Posted on 12/25/2005 11:30:34 PM PST by jecIIny
Excommunicated priest holds ‘illicit’ Mass Hundreds attend service in St. Louis despite Church objections The Associated Press Updated: 5:11 p.m. ET Dec. 25, 2005
ST. LOUIS - At least 1,500 people attended Christmas Eve Mass presided by an excommunicated Roman Catholic priest, despite warnings from the archbishop that participating would be a mortal sin.
The Rev. Marek Bozek left his previous parish without his bishop’s permission and was hired by St. Stanislaus Kostka Church earlier this month. As a result, Bozek and the six-member lay board were excommunicated last week by Archbishop Raymond Burke for committing an act of schism.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
That "All" refers not only to "all" of mankind, but more specifically "All" your personal sins. Past, Future, Present..."ALL" of them. How could you lose your salvation?
Btw, I'm purposely trying to stay away from a scripture tit for tat, but I realize some might be neccessary to use so you may make a point.
For the forgiveness of mortal sins, yes. Those who despise Christ's appointed means of salvation cannot be saved.
St. Thomas, III q. 84 a. 5Whether this sacrament is necessary for salvation?
Objection 1. It would seem that this sacrament is not necessary for salvation. Because on Ps. 125:5, "They that sow in tears," etc., the gloss says: "Be not sorrowful, if thou hast a good will, of which peace is the meed." But sorrow is essential to Penance, according to 2 Cor. 7:10: "The sorrow that is according to God worketh penance steadfast unto salvation." Therefore a good will without Penance suffices for salvation.
Objection 2. Further, it is written (Proverbs 10:12): "Charity covereth all sins," and further on (Proverbs 15:27): "By mercy and faith sins are purged away." But this sacrament is for nothing else but the purging of sins. Therefore if one has charity, faith, and mercy, one can obtain salvation, without the sacrament of Penance.
Objection 3. Further, the sacraments of the Church take their origin from the institution of Christ. But according to John 8 Christ absolved the adulterous woman without Penance. Therefore it seems that Penance is not necessary for salvation.
On the contrary, our Lord said (Luke 13:3): "Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish."
I answer that, A thing is necessary for salvation in two ways: first, absolutely; secondly, on a supposition. A thing is absolutely necessary for salvation, if no one can obtain salvation without it, as, for example, the grace of Christ, and the sacrament of Baptism, whereby a man is born again in Christ. The sacrament of Penance is necessary on a supposition, for it is necessary, not for all, but for those who are in sin. For it is written (2 Paral 37 [The prayer of Manasses, among the Apocrypha), "Thou, Lord, God of the righteous, hast not appointed repentance to the righteous, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor to those who sinned not against Thee." But "sin, when it is completed, begetteth death" (James 1:15). Consequently it is necessary for the sinner's salvation that sin be taken away from him; which cannot be done without the sacrament of Penance, wherein the power of Christ's Passion operates through the priest's absolution and the acts of the penitent, who co-operates with grace unto the destruction of his sin. For as Augustine says (Tract. lxxii in Joan. [Implicitly in the passage referred to, but explicitly Serm. xv de verb Apost.), "He Who created thee without thee, will not justify thee without thee." Therefore it is evident that after sin the sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation, even as bodily medicine after man has contracted a dangerous disease.
Reply to Objection 1. This gloss should apparently be understood as referring to the man who has a good will unimpaired by sin, for such a man has no cause for sorrow: but as soon as the good will is forfeited through sin, it cannot be restored without that sorrow whereby a man sorrows for his past sin, and which belongs to Penance.
Reply to Objection 2. As soon as a man falls into sin, charity, faith, and mercy do not deliver him from sin, without Penance. Because charity demands that a man should grieve for the offense committed against his friend, and that he should be anxious to make satisfaction to his friend; faith requires that he should seek to be justified from his sins through the power of Christ's Passion which operates in the sacraments of the Church; and well-ordered pity necessitates that man should succor himself by repenting of the pitiful condition into which sin has brought him, according to Prov. 14:34: "Sin maketh nations miserable"; wherefore it is written (Sirach 30:24): "Have pity on thy own soul, pleasing God."
Reply to Objection 3. It was due to His power of "excellence," which He alone had, as stated above (64, 3), that Christ bestowed on the adulterous woman the effect of the sacrament of Penance, viz. the forgiveness of sins, without the sacrament of Penance, although not without internal repentance, which He operated in her by grace.
By turning away from God.
"For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses: How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people." (Hebrews 10:26-30)
Dear friend,
Because the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the divinely-revealed, written Word of God, Catholics venerate the Scriptures as they venerate the Lord’s body. But Catholics do not believe that God has given us His divine Revelation in Christ exclusively through Scripture. Catholics also believe that God’s Revelation comes to us through the Apostolic Tradition and teaching authority of the Church.
What Church? Scripture reveals this Church to be the one Jesus Christ built upon the rock of Saint Peter (Matt. 16:18). By giving Peter the keys of authority (Matt. 16:19), Jesus appointed Peter as the chief steward over His earthly kingdom (cf. Isaiah. 22:19-22). Jesus also charged Peter to be the source of strength for the rest of the apostles (Luke 22:32) and the earthly shepherd of Jesus' flock (John 21:15-17). Jesus further gave Peter, and the apostles and elders in union with him, the power to bind and loose in heaven what they bound and loosed on earth. (Matt. 16:19; 18:18). This teaching authority did not die with Peter and the apostles, but was transferred to future bishops through the laying on of hands (e.g., Acts 1:20; 6:6; 13:3; 8:18; 9:17; 1 Tim. 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim. 1:6).
By virtue of this divinely-appointed authority, the Catholic Church determined the canon of Scripture (what books belong in the Bible) at the end of the fourth century. We therefore believe in the Scriptures by the authority of the Catholic Church. After all, nothing in Scripture tells us what Scriptures are inspired, what books belong in the Bible, or that Scripture is the final authority on questions concerning the Christian faith. Instead, the Bible says that the Church, not the Scriptures, is the pinnacle and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15) and the final arbiter on questions of the Christian faith (Matt. 18:17). It is through the teaching authority and Apostolic Tradition (2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6; 1 Cor. 11:2) of this Church, who is guided by the Holy Spirit (John 14:16,26; 16:13), that we know of the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, and the manifold wisdom of God. (cf. Ephesians 3:10).
All seven churches letters apply to All churches of Christ.
Jesus said his Church would be "the light of the world." He then noted that "a city set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matt. 5:14). This means his Church is a visible organization. It must have characteristics that clearly identify it and that distinguish it from other churches. Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.
Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)
Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.
If we wish to locate the Church founded by Jesus, we need to locate the one that has the four chief marks or qualities of his Church. The Church we seek must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth
God bless you on your journey.
You forgot to note that the Roman Church broke away from the universal Church in about 325 to worship itself.
No, that last allegation of yours ("the Roman Church broke away...to worship itself") is a falsehood.
An "event" which nobody who was alive at the time noticed, conveniently enough.
DSC--see post 106
This guy has problems which did NOT originate with Bishop Burke...
Without TERRITORIAL jurisdiction which comes from the pope through the duly serving diocesan ordinary, Fr. Bozo has no business acting as a preacher, a priest, a confessor in the absence of actual emergency (i,e,. coming upon the dying accident victim) within the Archdiocese of St. Louis where he is NOT incardinated or now in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau where he has been suspended by his diocesan ordinary. Just what was his emergency???? That the cash bar frequented by parents on premises during the "CCD" classes might otherwise close????? Bozek and his flock are Judases and should be treated accordingly.
To answer your second paragraph, again see the Peter passage in Matthew. That you mean well does not mean that you have a clue.
AND, Archbishop Raymond Burke, as you well know, excommunicated Fr. Bozek and the trustees. He represents the Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese as they do not and never will. Those who refuse him obedience are not his flock nor, q.e.d., are they Roman Catholic because they revolt against him with no cause whatsoever, which his decree of excommunication formally recognizes.
The excommunicati can crawl back on their hands and knees in total and utterly justified humiliation (preferably pushing peanuts with their noses on rough pavement while attired in sackcloth and ashes) for months on end in record cold and, maybe, just maybe, Archbishop Burke will be so nice as to allow them back on probation. If he is not so nice, that will work for me.
After 120 years of bad behavior now crystallized as outright revolution against the archbishop's authority, enough is enough. The archbishop has apparently indicated an intention to suppress the pareish under the circumstances, at which point it can become the Union Band Church of Jesus Christ Fire Baptized or the Second Reformed Church of St. Che Guevara or the Church of the Holy Roll for all I care so long as they stop sullying the name "Catholic" by misappropriating it after their excommunications.
The excommunications delight this Catholic and I doubt that they hurt Archbishop Raymond Burke at all.
gscc: Have you considered writing fantasy film scripts for Disney???? It will pay you much better than the practice of ecclesiastical make-believe or being a history denier. Also, given your post, what makes the internal disciplinary governance of the Roman Catholic Church any of YOUR anti-Catholic business?????
If your church actually did practice church discipline it wouldn't be bringing the shame it does to the Christian community. When it comes to a money grab by a bishop a priest is excommunicated. When it comes to priests living in sin, catholic politicians defying church doctrine, seminaries almost entirely populated by homosexuals the process of church discipline is all of a sudden missing. Your church's scandals have a deleterious effect on all Christianity.
If you can not understand what I'm referring too, then you're just being wilfully ignorant about the topic at hand.
What I am trying to point out is there is not one man that has the power to forgive sin, even the Apostles did not have this power, they had a charge to witness and the authority to run and start up the church, but not the "power" to forgive sin. Only Jesus Christ has the power and the authority to do this. Did they do things thru Christ, of course they did, but an undo emphasis is put on this aspect of authority taking the focus off the real authority of Christ himself. But I would be amiss if I do not mention MY CHURCH, Methodist, Presbyterian, Protestant, ect...We all have something we can change about our focus, and put it more on Christ.
My problem with the Catholic church is with every church, we are not enveloping our "first love," that's why I kept referencing back to Revelation 2 & 3. It's imperative that we understand what Jesus is saying to all of us. And make no mistake about it, there is a little of ALL of us in each of those Seven letters...
When God says, " I will never leave nor forsake you," doesn't that give you a hint that your actions after salvation are no longer detirmined whether God turns from YOU!
After salvation it not about what you do, it's about what God PROMISED you he would do. And that is NEVER leave you. If anyone thinks that God's promise is not sufficient to save to your life, eternally, then Christ sacrifice was in vein.
John10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
That's a promise that is never ending no matter what!
In it, Fr. Bozek gives a creative interpretation of the Parable of the Ten Virgins...I post this as background for those who may be unfamiliar with the rebellious priest's history.
Thank you for the "Dear Friend" comment too, that was very gracious of you.
Now ,I saw something in the last post that made me think about what we are discussing. Here it is:
Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church.
I do not neccessarily deny this, but what I object too about the Catholic church is the focus of your teaching, as with ALL Christian churches now, we need to be very careful about who and what doctrine we are letting in and how we conduct oursleves as a church.
The liberal Gay priesthood thing, is abominable. Now that is not saying the Catholic church condones this because it doesn't as a whole, but you certainly have Priest and Bishops that do condone it! Are these the same ones from the lineage of the apostles who have been passed the authority to forgive sin?
These problems are not new, they have been happening since the first churches, they go back to the SEVEN churches, there is no better study about the problems we face and what to do about them than Jesus' own letters to past and future churches. The Key is all wrapped up in these Seven letters.
Why do you think God picked those particular Seven churches?...I mean what about the church of Jerusulem, or Rome, or Antioch, (the outreach) he could have looked at so many churches with problems and what to do about those problems, but he chose those Seven. Think about this. Read the letters. Notice how somthing changes about them after Pergamos. Remember the letters are written to YOU!
We will deal in-house with our own problems since only we have a stake in it and only we have standing in the argument.
You are also suggesting that the archbishop is a thief which amply demonstrates your objective ignorance of the subject matter.
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