From Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi...

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by lynnfiat, Oct 27, 2015.

  1. lynnfiat

    lynnfiat Fiat Voluntas Tua

    In recent years, I submitted a doctoral dissertation to the Pontifical University of Rome that was unanimously approved and that subsequently received the written endorsements of scores of archbishops and bishops throughout the world. To assist the many thousands of you who have requested theological clarification on the polemical opinions found in circulated emails or in private articles, I have posted a Q&A on the website. In this Q&A such opinions are theologically addressed and clarified in light of the three founts of our Catholic faith, namely Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium. Let the reader beware: He who cuts himself off from these three founts or causes another to do so, cuts himself off from full communion with Jesus Christ.
    In accord with the method of the Roman Pontifical University and indeed of any accredited Catholic theological institute, I adopt that age-old Traditional method of never deferring to my own opinion, but to the objective data contained in the deposit of our Catholic faith (depositum fidei) that ensures the guarantee of immunity from error. Now, unfortunately, some of the circular emails containing the opinions of private individuals do not adopt this age-old approach, but individualistic speculation which engenders confusion. Such confusion is foretold in its most radical form reason in St. Paul 2nd Letter to the Thessolonians:
    “The day of the Lord is at hand. Let no one deceive you in any way. For unless the apostasy comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one doomed to perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god… the one whose coming springs from the power of Satan in every mighty deed and in signs and wonders that lie, and in every wicked deceit for those who are perishing because they have not accepted the love of truth so that they may be saved. Therefore, God is sending them a deceiving power so that they may believe the lie, that all who have not believed the truth but have approved wrongdoing may be condemned. But we ought to give thanks to God for you always, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth” (2 Thes. 2:3-13).
    The Greek word apostasia means “a rebellion; a falling away, a defecting from the true faith. St. Paul reveals that the rebellion (falling away from the faith) will take place before the “lawless one (a man)” is revealed. Now, this passage is key. Why must the apostasy precede the lawless one who sits himself in the Temple of God? Because the lawless one, whom many Church Fathers and Doctors refer to as “the Antichrist”, is restrained from making his public debut until the masses have been so deceived through his diabolic conspiracy with occult forces and with the media and through their own complicity with evil that they know longer respect God’s sacred commandments. Let us recall the words of the Catholic Catechism in this regard:
    “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through the final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent
    solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of Antichrist, a psuedo-messiansim by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.”1
    To avoid this radical form of religious deception and confusion among, one must be extremely careful to avoid those who claim that he or she needs to ignore the Magisterium in order to find the truth, for such an approach is contrary to the “divine and catholic faith”2 that has been handed on to us by the Apostles. Indeed, the teaching of the Magisterium is the prime, God-given means of finding the truth. Nor could one claim conscientious freedom to interpret Sacred Scripture as the voices in one’s head might dictate whilst contradicting the Church. And in any field of knowledge, conscientious freedom belongs only to a properly qualified professor teaching in his own field.
    Remember, papal and episcopal teaching authority derives from Christ (Lk. 10:16; Mt. 23.1-3),3 which no private individuals may contradict. The teaching authority granted by Christ to the apostles and their successors, i.e., the Pope and Bishops, is an integral part of her mission that cannot “fail” the people or be “taken over” or “usurped” by Satan as some claim. While the Church has been, is and will be persecuted by diabolical forces, one cannot conclude that it will be “destroyed” or it will “fail” the people, despite the numerous failures of its members that include both hierarchy and laity. Such an affirmation leads the faithful away from the teaching authority Jesus conferred upon the Apostles and that is perpetuated in the episcopal office until the end of time.
    I therefore encourage you to be wise as serpents and guileless as doves. Arm yourselves with the spiritual weapons of the Most Holy Rosary, the Brown Scapular and the Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
    As God loves you I love you,
    In Christ,
    Rev. Joseph Iannuzzi, STD, Ph.D.
    1 CCC, 675.
    2 CCC, 2089.
    3 Even before he instituted the Sacraments, Jesus alluded to the enduring nature of this teaching authority despite the lack of virtue in those who exercise it: “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice’” (Mt. 23.1-3). Today Christ’s teaching authority consists of the Magisterial teachings of the Pope and Bishops and bears with it the promise of Christ: “He who hears you, hears me; he who rejects you rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me” (Lk. 10. 16).
     

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