Posted on 06/11/2017 12:57:49 PM PDT by Trad Bishop
First of all, today is the Feast Day of the Blessed Trinity, and so we would wish all of you a Happy Feast Day, and in particular we would wish the Eternal Father a Happy Father's Day!
For those who are unaware or need to be reminded, belief in a Trinitarian God, that is Three Persons, One God, comes to us from our elder brothers and sisters in the faith, the Jews. The belief in the Trinitarian God as described is the universally accepted criteria to receive and accept the designation as a true Christian. So we Catholics should be very wary of those who emphasize one person of the Trinity to the exclusion of the other two such as the Charismatics. Unfortunately, the Jews' rejection of Jesus as their Messiah means that they cut out the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus, from their belief system. We should indeed pray for them. As Scripture designates them as the Chosen People/Elect especially as concerns St. Matthew 24:22: "And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: But for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened." Because they are still looking for a Messiah there's a real and present danger that they will accept the antichrist in their obduracy in accepting the True Christ. As 2 Thessalonians 2:8~11 warrants: "And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the Spirit of His mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming, him, whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved. Therefore, God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: That all may be judged who have believed the Truth, but have consented to iniquity."
The above applies across the board, especially to us Catholics who may be becoming more and more complacent as to our election having been "grafted in". See Romans 11, re: grafted in. Pope St. John Paul II is the one who referred to the Jews as our elder brothers and sisters in the faith based upon Romans 11. He could do so confidently and truthfully because of this "ingrafting". When you graft you make a slit in the mother plant, cut a slip from the plant to be grafted in, and then seal up the mother plant with the graft in it. The Gentiles who were, in this method, allowed to partake of what was coming up from the roots of this tree, the Jewish faith, which was originally planted by God Himself using Abraham and his seed, contained the seed of Christ.
Don't let the protestants who rail against "replacement theology" in Catholics acuse you of such. If anyone is playing the role of replacers, it's the Protestants. Their imitation of Jacob, the supplanter, in pretending that the Catholics who preceded them by 1500 years are not their elder brothers and sisters in the faith, and with how they have changed the gospel, they have usurped the faith rather than being grafted in. It's not replacement, it's grafting in. We, as Catholics, absolutely are an organic outgrowth of the original Jewish faith through Christ and His Death on the tree. So now, these branches all worship the Blessed Trinity.
Therefore, it is vitally important that your Bible be the Douay-Rheims so that you know that you have the Truth. Example: St. Luke 1:28: "And the Angel being come in, said unto Her, hail full of grace, the Lord is with Thee: Blessed art Thou among women." St. Gabriel, God's Messenger not only to Our Lady but to the prophet Daniel, on behalf of God, was the first to proclaim Her Blessed among women. Compare this to one protestant version of "Hail, o highly favored daughter, the Lord is with you." Theologically, there is so much difference that the protestants have no problem bashing Mary, calling Her a terrible sinner, saying She had other children, when they confess only to the virgin conception, everthing BUT blessed, which was God's designation for Her. Whereas we Catholics believe in the Blessed Virgin Mary as Ever Virgin. The True Church, Catholic, teaches us that Mary was a physically intact virgin both before and after conception as well as both before and after giving birth. This is a true and the truth of the virgin birth. How different. 1 John 4:3 is very clear: "And every spirit that dissolves Jesus, is not of God: And this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he comes and he is now already in the world." In dissolving the virgin birth and reducing it to a virgin conception, is tantamount to dissolving Jesus. From this example it's not difficult to see that all should be very careful to know and to keep the pre-Vatican II teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church lest they also fall for the Antichrist. Remember, the devil will try to fool even the Elect.
Our Reason and Purpose for This New Caucus Designation
We must always remember that the devil knows Scripture frontwards and backwards and from side to side. In recognition of that, we know that he recognizes what Jesus said in St. Matthew 12:25: ..."Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand." Satan has used Jesus' Words against Him and against His Church on many occasions. Most recently, with Vatican II he has managed to set up a number of divisions in Christ's True Church. Most obviously among them are Novus Ordo Catholics, Sede Vacantis, St. Pius X, Fraternal Order of St. Peter, The Resistance, CRMI, and a myriad of Episcopal churches (a parish or parishes claiming to be the True Church run either by a priest or a Bishop as a separate entity, aka Independants). He has even caused divisions within these divisions. Like the Orthodox, it would seem true for most Bishops that they each consider themselves a pope with papal authority to bind and loose. This certainly can in no one way, shape, manner or form be called 'Unity' as Jesus had with and through His Apostles.
In recognition of the above, we desire and propose to go back to the time of Vatican II, and at least informally to remove these walls of division. Before Vatican II there was no battle in the Western Church between Novus Ordo and Traditional, between Sede Vacantis and those loyal to the Pope, between SSPX and FSSP, between CRMI and Independants, and so forth. Pre-Vatican II those divisions didn't exist. Other divisions exist in the Novus Ordo Church, I.e., Liberals versus Conservatives, Novus Ordo Mass versus Traditional Mass, those who give Francis I legitamcy and those that consider him an anti-Pope, and those who would return to Pope John Paul II and not contend with Francis I and his dismantling of the biblical tenants of the Catholic Faith such as allowing divorced and remarried people to come back to the Sacraments without leaving as Jesus Himself said in St. Matthew 19, their adulturous relationship.
Considering that the Church on Earth has been since Abraham, considered as the extention of God's reign to the Earth through Abraham, Moses, Issac, Jacob, etc. the high priests of the Jewish temple and through St. Peter and his true successors, all of whom have represented the sceptre of God's Rule on Earth, we allow that He is still reigning, in spite of Benedict XVI and Francis I through the spirit and memory of Pope St. John Paul II and the other true popes that were his predecesors. We desire to put division and strife aside including over the Pope, and look forward to who ever God is going to send in fulfillment of Apocalypse 11 as His representatives, the Witnesses, in what St. Paul refers to in his letter to the Hebrews 9:10: ..."And divers washings, and justices of the flesh laid on them until the time of correction." We see no reason not to use the Tridentine Mass even in English, so that we once again have one Mass, the one that was handed down to us by our forefathers in the early Church to help us to hang on to all of the truths that it contains and teaches every time that it is said, that were lost in the Novus Ordo Mass. With Mass for most people being only a once a week ritual, it should be the one that most reflects our core beliefs with the Eucharist being the center and focus of our worship and our faith. This would be in accordance with "Redemptionis Sacramentum", encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II, which was promulgated April 23, 2001. It included doing away with Communion under both species at every Mass and Communion in the hand. Let us once again be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic and go back to the primitive rule.
We quote from the Religion Moderator as concerns caucuses in general: "Caucus labels exist only for the purpose of avoiding unwanted disruptions on Religion Forum threads. The terms used in a Caucus label are not necessarily precise with reference to Canon Law, Theology or even dictionaries but are intended to communicate briefly who should or should not post on a thread.
A Reply Post may be removed from a Caucus thread if the Moderator recognizes the poster as a non-member.
If you believe a poster is not a member of the Caucus, or if you believe the article or reply posts are mentioning beliefs of the non-members of the Caucus let me know by Freepmail and I will followup as soon as possible.
Do not disturb the Caucus.
Catholic Caucus Designations
The "Catholic Caucus" designation excludes Sede Vacantis, Orthodox, SSPX, and inactive Catholics." (We would propose to change this to non pre-Vatican II and non Conservative or inactive Catholics.)
"Any of the excluded groups may be included on a particular thread by extending the label, e.g. "Catholic/Orthodox Caucus" or "Cath/SV/SSPX Caucus".
Additionally, the label " All Catholic" may be used to include any Freeper who self identifies as a Catholic regardless of his attitude about the Pope, Papal, Infallibility, Vatican II, or Schisms or sects.
The SSPX will be included by default on a Catholic Caucus when (and if) Bishop Fellay accepts the olive branch offered."
So much for that idea of only one version of Roman Catholicism.
I've never seen a single post here "bashing" Mary. Scripture tells us that she was special, unique among women of that time. Scripture also tells us that she was in need of a savior however, meaning that she was a sinner just as every single human being who has ever walked the face of this earth other than Jesus Christ himself has been.
As far as having children, she was married. There was no sin in her bearing children or in engaging in the act that produces them. She and Joseph became one flesh. Scripture tells us of siblings of Jesus.
If it makes you feel any better, you appear to be a far greater sinner than Mary ever was, just on the basis of having posted this somewhat ludicrous thread. Sins of pride and bearing false witness just for starters.
Well, that’s a lie.
Are you going to post your credentials? As it is, claiming to be a "bishop" behind the screen of anonymity is, to put it diplomatically, most problematic.
How do we know we're even discussing "Roman Catholicism"? Are you sure there's anything "Roman" involved here?
Unless you care to clarify or retract your statement my point is again proven.
A person can "need a savior" without ever having committed any actual sin, so your syllogism doesn't really work. A child who dies at the age of two has committed no actual sin. I can assure you that even such a child does not enter heaven apart from the merits of Jesus Christ.
The title of the thread and content deal overwhelmingly with Romam Catholicism. Which version, we’re not sure.
The two year hold is a sinner and does need a Savior. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Ebb tide, I want to especially thank you for your persistence in pursuing whether or not I am a Bishop. It turns out that that is a part of the answer to my prayers. I was consecrated a Bishop in the Traditional Rite some nineteen years ago. Thus my pseudonym, Trad Bishop. Like the centurion in the Bible, I have been used to having people accept my authority and obeying my orders. I am now retired, but again as the Scripture says: "I am a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech." As you are no doubt aware, Consecration to the Episcopacy gives that priest the fullness of the priesthood.
I always try to discharge my duties using 2 Timothy 4:1~5 as my guide. I also try always to keep the image of my crucified Lord always in view, especially in regard to those who, like Jesus, are meek and humble of heart to champion them. Again, as one used to authority, when I identify what I consider by using the example of Jesus in the Gospels, to be an apparent good, e.g. our salvation that Jesus went to the Cross for, I tried not to rest until that good was brought about.
I am apparently, thanks to you, now coming to the realization, since I am retired, that I'm no longer playing on my home field. That I no longer have the authority or the esteem that used to go with my office as Bishop. I'm realizing more acutely that I am the visiting team and that the home teams rules are different from the ones that I had set up for my own ball park.
I assure you that this retired old dog can and will learn these new tricks. Please be patient with me and pray for me as I mean you, as I mean my God, only love. I'm still working on that with him also. Again, thank you for your concerns, and please continue not only to point out where I don't fit in, but on a positive note, point the way to do so.
As I explained, the two year old definitely needs a Savior.
As for "being a sinner," please list the sins a two year old can commit, or has committed.
It seems that the claim for one version of Catholicism is not an accurate assessment of the situation.
“Roman Catholicism”? Where is the evidence that “Trad Bishop” is any more in communion with Rome than you are?
With all due respect, sir, by whom were you ordained, and with whom are you in communion today?
That includes the Blessed Virgin, as she would be the first to tell you.
See, I'm really very, very Augustinian. >:-()
Are you a parent?
We've been told too many times on these threads all of Roman Catholicism is the same. There is no independent thought...though that is negated on these threads.
And no...I'm not in communion with Rome.
I follow Jesus Christ.
“Are you a parent? “
—
I am. A two year old can’t sin.
.
Then you've raised a perfect child.
I assure you a two year old can and does sin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.