Charlie Johnston.

Can you use words, Little Me's Brother?

 

Perhaps it might be time to ask the simple question! How many people partook of this Terrible & Horrible Confession Event that nasty Old Charlie perpetrated upon the the Ignorant of The Magisterium and all the "Cross the "Ts" and "Dot the "Is" therein .... in that Benighted ArchDiocese of New Orleans? .......EH!??!
To paraphrase Dolours in his above post:
"I'm not suggesting for a minute that Ms. Harper is not holy. SHE could be a great saint for all I know but that doesn't mean SHE couldn't be mistaken or deceived by an unholy spirit."

GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

 

Have you reference to St Faustina that the devil can fake being humble?

I find that very hard to believe as it is contrary to his fallen nature.

 

I went to confession outside in Medjugorje.

I suppose you are going to tell me that this invalidates the confession?

 

Can you site examples of Charlie Johnston's disobedience?

 

Obedience to God must always come first.

As usual, Pope Francis gives sound advice:

If laws do not lead people to Christ then they are obsolete, Pope Francis said in his morning homily.

In fact, the scholars of the law in Jesus’s day were so wrapped up in doctrine as an end in itself, they were unable to see that Jesus was leading people down a new and surprising path toward his glory, the Pope said during his morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae this morning.

Jesus did “strange things,” like “walk with sinners, eat with tax collectors” — things the scholars of the law “did not like; doctrine was in danger, that doctrine of the law” that they and the “theologians had created over the centuries,” he said, according to Vatican Radio.

The scholars were safeguarding the law “out of love, to be faithful to God,” the Pope said, but “they were closed up right there,” and forgot all the ways God has acted in history.

“They forgot that God is the God of the law, but is also the God of surprises,” he said.

“God is always new; he never denies himself, he never says that what he had said is wrong, but he always surprises us,” the Pope added.

The scholars of the law had forgotten how many times God surprised his people, like when he freed them from slavery in Egypt, he said. They were too wrapped up in their perfect system of laws — “a masterpiece” where everyone knew exactly what he or she was supposed to do; “it was all settled. And they felt very secure there”.

They couldn’t see beyond “this system made with lots of good will,” and they could not read the “signs of the times,” the Pope said.

They couldn’t see that what Jesus was doing was a sign indicating “that the time was ripe,” he said. This is why in the day’s Gospel reading (Lk 11:29-32) Jesus said, “This generation is an evil generation,” because it sought the wrong kind of sign, the Pope continued.

The scholars of the law also forgot that the people of God are a people on a journey, “and when you journey, you always find new things, things you never knew before,” he said. But the journey, like the law, is not an end in itself; they are a path, “a pedagogy,” toward “the ultimate manifestation of the Lord. Life is a journey toward the fullness of Jesus Christ, when he will come again.”

The law teaches the way to Christ, and “if the law does not lead to Jesus Christ,” Francis said, “and if it doesn’t get us closer to Jesus Christ, it is dead.”

Pope Francis asked people to reflect, “Am I attached to my things, my ideas. Am I closed?”

“Am I at a standstill or am I a person on a journey? Do I believe in Jesus Christ, in what Jesus did,” dying for humanity’s sins and rising again? he asked.

“Am I able to understand the signs of the times and be faithful to the voice of the Lord that is manifested in them?”

Pope Francis urged people to pray to be able to walk “toward maturity, toward the manifestation of the glory of the Lord” and to have a heart “that loves the law, because the law is God’s.”

But may people also be able to “love God’s surprises and to know that this holy law is not an end in itself,” he said.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/new...-dont-lead-people-to-jesus-they-are-obsolete/

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Garabandal,

I know you to be an ace researcher. It took fractions of a second to find the Faustina quote below on Google.

"Satan can even clothe himself in a cloak of humility, but he does not know how to wear the cloak of obedience." (Diary, par. 939).

On Medj and confessions:

I suspect confessions were held on the grounds of a church/oratory/chapel with permission due to the large numbers present. If priests at Medj regularly held illicit confessions that would have been publicized.

"Can you site examples of Charlie Johnston's disobedience?"

I'd didn't explicitly say Charlie Johnston was disobedient. But I can cite two issues relating to his current tour that involve obedience and honesty.

First, the information supplied the Billings MT newspaper was materially misleading; it said Johnston's messages were "vetted" by three Opus Dei priests. The one spiritual director who spoke to Michael Brown of Spirit Daily said Charlie had gotten some predictions right, some wrong. The only vetting that has been done, of course, is the vetting done by the archdiocese of Denver which resulted in Archbishop Aquila's strongly advising Catholics to exercise caution and prudence regarding the messages and yes, banning* Charlie from speaking at Catholic venues within his home archdiocese.

Charlie's event was the occasion of priests hearing confessions in a place and on an occasion not allowed by canon law. Given that the NOLA archdiocese published the Denver letter in its own official newspaper, it is highly unlikely special permission was granted to hear confessions in the Episcopal setting.

Again, Garabandal, I understand you to be a competent researcher. I am certain you can answer a series of questions on your own.

*http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ban

 

Jesus was describing the law under the old covenant, was he not? We today are under the new covenant.

Peter became the rock upon which Jesus built his Church. We are members of the Body of Christ on earth; we are under the rule of the successor of Peter, and those to whom he delegates his authority.

 

As you have said, you know Charlie and his family, may I ask if Charlie is widowed? I think I remember you writing that he has a grown son(?)

 

Thankyou for the Faustina insight.

I have learnt something new.


With regard to confessions there are circumstances where confessions can be held other than the ones you listed earlier so that kind of invalidates your earlier criticism of priests being present at a Charlie Johnston event.

As far as I am aware a priest can hear confessions anywhere if asked.

As for the disobedience one I think you are using semantics. You site that there are issues of obedience but then claim that you 'didn't explicitly say Charlie Johnston was disobedient'.

You are free to post as you like but but if you make "claims" then you will get challenged for clarification should the evidence not match the claim.

I think with regard to confessions and obedience your position is weak unless you can come up with more substantive evidence to support your claims.

 

Mercy and Justice do a dance together , the Holy Spirit teaches us how to do that dance. That is as true under the New Convenant as the old. Since Jesus in those circumstances is talking about His own disciples I take it what He said is as applicable to us now, as then. If it was not applicable to us there would have been little point in recording this event.

But as to how far we can apply this to Charlie's and others particular circumstances at this particular event, he and others would have to answer to this themselves. They know what exactly was going down there. We don't.

But you know I certainly don't think this is, a , 'Gottcha Charlie! That's you blown clean out of the water!!' moment. Well no I don't think so. But if you wish to continue to suppose you have devlivered some kind of fatal head shot to Charlie with this e cigarette and confession box stuff well, I 'll leave you to it. We'll agree to disagree.

But no I don't think this is some kind of , 'Charlie's dead, I' ve blown him away', Clint Eastwood kinda moment.

No, not at all. But I 'll leave you to it, you have convinced yourself at least. Time to move onto other things.

 

That's right, CrewDog, and it could apply to anyone on the forum, but everyone on the forum isn't claiming to be receiving regular visitors from Heaven with messages to be conveyed to the rest of the community.

Obedience to Church authority does matter. There could be very reasonable answers to Harper's questions, but the absence of answers doesn't make the questions wrong. Anyway, we'll know soon enough whether at least one of Charlie's predictions is accurate.

 

I see a few Teilhardian phrases in the Pope's thinking here.

"God is always new."

I think this one contradicts Holy Scriptures where God is described as the 'same, yesterday, today and forever' (Hebrews 13:8).

The Pope appears to have read, 'God of Surprises' a book by the Jesuit Fr Gerard W Hughes, a priest who opposed Humane Vitae, gave communion to non-Catholics and generally didn't like many of the rules of the Catholic Church because they were 'too fundamentalist'. Hardly a ringing endorsement for anyone to read his works.

When one lives in Divine Communion with the Living God and walks in a state of grace in harmony with the Divine will then obedience comes naturally and Divine Wisdom leads us to want to live according to the commands of God. And the commands of God are easy when He is at the centre of our lives.

Take Humane Vitae for example.

Most Catholics reject it and don't live by it. Why?

Because Jesus Christ is not at the centre of their lives. They place their will and their desires first and are not open to surrendering this part of their lives to God. They want to control their fertility (and if using abortifacient contraceptives, in the process they destroy the human life God wills to give them).

HV is not a set of rules but a guide as to how we allow Jesus Christ to be King in our lives and when we surrender all to Him including our fertility to walk with God in harmony with Him in creation and the bringing of new life into the world. And this can also be done using the natural cycles the God has given the couple to space births for serious reasons in the ways of natural family planning.

I have a good friend who wrote a book inspired by HV and the teachings of the Church. He wrote it for Catholics and Protestants (well worth a read in the link below).

Who’s At The Centre Of Your Marriage… The Pill or Jesus Christ?

http://www.positivepharmacy.org/images/articles/book in pdf.pdf

 

I suppose God can be described as always 'new', because being Eternal and unchanging He is always just as fresh and novel on the continuum of Eternity at any particular point as another. I'd imagine that those of us fortunate to behold the Beatific Vision will perceive it as eternally novel and always as new as our first moment of seeing it.

I don't know if Humanae Vitae will ever be accepted by most people simply for its integral message, but perhaps people will eventually realise its Truth when its implicit warnings of worldly consequences become manifest-the contraceptive mentality's utter malignity for any civilisation that adopts it. But by then it will be far too late and self-inflicted genocide will be irreversible, at least in Europe.

[As for the wretched Teilhard, Father Stanley Jaki, with his excellent synthesis of orthodox Catholicism and proper, verifiable science, is an excellent antidote].

 

Dolours sez: "Obedience to Church authority does matter."
YUP!! Dolours! I'll agree but what we be talkin' about, here in this thread & others, is Obedience to The Church according to Ms. Harper!! Apparently SHE was given a Divine Scroll by St Michael appointing HER as The Guardian of The Magisterium and The Regulations of ALL Dioceses ... Worldwide!! Her Obsessive and Caustic Jihad against Charlie is becoming a Comedy Act! The past couple/three of Pages here have been devoted to HER BEEF about a Priest/Priests Hearing Confessions. SHE DOES NOT KNOW if they were authorized or NOT. Nor does SHE care if the Confessions Saved Any Souls that Day. SHE only cares about HER interpretation of The Letter of The Law and HER, increasingly unhinged, attacks upon Charlie and those that support him. I'll say again! Charlie is Livin' Rent-Free in Ms. Harpers Head .... just why, exactly, we don't know?
NOW!! Ask yourself this question! If you had to "Pick a Winner", would it be the priest/priests hearing Confessions at Charlie's Presentation or Ms. Harper .... Eh!!!???

GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

 

“Kindness, beauty, truth, love and goodness – look how much we can offer this pleading world, even in cracked vessels.”
Pope Francis

I like this line of thinking as all of these 'qualities' are attributes of the Thrice Holy God.

 

And Pope Francis is humble enough to describe himself as a 'cracked vessel'.

 

Fr Hughes is a 'new one on me' but having now read up a bit about him I can see that Pope Francis will indeed have read his book and much more by him as well. I was very impressed by what I read about him and, in particular, the comments by purchasers of his book, both clergy and lay, who said the book brought them back to the Church. I'm afraid garabandal's summary of Fr Hughes above is why he does not understand Pope Francis.

I copy a short extract from the homily given at Fr Hughes' funeral Mass in 2014:

Where to start? I think Gerry would like us to begin with our own experience, right in the here and now, because at the centre of his life was his conviction that “God is in the facts, whatever my experience may be, so the facts must be kind.”

And the facts of this moment of mourning are kind. We are each of here today because our lives have been touched by God through Gerry W Hughes. That much we have in common; but the particular ways in which our experience of God has been influenced by our contact with Gerry are as many as the number of us all.

Perhaps we are family members, as fond and as proud of Gerry as he was fond and proud of his family.

Perhaps we are here because one or more of Gerry’s books, from “In Search of a Way” via “God of Surprises” to “Cry of Wonder”, provided the key to allow us to open ourselves to God.

Perhaps we made a retreat, with his guidance and with his accompaniment as a fellow pilgrim, or in a conversation or a letter we were listened to and invited to recognise where God was present in our lives.

Perhaps we were schoolboys at Stonyhurst, or members of the University Chaplaincy at Turnbull Hall in Glasgow.

Perhaps we learned to help others in the ministries of the Spiritual Exercises in one of the courses which he helped to establish in many parts of the world.

Perhaps we worked with him at St Beuno’s, or Llysfasi, or in Manresa Link in Birmingham, or in his deepening engagement with movements for peace and reconciliation, including Pax Christi and Greenham Common, (just to name two certainly represented here today)

Perhaps we are friends, or we lived with him in one of the communities of Jesuits and others to which he made distinctive, committed, and not always comfortable contributions.

Perhaps none of these brief categories captures for you why you are here: that makes good sense, because another of Gerry’s convictions was that God and God’s loving actions in the world always and inevitably escape our categories. Certainly such short descriptions can’t begin to match the significance he had in our lives and in the lives of those we represent – all those across the world whom God touched through Gerry’s life and work.

But I am certain that Gerry would want us to be aware of our being here in this particular time and place as an encounter with the God who is the Lord and lover of life, the God who leads us and guides us, the God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, the God revealed in Jesus as the compassionate God of those who are poor and are hungry and who weep.


It was certainly a source of regret for him that so many people, offered the chance of walking further in the company of God, chose to remain where they were. For if Gerry was a pilgrim, he was also a prophet. As the Jesuit Provincial put it in the last few days: “He was an uneasy prophet who sought God in the turmoil, rather than in the tranquillity of the status quo.”
But the regret and the prophetic challenges were rooted in a keen awareness of the burdens that people carried, and in particular the burdens created by false religiosities and false images of God. A man who shared his family’s history of major depression, he was sensitive to the vulnerable. As Brendan Walsh puts it in his obituary of Gerry in The Tablet: “he understood and could relate to the unbudgeable feeling of being deeply flawed because it was part of his own make-up.” The prophet in Gerry led him to challenge false and crippling understandings of God, but also to question too-simple understandings of our human experience of suffering and struggle: countless people have found in his books words that speak truthfully to their real experience, and have discovered as a result the liberating presence of the compassionate God to whom Gerry wished to point them.
​

 

The Tablet? I'd rather take a cyanide pill!! This chappie sounds like a liberation theology type. What was he doing in Greenham Common? Condemning those who were campaigning for unilateral nuclear disarmament and the inevitable, consequent eclipse of the West by atheistic Soviet communism, I would hope.