Of course we have to stand up for the Truth, but only with love and compassion in our hearts, and prayers for those in error. If someone didn't pray for me, I would still be lost!
I like how St Catherine admonished the pope with charity and reverence "most reverend and beloved father in Christ Jesus" and even endearance "Oh me, oh me, sweetest “Babbo” [a term of affection in her native Tuscan which translates roughly as “Papa”] mine!" And encouragement through this difficult time "Up, then, father, and no more negligence! Raise the gonfalon of the most holy Cross, for with the fragrance of the Cross you shall win peace." Her correction was in love and charity..... How I believe we are called to correct our brethren.
Perfect. So we batten down the hatches. How ? Pray with love in our hearts, hate the sin love the sinner. Fast in some little way at least to demonstrate to God we are sincere in our petitions. In a nutshell do what Our Lady has been asking us to do for nearly a hundred years that we know of since 1917. It is only since we have had the internet that we have been able to read a lot of what has been going on. And I am not sure if we were better off not knowing. Knowledge is responsibility. It is interesting that the visionaries who have been told what is to come, pray and fast and do not pass judgement. Should this not be a big clue as to how we ought to behave.
Ya Know!!! I'm guessing that the most EVIL people we encounter in Church or elsewhere are those that we think to be "Good" .... and why we, since ancient times, are told to be on watch for wolves in sheep's clothing ...and as I may have said before? Much EVIL has been accomplished in this World by weak-n-dithering Sheep in Sheep's clothing ! Our Church has been filled by plenty of these "Sheep" since Vatican II. GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
Crewdog, if you are responding to my post about not passing judgement. Let me share something that happened in my own lifetime, as a testimony to my sheepish faith. About 35 years ago, long before the internet and the 'be damned' brigade ever set sail on the digital sea. My children were still at junior school then, and there was no Catholic school near enough to send them to. So they went to bog standard local school and Catechism classes once a week, along with our normal practising the Faith. One of my children came home from the school one day and said to me, mummy the religious education teacher told us that Moses is not real, he was a story made up by the Jews. I was furious and said to her, if that teacher does not believe the Bible she has no right to be teaching religious education. This is where the sheepish faith gets interesting. I went to see my parish Priest who was one of those Theologian professor types appointed to our parish from a religious order on account of the shortage of Priests. I told him what had happened, partly to get some ammunition to defend my faith more firmly. What was my surprise when he informed me, that belief is correct in other words we should not believe Moses was a real person. I did not go home with my tail between my legs and fast and pray and offer in silence; but challenged him there and then. Telling him that if Moses was not real, Jesus would have told the Apostles the truth, and I was not buying into that nonsense. He told me it was how the Theologians and academics now (at that time) saw the old Testament. I immediately told him these Theologians and academics are wrong. And reminded him Jesus once said "before Moses ever was, I AM." In fact I think Jesus was referring to another prophet. But Saint Peter, Saint John and Saint James testified that they saw Moses at the Transfiguration, so we have to call the Apostles liars to doubt Moses. That Priest told my husband later that he would not like to take me on in a debate as far as my Faith is concerned. But I would still not judge him. I don't think he ever got over that discussion, and I pray he dumped the Theological and academic literature that he had swallowed hunk line and sinker. And went back to the Faith of our Fathers and the traditional beliefs that got us this far. No I won't take it lying down, either on this forum or face to face; but we should not be accusing Gods servants the way we do behind their backs. This is mob rule, with the biggest bully trying to silence the rest of us. Tell them to their face if you get a chance and give them the opportunity to defend their beliefs. But this verbiage on the internet is evil gone amuck.
Julia, I was posting in regards to the thread as a whole and not targeting you I have nothing to argue with you about. My feeble minded points are: 1) The immense bureaucracy of The Catholic Church, filled with paper shufflers, a** kissers and careerists, is beyond salvage. (Same, Same our US/EU Gubermints) We have had two Pope Saints in the past 55 years and PP VI on the way and none of them were able to control that, not so Holy, bureaucracy. PB XVI probably resigned due to his inability to tackle The Problem. St JP & PPVI warned us that The Church was infiltrated by satan's pals and The Final Confrontation was upon us ....... THE STORM! 2) The Internet for all it's Trash-n-BS is probably a Godsend for many. Likewise Christian TV/Radio. I'm not overly concerned, now, by the empty pews 'cause God has provided alternate means to Him. Just as your body will develop alternate blood flow to from the Heart when arteries are damaged. I'll say again! I believe that God is a real sore loser when it comes to losing souls to satan and He will give us any number of venues to find Him and Salvation! .... Say: AMEN!! 3) There is nothing wrong with Praying for and Raising Hell with thems that run OUR Church though I believe it's too late to avert The Storm as we are done past that Tippin' Point! Anyway! If Ya really want to Raise Hell, here's how to do it. Forget phone calls and e-mail. Confronting your local priest face-to-face for a local problem is OK but your Priest is just a 2LT in "The Trenches" and can do nothing about a Church Wide Problem. Soooo--- as I learned whilst doing my stint as a paper shuffling HQ Staff Weenie ..... write real snail-mail letters AND Most Importantly!! Send info/cc: copies to others above-n-below "The Chain of Command". Make sure on the letter to the Bishop that you list all the Folks that you are cc:-ing . For instance! Your Bishop is a jerk and you're upset about IT. Send a letter to him and cc: the Papal Nuncio, Vatican... two or three different offices there .... your Diocesan newspaper, the national Catholic newspapers, your local priest (if he's a good guy), influential local Parishioners and if you live in a majority Catholic area your local newspaper. You say WHY!!!?? I'll tell you WHY! If Ya just send a missive to your Bishop (Congressman, Mayor...etc) the Bishop's 3rd Class Wiper who opens the mail will probably put your letter in File 13. BUT!! ... with all the cc: copies ya sent out he will exclaim .. Holy S***!! and run weeping to his "Excellency" .... GOT IT!!?? GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!!! ... and get on those Letters!! PS: If your Bishop (Priest..Whoever) is a Good Guy do the same routine but in a Positive Letter with cc:-ing to plenty of folks!!
We have to do the same thing at work to get people who are otherwise uninterested in a matter to help resolve it.
It would seem it was the telegraph journalist that simplified. The Byzentine emperor quoted was Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. This from the wiki page. Which ofcourse could be wrong.
Good for you, Jerry! Good work, you win a point of debate! In the future I suggest you should be much more alarmed that a pope promotes an archbishop who has committed great evil to choose bishops, than some backwater forum poster who makes a grammatical mistake (no matter how SERIOUS it may appear.)
At our own personal judgment, each of us will also say, "That's true. There is no rebuttal." Safe in the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart!
Voris has it right this time. It is OUR Church and it's past time to Take It Back and throw the bums out ... Just as Jesus did with the money changers! The Church, these past 50 years, has been infiltrated by satan's useful idiots ...or worse!! EXPOSE AND OPPOSE-Poorly formed or ignorant bishops must be challenged. http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-expose-and-oppose?utm The line from that silly movie of 40 years ago, "Network" comes to mind: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna to take this anymore!" GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
What we know for certain is that the church will get very small before it gets better and I feel the true church is already very small. We all go to church on Sunday. How many are just going through the motions? How many are eating their own condemnation by not accepting in true humility? The question I always have is what to do? Who to follow? How will we know? This is a true fear to have for certain but I believe because we have this fear, God knows our hearts and our love for Him and how can that lead one astray even if we are sitting in a heretical church or a lost church. There is so much talk about there being a true church and a false church but without the grace of God giving us such knowledge we have no other way to know. I just can not accept that if your heart is with the Lord you can be deceived to be taken away from Him. I don't know if that makes sense to others but it does to me. I guess when the dark times come with a small church and your regular church on Sunday turns into something other than a true mass, then we must flea and go without the sacrament until we find the truth again. I believe and trust that the faithful who have given the Lord their heart will know without a doubt if a mass is valid or not when we are sitting there. From Our Lord Luke 18: [8] I say to you, that he will quickly revenge them. But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? Pope St. Pius X warned the Church of this in 1907: “[T]hey put into operation their designs for Her [the Church’s] undoing, not from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of Her is more intimate. Moreover, they lay the ax not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the faith and its deepest fibers.” – Pascendi Dominici Gregis Our Lady of Good Success “Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century… It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation… The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of the Faith will gradually be extinguished…” “Various heresies will be propagated in this land, then a free Republic. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs [morals]… The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and the virtues will suffer an unspeakably cruel and slow martyrdom…” "In the 20th century… the corruption of customs will be almost universal and the precious light of Faith all but extinguished.” Our Lady of La Salette “Lucifer, with a great number of demons will be unchained from Hell. By degrees they shall abolish the Faith, even among persons consecrated to God.” “In every place there will be extraordinary prodigies, because the true Faith has been extinguished.” “[T]he abomination shall be seen in holy places, in convents, and then the demon shall make himself the king of hearts.” “Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of Antichrist.” Our Lady of Fatima “Satan rules even in the highest positions and determines the direction of things. He will succeed in worming his way even into the highest summits of the Church…” “But this will be a time of great trials for the Church. Cardinals will oppose cardinals. Bishops will oppose bishops. Satan will walk in their ranks. In Rome, there will be great changes. What is rotten will fall and what will fall will never rise again. Darkness will envelope the Church and the world will be thrown into a panic.” Our Lady of Marienfried 1946 “The Star of the infernal regions (Lucifer) will rage more violently than ever and will cause frightful destruction, because he knows that his time is short, and because he sees that already many have gathered around my sign.” St. Hippolytus (3rd century) "And the churches too will wail with a mighty lamentation, because neither oblation nor incense is attended to, nor a service acceptable to God; but the sanctuaries of the churches will become like a garden-watcher's hut, and the Holy Body and Blood of Christ will not be shown in those days. The public service of God shall be extinguished.” St. Nicholas von Flue (15th century) “The Church will be punished because the majority of Her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper until She will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired. But, after this, She will be victoriously exalted in the sight of all doubters.”
Venerable Anna Katarina Emmerick (19th century) I saw also the relationship between the two popes… I saw how baleful (evil; harmful) would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size;2 heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome)3 … Once more I saw the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect (Masonry), while storms were damaging it.”“I saw a secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church… When the Church had been for the most part destroyed (by the secret sect), and when only the sanctuary and the altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers (of the secret sect) enter the Church with the Beast.” “I saw an apparition of the Mother of God, and she said that the tribulation would be very great. She added that these people must pray fervently with outstretched arms… They must pray above all for the Church of Darkness to leave Rome.” “The Church is in great danger… I see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there will hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy. The great devastation is now at hand.” “When I saw the Church of St. Peter in ruins, and the manner in which so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction – none of them wishing to do it openly in front of others – I was in such distress that I cried out to Jesus with all my might, imploring His mercy. Then, I saw before me the Heavenly Spouse… He said, among other things, that this translation of the Church from one place to another meant that She would seem to be in complete decline. But She would rise again; even if there remained but one Catholic, the Church would conquer again because She does not rest on human counsels and intelligence. It was also shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word.” The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away.” “Among the strangest things that I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering.” “I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound…” “Then I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence…” “In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.” “I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church…” “I heard that Lucifer (if I am not mistaken) will be freed again for awhile fifty or sixty years before the year 2,000 AD.” Pope Leo XIII “These most crafty enemies [the devils] have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.” Pope St. Pius X “… there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days. Pope Pius XII “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events told by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.” “Mankind must prepare itself for sufferings such as it has never before experienced.” This comment comes from the Pope who lived through World War I and World War II! He expressed dismay at what he saw facing humanity in the not so distant future, describing those times as “the darkest since the deluge.” “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past.” “A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” and many, many, many more etc etc etc.
I have just read through this thread and am scandalised. Having posted on another thread about being positive, and not calling out individuals, I am at a loss to say anything very politic here. Padraig is telling it as it is. This is a man who purposely locked a church to prevent a traditional Mass being said, who believes that actively gay couples should receive the Eucharist..... .... and he's going to be selecting bishops!!! ????? Next thing is that he will be given a red hat and help to select the next pope. Well, it's God's church and so we just have to trust that he knows more than we do. Bishop Schneider has said this and much more here: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/new...are-in-the-fourth-great-crisis-of-the-church/ A while back our dear Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of 'the filth' in the Church, among priests who should belong solely to God. He spoke in a particular context but his words still ring true. But Satan is wily - we think that we know who are the 'rotten eggs' but I suspect that these may just be a cover. There's a churchman I've always felt was under some sort of oppression, I can't say that he's said anything really terrible, it's just a feeling. My hunch is that what (or 'who') we perceive as evil may simply be a veneer (the 'useful idiots' in the religious left) and a far darker reality exists in places and people we don't suspect. Only God knows their hearts.... Certainly we should focus more on the remedy - prayer, offering up of suffering and penance, the rosary, Our Lady. Oh and praise and thanksgiving. I think God will want this from us. Praise His Holy Name, Praise the Name of Jesus, true God and true Man forever. Amen. Amen.
Our Bishops have great power given by Jesus to be shepherds of the flock. But that power needs to be invoked and it takes a Godly man to stand up to modern culture with the power of God to protect the flock from the wolves. Unfortunately, the silence of the shepherds is deafening. Wow to the silent shepherds.
