Posted on 09/04/2009 3:19:21 PM PDT by NYer
TORONTO, September 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The decision to permit a grandiose public funeral celebrating the life of pro-abortion extremist Senator Ted Kennedy has caused a rift in the Catholic Church in North America. Several prominent Catholic priests in the pro-life movement as well as other Catholic pro-life leaders criticized the decision, and advocated a more subdued private funeral instead. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley shot back Wednesday defending his actions with some fairly strong words for his critics.
However, the war of words has escalated to new heights with the latest blogpost of Fr. Thomas Rosica, the President and CEO of Canada's Salt & Light TV network. Fr. Rosica took a swing at pro-life activists generally, and his US counterpart specifically for daring to criticize Cardinal O'Malley's decision to participate in and allow the Kennedy funeral extravaganza.
It may be unfair to characterize Salt & Light as the counterpart to EWTN (the Eternal Word Television Network) since EWTN is viewed in some 100 million homes around the world weekly and S&L would be doing very well to have a viewership of even one percent of that number. However, Fr. Rosica's influence is rather large. He was the organizer for World Youth Day in Toronto, is a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and an advisor to the Canadian Bishops Conference. He is, as they say, a man "on the rise."
Rev. Rosica began noting that "As a Roman Catholic priest who is pro-life, I was proud of my Church" for allowing the public Kennedy funeral. He then went on to label pro-life activists with more venom than seen publicly from a church leader of his stature in many years.
"Leading up to the Kennedy funeral last weekend, and in its aftermath, many so-called lovers of life and activists in the pro-life movement, as well as well-known colleagues in Catholic television broadcasting and media in North America, have revealed themselves to be not agents of life, but of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence," he said. "Their words and actions vitiate their efforts in favor of life."
The reference to "well-known colleagues in Catholic television broadcasting" was a thinly-veiled reference to EWTN News Director Raymond Arroyo. After the funeral and burial Saturday, Arroyo issued a blogpost highlighting the devastating effect of the prelates' involvement in the funeral. On his blog Arroyo wrote, "The prayer intercessions at the funeral mass, the endless eulogies, the image of the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston reading prayers, and finally Cardinal McCarrick interring the remains sent an uncontested message: One may defy Church teaching, publicly lead others astray, deprive innocent lives of their rights, and still be seen a good Catholic, even an exemplary one."
But for all the criticisms from the leadership of the Catholic pro-life movement both lay and religious over the Kennedy affair, nothing has approached the vitriol of Fr. Rosica's own commentary. "(S)omething is terribly wrong in the pro-life movement. Civility, charity, mercy and politeness seem to have dropped out of the pro-life lexicon."
"Through vicious attacks launched on blogs, a new form of self-righteousness, condemnation and gnosticism reveals authors who behave as little children bullying one another around in schoolyards- casting stones, calling names, and wreaking havoc in the Church today! What such people fail to realize is that their messages are ultimately screamed into a vacuum. No one but their own loud crowd is really listening. … Sowing seeds of hatred and division are not the work of those who wish to build a culture of life."
Fr. Rosica noted in his post that he has received some harsh communications from pro-life persons. LifeSiteNews has often advised that angry communications are unhelpful and are usually very harmful. Guidance in composing effective correspondence is available in the article, Composing Effective Communications in Response to LifeSiteNews Reports
However, the root of Fr. Rosica's concerns seems to be the fact that lay persons are daring to publicly question the actions of clergy. Fr. Rosica wrote: "Their open and public attacks against Cardinal Séan O'Malley, OFM, Cap, Archbishop of Boston; Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C.; the priests involved in the funeral liturgy in Boston's historic Mission Basilica, (be they Redemptorist, Jesuit or Diocesan) indicate that something is terribly wrong in the pro-life movement."
While Catholic tradition is that Catholics must not publicly criticize clergy in most cases, saints of the Church and Popes have fought against the clericalism that would suggest faithful lay persons may never express public concern about clergy regardless of the circumstances. In recent years there have been many very serious circumstances involving Catholic clergy that have called for strong lay comment, without which some of those situations would still not have been addressed by the Church.
Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) defended the hierarchy in the Church, but also declared "when circumstances make it necessary, it is not prelates alone who have to watch over the integrity of the faith."
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his most famous work Summa Theologica (II, II, q. 33, a. 4) wrote: "When there is an imminent danger for the Faith, Prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects."
The 1983 Code of Canon Law speaks of the role of the laity and states in Canon 212 (3): "According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons."
Is this a serious and necessary occasion? One of the most senior Catholic pro-life activists in the United States, American Life League President Judie Brown thinks so. Brown, appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy for Life, said of the Kennedy funeral affair: “The entire travesty, from the television cameras to spectacle itself, goes beyond anything I have witnessed in my more than 65 years of life. In fact, while we all thought the appearance of President Barack Obama at the University of Notre Dame was a scandal, the very idea that he offered a eulogy in a basilica, while the real presence of Christ was in the tabernacle, is perhaps the most dastardly thing I have ever seen.”
See Fr. Rosica's full blogpost here:
Related LifeSiteNews report:
Cardinal Lashes out at Angry Pro-Lifers, Soft-Pedals Criticism of Kennedy Abortion Support
The breach is growing. Any thoughts on where this is headed?
******************
Absolutely.
Hopefully to a historic climax.
The fat old American church climbed into bed with Saul Alinsky in the '60's.
The world has been paying the price for its despicable compromises with evil ever since.
Sweep this filthy house clean.
Very upsetting. I am heading to adoration right now, and I am going to pray for unity within our Church.
"Through vicious attacks launched on blogs, a new form of self-righteousness, condemnation and gnosticism reveals authors who behave as little children bullying one another around in schoolyards- casting stones, calling names, and wreaking havoc in the Church today! What such people fail to realize is that their messages are ultimately screamed into a vacuum. No one but their own loud crowd is really listening. … Sowing seeds of hatred and division are not the work of those who wish to build a culture of life."
But...but...but...there are no divisions in the Catholic Church! /sarc
“I am going to pray for unity within our Church.”
Unity of Catholicism with Evil?
One would, I think, do better to pray for the Church to be cleansed of fifth columnists like this Canuck Commie.
I don't speak Russian. No idea what this says.
I used to think this Arroyo guy was a stiff, he seemed made of plastic or something. I was wrong, he nails it.
Freegards, thanks for all the awesome pings
You may want to tune in to tonight's program. Looks like a great guest list.
World Over Live - Friday at 8pm - Judge William Patrick Clark, Sr Aide to President Reagan
So Fr. Rosica is upset that Catholics can see, hear and know the truth instead of the Kennedy script that he and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley are trying to peddle.
We were all talking about this after daily Mass all week. Much criticism of the Bishop. Kennedy was a reprobate. And I think the criticism was justified. However, my own view is that we must be deferential to the Bishop in these matters. And as the conservatives gain strength in the AmChurch we just might need to establish that principle when our Bishops finally get a spine and start to hit back against the Left. I guess the bottom line is I believe in the Authority of the Bishop even though I disagree with his decision. Not too many others at Mass agreed with me. FWIW Just my take.
The Bishop has the authority, no argument there. I won't even criticize him giving Kennedy a Catholic mass and burial. I don't have any idea of the state of Kennedy's soul, nor do I know for sure that a public letter repudiating abortion wasn't written; one may have been and withheld by the family at the request of Obama.
But the Kennedy family knows the rules of the Church, and used their power to put on a spectacle contrary to the wishes of the Church. I think they owe a lot of people an apology, including the Cardinal.
Given the scandal, and that he was neither a president nor a faithful or loyal Catholic, there should not have been a public funeral officiated by bishops. There is nothing wrong with any layman in the pro-life movement voicing disapproval. What does this have to do with Canada though?
The pendulum is swinging back in the American Church. We just have to patiently wait until all the kooky baby boomer priests retire. The young men responding to the call now are not in it for the glory. It’s a very hard, lowly, and lonely road these days to be a priest and only those with true vocations will choose it.
The Holy Spirit is still guiding the Church and the scandals have placed priests back in the role Christ had in mind for them: servants of the Church. I feel great hope for the future of the American Church. It will be a smaller, but even more faithful Catholic Church that awaits the coming of Christ. The sobering thought is all those poor souls who are being so poorly taught the Catholic faith while we wait for the new generation of priests.
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Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Schism. Sadly. Since the obstinate sinners refuse to bend to the will of the Church, they will end up creating horrific damage.
If some members of the clergy acted as a Priest/Bishop should act, people would not have to question them.
It will head the way it has always headed. The heretics will leave the church and form their own heretical sects and the Church, protected and guided by Jesus Christ will fulfill its role as the Pillar of Truth.
Hmm. Christ displayed anger from time to time and He is after all, our example. The major thing that I believe most people come away with from the Kennedy fiasc- um,funeral is that money talks and the cardinals and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church listen very closely when it does.
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