Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego, in his recent manifesto on synodality (“Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church”) in America magazine, has done us a tremendous service.
Why? Because he has given us the clearest articulation to date, from a high ranking prelate who enjoys the favor of Pope Francis, of what this whole synodal thing really is all about. He finally puts the guessing game to an end and tells us that the processes of synodality are leading the Church into a realm of deep “conversion”—to a radically “inclusive” Church that ordains women, has no eucharistic barriers or discipline beyond valid baptism (in a nod, I guess, to some exclusionary limits to the distribution of the liturgical hors d’oeuvres), eliminates for all intents and purposes all non-criminal sexual sins from the books, and which openly embraces and celebrates those who have previously run afoul of Church teaching on these matters.
And the latter would most especially include welcoming the divorced and civilly remarried to receive communion, as well as the entire spectrum (apparently) of our ever-expanding alphabet acronym sexual identity movement.
Cardinal McElroy is also quite clear that what the synodal process seeks is a big tent Church committed to the systematic deconstruction of all of the “structures of exclusion” in the Church. He does not explicitly define what he means by structures of exclusion, but it is clear (from what he goes on to describe) that he means all of the Church’s traditional teachings on the topics mentioned above. By direct implication, therefore, and in thinly veiled ways, what he means when he says that the synodal way is committing us to a path of deep conversion to the movement of the Holy Spirit is that we must overcome the current intolerable state of “polarization” by overcoming those who stand on the wrong side of that binary – i.e. those who still accept the Church’s traditional teachings on these matters.
Thus, the good Cardinal’s lament over the sad polarization in the Church today is a faux concern. It is a mere rhetorical device designed to mask over the latently non-dialogical, non-inclusive nature of his message, which is a not-so-veiled attack on those Catholics of a more traditional bent who are the sources of the very exclusionary practices McElroy loathes. He directly links the polarization in the Church with the marginalization of his favored groups within the Leftist acronym sandbox, clearly saying that the “conversion” he thinks we are being called to is the path of a radical “re-education camp” mentality wherein such retrograde folks are themselves drop-kicked to the margins.
This is not hyperbole or some kind of conservative fever-swamp, overreactive tantrum. I am quite sober in my analysis since there is precedent in the Church’s recent history amply illustrating what I am saying. I was born in 1958 and grew up therefore in the lunacy of the immediate post-conciliar era. I was in the seminary from 1978-1986, both minor and major. And so I can testify to the fact that McElroy’s language about inclusion, dialogue, welcoming, diversity, and radical openness are now, as they were then, a grand deception.
What liberals want is dialogue and inclusion until their views prevail—whereupon all dialogue and inclusion end. Just ask any conservative, orthodox seminarian from that era what words such as “dialogue” meant to them back in the day. They will respond with one word: totalitarian. A seminarian in that era fear nothing more than to be labelled as “rigid,” which really meant they disliked that you opposed their preferred forms of rigidity.
There is nothing different or new in McElroy’s language. What it all amounts to is code for the ascendancy in the Church of the moral ethic of secular modernity and its imposition on everyone in the Church via the pathway of deceptively pre-engineered, faux democratic processes designed to produce predetermined results. And since the conclusions reached are putatively democratic, in our modern ethos, that means the Holy Spirit is speaking here in the “voice of the people.” Which means if you object to it all, you are against God himself. And those who are anti-God cannot be in the Church.
This is precisely the move that is now being made by McElroy, Austen Ivereigh, and others, with regard to the synodal “listening sessions” which they characterize as expressions of the movement of the Holy Spirit. Why is this? Because the opinions trickling up from the listening groups are coming from “the people of God”. Never mind that only 1% of Catholics worldwide participated in the synodal sessions. Never mind that the vast, vast majority of Catholics worldwide probably do not even know there is a synodal process. Nor would they care if they did know. Never mind that the questions asked in the sessions were not developed according to the now well-established scientific protocols for developing polling questions. Never mind that the 1% who did participate were also not selected according to any scientific metric for gathering a truly representative sampling of opinions. Never mind that the collating and curating of the various results is being done by a small group of ecclesial elites who are well-versed in the language of Cardinal McElroy ecclesial double-speak. And never mind that there appears to be no forthcoming promise of total transparency in publishing in-full all of the various responses.
Never mind all of that, because Cardinal McElroy and his allies have pre-checked the proper boxes for our convenience. So we can dispense with those pesky holdouts as we move into our bold new future as a “Church on the move” (a phrase coined by Cardinal Hollerich, another papal favorite). But moving toward what exactly? McElroy, without ambiguity, states this movement is away from the Catholicism of exclusion and toward one of inclusion, which the synodal process will show us is a movement of the Holy Spirit as such. Which means that those who think like McElroy will now be portrayed as the champions of the Holy Spirit and those who do not as enemies of the same. And exhibit “A” in that game of ecclesial shame-blame is Traditionis Custodes. Exhibits “B” and “C”, and on through the alphabet, are soon to follow.
But none of this corresponds to what the Church has always taught about the Sensus Fidei as an expression of the Holy Spirit. And since Cardinal McElroy and other promoters of the current synodal path love to position themselves as those who are seeking to implement Vatican II, allow me to quote Lumen Gentium on the Sensus Fidei:
The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole people’s supernatural discernment in matters of faith when “from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth. It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience to which the people of God accepts that which is not just the word of men but truly the word of God. (LG 12)
This is hardly a description of a process of revolutionary synodal change wherein a few random voices of average lay people will be raised to the level of the very voice of the Holy Spirit. Yet, even if the voices so expressed do not represent or even evince the “universal agreement” Lumen Gentium says must be present for it to count as a movement of the Holy Spirit, they will stipulate to it all the same since it is the results that matter and not really the process, a process which is at the end of the day a mere ruse and a stalking horse for a much broader agenda. It is all very cynical, mendacious, and deeply manipulative.
In reality, what McElroy is advocating for is a synodality that is a kind of crypto Vatican III where the progressive wing of the Church will finally have their day absent the peskiness of a universal meeting of bishops in Council, and where the Holy Spirit will be, apparently, quite busy “doing a new thing”.
This raises the thorny question of where Pope Francis stands in all of this. He has said in the past that he opposes any approach to synodality that will treat it as a super parliament for debating opinions on various doctrines. He has said that he will uphold the orthodox teachings of the Church on all of the issues that Cardinal McElroy says must be changed. And just this past week, in an interview with AP news, he was very critical of the German synodal way, which he said is a process being carried forward improperly and in not helpful or serious ways because it is being orchestrated by elitist ideologues. In those comments, he is most certainly correct and they therefore should also stand as a rebuke to the elitist ideologues in the American Church as well, who are advocating that the upcoming Synod on synodality take on the tonality and content of the German synodal path.
But it is Pope Francis who has elevated McElroy to the rank of Cardinal. In so doing, he deliberately eschewed giving a red hat to more conservative prelates from large Sees normally associated with its bishop being a Cardinal. And it is Pope Francis who has made Cardinal Hollerich the relator general of the Synod, even though he too, based on his public comments, seems cut out of the same cloth as the Germans and Americans like McElroy.
Perhaps, as the synodal process moves forward, Pope Francis can clarify this apparent incongruity, using his papal authority, for the sake of ecclesial unity and peace, to rein in the kinds of excesses championed by Hollerich, McElroy, and Co.
In the meantime, again, I want to thank publicly Cardinal McElroy for his blunt honesty for articulating clearly what it is he and others like him want to see from the synodal processes. Nevertheless, despite his clarity, certain theological and pastoral ambiguities remain, which the good Cardinal can hopefully address soon in future clarifications.
For example, what does it mean for the Church to be radically converted to welcoming LGBTQ people in the full range of that spectrum? What does it mean for the Church to be “open and welcoming” to the “B” in that equation (bisexuals)? That we allow to the communion line a married man, his wife, and his side-bar, male lover? (Assuming they are all baptized, of course. They must at least be baptized apparently.)
What does it mean to be welcoming to transgenders? In my own Ordinariate parish a few years back, we had a man who was a lector who suddenly began dressing as a woman and caught everyone by surprise when he began this practice, unannounced, one Sunday at the lectern. Our pastor, a very compassionate man, told him after Mass that he was most welcome in the parish and that we all would treat him with love and respect, but that he could not lector dressed as a woman. The man promptly left the parish and never returned.
But what would have been McElroy’s pastoral solution? To allow the Mass to be turned into drag queen holy hour? And, if so, does this not create “structures of exclusion” of its own for every parent of a child in that congregation who may not want their children exposed to such toxic and risible nonsense? Or does Cardinal McElroy even care about such Catholics since they are the very unconverted conservative obstacles to the Church of trendy inclusion he favors?
The game’s afoot. The stakes are high. Let us wait and see what the Pope’s end game in all of this really is.
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Thanks for the warning. So it is our respect for human life and actual human biology that is their problem. Do they plan to do away with medicine and health care too as this is also directed at our actual human natures. How can one advance things like sodomy which has killed over a million young men in the west? Can we now stab each other in the eye with sticks too?
Medicine and health care went the trip during the covid-19 scare. They compromised themselves for money and government approval, when it was more profitable to kill people than to help them (see federal payment schedule for hospitals with covid patients during the pandemic).
Though folly abounds in the upper echelons of the church, those who love Christ and His bride, the church, denounce pretenders who do their best to remake the church into their own image!
1 Corinthians 5:12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Jude 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
3 John 1:9-10 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
2 John 1:9-11 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
Absolutely! This Cardinal and their associates are not part of the Catholic Church, they are Gentiles with Cardinal’s clothes (that’s Francis’s mistake). I want to think Pope Francis is very patient in trying to avoid a schism and would understand him being so but, let’s face it, the Church cannot negotiate with “popularity”, we are not in the business of being popular, we are in the business of TRUTH no matter what is the price we have to pay. I will rather be part of a smaller and poorer Church that does not negotiate truth.
“Francis’ mistake?” No, this is Francis’ intent. None of this is lacking consent from Francis. He knew exactly whom he made a cardinal when he gave McElroy the red hat.
Exactly! People have been making excuses for him long enough. Few of us knew this from the beginning. No surprise.
God bless you as you strive to serve Him in spirt and truth.
Francis wants schism. He is on the side of McElroy whom he named Cardinal and is on the side of the Germans. He just plays the game. Loves to create confusion, ignore the faithful, and write James Martin personal letters…
Too bad so many of you are so rigid and non-inclusive in your shameful comments. Pope Francis and Cardinal McElroy are reaching out to ALL people, inviting the marginalized and outcasts to our Church. Geez, sounds like something Jesus taught!
So quit patting yourselves on the back and try to welcome people to our Church!
Dear Joe, our Church is not a supermarket nor a cocktail lounge, where everyone is welcome. Simple logic . . .
Our Church is a community of people who have repented of their sins, accepted the death of their old ways, so as to live the new life given by baptism in water and The Holy Spirit. A new life, whose members profess The Creed, with genuine faith. A new life with regular repentance and Holy Communion in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ are our common bond.
The sacramental life & obedience to The Catechism of The Catholic Church are inherent of the shared beliefs and lifestyle of our Church.
Please be honest, Joe: there are many people who do not want a new life. They want their old life of sin and rebellion against God to be normalized.
Genuine Catholics have a love for all those people, too, without any desire for them to become unbelieving, unrepentant members of our Church.
Always in the mercy & grace of Jesus Christ, who invites everyone to repent and believe His teachings; love & blessings from marty
Truth is Truth and Sin is Sin through out all of history. Read the Bible.
Christ called people out on their sins, forgave them and said “Go and SIN no more”
Catholics are being called to accept the sin as normal…and not really sin.
You have to obey the 10 commandments… if you sin then you go to confession before going to Communion.
Why are you commenting anyway. You don’t sound like a true Catholic.
Joe, Our Lord welcomed people on His Father’s terms; He loved them far too much to welcome them on their own sinful terms.
Quit the narcissism, friend; eternity is a very long time.
We already have that inclusive, “big tent” church. It’s called Protestantism.
To suggest that McElroy is not part of the Church is divisive and unhelpful. The Story of Emmaus reminds us we are to walk the road of life in conversation trying to understand the mystery of Christ. In that conversation Christ becomes present and we can sit at the table and Brea the Bread in joy and celebration
Dear Steve,
Rekon you’ll think differently if you read an interview with Archbishop Chaput:
“Archbishop Chaput: Only worthy agenda for synod is one given to us by Jesus in the Gospels.” Catholic News Agency and CWR – February 10, 2023
Ever in the love of Jesus Christ; blessings from marty
The ‘story’ of Calvary reminds us of the walking and conversation of Christ with, if we do not say yes we remain without Him, a goat, only the repentant Dismas hears the conversation ‘this day you will be with Me in Paradise’….the unrepentant goat hears to his conversing with Jesus, silence on Calvary, in the end, Christ’s conversation is [Mt 25],’away from Me into Eternal Punishment’ you did not visit or free those imprisoned in sin, you did not cover their garden nakedness nor feed their hunger and thirst for My Saving Words, I who wished to be the Shepherd whose Voice they heard and followed, you did not free then from the devils deceits and damnation… when you speak against Christ and try to harm and persecute Him, your hope should be to receive the grace Saint Saul/Paul received so that you can return to the Household of God and put aside the evils of being a goat…Lents blessings, Father
As a convert and one who was not raised a Catholic, I have tried to educate myself over the years on the exact definition on what is meant by a sin against the Holy Spirit as to be extra cautious against committing it, and I have been confused over discovering several conflicting definitions. But witnessing this silly “Synodal Process” has pretty much resolved the confusion. When “princes of the Church” are so freewheeling about trashing what the Holy Spirit has endowed to the Church over centuries, sought to replace it with profound idiocies that even an immature teenager can see through, and calling such idiocy the work of the Holy Spirit, well it pretty much makes crystal clear of what it means to sin against the Holy Spirit.
Dear Edward:
That you are concerned that you may sin against the Holy Spirt, gives evidence of your reborn spirit and that God’s Holy Spirit dwells within you. This reminds you of your salvation which is assured by your belief in Jesus Christ. Showing worry about the matter, demonstrates one has not grieved the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
If you would like to address that matter more fully, it would be an honour.
Your in Christ,
Brian
I agree, Edward. When I was in school (a long time ago!) we were taught that it is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins and call us to repentance. Hence, a sin against Him would be to insist that what is sinful is actually good, or what is good is actually sinful.
I fully agree … sins need to be FREQUENTLY confessed … to avoid the complacency … everyone goes to Heaven … sins can become habitual and difficult to rid of … frequent Confession attacks demons in the Soul and rids them …mortal sins are forgiven in Confession … but if not confessed
Sins compound … that only Confession will clean the soul of sin and demons … the Archdiocese should allow priests in all parishes to reschedule Confessions weekdays to all people come to Confession with daily Mass … the early morning Mass and Confession only accommodates the older retirement folks … what’s needed is Confession with 12:00
Mass for the working sector … people will come …. It works!
sins become a breeding ground for demons and control of the Soul …
control … unfortunately Confession is mostly not available on
weekdays and maybe an hour or two on Saturday. This
supports the “all go to Heaven” concept … and many disregarding Confession line up receiving the Holy Eucharist sacrilegious … if the Archdiocese is truly concerned with saving Souls for Heaven … then allow the parish priests to schedule Confessions weekdays … and tell the people why
of going to Confession … and witnessing long lines of
parishioners going to receive Communion … some
sacriligious while in mortal sin … for starters … reschedule Confessions for weekdays and tell the parishioners of why it’s being done … like starting on Ash Wednesday … with a Homily on … Death … Judgment … Heaven … Hell… mGb
Thank you, Larry for this brilliantly informed and informative article.
“The game’s afoot. The stakes are high.”
Couldn’t be higher than instructing the faithful that obdurately unrepentant sinners are included; and, that any of us who think this is wrong are the real sinners.
Did any Catholic ever think we’d hear Church leaders declare that homosexual sinning can be so tender and loving as to be Eucharistic? Saint Peter Damian please pray for us.
Always in the grace & mercy of Jesus Christ; love & blessings to all from marty
Dear Dr Marty:
Carl O brings us solid expository writers that leave us better than when we started. Our faith is such a precious gift and needs to be nurtured, so too as we need to eat! The dialogue that follows the article, gives us encouragement that we are not alone.
Courage to rebuke is vital. Not everyone who wraps themselves in priestly garments is a fit teacher.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
1 Corinthians 2:5 So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Blessings of peace and discernment as you and others spur us onwards,
Brian
McElroy- a Cardinal in the Protestant Branch of the Catholic Church. Schism is a fact.
A wider tent? What makes Protestants so evil?
Are you too a protestant masquerading as a Catholic like Robert McElroy, Morgan?
Interesting theology, but not the Beloved’s nor biblical…by Baptism everyone is already catholic, just imperfectly so…for there is “only One Baptism, One Faith, One Church/Body/Spouse”… everyone is already in the Covenant Tent, but not in the manner and mystery the Beloved gave us or called us too…
There is no protestant branch of the catholic church……….he’s 100% catholic
The Protestant branch of the Catholic Church is invisible. Like sin, it prefers to be in the dark.
“Let us wait and see what the Pope’s end game in all of this really is.”
Are you kidding?
Whose idea is the whole Vatican III synod of synods farce from start to finish? Who is the one who has pushed this farce with winks and nods for the past 10 years? Who is the one who appointed as synod ringleaders homo-heretics Hollerich, Grech, McElroy, Cupich, and Tobin as “cardinals”? Who is the Sunday Angelus DIE (“Diversity, Inclusion and Equity”) cheerleader of Homosexuality and Transgenderism? Who is the lawless and faithless dictator whose proteges and confidants are Martin, Rupnic, Zanchetta?
Paul:
I couldn’t agree more, especially your opening line.
We are governed by Jesus, not the false shepherds of the parasitic, post-Christian “colonizers” of the Francis pontificate.
Thank you, Chris. I agree wholeheartedly with your view of the parasitic hirelings of Bergoglio’s Vatican Ape Church and the reality that we are governed by Jesus. Given, though, that these hirelings, from Bergoglio down, are faithless, lawless, corrupt liars and hypocrites, the question that must be answered is how a Catholic who strives to be faithful should deal with them. Apart from expiatory prayer for their conversion and fraternal correction of their heretical and apostate manifestos, the answer to me is that they must be publicly confronted, publicly contradicted, and publicly resisted.
“Apart from expiatory prayer for their conversion and fraternal correction of their heretical and apostate manifestos, the answer to me is that they must be publicly confronted, publicly contradicted, and publicly resisted.”
Well said. Drastic times call for drastic measures. The faithful need to apply pressure relentlessly until these false shepherds step aside or are removed from office.
I have written on all of those topics and I have been critical of Pope Francis. I think you are missing the deliberately understated sarcasm in my closing remark.
Yes, I have read a number of your articles on this site and am familiar enough with your content and style. As a 74-year-old with doctorates in canon law and civil law and a professional lifetime of working in the Church, nationally and internationally, at senior levels, I don’t think that I would miss “deliberately understated sarcasm” if it had been there. It wasn’t, and isn’t.
Paul, yet you missed it, how?
I agree 100%. To hope that ‘Pope Francis can clarify this apparent incongruity” is the acme of wishful thinking or, if meant sincerely rather than sarcastically, self deceptively naive.
Good point, dear Carmel.
Those who consider that the current Pope has subtly engineered the whole script of yoking Jesus-loving & obeying Catholics with Jesus-despising and disobeying ‘Catholics’ in a broad tent, have plenty of supporting evidence.
YET: let’s pray that this Pope be overcome by the power of The Holy Spirit of Christ, acknowledge his errors, and be transformed (like Saul of Tarsus), so as to do what popes exist to do: that has always been to faithfully represent The New Testament Apostolic witness to Christ, come hell or highwater.
Always in the grace & mercy of Jesus Christ; love & blessings from marty
Dear Dr Marty:
Righteous prayers come from righteous men.
God bless you dear brother,
Brian
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
It almost sounds like there’s no more sin. Everything is okay. No worries. Why does it seem that “progressives” ruin everything they touch?
Chapp asks, what does it all mean? Four points:
FIRST, it means that IF one is obsequious toward the homosexual culture, THEN one has bought into an erosive and intellectually-genetic (not biologically genetic) “orientation” that ALL binary distinctions must be penetrated and dissolved. All that the Church responsibly upholds and teaches is, therefore, a “polarity” to be replaced by synodality.
The “throwaway society” is mimicked in the Throwaway Church!
SECOND, the “tension” (etc.) exposed by synodality, then, is nothing less than the fact that 60% of Catholics in the United States already are totally duped, in that they are willing to accept gay marriage as a civil right (rite!) rather than being a poison pill for the the baked-in natural law and entire Church (and millennia of Civilization). One is even reminded of the inebriated passengers on the deck of the Titanic who thought that falling ice chunks on the deck were simply another plaything on the Shuffleboard courts!
THIRD, the hour is late…as for McElroy’s “crypto Vatican III,” when the bishops actually DO meet this year and in 2024, should we watch for the Synod on Synodality being positioned, so to speak, to penetrate and radically update even the first ecumenical council—the Council of Nicaea (https://www.catholicworldreport.com/category/the-dispatch/)? Do councils still exist, and have a future at all? Instead, the “endless journey” of a tautological, bottoms up (!), and ongoing Synod on Synodality?
FOURTH, we “backward”-types (“rigid bigots!”), who adhere to doctrinal and moral soundness and clarity, and the magisterium (what’s that?) of course still will be included! Butt as only one option among many within the “big tent” pseudo-church…In the same way that binary marriage still remains an obsolete option within the flattened spectrum imposed by the oxymoron “gay marriage.”
So, while the poison pills scattered throughout the synodal word-puzzles might not be explicitly endorsed by the new big-tent/plebiscite (c)hurch, neither will they be rejected. Silence at the center, as in the response to the dubia–which opened the trapdoor to where we are now…
Is THIS “the endgame” queried by Chapp? As a former President put it after multitasking with Monica in the Oval Office (and himself a Protestant who received the Eucharist on April Fools’ Day in South Africa, back in 1998):
“It all depends on what the meaning of is is!”
We’re supposed to listen, not direct, the Holy Spirit. Cardinal McElroy would do well to immerse himself in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to direct him instead of going it on his own, as is evidenced by his truly awful essay in America Magazine.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Satan is the greatest deceiver…..lots of deception is being revealed and continued in the Catholic church……is anyone besides me starting to see the connection??
Every SSPX chapel and TLM parish should boost the topline number on their capital campaigns.
Radical Inclusion? One wonders if the good Cardinal has actually ever read the Bible:
Jesus – MT 10:14-15 “Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”
Jesus – MT 18:15-17 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Jesus – LK 10:10-12 “Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”
St. Paul – ROM 16:17-18 I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded.
St. Paul – 1 COR 5:1-2 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
St. Paul – 1 COR 5 11-13 But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person. For why should I be judging outsiders? Is it not your business to judge those within? God will judge those outside. “Purge the evil person from your midst.”
St. Paul – 2 COR 6:14-16 Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Be′lial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
St. Paul – EPH 5:6-8 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
St. Paul – 2 THES 3:14 If anyone does not obey our word as expressed in this letter, take note of this person not to associate with him, that he may be put to shame.
St. Paul – 2 TIM 3:1-5 But understand this: there will be terrifying times in the last days. People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, as they make a pretense of religion but deny its power. Reject them.
St. Paul – TITUS 3: 10-11 After a first and second warning, break off contact with a heretic, realizing that such a person is perverted and sinful and stands self-condemned.
St. John – 2 JN 9-11 Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him in your house or even greet him; for whoever greets him shares in his evil works.
It’s been my impression that we already have dozens of denominations that have taken this path of conforming to the orthodoxies of the age. How are they doing at retaining faithful congregations when teaching and positions are little different than one can get by watching TV from the comfort of their couch? The very people the innovators are pandering to will have little or no interest in the Church as soon as they achieve what they want–conformance to the culture of the moment and the irrelevancy of the Church.
That’s the whole point, isn’t it? People who do not have the Church’s best interest in mind know how that strategy has diminished Protestant denominations. The more a congregation takes it values from the world the faster it shrinks & ages. And eventually becomes irrelevant.
The Church & the Family are the last two roadblocks to an all-powerful secular state. Hence the pressure, divisions, & attacks.
As the Anglican divine William Ralph Inge aptly put it long ago: He who marries the spirit of the age is soon left a widower.
Thank you, Mr. Chapp, for calling our attention to this *deeply* disturbing revelation from a leader of our church.
It is clear that the evil ratfaced character is in the process of replacing the truest, most beautiful human institution ever seen on earth, the Holy Catholic Church, with a faux church in which serious sin — which inevitably leads to misery and death — is celebrated as love and acceptance.
We must pray, speak truth and never give in to despair. And support precious websites like CWR where the rot is exposed for all to see.
Mortal, I have made you a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. But if you warn the wicked, and they do not turn from their wickedness, or from their wicked way, they shall die for their iniquity; but you will have saved your life (Ezekiel 3:17, 19).
A priest’s duty is foremost that of a sentinel. He must tell the truth come hell or high water, the first condition eminent for all concerned. No bishop, priest, deacon, layperson may give assent to this Card McElroy agenda, which has been the putative agenda of our reigning pontiff Francis beginning with the publication of Amoris Laetitia. Refusal to suppress McElroy, and the longstanding German Synodaler Weg is assent. Assent must remain with and to Christ and his commandments.
Notwithstanding my assessment of His Holiness in this matter, I fully advocate Larry Chapp’s hopeful appeal, “Perhaps, as the synodal process moves forward, Pope Francis can clarify this apparent incongruity, using his papal authority, for the sake of ecclesial unity and peace, to rein in the kinds of excesses championed by Hollerich, McElroy, and Co”.
Yeah, right.
I empathize with Larry Chapp’s appeal, “Perhaps, as the synodal process moves forward, Pope Francis can clarify this apparent incongruity”. Although it’s evident by now that Francis favors a welcoming pastoral, rather than doctrinally motivated Church – substantially indicated by his recent testimony that no one should be refused the Eucharist.
I hope, however unlikely, that he would comply were Chapp, or some other were to make such an appeal.
Fr Peter Morello:
“We are suffering because of the evil of abortion” — etc
Could you send us a link to this essay
Robert Ferrez. Where do you find this quote, “We are suffering because of the evil of abortion”?
The double sadness for me is that in refusing to recognize sin Cardinal McElroy and friends are denying the sinner the opportunity to learn about sin, repent and experience holiness through Christ’s peace. This peace is what’s missing in our world. How can these brilliant men be so deceived by the evil one?
A great question, dear Bern: “How can these brilliant men be so deceived by the evil one?”
In Acts 20:28-31, Saint Luke reports on Saint Paul exhorting the leaders of the church at Ephesus: “Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock . . . I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them. So be on your guard . . . ”
Our Lord, Jesus had also taught us that such things have to happen, as in Matthew 18:7 & Luke 17:1.
Jesus tells us that these offences must happen, but we should be sure they don’t happen through us!
So, right from the start until this very day, there is a clear binary in the Church that we must all be alert to.
No comfort in that but I’m hoping it addresses your question, Bern.
Ever in the persevering love of The Lamb; blessings from marty
God created some people for honorable use and some for dishonorable use. By reading scriptures, it’s easier to spot these people. The Catholic church is filled with these people…. unfortunately, God has shielded your eyes to be able to spot them.
Dear Brian, in regard to: “The Catholic church is filled with these people.”
Please tell us of any church you know of, where that is not so.
Always in the love of Jesus Christ; blessings from marty
Has McElroy fallen into idolatry? indeed, isn’t LGBT ideology a form of sexual idolatry?
McElroy enjoins us to the worship of sex idols through actions of the synodal process, just as Pope Francis brought ecological idol worship of the Pachamama into the sanctuary of St Peters (did this unleash COVID and the closing of the churches throughout the world? you decide.)
If you think this all sounds extreme, consider that we are coming to the end of an era, and meditate on the first command that God gave to us in Gen1;27-28: “And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.”
Consider that the demonic knows that God delivered His first commands to us with the Genesis creation narrative, so if he can conceal these commands from the center of the human spirit, he severs mankind from the divine lifeline.
As for us Catholics, we wont be fooled if we consider that our prelates today are more susceptible to idolatry, and when they have their way with it, all hell breaks loose.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Romans 1:25
Who would have ever thought that a Prince of the Church would be spewing such Satanic deceptions?
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…Ephesians 1:1,2
The prince of the power of the air is Satan
Do we, the orthodox, traditional believers in Christ, truly “wait and see” the plans of a pope who has more than a few times allowed or encouraged or furthered the betrayal, fudging, misconstruing or misrepresenting of the apostolic deposit of faith handed onto him? Already we have known and seen the saving power of our God. We cannot but compare the Lord’s straight and narrow path to that of Bergoglio and his winged, fair-weathered friends. Those friends are fiends who have, for far too long, raised alarms against the Lord’s straight and narrow road. Their ‘non-exclusionary’ way is sinuous and circuitous. It leads deeper into the desert. We have had glimpses of that land in which Bergoglio portends to live. We do not await more clarity by Bergoglio and his wings. We walk the way of the Lord, and we await His call.
On target, timely and profound. I think this reflection by Larry Chapp may be enriched by Bishop Robert Barron’s latest take on the Synod on Synodality linked here: https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/barron/inclusivity-and-love/
Thanks for the link. I think Bishop Barron is doing his best by his own lights, but I do not share his confidence that “shaking the foundations” is not really what Pope Francis has in mind.
Francis recently reiterated that sex outside marriage is a sin, but that the Church distinguishes between sin and culpability. It is true that my lack of full knowledge or deliberate consent may mitigate or nullify my culpability for sin, but this does not make the sin somehow permissible. An intrinsically disordered act is never a “necessary evil.”
When Francis argues in Amoris Laetitia that I could discern that it is currently impossible for me to avoid sex outside marriage without falling into a greater sin, he is pulling a very Jesuitical sleight of hand. The reason that I am not culpable here is precisely because the sin is a “necessary evil.” This is a lot more dangerous, and a lot harder to call out, than McElroy’s frontal assault.
Who is surprised. Easiest cure is to break their plate.
And yet they defrock Fr Pavone becaused he ticked off a Bishop despite his leadership in the prolife movement. He is still an exemplary Priest for me and many others!!
In the latest breaking news, it’s just revealed that Pavone was not only disobedient to his bishop, but he was also credibly accused of sexual harassment. He was not defrocked because he was a pro-life or GOP hero, but as an anti-hero!
And what is your source for that breaking news please so we can check your claims?
“The Catholic always harmonizes differences. If we see how the Holy Spirit acts; it first causes disorder: Think of the morning of Pentecost, and the confusion and mess (lío) it created there, and then it brings about harmony. The Holy Spirit in the church does not reduce everything to just one value; rather, it harmonizes opposing differences. That is the Catholic spirit. The more harmony there is between the differences and the opposites the more Catholic it is.” (Pope Francis) ????
Very nicely written, Mr.Chapp. But if the chair of Peter doesn’t understand who the Holy Spirit is and how He is sent forth into the world to manifest the Word of God, then our only hope is for Christ to “take back” his church. He gave us His church. It is time for the voices in the desert to start by explaining just what Christ’s church is. We have enough confusion, the people need clarity in message. You provided it here. Thank you.
I couldn’t help but note the pope’s pronoun choice for the Holy Spirit: “it,” speaking volumes about the man’s sense of manhood and the man’s impropriety when discussing the deity. When “it” rewards good and punishes evil, may that great, omnipotent, indeterminate ‘thing’ mete to Bergoglio all good justice.
Yes, trust in the Holy Spirit that these false Shepherd’s will be dealt with in God’s time. Mark 4:35-41 – I am trying not to panic and stay calm. I find doing Vector Dynamics problems from my college old text book that I couldn’t solve as a twenty year old but can as a sixty year old and then calm prayer helps. Thank you Our Lady of Sorrows for that insight.
I would speculate that a majority of these Cardinals are in favor of watering down the doctrine of the Church only to absolve their own homosexuality.
For a brilliant priestly answer to the McElroy apostasy, we have the gift of the essay “A Bodily Faith,” written by Fr. Robert Imbelli, published at First Things, linked here:
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/01/a-bodily-faith
This is exactly what the Anglican,Episcopalian Church did several years ago. Pews emptied, donations fell off a cliff and its end is in sight.
I hope the hierarchical ecclesiastics from the Pope on down realize that us normie pew sitters can’t hear what they say because their actions shout so loudly that the words are drowned out.
The deception is that these so called shepherds believe that they can change the Word of God because they think they can. We don’t really have to follow the commandments of the Lord…just decide your own truth with your personal views.
May God help us and have mercy on this world!
Great, heartfelt comment, dear Lynn.
Yet, in all things, at all times, the resurrected, ascended, reigning King Jesus Christ IS having God’s way with us all. Never doubt it!
It is Jesus’ will that all pretend Catholics reveal their false hearts & rush off like lemmings, through the wide gate, down the broad & easy way to perdition.
Just as it is Jesus’ will for those who genuinely love & obey God to find the small door and ascend the narrow way to eternal Life.
In Matthew 7:13,14 the ruling words of our Lord and God and Savior are very clear.
Let the wise of God listen, pay heed, and warn those making foolish decisions.
Ever in the Majestic Rule of King Jesus Christ; love & blessings from marty
Thanks for this article. I can’t believe the shallowness of McElroy’s “thinking”. He is an embarrassment.
Concern for the wellbeing of the church is widely expressed on this forum. Ungodly behaviour is denounced and Jesus Christ the righteous is held up as the head of the church. There have always been wolves among the sheep and the wolves need to be put out of the church.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
It might be relevant to revisit these recent comments:
The final part of an article in ‘The Catholic Herald’ January 31st, 2023:
“So those who wish to change the Church’s teaching on sex offer the following argument: what if the quality of sexual affection between two people who are not married to each other might justify their actions? What if, for example, they reach such levels of ethically impressive intimacy, tenderness, need, affection, fidelity and permanence, that the merits accumulated by all this virtuous emotion outweigh the “sin”?
To drive this home, it might be suggested that two homoerotically affectionate people have kind, generous and perhaps even a charming sexual intimacy; and if this is set alongside another (hypothetical) straight couple who are going through a difficult patch and whose sexual attraction is low, poor, unsympathetic, unsuccessful and badly-matched, then surely the gay sexual intimacy is ethically superior to the straight and rather more incompetent or unsympathetic intimacy? Is it not even “more loving”?
But immediately we can see that the highest value in this argument is “what kind of loving sex are you having?”. And that is very much a prime concern of our culture. This is the new gold standard of ethics; and not, “what is the category of relationship that you are in?”.
But is the integrity of the idea of a spiritual category undermined or reconfigured by the quality of sexual affection and intimacy (if such things can actually be judged)?
How can we test the growing progressive claim that the category does not matter as much as the quality of the “loving intimacy” expressed between a hypothetical couple?
What would we say to a brother and sister whose sexual relationship took place outside marriage and was incestuous? Does the quality of their “love” (remember always the mantra that “love is love”) outweigh the fact that this is incest and not marriage?
What about the “minor attracted” stepfather (previously known as a pedophile) who wants to express his love to his young stepdaughter with a degree of sincere, intense sexual affection and with a terrifying degree of permanence?
Let’s take the argument in another direction. Let us say two married people feel such an overflowing torrent of loving sexual and intimate affection that they feel its integrity requires them to invite a third person into the intimacy – what is known nowadays as turning a couple into a “thruple”?
The argument that context (or intention) may remove all blame, and by implication sin, will allow the erosion of the monogamous heterosexual couple.
By extending biological marriage of man to woman to same sex-couples on the basis of the intensity and authenticity of their romantic feelings for each other, the category of marriage is changed, and combined with the “elimination of fault”, the concept of sex outside marriage being a sin disappears.
Both James Martin and Austin Ivereigh are confident that when Pope Francis said:
“Every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. Of course, one must also consider the circumstances, which may decrease or eliminate fault.”
That this “elimination of fault” reflects the progressive claim that the quality of sexual intimacy outweighs the belief that the category of marriage is non-negotiable in being able to tell what sin is in God’s eyes, and what isn’t.
Whatever it was that Pope Francis meant when he insisted that “the circumstances may eliminate fault”, the progressives insist he intended to and is changing Catholic teaching on sex, marriage and sin.”
So: we humans set aside obedience to God’s commands and flout all that the Apostles and Saints have taught us. A clique of 21st century sin-reformers becomes the sole judge of what is morally acceptable and push Almighty God off the Throne!
Pope Francis’ words seem to have all the treacherous appeal of Genesis 3:4, in denigrating God’s rightful authority to set the moral parameters for human life.
I deeply disliked having to write that, but the evidence seems unequivocal.
Then there is Genesis 4:7: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Can we all pray that this Pope wake up and remember that our Catholic lives in Christ Jesus are all about mastering ‘the croucher’; and that he has been given the sacred responsibility of exemplifying that mastery to more than a billion souls.
How difficult is it for ordinary Catholics to proclaim: “God’s Kingdom Come”, when our heavyweight hierarchs & institutes are working so assiduously for the world spirit’s kingdom to take over.
For example: this February & April, ‘Sacred Heart University Fairfield’ is hosting Archbishop Christophe Pierre and Cardinals Joseph Tobin & Robert McElroy in promoting: ‘Widening Our Tent: The Synodal Imperative for Radical Inclusion’.
For this top rank synodalism-soften-up-series, SHUF is flying the dubious flag of: ‘cum Petro et sub Petro’.
We only need glance at Saint First Pope Simon Peter’s witness in our New Testaments to notice that synodality and radical inclusivism could never be ‘with Peter’ and rather than ‘subject to Peter’, they vaunt themselves over Peter and above Peter’s LORD.
We, little ones, thought all the clerical child sexual molestations and deceitful institutional, collusive cover-ups were as bad as it could get. What is being lined up now, is worse still. Hidden in the agenda of the synodalista is a normalization of clerical sexual activity, including clerical homosexual activity, and ‘tender, loving’ sexual exploitation of children & vulnerable adults.
Are the rogue clerics aiming to retrospectively justify all those who’ve been convicted of sexually abusing children and the handicapped?
‘Widening Our Tent’ sounds so innocent and homely, doesn’t it . . .
Blessings on all who love and obey King Jesus Christ; from marty
“How difficult is it for ordinary Catholics to proclaim: “God’s Kingdom Come”, when our heavyweight hierarchs & institutes are working so assiduously for the world spirit’s kingdom to take over.”
The “poor badly matched” couple is likely practicing, what brineyman below calls “sacrificial love”. Wonder—is there any room in the Big Tent for the practice of sacrificial love, self-denial, virtue and all the elementary necessities needed to attain salvation by God’s grace—looks like the tent will be jam packed–faith and reason will have to be left outside in the rain.
Marriage in the evil one’s new “Catholicish” church will not be about children or families — and certainly not sacrificial love.
Instead, it will be about the supreme good that all of humanity requires to be happy — orgasms.
You can see why our Jesuitical Pope Bergoglio picked this McElroy guy to be a Cardinal. He’s ready to move the church forward into a whole new direction — toward hell.
I am neither shocked or surprised by McElroy’s admission of the Trainwreck Synod’s ultimate end goal; that has been pretty clear from the start based on the Documents issued and even the “Art” surrounding this Clown Show.
But I am furious that he and his ilk refuse to leave their Church despite their open rejection and hatred of everything she teaches.
Unfortunately, the man at the top shares their views.
What’s sufficiently clear in McElroy’s elevation to Cardinal, his consequent espousal of radical inclusion, its tolerance by Pope Francis, is Pope Francis’ own words in support of radical inclusion, “no one should be denied the Eucharist, that the only requirement is the garment of faith” – is that His Holiness has adopted Martin Luther’s major premise. Francis’ ecclesial ideology is in essence that of Martin Luther.
Thanks to all those who have included in their comments the numerous Scriptural quotes showing how McElory’s views ignore and contradict the Word of God. He would create a non-Bible church adopting so completely the gospel of secular progressivism that the ultimate endgame would be: Who needs it?
Obviously, Cardinal McElroy et al both need it and want it, and they are moving toward compelling the rest of us to adopt those views as well.
Just adding that today’s lectionary reading from Hebrews affirms that “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today,and forever.” McElroy’s views suggest otherwise. Rather He today is a woke warrior. In the sentence in Hebrews immediately following the above quote, the Holy Spirit instructs us “not to led away by diverse and strange teachings….” We must resist the teachings of all these friends of Uncle Ted McCarrick like McElroy.
Well said, dear Tom in Florida!
How encouraging it is to see you and so many others, so accurately wielding the Sword of the Holy Spirit, that is The Word of God (Ephesians 5:10-17).
May there be more and more use of this by ordinary faithful Catholics, to expose all the arrogant perversions that a clique of morally corrupt rogue hierarchs is trying to enshrine in Mother Church, under the banner of their, ever-so-clever, false version of synodality.
It’s past time for the faithful to bring in a true, Christ-obedient synodality.
Ever in the love of The Lamb; blessings from marty
Words of the Holy Father explicating the Beatitude of poor in spirit –
to bring more light as to what the Synod too may be about –
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-01/pope-francis-angelus-catechesis-beatitudes-throwaway-culture.html
The swords / weapons of the Holy Spirit revealed through the many incidents in The Word – to be used to heal and liberate the wounded , to prevent the wars –
in our times of much trauma , the triggers in the memory to which the enemy too has access, thus capable of keeping many in chains , to be undone by the Holy Spirit .
There is the sword of Elisha that blinded the Syrian army leading them instead to a place where they were fed and sent out – the ‘army of negative thoughts ‘ to be blinded in the Flame of Love of The Mother , to be redirected as an army of praise for The Blood that heals ..
The Sword of Jehoshaphat – of praise – for the gooness of God to scattter and remove enemy thoughts of lust/ greed / pride that lead to the issues of our times ..
The Messianic Sword – in The Garden – Judas and gang falling back as dead at the word of The Lord – ‘I AM ‘ ..allowed to rise up again as part of the Divine Will work of Redemption …to be used for memory of similar occasions – Power of The Spirit as a flash of the Holy Spirit , to free persons from effects of death spirits ..
Cursing of the fig tree – for every unfruitful, bitter , unholy thought / tree – even age old such forests as dried and burned to the root by the Holy Spirit to instead have Life giving Trees of praise in holiness in pure Love for God and His children ..
A big Tent of such prayer and praise and care – for all and each other – to see the Divine Will taking domain – freeing hearts and families from the effects of rebellion of the self will – Feb 2 also coincides when Luisa of Divine Will was asked to start writing her revelations on same –
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=5980
Would not be surprised if most of those who are promoting the Synod are adherents of the above in varying degrees , thus anticipating eagerly for the Holy Spirit to pour forth the Light of the Sun of Divine Will to help make the yoke to be easy and the burden light, to attract all to rise up in Him ! FIAT !
Dear J.P.G. / M.:
Thought provoking! Words that bring us closer to our Saviour are valued. Words that encourage us to share Jesus Christ with the brotherhood of man enriches speaker and hearer alike. Yes, we are to be ambassadors for peace and the love that is Jesus Christ.
Yours in Christ,
Brian Young
Every time I see one of these testimonies about the wonders of Luigia Piccareta and her private revelations about the Divine Will, I want to point out that three of her vaunted works on La Divina Volonta were placed on the INDEX OF FORBIDDEN BOOKS. I have before me the 1940 edition from the pontificate of Pius XII. The citations against Piccareta are on p. 368. Although The INDEX itself was abolished, that did not automatically sanitize the condemned works. Where has Piccareta been thoroughly investigated and cleared?
“Perhaps, as the synodal process moves forward, Pope Francis can clarify this apparent incongruity, using his papal authority, for the sake of ecclesial unity and peace, to rein in the kinds of excesses championed by Hollerich, McElroy, and Co.”
When pigs fly! Of course, we should all hope for the best — I suppose that would be for Pope Francis to gather up all the dissidents, hear what they have to say, and dismiss it all in one fell swoop. THAT would be a psy-op! I don’t predict it but if it happened it would be amazing…
Dr. Chapp: We’re all going to Heaven eventually, right? So what does it matter?
Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Matthew 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Appreciate the Scriptural quotes. The author of this article disagrees with your interpretation. Or with the Scriptures since I don’t see much room for speculation.
Dear Brian Young and dear Brian Walsh,
Let us pray for enlightenment by The Holy Spirit of Christ of all those, otherwise good Catholics, who have been blinded by the false mercy of universalism.
1 Peter 4:18 – “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and sinners?”
How then is God all-loving and merciful? Maybe because all who exclude themselves from The New Jerusalem (whose 12 vast doors are always open) have freely entrained their souls to loathe God and all that is of God.
Universalist illogicality requires God conscript everyone, both lovers AND loathers, as eternal zombie automata.
But: Basic to God’s enormous love is profound respect for each person’s free choices. All those in Heaven are willing volunteers, nary a single conscript.
People write heavy tomes about this but can never circumvent what The New Testament makes abundantly clear.
Ever in Christ Jesus; love & blessings from marty
Dear Brian:
Glad the verses were well received. God wishes that none perish and it helps us to know how He view matters.
All He asks us to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus. He not only saves us, He changes us, conforming us into His image. He also provides us with works (set out in advance for us to perform) so that we know that our salvation is assured. It is easy, yet impossible for some and that is the tragedy!
God bless you,
Brian
Thank you for this excellent analysis of what Cardinal McElroy intends in undoing the Faith of the Church. We all need to be prepared to push back on the goals of McElroy and others who pose a grave danger to the truth of Christ. What frankly is most disturbing is that Francis would elevate a man like McElroy to the College of Cardinals!! and yes- skip over someone like Archbishop Gomez. Let’s not forget that McElroy gets to vote for the next pope! Thus we are in serious danger. Those who believe in, live and defend the doctrines of the Church however are not “conservatives” we are simply loyal Catholics as our faith, the Truth that we profess is neither right nor left — as God is neither right nor left.
Jesus welcomed everyone and asked us to love one another. He was inclusive and saw the good in the despised Samaritans.
Jesus resisted, rebuked, and sent Satan away at Satan’s tempting Him against the will of God. Jesus saw that it was good to turn his back on empty promises of sin. Jesus never asked us to love sin. There is good of the soul in every soul God created, but there is also non-good in the soul which welcomes sin, which entertains sin, and which relishes its dwelling in sin.
Dear Mary,
In the history of my family there have been women & men who honored & obeyed King Jesus Christ; there have been those who scorned & disobeyed King Jesus Christ.
I have loved and cared for all of them equally, perhaps even more for the obstinate sinners, because I know what a terrible fate awaits them in eternity if they don’t repent and turn their hearts to obey Christ.
Take care; always in the love of The Lamb; blessings from marty
Mary, where in the Gospels did Jesus literally welcome people? What he did was reach out to the sick and lost … and did what? Forgave their sins! Get it. He understood what was sinful and needed forgiveness … and then, “Go and sin no more.” Remember that? The reason he could do nothing with the Pharisees and other such like is they believed they were not in need of forgiveness for their sins. That’s where we are with McElroy, who is convinced all this acting out is NOT a sin. Therefore, not in need of forgiveness. Therefore, not in need of a Savior. Therefore, not in need of God become Man to save us from sin! And, by the way, have you forgotten all the parables that end with something like, “and they shall be thrown out” and worse. I know that’s not the side of Jesus we want to hear about, but we don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing the Jesus we imagine. And that’s why we need authentic shepherds, who don’t grovel for approval from nonbelievers, yes, maybe even including the Jesuits at Georgetown.
Jesus didn’t chase down those who walked away in John 6, Mary.
Well said, dear Monica. That is the heart of the matter. Blessings from marty
Can someone please explain Peter’s second letter to the red-hatted, empty-headed birds in the Vatican? It follows, in the NAB translated language even McCarrick understands:
“There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who ransomed them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their licentious ways, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. In their greed they will exploit you with fabrications, but from of old their condemnation has not been idle and their destruction does not sleep.
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but condemned them to the chains of Tartarus and handed them over to be kept for judgment; and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, together with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the godless world; and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [to destruction], reducing them to ashes, making them an example for the godless [people] of what is coming; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man oppressed by the licentious conduct of unprincipled people (for day after day that righteous man living among them was tormented in his righteous soul at the lawless deeds that he saw and heard), then the Lord knows how to rescue the devout from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who follow the flesh with its depraved desire and show contempt for lordship.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to revile glorious beings, whereas angels, despite their superior strength and power, do not bring a reviling judgment against them from the Lord. But these people, like irrational animals born by nature for capture and destruction, revile things that they do not understand, and in their destruction they will also be destroyed, suffering wrong as payment for wrongdoing. Thinking daytime revelry a delight, they are stains and defilements as they revel in their deceits while carousing with you. Their eyes are full of adultery and insatiable for sin. They seduce unstable people, and their hearts are trained in greed. Accursed children! Abandoning the straight road, they have gone astray, following the road of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved payment for wrongdoing, but he received a rebuke for his own crime: a mute beast spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
These people are waterless springs and mists driven by a gale; for them the gloom of darkness has been reserved. For, talking empty bombast, they seduce with licentious desires of the flesh those who have barely escaped from people who live in error. They promise them freedom, though they themselves are slaves of corruption, for a person is a slave of whatever overcomes him. For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of [our] Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them. What is expressed in the true proverb has happened to them, ‘The dog returns to its own vomit,’ and ‘A bathed sow returns to wallowing in the mire.'”
Blessings together with thanks for sharing this.
2023 and the old men are still discussing whether or not buggery is an acceptable behavior. I’m going back to sleep.
Saw a brief TV interview conducted with two, yes, handsome, arm-in-arm homosexuals. And, stumbled into the nature of Shanghaied “synodality” as it, too, has come to be redefined! They spoke broadly of their lifestyle “collaboration.”
What if the created human reality is confined to only the narrow bandwidth of non-binary “collaboration”? That, rather than, say, binary sexual “complementarity,” or even binary contradictions and really interesting differences, rather than only amalgamated diversity/equality/inclusiveness? And, not a manageable God, but always a veiled God as the totally Other!—and who also has revealed Himself? A binary universe of Creator and creatures? What if real dialogue rather than choreographed monologue?
Do we see how “collaborative” homosexuality penetrates from McCarrick’s beach cabin to his tunnel-vision ostpolitik with China? Or, to the non-“response” to the otherwise (as in “other”-wise) engaging dubia? Or, now to Cardinal McElroy’s tutorial exhibitionism?
Synodality—textually abused along the way into a “seamless garment” sort of thing, from cabin-bedroom homosexual grooming to a kitchen-blender homo-genization in the big tent? So, is this the ascendant mindset? God is no longer “Other” than the Process; instead, God is plebiscite “collaboration”–nothing is off the table, or whatever; “enlarge the tent!”
Thank you, Doctor, for your excellent summation. I would only add that Bergoglio is most probably the False Prophet mentioned in the Book of Revelation who will split the Church in actual schism and point out the Antichrist. Prepare for persecution.
That this article even questions Francis’ posture toward this sinodal (spelling intended) toxicity on the one hand gives a glimmer of hope for the proper response, being whatever is used these days to put down a lame horse; but on the other hand, assuming that the author has but the most rudimentary knowledge of Francis’ exercise of the office he (supposedly) inhabits, it is gargantuanly disingenuous.
Everything is collapsing. This decade of Pope Francis has been a freak show.
Laicize?
What he is dreaming exists in the Episcopal church. One of the fastest dying churches in the US.
Our Church is in crisis. No doubt about that. The pope seems to be making his decisions on what supposedly 1% of catholics think. He needs to hear, enmasse, from the rest of us that have been ridiculed as “trads”. Our parish, and at least 7 surrounding parishes in the area never even heard about a survey. People, we need to pick a month, a deadline date and shower the Pope with millions of physical letters that can’t be ignored and the media suppress. McElroy and his cronies need to know there is massive resistance to their agenda. satan is having a laugh and his legions are rising. I think of the purity of our Holy Mother Mary and cringe at the insult this immoral agenda is to her and to the Holy Spirit and I will not follow this ” sin-odal” way. Christ sought out sinners and does not shut out anyone, However, he asks us to repent of our sins and change our lives and not continue as before. As Cardinal Chaput stated “Popes and Cardinals come and go, even great ones. What matters, whatever the cost, is fidelity to Catholic teaching and no excuses need to be offered in pursing this path”. Amen to that.
An excellent and wholehearted comment, dear Maureen.
Yet are not the synodalista busy working the loophole in Cardinal Chaput’s plea for ‘fidelity to Catholic teaching’.
That is: having engineered the election of an amenable Pope, seen some strong opponents off the stage, promoted many fellow travelers, employed powerful but deceptive pr for ‘widening the tent’ to include unrepented serious sinners (as you point out, without proper consultation with the faithful), they are now ready to normalize sexual sins that are repugnant to God, the holy angels, and all the saints and martyrs in Heaven (these sins are highly pleasing to Satan & all the demons).
That is NOT compassion for sinners. Treacherously, it affirms their path to perdition.
The new ‘catholic’ teaching will give the plotters what they want: a whitewash of those many clergy who routinely break their solemn promise of lifetime celibacy; a wink to the ‘lilac mafia’ (homosexually active clergy); and even a lessening of the odor of criminality of the sexual molesters of children and vulnerable adults.
The big question is, how many real Catholics will accept the new ‘catholic’ teaching when the dragon’s egg finally hatches . . ?
How many will choke at even the thought of fidelity to such a betrayal of the Church’s teaching office . . ?
This is a season for intense prayer and for faithful Catholics to wake up and wake each other up to see where the well-organized plotters, with their puppet pope, are steering the Barque of Peter.
This is a time when we need all the true bishops to stand up and be counted.
Always in the love of King Jesus Christ; blessings from marty