This is a quiet and calm directive from a great Cardinal It’s not inflammatory and he knows what to do
Very glad to hear these two child advocates say sensible things such as the need to remove the statute of limitations for child abuse cases. The Holy See should create a new Inquisition of sorts just for this horrendous crime with branches in different countries, formed with lay cut-throat expert lawyers and investigators, that can go even deeper than secular government investigations, and uproot those bishops and priests that are also covering up. I don't understand why the Church can not have its own network of prisons where they can incarcerate child abuse priests after due judgement, whenever the secular laws can no loner act because of statue of limitations. Letting go of a priest and just making him a lay person when allegations have been proved is another big crime in itself - that criminal should be in jail, if not for life, at least for many many years. I can't stand the lukewarmness of our bishops and cardinals in attacking this problem, can't stand it anymore!!! And yes please, more grand juries! many more!
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/...edictions?mc_cid=34d0ba2beb&mc_eid=0cf7b18687 Mon Feb 18, 2013 - 9:01 pm EST More on Benedict’s revolutionary act: his astonishing predictions Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict Xvi The reaction to the commentary, Benedict’s renunciation and the wolves within the church, was unexpected. Many of the 150 comments are well worth reading and I was able to add more information in response to some of the comments. It should be emphasized that the article was written because of a truly extraordinary action by Pope Benedict that was unprecedented in the entire history of the Roman Catholic Church. Yes, there were a couple of other resignations of popes in the past, but the circumstances were totally different. Never has a pope resigned because he felt too tired and weak to carry on. This was a revolutionary act of huge significance and very much related to all that we have been reporting on the international culture war of life vs death. Benedict's radical action and sense of urgency for doing so makes more sense in the light of excerpts from what then Fr. Ratzinger stated in a series of 1969-70 radios addresses on German and Vatican radio. These were published in 2009 in the book, Faith and the Future. “The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes…she will lose many of her social privileges…. As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members…." "…But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret. Pope BenedictSteve Jalsevac/LifeSite And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.” Benedict's Angelus prayers this past Sunday, as reported by Vatican Insider, fit the same theme. He prayed: “The time of testing is here. We must not use God for our own ends.” “When he began his public ministry Jesus had to unmask and dismiss the Temptor’s false portrayal of the Messiah. But these temptations are also a false portrayal of man, which threaten our conscience, disguised as proposals that seem convenient, efficient and even good.” “The Temptor is devious: he does not push us towards evil directly, but towards a false good, making us believe that the real things that matter are power and whatever satisfies our primary needs." Christopher Manion in Crisis Magazine reports that in 2012 Benedict "promulgated Intima Ecclesiae Natura, a law whose consequences will have a serious and lasting impact, especially in the United States." He is referring to the Motu Propio that LifeSite News extensively reported on. Manion says, In the next twenty years, we will witness one of the biggest shifts in Church’s educational and charitable activities. When Intima Ecclesiae Natura, is fully implemented, the Church will have to sever its ties with an increasingly hostile, even hedonistic, secular government, and cease accepting government funding for its charities, its educational institutions, and its hospitals. The results will be revolutionary—and liberating. LifeSiteNews readers have been seeing the shocking, anti-life scandals that have resulted from this reliance on government largesse in reading our numerous investigative findings on the Canadian bishops' Development and Peace agency and Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in the United States. Benedict has set in motion dramatic processes to correct the abuses and damages and steer all Catholic agencies back onto their correct path of being part of the evangelizing mission of the Church. Very many have strayed far from that primary role of Christian charities and in fact, as we have shown, many Catholic Church-funded groups actively oppose Christian principles on life, family and other crucial issues. Australian Cardinal George Pell's response to the resignation explains more of why Benedict felt he had to make way for a more energetic pope to carry on the multifaceted reforms that he began. Pell states, as reported by CathNews: The new Pope must save the Catholic Church from waning influence amid the evils of modern society "If we go under, we surrender to the tides that are breaking up families, decreasing the birth rate, the challenges of alcoholism and drugs and pornography. If we collapse or we wobble disastrously, it won't be for the good of the western world at all," he said. We are in for tumultuous times, but should see it all as very necessary for the long term good. The role of most of us will be to pray and live much better than we have been in order to help bring about the reform and healing of our spiritually and morally sick world. In LifeSiteNews, we have often remarked that the pattern of all the moral crises that we have been reporting these past 16 years seems to be directly related to the decline of religious belief and practise in the world. There is an observable cause and effect. Pope Benedict has made it very plain that the disease must be treated urgently and dramatically and that there is indeed every reason for hope for the future if the required, clearly needed changes are made. Peace in Christ and through His Mother...OUR Mother Guess we need more roasarys.
In a way, if the current massive wave of criminal scandals triggers a persecution of the Church, it will become very small - unconvinced people will flee as they won't stand the pressure or the scandal. We will have to go back to the catacombs, celebrating mass in garages and homes. This may sound really bad, but actually, it would be a good way to purify the Church, because all the corrupt, lukewarm or criminal networks at all levels (lay, priests, bishops) will flee the Church seeing that it has no moneys, no influence whatsoever in political affairs and that there is nothing for them to gain - what progressive mind would care about changing Church doctrine if the Church is just a bunch of people in the margins of society? - so yes, this may actually be a great solution to a re-start in our current situation!
This is where I get my sense of need to find those locally who are more focused on Christ's Church. As someone born in '66, not saying I don't have much to learn. I will say I have found myself evolving an truly growing more in this more traditional direction. I find prospects of the future very exciting and FILLED with HOPE! We will all need to know those of like mind and heart, especially which Priests/Bishops/Cardinals would be among us for future underground Masses. I am hoping through my planned trip, bringing even more friends and new friends along this journey.
Interesting...there are those who would recommend taking the plank out of our own eyes first. I fully appreciate that! Yet, what a difficult place for us laity to be in. Our good strong clergy absolutely need our prayers and support, far more than words can express. I have lately wondered how large the case is growing in favor of Fulton Sheen.
It's beyond outrageous. It's beginning to look like there was a Lavender coup at the last Conclave. Cardinal Tobin is so proud of this interview that it's linked on the website of his Archdiocese: https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/the-candid-cardinal/ More about other US dioceses from Voris: Reckon I need to supplement the prayer with fasting.
Cardinal Burke: U.S. Catholic Church in ‘possibly the worst crisis that it’s ever experienced’ https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/c...hurch-in-possibly-the-worst-crisis-that-its-e In this article, Cardinal Burke was quoted as saying something very interesting: “Our Lady warned us at Fatima about an apostasy from the faith,” said Burke. As far as I know, nothing about apostasy from the faith was ever mentioned in the officially released secrets of Fatima. What are we supposed to make of this?
The link to the following website was linked on the LifeSiteNews website. I'm glad to see that the laity are really mobilizing about this crisis. There are two Petitions that you can sign if you are interested, one to petition Pope Francis to hold complicit clergy accountable and the other is to ask Pope Francis to accept the resignation of Cardinal Wuerl. http://complicitclergy.com/# View attachment 8407 ‘Uncle Ted’ – that’s what Theodore McCarrick preferred to be called by his favored young seminarians and priests. He was a high-profile cleric who rose quickly through the ranks to become Bishop of Metuchen, Archbishop of Newark, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. and ultimately the most powerful Cardinal in the United States. McCarrick’s connections spanned multiple Catholic organizations and clergy (see the McCarrick Connections Map). He was a close adviser to multiple popes, sat on a variety of powerful committees and even played a leading role in drafting the United States Council of Catholic Bishops’ response to the priest sexual abuse scandal in 2002. But behind the facade, McCarrick reportedly preyed on young men, including minors, seminarians and priests. Who Should Have Known? “Everyone knew.” “It was common knowledge.” McCarrick’s sexual abuse was well known by numerous clergy and lay persons for many years. But no one stopped him. In the case of bishops who knew about McCarrick and concealed his abuse, the cover-up is worse than the crime. Why? Because those who knew enabled McCarrick to continue his abuse over several decades, ruining the lives of many priests and seminarians. Bishops have special oversight responsibilities. If a bishop knows or even suspects that a cleric may be guilty of sexual abuse, he has a moral duty to conduct an investigation. see to it that a sexual predator is stopped. Failure to do so suggests a lack of competence and/or moral integrity to continue to hold his office. Below is a partial list of bishops who should have known about Theodore McCarrick’s abuse due to one or more of the following factors: they worked within a diocese in which McCarrick was a bishop, they administered financial payouts (or should have known about financial payouts) to settle McCarrick’s sexual abuse claims; they were McCarrick’s proteges and supported by him for advancement; they occupied roles in the hierarchy which would have given them knowledge of McCarrick’s actions. Only living bishops are included on this list. Additional names will be added as new information comes to light. If you have direct knowledge of evidence that suggests a bishop should have known about McCarrick, please share your evidence. Click on the names to learn why each of these men should have known about McCarrick. Bishop Paul Gregory Bootkoski Bishop James Francis Checchio Kevin Joseph Cardinal Farrell Bishop Robert Walter McElroy Archbishop John Joseph Myers Seán Patrick Cardinal O’Malley Archbishop Christophe Louis Yves Georges Pierre Bishop John Mortimer Fourette Smith Joseph William Cardinal Tobin Donald William Cardinal Wuerl cont'd...
cont'd from above, To be clear, we cannot judge these men. As faithful lay Catholic leaders, however, we can assemble the facts that can then be adjudicated by the rightful authority to determine a bishop’s accountability. Those responsible in any way for enabling McCarrick to continue his abuse should immediately publicly confess their responsibility. Those who currently hold an office should immediately resign. Those who are retired should commit themselves to a solitary life of pray and penance for the remainder of their days. Sin and Sacrilege Some bishops are trying to limit the discussion to McCarrick’s sexual abuse of minors only, as if his abuse of priests and seminarians somehow doesn’t rise to the level of a serious offense. Nothing could be further from the truth. All clerics who receive the Sacrament of Orders, either implicitly or explicitly, make an oath of chastity. Any serious transgression in the matter of this vow is a grievous sin. Furthermore, for a bishop to use his office as a spiritual father to lead children or adults into sexual activity is a monstrous sacrilege and cries out to heaven for justice. A Crisis of Holiness and Accountability The McCarrick scandal is not an isolated incident. It is yet another indicator of a much broader problem within the Catholic hierarchy today — a lack of holiness and accountability. As Phil Lawler writes in his book The Faithful Departed, The same corruption that produced the sex-abuse scandal, the greatest crisis in the history of American Catholicism, remains widespread in the Church today. Indeed the corruption is more firmly entrenched now than it was in 2002, because the hierarchy has refused to acknowledge the most serious aspect of the scandal: the treason of the bishops. For churchmen to systematically conceal crimes against the faithful, select and advance sexually deviant clergy and then lie to the public about their culpability suggests a serious culture of corruption in the Church. This problem is not limited to the United States, as evidenced by recent reports involving bishops from Australia, Austria, Chile, Honduras and Italy. Past Response to the Failure of Bishops How did saints of the Church respond to similar scandals of the past? Look to St. Peter Damian: “Listen, you do-nothing superiors of clerics and priests. Listen, and even though you feel sure of yourselves, tremble at the thought that you are partners in the guilt of others; those, I mean, who wink at the sins of their subjects that need correction and who by ill-considered silence allow them license to sin. Listen, I say, and be shrewd enough to understand that all of you alike are deserving of death, that is, not only those who do such things, but also they who approve those who practice them.” — St. Peter Damian We Must Not Be Complicit Faithful Catholics must rally courageous clergy who, up until now, have been intimidated or coerced into silence, to step forward and help to cleanse Christ’s Church. Here are some specific actions we can take to begin the process: Begin a discipline of daily prayer, regular fasting and Adoration to petition Christ to purify His church. Sign the petition requesting Pope Francis to hold complicit clergy accountable. If you have a story of a bishop or a cardinal that failed to respond to allegations of sexual abuse, you can anonymously submit a call to action on our discussion forum. Prayerfully discern prior to posting and maintain a spirit of Charity. All comments will be screened and cleared prior to posting. If you have evidence indicating clerics had direct knowledge Theodore McCarrick’s abuse, please share it with us. We will vet the information and confidentially share it with appropriate authorities and/or investigative journalists. As directed by the Holy Spirit, get involved in demanding action at a local level. Examples include meeting with your bishop and demanding action, peaceful protesting those who were complicit, withholding financial support for those parishes, dioceses and organizations which refuse to take action. There Are Many Good and Holy Clergy We must remember that the current crisis was created by a minority of clergy. There are many good and holy Catholic deacons, priests and bishops who are deeply saddened, angered and frustrated by this crisis. We need to continue to support and pray for these men and share with them your appreciation for the work that they do. The Church Shall Endure The Catholic Church has endured many crises throughout its 2000 year history. This scandal is no different. Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to protect the Church. We cannot allow the sins of some clergymen to lead us into sin by losing hope in the promises of Christ (see this homily by Fr. John DeCelles). Resist the temptation to leave the Church. Instead, offer your anger, disappointment and sadness as a sacrifice to Christ in reparation for the sins of the clergy and the restoration of His Church here on earth.
