Well I noticed in the weeks coming up to the Meeting of the Families thing that they were importing bad theologians from all over the world to push the agenda they have. I actually listneed in horror to a couple of their sermons. One thing I notice about these people is they travel at a moments notice all round the world, they have all the time in the world to talk and plot and all the money in the world to do it (our money in actual fact). Talk, talk, talk, plot , plot, plot, it never ends. Have you noticed how many talking shops Pope Francis has had and is having since he became Pope? A constant never ending procession of talking shops. It just never stops. I always look askance at people who talk too much, especially those who are fond of their own voices. This Papacy has been one huge, never ending talking, shop. Popes gving crazy press conferences on planes, for instance, he couldn't just sit quiet and stare out the wondow like everyone else. Plot, plot, plot, talk, talk, talk; it never ends.
I tried to look up a defintion of the word , 'Clericalism'. It's a word that is impossible to define really, it is a fluid , modern made up word and basically means what you want it to mean. Which tells you much about it and the people who use it. Even still I was astonished that a priest from the pulpit accuse lay people in a Congregation of the sin of , 'Clericalism'. How did he justify it? By saying that , 'Clericalism' is the sin of pride and since we are all guilty of the sin of pride we are all guilty. It is so fluid a word, meaning what you want it to mean , I suppose I could accuse my dogs of being guilty of it. But they might bite me on principle.
When i read the headlines that said clericalism was the problem, i also had to look it up and i was still baffled. We all know the reason for the problem but they keep using words that confuse us.
2 According to our priest, clericalism by laity consists of putting priests on a pedestal and addressing Bishops as "your eminince" or "your grace". I think he would also have us believe that saintly Pope Francis is a victim of media bias. That Pope Francis has taken a pinking shears to Catholic teaching in his courting of the same media appears to have escaped Father's notice. That the courting will only work as long as Catholic teaching continues to be undermined by our hierarchy should be evident to him by now. Apparently not. Perhaps he's in denial. Our priest is one of the better ones. Everything under the sun will be blamed except priests and especially Bishops making a mockery of what the Church has always held to be true. Funny how those who tell us that the problem of clerical abuse is rooted in too much respect for priests and bishops are the very same people who would have us believe that it is sinful (some say mortally sinful) to expect Pope Francis to clarify his contradictory teaching or point out how his statements conflict with what the Church has always taught.
Well in one kind of way it is true we are guilty, in that we get the priests we deserve in that we don't pray enough and Sacrifice enough for our poor priests and Bishops. Just as we are to a certain extent guilty of all the sins in the world since we are all sinners. But at the end of the day at the Judgement Seat of God, I don't think the Just Judge , Merciful Father is going to send us hell for molesting kids when we didn't actually molest any kids. The people who He is going to send to hell are the actual people who did it and didn't repent. This, 'We are all equally guilty thing', stirkes me as a scam to shut us up from asking to many questions. Perhaps I imagined it but I seemed to notice a shffling amongst the congregation when he suggested we were all of us guilty. They didn't take the suggestion lightly, nor accept it. Thank God for the ordinary simple common sense of ordinary decent Catholic people who won't be sold a pig in poke. Many of the people will have children themselves and won't have liked being put on the same level as child molestors. But who would?
It's all a scam to distract us. Like Pope Francis raising the issue of Capital Punishment when the McCarrick thing broke. These people should have been Stage Magicians they are so good at sleight of hand. 'Make them all feel guilty and you'll shut them all up', appears to be the War Cry.
Yes I have noticed it and I like you am skeptical of those who like the sound of their own voice and never stop long enough to consider their words. It really does seem to me that for all the supposed acceptance of these changes in Ireland that someone is certainly worried about the situation there in spite of the constant message of the media telling you all that acceptance of these things is complete. Otherwise there would not be the concerted efforts being expended to convince the Irish faithful that Pope Francis is our king and sodomy and perversity is tolerable and worthy of dialog. What galls me about these charges of clericalism are things such as this. Decry clericalism while deliberately putting up big banners of the face of Pope Francis in the parishes. They can't have it both ways. The hypocrisy is becoming blatant.
There is today a silent and respectful protest outside of the Atlanta cathedral regarding Archbishop Wilton Gregory inviting Fr. James Martin to speak at two churches sometime in October on LGBT relations in our archdiocese. I have been united in prayer all morning with those attending.
Yes this is true. But on the other hand the Church is constructed from the beginning as a Hierarchy. That fine when those leading are trustworthy. In the past our leaders were often corrupt evil men, which was bad of course but not fatal. The difficulty now is that we have evil corrupt men in charge who are also heretics. It's a double whammy. Thats the grave crisis we face. Evil corrupt men in charge who also heretics. No matter how good many of the lay people are that's a double whammy that is hard to see a way out of. We never had this before. I also have to say I think Pope Francis dwarfs any previous bad Pope by miles and miles. He is way out there on his own for Top Bad Pope Award. He is just one of a kind. Whch makes me think only God can save us.
I feel the same way, Padraig I’m waiting on the Lord and doing my daily duties in the spirit of sacrifice for Blessed Mother
Yes there's not much we can do now but pray, really. Bishops and Cardinals can do things. The most the rest of us can do really is prayer and sacrifice. We could protest and petition I suppose, but the folks who should listen would like to throw us all in the Loony Bin.
But I have complete confidence in God; it's His Church and He will take care of it. I do wonder when He will act. Perhaps we have sinned so badly He is going to let these hi jackers go a lot longer down the rails with their hateful agendas. But how far down the rails? How long Oh Lord? How long? Psalm 13 How Long, O Lord? To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 13 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Clericalism is a perfect Modernist word. Pope St. Pius X warned us about Modernists and that one of their chief methods of attack is word-play to confuse issues. Clericalism is such a wonderful word for them because it isn't in the dictionary, therefore it can have different meanings to different people.
If we are to understand a word by it's connotation clericalism must mean unwanted sexual assault. Usually upon males and often upon minors. How these men can stand up in front of victims of sexual abuse and claim clericalism is the problem is beyond me. I would like to ask all of those former altar boys who were molested if they think the sin there was clericalism. If clericalism is the problem then perhaps they could explain it by using it in a sentence. "The altar boy was assaulted and suffered the sin of clericalism." Modernist word-play! What a joke! I wish they would address the problem for what it is. Homosexuality and rape. That sounds so ugly though.
sounds ugly and IS ugly. I HATE waffle words. Speak truth. The brisk clean cold wind of truth then Bri ng the Rain of the HolySpirit to sweep through like the Augean Stables and cleanse the whole supperating mess!
What utter madness. "Clericalism" is simply an accusation aimed directly at the flock. It is basically like telling a woman who was raped that if she was not so fair men would not lust after her and all this wouldn't have happened to her. It is the result of narcissism that when cornered and confronted by their vile actions instead of take responsibility they in turn attack anyone or anything they can find to allay their fault. I have dealt with this before within my own family and it will get far uglier than this. These men will stop at nothing to retain their positions and authority.
I have A Catholic Dictionary by Donald Attwater on my shelf, a republished 1958 version by Tan Books Publishers with imprimaturs and nihil obstat from 1946 and 1958. Under "clericalism" it says: "Improper pretensions of clergy as such; attempted extension of ecclesiastical authority and influence beyond its proper sphere. By the enemies of the Church even the legitimate authority and activities of the clergy are called 'clericalism' in a hostile sense." At the end it references the word "anticlericalism" so in curiousity I flipped back through the book and found this definition: "i. Opposition to Catholicism directed particularly against the lawful activities of the clergy. Anti-clericalism is usually secularist but is sometimes associated with Protestantism. It seeks by means of the civil law to suppress church schools and abolish religious teaching in all schools; entirely to secularize works of charity, such as hospitals; to suppress relgious orders; to forbid public demonstration of Christianity; to penalize the practice of religion by servants of the state, etc. France has been the home of anti-clericalism since the first quarter of the 19th century, and it is epidemic in Spain, Portugal, Italy; in all these countries it is a characteristic of the Freemasons, so that there masonry and anti-clericalism are synonymous. ii. Lawful opposition to any improper pretensions of the clergy as such, or to an attempt of religious authority to operate outside its proper sphere." If you ask me, it is anti-clericalism that is rampant throughout the world (according to these definitions) and not clericalism. I find it interesting that the opposite narrative is being pushed.... someone trying to throw us off track from what's really going on??
