number of souls that will go to hell will increase; and all this will happen not against, but due to Amoris laetitia.”
“The current crisis comes directly from .. the primacy of praxis over dogma affirmed by the Second Vatican Council.”
“This Revolution in language doesn’t only consist in the change of meaning in words, but also in the omission of some terms and concepts.” [example hell]
“The dogma of indefectibility refers us to two truths: the first is that the Church lives continuously amid conflicts and subject to attacks from Her enemies: the second is that the Church will defeat Her enemies and conquer history. Yet, without a struggle there is no victory and this is a truth that concerns us…”
We have not only been abandoned to the Enemy but the bishops and priests, generally, are actively colluding with the Enemy and his acolytes in the institutions of the Church and in the secular sphere. They are leading people to Hell so it’s no surprise they will cooperate with those who persecute us for not complying with the evil that the globalist tyranny forces on us and our innocent children. They will stand by as we have our livelihoods, property, our very chuldren taken from us, as we are jailed, and in the future killed, as so many Christians already are in much of the world. Lord, have mercy on us.