I read a post on twitter today about how homosexual and perverse priests would go to very orthodox priests to confess their sins to in order to implicate and control the priest but knowing the priest will not break the bond of the confessional
The result of that priest speaking out was the loss of a good priest to the Church. Bishops have autonomy in their own diocese. If the Bishop is corrupt or if the blackmailers have something on him, a good priest speaking out risks the same fate. That's especially the case now that so many homosexuals and heterodox priests have been put through the seminaries with the inevitable result that they are in positions of authority. The Chilean fiasco only happened this year (I mean the reaction to victims speaking out). On the First Things website, Edward Pentin has published a translation of the Honduran seminarians' letter to their Bishops. Their Bishops' response was the usual nothing to see here and it's all exaggerated. I think they also managed to work the magic conversation stopper "homophobic" into the text of their statement. Edward Pentin's shining a light on them resulted in an emeritus Bishop being placed in charge of the seminary while all but one Bishop remain in office. If that emeritus Bishop is a Jesuit, more likely than not the seminarians will be "dialogued" and "accompanied" into believing they had it all wrong. Michael Voris continues to be bad-mouthed by self-styled loyal Catholics who, while claiming to be shocked at the hierarchy's negligence, always make a point of revealing that he was outed as a homosexual. In my opinion, they and their ilk do far more harm to the Church and the Faith than Voris could ever do. The US Bishops' Conference has issued the standard "we're ashamed and sorry" statement, and encouraging victims to come forward. Would you take your story to them while they have McCarrick proteges in their ranks? Would you confide in them while there are high profile, evidently Vatican favoured, priests calling people homophobic, closet homosexuals or just plain rigid for defending the wording of the Catechism? I wouldn't. There are a couple of comments at the end of the priest's blog post which are worth reading. I'll put them in a separate post.
That's not actually the original post, Brian, but a comment from another priest (a Fr. R.P). Someone named Kathy actually quoted it in the comments section of Fr. Kalpa's blog. I'll quote the comment here along with Fr. Kalpa's reply: Kathy: Father, You may be interested in another priests take on the same matter. It is very enlightening. Thank you for your explanation "Fr. R.P. Let me say this, and please everyone pay attention to it for it is very real and a serious problem: Active sodomites in the clerical order often seek out a non sodomite orthodox priest for confession, with the sole intention of binding him to silence about them and their activities. They are not seeking to truly repent, they are effectively shutting him up permanently about their evil activities. I have never seen this mentioned or reported anywhere, but it is very real. And it's one of the reasons why many 'good' priests and bishops are silent when it comes to specific clerics and their grievous sins. For they have been manipulated via the sacrament of penance to permanent silence on certain members of the clergy. And this is also how many of these deviants make it through seminary. My advice to all good priests is that if a cleric wants to come to confession to you and you have any doubts or suspicions about them that are serious, then you must refuse to hear their confession. Don't get manipulated by these vile men! If you don't know them then refer them to someone else! And I promise you, every priest who has been around for a couple of years or more, and is known to be solidly orthodox, knows by experience what I am saying is true." Fr. Kalpa's reply to Kathy: "Somebody sent that to me earlier today. I sadly have to admit that he is absolutely correct. I brought out that point in a Catechism class one day and people were absolutely floored. People really don't know just how evil and manipulative the AH/HA priests and bishops are. These men know the way the Church works and they use that knowledge for their own evil ends. They are not "normal" men who just have a weakness for sex which they haven't been able to overcome. They have embraced evil. There is a huge difference between a weak man striving for holiness and a man who has sold his soul to the devil. And oftentimes the former appears to be "bad" because he admits his sin while the latter appears "nice" because he is as adept at lying as his father, the prince of lies, is. I might also add that that type of priest will also use the confessional to see if he can pick up a new "date" by seeing how his confessor reacts to his revealed (not repented) sins." Some priests are speaking out but they are being ignored by the "respectable" Catholic media. If the McCarrick scandal hadn't hit the headlines of the secular press, they would continue to be ignored and the scandal in Honduras would have been downplayed. Also, if Voris hadn't issued a call for priests and current/former seminarians to contact him with their stories, it would have been treated as a flash in the pan with the Bishops getting back to business as usual. Please God, something good will come from this latest scandal in the US and will spread to countries where the faithful Catholics bury their heads in the sand. I'm convinced that in Ireland most Catholics (the Christmas and Easter types - the hierarchy's favourites) and many regular Mass goers would happily see a "married" homosexual clergy.
I always considered this as a reason for the silence but never thought about it as a tool of manipulation
I have heard that Latin Mass priests are generally quite Holy. Case in point, the nearest Latin Mass to me is said by a priest who strikes one as wise, loving, discerning, and focused. He mentions humility, spiritual warfare, sin, and other topics that I've only ever heard discussed by serious, focused, Scripturally fueled, prayerful Baptists and Anabaptists. He has a sense of humor, too, which is good! Slowly it is dawning on me how vital it is to pray for priests. Very much so.
We all agree that there are Holy priests in many different places but I too have heard more orthodox Catholic teaching coming from TLR parishes. I pray for each of the priests I have come across because Our Lady of Fatima tells us that they need our prayers. They all seem different and I appreciate their commitment and I hope that my prayers help them in some way toward Holiness. I often think of the Sacrament of reconciliation and counsel given when thinking about a priest over their homilies for some reason. My brief experiences in the confessional over this last year has shown me that the FSSP priests I have spoken with during reconciliation have been apt to give me counsel that while hard to hear at times has cut straight to the chase which I value highly. I don't value being coddled. I tend to go to them before First Friday and First Saturday because I know that they will tell me what I need to hear and focus on. I don't know if this is because they are younger priests generally but I appreciate it very much and wondered if I was doing something wrong when I confessed with my regular parish priest and he granted me Absolution but said little else. He gave me one bit of counsel that I found very helpful after my second reconciliation and then he left for a time on sabbatical. He is generally a very traditional priest and is not a very charismatic teacher which I value as well. In that time, I began going to the FSSP parish in the town over (while still attending on Sunday's at my home parish) because they offer the Latin Rite every day and while Father was away it was no longer offered twice a month in my home parish in his absence. I attend two parishes now and honestly I prefer the FSSP and TLR and would like to move my family there but have gotten push back. So, I continue to attend the parish closest to us as well. I am hoping that over time the Latin Rite will grow on them. I will continue to attend the FSSP because I love the Latin Rite and the priests have been very straight forward with me regarding my sins. I appreciate this more than I can express. My family on the other hand did not value this frankness as much as I do and was upset by it afterwards. I need this kind of counsel and will continue to attend there even if my family does not follow my lead. I hope that over time they will warm to it however but if they do not I can live with that as well.
I think in Anthony Bourdain’s case —yes. I don’t know what the story is with Kate Spade. Maybe she was going to cooperate with the police? She had very sketchy connections with Haiti and the Clinton Foundation.
I agree completely Don. I switched over last December (moving gave the opportunity) and I can't express how going to confession to a fssp priest has affected me. I was going over spiritual wounds caused by past sins and he was able to acertain much more than what I said and brought me to tears with his gentle counsel. I have never in my life been to priests that have cared so much for my soul, who actually take the time to listen and try to help. I'm so incredibly grateful.
I don't believe that Latin Mass priests are any better or worse than many other priests. Do they go through different seminaries than other priests? That's a genuine question because I don't know much about them. You could count on one hand the number of churches here where the TLM is celebrated. Had the Church here put as much effort into forming priests and weeding out predators as they did into modernising our churches and throwing out the Latin Mass, we wouldn't be in this mess.
In my experience, Dolours, they absolutely are. FSSP has their own seminary - Our Lady of Guadalupe- in Nebraska. Their formation is over and beyond what diocesan priests receive, which is why their homilies are faithful and orthodox.
The Church is suffering from the unholy trinity of lust, greed, and abuse of power. All three of these sins have to be eradicated from the church in order for it to get better. To be fair, JP2, Benedict, and Pope Francis have all tried the mercy approach and it is now obvious that it has had no effect. (Bishops in Chili, Cardinal from Sidney Australia, and Cardinal McCarick) There used to be a saying, "trying the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results is the definition of insanity". So I think the time has come for the Church to move on to the next phase. Here is my idea: It would be best if led by a Pope but a group of Bishops could begin the process. What I would do if I was a Bishop is meet with all of my priest whom I thought I could trust and instruct them to make every homily about sin and morals. Have them preach on everything from homosexuality, unnatural sexual acts within marriage, contraception, pre-marital sex, masturbation, pornography, lying, stealing, etc, etc., etc.. Every mass, Sunday after Sunday, Month after Month. I would be willing to bet three things would happen. Half the people in the pews would leave the church altogether, another portion would confess and try to change their lives, and another portion would move to another parish and/or diocese where these things are not being preached. Suddenly, the church would become much smaller and much poorer. The shackles of money would be loosed. I believe the shackles of power abuse would also be loosed because who would want to be in charge of a poor church except those who really wanted to help. Then the bishops and the Pope could watch and see which parishes and dioceses' all the other people moved to and then replace those Bishops and priests with those willing to preach on sin and morals. Before long there would be no place to escape to except to other denominations. Of course this approach is not without its drawbacks. Many, many churches would have to close. All the Catholic Schools would have to close for lack of money. You might have to wait for days in order to get to confession. You might have to drive 25-50 miles to get to church. The church would be vilified throughout the world, and it might seriously impede new converts from joining. But, It might come to this, who knows. Maybe the next Pope will decide enough is enough. What do you think?
You're fortunate that aspiring priests have options in the US. There's only one seminary here and, sadly, its reputation is in the toilet and has been for decades. The most recent scandal had a seminarian advertising himself on a gay dating website.
I think that your solution will happen but probably not during the next papacy. We're still at the stage where they think glossing over the hard teachings will keep bums in the pews. Those in the ascendancy now are "spirit of Vatican 11" people who appear to believe that the "spirit" has been stifled by the last two papacies and now want to go full steam ahead with their Reformation. That the same "spirit" has all but annihilated the Anglican and Lutheran Churches appears to have escaped their notice.
Priests that belong to a traditional order do have their own seminaries and they are taught to be...priests They are taught what true accompaniment means, not coddling. The same is not true of course for every priest who celebrates the Latin Mass, but for many it is the case.
