They chose to treat sin as an 'illness', for some strange reason. I find it difficult to conceive of sins more grave than the sodomisation of young boys by a consecrated priest. It is not just opportunistic pedophilic rape by a person in a profound position of responsibility, but blasphemy and sacrilege of the gravest kind. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this was behaviour that some of these bishops did not disapprove of. It is looking like it's too charitable to concede that they were all 'blind' to it.
It is the strangest thing. I don't even like to think about it too much. It makes my skin crawl. Any ordinary normal man would have had the must profound disgust and animus towards a paedophile. This just did not seem to happen with these Bishops.. Birds of a feather...
To paraphrase, Christ said that it would be better for someone who corrupted one of His little ones to have a millstone placed around his neck and to be thrown into the sea. Many of the bishops treated these rapists and abusers with kid gloves, in comfortable, non-judgemental 'treatment' centres and often sent them right back 'to work' in new parishes where the faithful were oblivious. Were the bishops closer to Christ's admonition than the prisoners who extract rough justice? Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that so many have given up on the Church.
We often hear philosophical and intellectual comments about Natural Law, which can go over our heads. Could it be said that the prisoners mentioned in my previous post as extracting rough justice are exemplars of Natural Law in action?
I'm sure many of the prisoners come from hurting histories who, in turn, often act out in cruel ways. It would seem even they are often repulsed by the acts of child molesters! Lord, come to pierce the hearts with grievous guilt, of any within the Church whom neglect to look after the lambs within their folds!! Prayers!
My point is that their acting on their repulsion, by seeking to extract 'rough justice', is an example of their, probably unconscious, adherence to Natural Law.
Fr Dan Reehill was involved in prison ministry in his seminary days. He shared with this tough tattooed angry group of inmates his story of abuse by a priest when he was 10. He told them " I could easily be where you are. I lived a terrible life til the Blessed Mother got a hold of me" He told them about the abuse and said " If God can change me He can change anyone. He loves you. He has a plan for your life..." He said they were in tears. Many came to him for prayer. And shared they too had been abused." I expect that's why those who are sent to prison for these heinous crimes are assaulted. Prisoners who suffered this know the terrible crime that it is. Im not saying their vigilante justice is right but you can understand why it happens.
Blessed Justo Ukon Takayama (1552 - 1615) https://takayamaukon.com/2019/02/06/who-was-ukon-takayama-a-brief-write-up/ Official portrait of Blessed Takayama — chosen by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ)
Although well known by the members here, there are still many Catholics who aren't aware of the events and messages of Akita. It was good to see this post on Totus Tuus page yesterday: "In 1973, in a small convent in Akita, Japan, a simple wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (carved by a Buddhist artisan) came alive in extraordinary ways. Sr. Agnes Sasagawa, a deaf nun, heard Mary's voice extraordinarily from the statue and received profound messages. Mary then gave a sign for the skeptics. Between 1975 and 1981, the wooden statue began bleeding from a wound on its hand and later shed real human tears 101 times. These were witnessed by hundreds, captured on Japanese television, and even during public viewings. Scientific tests at Akita University (by independent experts) confirmed: the blood was human Type B, while the tears and sweat were human Type AB (a detail many link to the Shroud of Turin and Eucharistic miracles). Perhaps the greatest sign was when Sr. Agnes was miraculously healed of her deafness, just as the Virgin Mary had promised. Mary's messages echoed Fatima (1917): - Pray the Rosary daily for priests & sinners. - Offer penance to console the grieving Lord. - Warned of Church division ("cardinals against cardinals") and greater chastisements if humanity doesn't repent—fire from heaven worse than the Flood. After thorough investigation, Bishop John Shojiro Ito declared the events supernatural on April 22, 1984, approving veneration of Our Lady of Akita. In our divided times, her tears remind us: Mary weeps because she loves us. Let's respond with prayer and conversion! "Most Holy Mother of Akita, pray for us and lead us to your Son." Amen!
It's notable that world-shaking events such as this go almost completely unreported in the mass media, while the most trivial events of celebrities are splashed everywhere. We're continually told to 'follow the science', when often the science is simply atheistic narrative, unproven or merely wrong; but when the science is of the kind that is empirical, replicable and proven, as in this case and that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it has to be searched for in the most remote parts of the internet. Who has this control of the narrative and what are their motives? May Our Lady of Akita pray for those who hide her.
Because he was such a very,very senior Japanese aristocrat / warrior his sticking to the Faith and going into exile was a huge, huge witness to the Japanese at the time. Another very striking thing about his was his huge humility, the very opposite of what you might expect from someone like himself at the time. He was pretty well a walking , talking miracle of grace.
Today there was another Japan related post on the Totus Tuus page. It was about the Jesuit Priests who survived the Atomic bomb in Hiroshima. We talked about that before but just wanted to point something out about one of the Priests who came through that dreadful experience relatively unharmed. This is an extract from today's article: "On August 6, 1945, the world changed forever when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" devastated Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands instantly and leaving a city in ruins. Yet, in the midst of total destruction—just about 1 km (8 blocks) from ground zero—a simple rectory stood almost untouched. Eight German Jesuit priests lived there: Fathers Hubert Schiffer, Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Hugo Lassalle, Hubert Cieslik, and others. They had just finished morning Mass and were having breakfast when the blinding flash hit. The blast hurled Fr. Schiffer through the air like a leaf in the wind, glass shattered everywhere, but their home remained standing while everything around was flattened. More astonishing? Despite massive radiation exposure that caused deadly sickness and cancer in so many nearby survivors, these priests suffered only minor injuries (like glass shards). They were examined over 200 times by doctors and scientists in the years that followed—no trace of radiation damage, no long-term effects. Fr. Schiffer lived another 33+ healthy years, testifying to this at the 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. The others lived long lives too. What was their secret? They said it plainly: "We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home." In the face of the most destructive weapon ever created, the power of prayer and devotion to Our Lady proved stronger." I remember reading about this miraculous survival story some years ago and noticing that one of the Priests was called Fr. Hugo Lassalle. In earlier years I was interested in the 'dialogue' between Buddhism and Christianity. I also had some books on Zen meditation. One of them was by Hugo 'Enomiya' Lassalle. I wondered if it was the same person and discovered thst it was. Fr. Lassalle was the Parish Priest in the area where they survived the attack. After some years he felt compelled to bring about the construction there of a Cathedral dedicated to World Peace. This was eventually completed in the mid 1950's and then, feeling that his moral obligation had been fulfilled, Fr. Lassalle was freer to concentrate on his interest in Buddhism. First taking an academic approach and then in a practical way, studying Zen with a Japanese teacher. Later he became the first Catholic Priest to be recognized as a Zen master in his own right and was given permission to teach. At this stage I'm not sure of what benefit, if any, or worthwhile 'contribution' any of this 'dialogue' has been but if you were wondering where the later interest in 'Christian Zen' originated, it pretty much started there. Link below to an article on Fr. Lassalle, if you'd be interested to read any more about this topic. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/monke...-lassalle-the-first-christian-zen-master.html
A short film about Fr. Lassalle and his interaction with Zen Buddhism in Japan. (If you click watch on YouTube below, you can see it).
I am a little surprised that the author does not mention that one of the priests who survived the blast was Father Arrupe who later became head of the Jesuits and is sometimes called its Second Founder as he led it through Vatican 2 to the abominable state it finds itself in today. It was he who saved it from Pope St John Paul 2 who had decided to do away with the Jesuits because of its Apostacy. Some say Arrupe was a saint and visionary. Some a scoundrel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Arrupe
Padraig, you're correct that Father Arrupe survived the Atomic attack on Hiroshima but he was in the Jesuit House a bit further outside the city, whereas the priests named in the piece were in the Parish house in the city centre. Strangely enough, I was reading something earlier which said that most of the reports we read say there were eight priests in the house, who all survived. Whereas, a more contemporary report from 1946 says it was four, those named in the article. When I reread that piece, it actually only names the four German priests and then says "and others". So, it does seem likely that there were only four in the house. I think Fr. Lassalle came in for a lot of criticism for his association with the Zen Buddhists and participation in their meditation practices and retreats but it was Fr. Arrupe who encouraged him to persevere, after he became the Jesuit Superior General.
I've been thinking about Blessed Alexandrina lately and it struck me earlier that there are correspondences between the events and messages of Akita and the life of Blessed Alexandrina. The obvious one is the date of October 13th, which is also the date of the miracle of the sun at Fatima. At Akita it was the date of the last of the three messages given to Sister Agnes by Our Lady in 1973 and in Alexandrina's case it was the day on which she died in 1955. At Akita, when Our Lady was saying the prayer of the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with Sister Agnes, She added the word 'Truly' to the prayer written by Bishop Ito so that it would be said in that way in future. It then read: "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, TRULY present in Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world and giving praise to the Father pleading for the coming of His Kingdom. Please receive this humble offering of myself. Use me as You will for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls. Most holy Mother of God, never let me be separated from Your Divine Son. Please defend and protect me as Your Special Child. Amen." As we know, Blessed Alexandrina was sustained by the Holy Eucharist alone for the last thirteen years of her life. Our Lord said to her that he had put her into the world to show people the importance of the Eucharist and of His Presence in the Sacrament. Also at Garabandal, Our Lady spoke about how less and less importance was being given to the Eucharist. There have been some suggestions that the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist could become more 'symbolic' in the future, in line with other Christian traditions, as a result of 'Ecumenical dialogue' in the name of 'Unity'. If this appears to be happening perhaps Blessed Alexandrina, who was essentially a 'Living Eucharistic Miracle', may have a significant role in ensuring that the Catholic belief in the Eucharist, as the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord is upheld. Jesus also told Alexandrina the he would appoint her a 'Protectress of Mankind'. In these troubled times, let's also call on Blessed Alexandrina with confidence to help us in our unfortunate circumstances. Through her, Our Lord promised that "many souls" would become ardently Eucharistic. He added: "You live in my public life. Never have I been far from you since the day of your Baptism. Thousands have been saved by your terrible sufferings. If anyone should invoke your name when you are in Heaven, they will never do so in vain. I appoint you a protectress of mankind. You will be powerful with the All-Powerful. After your death, I will make your name widely known; I shall see to it myself. Many sinners will come to your tomb and be converted. Find souls who will love me in my Sacrament of Love to take your place when you go to Heaven. Invite the world to prayer and penitence that it will be set afire with love for me." Blessed Alexandrina, pray for us. Our Lady of Akita, pray for us.
