Posted on 03/23/2002 5:34:00 AM PST by father_elijah
SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER?
We Catholic Americans are at a crossroads. Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Light of the World is exposing all those who wound his sacred Body by abusing children and youth. Our Lord is also exposing rot and disease within the structures and leadership of the Church from within provinces of religious orders, Catholic universities, and diocesan chanceries.
It is time to clean house. Not only do the pederasts, sex abusers, and homosexuals need to be removed from leadership and the ranks of the ordained, but also the Church needs to excommunicate all Catholic politicians in the United States of America whose votes continue the holocaust of abortion.
PREPARATION
In order to serve Christ and his poor Church in this time of crisis, each of us are called to avail ourselves of the sacraments that we may trample the devil under our feet. Let each of us 1) make a good confession; 2) receive the Eucharist on the Feast of Divine Mercy and receive Christ’s promises to St. Faustina of mercy and pardon; 3) engage in works of mercy; and, 4) encourage others to do the same.
We lead by prayer, and we are made strong by Christ’s self-offering of his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We have a great weapon for fighting evil in the rosary. We do not turn to prayer as a last resort, but we turn to prayer as the beginning, center, and end of all that we strive to do for Our Lord Jesus Christ. We engage in prayer for the Church knowing that when we pray we are not alone in prayer or in action. Our Lord, Our Lady, St. Joseph, and the whole communion of saints join with us in interceding for the Church.
We who long for the cleansing of the Church from these grave evils have the means of prayer through which we can grow in holiness even as we pray for the Church to be cleansed of evil and made holy as Christ is holy. Let us avail ourseves of these gifts of prayer:
The Daily Mass or a daily Act of Spiritual Communion
Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration
Benediction and Adoration
The Holy Rosary
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Litanies
The Liturgy of the Hours
Other Chaplets and Devotions
Let every action we undertake be covered in prayer and overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that only God’s will is desired and achieved through our efforts.
ACTION
For love of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to action against evil. Let each faithful Catholic offer themselves at Mass or at home to be the beginning point of the Church’s cleansing and renewal. Ask the Lord’s blessing that we may each speak the truth in love and walk in the Holy Spirit.
There are a variety of actions that one can undertake to be part of the solution. The following are suggestions that have been made on various internet discussion lists.
*Show up at your parish and pray at 3pm every day
*Show up at your diocesan Chancery and pray
*Show up at the nearest Chancery on the Monday after Easter
at 12 noon and pray the Rosary for the Cleansing of the Priesthood
*Write, telephone, and e-mail your bishops and priests and express your horror over the sexual scandals and tell them you expect full disclosure and immediate action.
*Write to the Holy Father -- write in Polish if you can -- and beg him to intervene and clean up the Church in the United States. Be sure to copy your bishop and pastor.
The following are some actions you may consider asking of the Holy Father(and recommending to your bishop):
1. Ask the Holy Father to lead the Church in a worldwide Day of Penance for the sexual sins of the Church’s leadership;
2. Ask the Holy Father to declare that homosexuals may not receive Holy Orders;
3. Ask the Holy Father to remove Cardinals, bishops, priests, and deacons who have covered up cases of sexual abuse.
4. Ask the Holy Father to give the Church in the USA new Cardinals especially elevating Archbishop Chaput of Denver
5. Ask the Holy Father to shut down religious orders or provinces of religious orders (like the California province of the Society of Jesus) that are a scandal in themselves.
6. Ask the Holy Father to give Cardinal Law, Cardinal Egan, and Cardinal Mahony new jobs at the Vatican.
7. Ask the Holy Father to suspend the US National Conference of Catholic Bishops and to appoint either a triumvirate to clean house or an Inquisitor General to root out evil and liberate the Church in the USA from error and crime.
8. Ask the Holy Father to restore the prayer “St. Michael the Archangel” to the close of every Mass.
9. Ask the Holy Father to extend the faculty to every priest in the Church to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Missal.
10. Ask the Holy Father to excommunicate Catholic politicians who support the holocaust of abortion.
11. Ask the Holy Father to give the Cardinal’s red hat to Archbishop Chaput, Bishop Bruskewitz, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.
12. Ask the Holy Father to disassociate the Church from those once Catholic universitiies and colleges that no longer affirm the magisterium of the Church or loyalty to the Pope.
13. Ask the Holy Father to make Fr. Benedict Groeschel the next Archbishop of New York.
Some will find these ideas too presumptuous, but it is clear that the Holy Father and the leadership of the Church in the USA need to hear from the rank and file faithful.
Finally, be sure to pray for the Pope, and write to the Holy Father a letter of encouragement. Assure him of your prayers for his intentions and for him personally. Also, write letters of encouragement to any deacon, priest, or bishop whom you know to be defenders of the faith and devoted to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our good and faithful priests need to know that they are loved and cherished.
Jesus, King of the nations, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Good Saint Joseph, pray for us.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us.
Consider. Statistics show that the molestation factor is a factor across the board, protestant, catholic, what have you. But the only newsworthy molestation is that done by an RC Priest. Why? All religions stand nominally against this sort of thing, but only the Catholic Church embodies All That They Hate. It is against Abortion, it does not Ordinate women, it is ruled almost as a monarchy, thus the 'will of the people' is not observed. Moreover, for a millenium it has fed the starving, clothed the naked, and so forth, but all in the name, not of human rights, but of Jesus Christ.
This is intolerable.
Thus the targeting of the Church.
While I am no member of the "Latin or Nuttin'" crowd, I do believe that the heirarchy in the Developed Nations has abdicated much of their authority. Mostly in rosy hopes of better things to come. Much of the current controversy stems from the fact that twenty years ago, the heirarchy was confronted with a shameful abomination, but they were told by men of great secular learning that the men who had committed these acts could be 'cured', 'rehabilitated,' to again lead a productive life.
We now see this for the idiocy it is. You might as well put an alchoholic through AA, and then tell him to work in a distillery.
Moreover, the Catholic problem allows the 'progressive' types a way out. If a minister of a protestant church molests a teenage boy, what is the excuse? He is permitted normal sexual relations, his desires have not been stymied by an antiquated moral code. No, there is left nowhere to run. Only the truth remains. That a man in authority over a boy took advantage of him.
What does that sound like to you? I believe the term is Chickenhawking?
Ah, but with the Catholic Church, we have an out! It's not that this priest was a homosexual, and took advantage of his flock, no! He was a Forced Celibate! If only he were allowed all the sexual freedom that he needed, this would not have happened.
It's not his fault, you see, it's the fault of that Sex-hating, Homophobic, Mysogynistic Church of his. If only they'd come into the twenty-first century, he'd have been fine. Maybe he would have had a wife or a life partner; it's not his fault; it's not the fault of the gay guy, it's the fault of the church!
I personally foresee a massive housecleaning. And it ain't gonna be pretty. But what Lithasis fails to note is that this is primarily a problem in Euro America. The church still has her strong priests, but they are, naturally, the one's who's faith has been tested by more stringent means than 'sex' and 'what do I give up for lent this year'. Look to the priests of Asia, Africa and South America, the ones who's positions bring them threats of imprisonment and death, to see the steel in the Church.
Stand fast, fellow Catholics.
If they be guilty, remove them.
Let not the innocent be tarnished with this scandal. For many Priests (my own confessor included) are brought to tears by this state of affairs.
Lithasis' former comrades may believe they have beaten us. Let them join the ranks. Hitler, Stalin, Attila, how many other tyrants, schisms, heresies throuout history? And yet after two millenia, the church founded upon the Rock still stands.
And they refuse to report on an institution which has even a greater problem with sexual abuse of kids: government schools.
Click on my screen name for over 125 FR posts on the subject. A kid is sexually assualt by a school employee, on average, once a day in the NYC school system. Been tracking it for almost a year and there are several cases a week reported in the media. But few ever go national.
If they report it at the school, it's a personal issue, but if they report it at the church, it's the Pope's fault!
Do you think that Mary, Christ's mother, went to heaven? Just curious...
Ask the Holy Father that churches be required to restore the Tabernacle back to its proper location, in the center of the altar.
In my parish, the Tabernacle sits off on the side while the priest sits front and center. I personally spend most of my mass time focused on that Tabernacle and the flickering flame above it, a reminder of Christ's presence amongst us. He is the love of my life and no prelate should be allowed to upstage Him.
May God bless you in your work here on FP.
2000 years of history?
I see. You're from the "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up" school.
Do you have ANY idea how silly and ignorant you sound?
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.