Archbishop Roberto Luckert
Posted on 06/30/2008 1:46:45 PM PDT by NYer
.- Archbishop Roberto Luckert of Coro and vice president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference deplored the founding of the self-proclaimed “Reformed Catholic Church,” whose leaders have aligned themselves publicly with “Bolivarian Socialism” and are receiving financial backing from the government of Hugo Chavez.
Speaking on Union Radio, the archbishop said that the church’s leaders “want to give the impression that the Catholic Church in Venezuela is divided. They are going to dress like priests, baptize and confirm, with everything paid for by the government, which seeks to destroy the Catholic Church and has not been able to so.”
Archbishop Luckert warned that the leaders of the church have no authority from the Catholic Church. “I want to warn the Venezuelan people that the priest that is leading has asked to be freed from his ministry.”
“The supposed bishop they are going to ordain on July 29 was scandalously living with a woman and her children outside of marriage. His name is Jon Jen Shu Garcia, and he’s a young solider of the National Guard who belongs to the military chaplaincy. The other leader is a former priest who left the priesthood some time ago and married, and during an interview in Panama he said that his vocation was conquered by love. We are dealing with two priests who have resigned.”
“The worst part is that this is being paid for by the government,” he said, which has contracted Anglican priests from Canada, Mexico and Peru. “They are going to dress like priests, baptize and confirm, with everything paid for by the government, while the people are going hungry.”
Ping!
Bad move, Hugo. Shortens your half life.
Wish I could find the copy of that video, that priest was so stunned by JPII public rebuke that he knelt down in front of the pontiff.
Wow, I thought he was a crack pot tin pot before, but now he’s taking on God! He is crazy.
I recall the archbishop of Caracas saying, a few years ago, that Chavez needed an exorcism. Maybe he is crazy because he is possessed.
Do you have any more information on this event? Its the first I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t *really* start following Church news until recently.
Would love to see that video ... or even read an article describing this event. Thank you for the post. I did not know this. BTW - the Holy Father is contemplating a visit to Africa next year.
I remember seeing it on EWTN.
The "rebel" priest was in line with the thug dictator and his cronies.
JPII walked down the line being greeted by all the thugs. When he got to the priest he laid into him in front of all the government official.
There was no doubt what JPII thought of the priest involvement with that government.
Other critics said that while the pope championed the world's poor, he was not consistent when he rebuked Latin American priests who sought to involve the church politically through the doctrine of "liberation theology."
John Paul--and the Vatican diplomatic hierarchy--reacted more critically toward revolutionary movements in Central and Latin America. The photograph of the pope wagging his finger at Nicaraguan Ernesto Cardinale in 1983 was widely interpreted as a rebuke to the priest, who served in the Marxist Sandinista government. That image could also stand as a symbol of the pope's critical view--along with the Vatican's--of liberation theology, whose fostering of often lay-led, localized "base communities," steeped in scriptural understanding and devoted to redressing the woes of the poor, was as rooted in the experience of Central and Latin America as Solidarity was in Eastern Europe.
It is in the second row. You can miss it.
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=Ernesto+Cardenal&js=1&ni=18&ei=UTF-8&y=Search&fr=sfp&xargs=0&pstart=1&b=55
Yikes! "Admonicion" indeed! One of those "earth swallow me up" moments.
The Archdiocese of Atlanta sued them and shut them down. I think the grounds they used were fraud, identity theft, and trademark confusion.
Since Chavez has packed the courts, I dunno how far a lawsuit would get. Or if you could find a lawyer to take the case.
That's the way to do it! Good for your bishop!
Up here, I recently noticed an evangelical church with a welcome sign in Spanish and invitation to communion. What a scam!
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