So for 30 years in this archdiocese no Bishop has taken the time to do their job and review and or make some sort of decision on these messages. And add to that, the "hypocritical shutdown" of a retreat house/ranch where they themselves have offered Mass in the past. imho, once again the hierarchy here appears to have no interest or will to do what they are allegedly called to do by virtue of their office. I say allegedly in respect to "the call" to that office, not the office itself. Mr. Stine mentions the places called Nineveh in respect to the eclipse on Apr 8th; just as an aside there are two Ninevehs in Nova Scotia ~ one in Cape Breton and one on the mainland in Lunenberg County. This freaks me out a bit.
Yesterday the archbishop of San Antonio issued a public statement on Mission of Divine Mercy. He cited the disobedience of the mission in publishing prophecies, and the group's refusal to take down their statements; in particular, the statement calling Pope Francis a "usurper." He removed the faculties of the mission's leader, Rev. John Mary Foster. The Mission of Divine Mercy was a canonically approved Catholic apostolate, not an canonically approved religious community. Its status has been revoked and supressed as of March 15, 2024. Full statement is here: https://archsa.org/news/archbishop-statement-on-the-mission-of-divine-mercy/ This was pretty quick action by the archbishop.
This may be a detail but their motto is a bit weird "faith, so God can act". Isnt faith somehow produced (?) by God, or his acting independent of whether there is faith or not? a divine act may cause faith to blossom. I just think, it's an ambiguous statement to make
This is terrible. This video was posted after the archbishop's statement was released. Fr. Foster is a priest of the archdiocese of San Antonio. Even though his faculties have been revoked and his organization supressed, he owes his own archbishop his obedience. Instead, he reads a list of bishops and cardinals who have openly questioned Pope Francis to support his disobedience. (It reminds me of Daniel O'Connor's insistence on following only the "True Magisterium," clearly implying that bishops and cardinals with whom he disagrees--who are in union with the Pope--do not belong to the "True" magisterium.) There has been so much news about false prophets lately! So many unmasked. So much disorientation. I don't believe John-Henry Westen or Lifesite News can be considered credible any more.
I think it's very helpful to see what the devil keeps saying through all of these false apparitions/locutions. He seems to want us to think Pope Francis is a usurper, that there's a "true magisterium" vs. false magisterium, and that disobedience is encouraged.
Faith is a grace 153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven".24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"25 This is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
This is what needs be remembered. It's truly the greatest gift ~ we can't earn it or buy it or do "things" to obtain it. But we must do our very best to hold onto it, come what may; Whether it's roses or a punch in the nose.
Padre Pio had many people gunning for him especially his own Bishop. But no matter how bad or evil or corrupt the people who opposed him in authority were he always, always always obeyed no matter the provocation for years and years and years no matter how bad they got, no matter how innocent he was. Not once did he step out of line. It's been that way with all the saints. No matter how bad things got, no matter how dirty and rotten the powers that be might have been, they always obeyed. Always. Always. I remember the story I read about St Therese of Liseaux's Prioress who seems to have been a total neurotic. She had all the nuns down on their knees trying to catch mice for her pet cat. St Therese must have know this was mad but she was ordered to do it so she did it anyway. If we only had to obey those in Authority when they are good people, or nice people or people we liked or agreed with Obedience would be very easy. But life isn't like that and obedience wouldn't be worth very much if it were.
Sound advice from a just-posted entry in the "Exorcist Diary" of Msgr. Stephen Rossetti. Although Msgr. Rossetti is describing his own encounter with a demon, he draws a general lesson about private revelations: "...Private revelations of supposed seers must always be subject to the tradition and teaching authority of the church that Jesus founded and to which he gave his authority. History is replete with misguided visionaries and false projects. Those who are following these misguided individuals put themselves in spiritual danger... Moreover those who believe they are listening to Jesus but, in fact, are likely listening to their own spiritual fancies or, worse yet, to the whispers of Satan may be in grave spiritual danger. "Stay in the barque of Peter. Stay in the safe and secure teachings of the Bible and the authoritative teachings of the Catholic Church. Most assuredly, this boat will weather all demonic storms and bring you safely home." https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-283-can-demons-be-converted
I find this is a very perplexing situation. Everyone has to make up one's own mind or else do not decide one way or the other but just sit on the fence indefinitely. I have not made up my mind on this issue so I am on the fence. What issue? The issue of the crisis in the Church and our response to it. I am surprised by Roberts U-turn. Only recently he wisely said that he was not supporting the MDM texas locutions and messages - that only a major, visible sign from God could confirm these messages. Now, due to his own locutions and his own discernment he is publically supporting these messages despite the Archbishop of Texas withdrawing faculties from Fr. John Mary and withdrawing cannonical status from his MDM Texas apostolate. Robert has always gone to great lengths to make it abundantly clear that he is not trying to cause divisions in the Church. In the past he has always called upon us to work with our Bishops. He called for more love for Pope Francis to counteract what Satan wants in the Church - which is division. But he has obviously been persuaded by the messages coming out of MDM and his own mystical locutions. I personally have listened to the MDM messages and find them of a convincing and well-reasoned nature, although I have not given my formal assent to them. Robert's take is that ALL the more modern seers, locutionists and latter-day prophets are giving the SAME message from heaven to the modern Church. That message being the same as the Garabandal and Akita (and Fatima) messages. That many Cardinals, Bishops and Priests are leading souls to hell. That the theology of the modern day Church is a junk-theology. That even our Holy Father Pope Francis has been formed by this junk theology (and by implication is leading souls to hell). Some in the youtube comments are calling Robert schismatic. The argument goes that he is supporting the MDM Texas messages as coming from God. But these same messages, declared in defiance of the local Archbishop, have called Pope Francis a 'usurper of the Chair of St. Peter'. Therefore anyone who supports them is by definition schimatic. However, Robert still recognises that Francis is Pope and is respectful towards him. He is not calling him evil. He is not sedevacantist. He is calling for prayers for Pope Francis - that he will be converted. He is however also calling on him to resign - by analogy with St. Catherine of Sienna who called on the Pope of her day to resign. He is saying that Our Pope is not capable of teaching the eternal truths of the Faith and that unless he can do that he should resign. I have written before on the fact that it has been written in dogmatic theology and possibly in Cannon Law that no one on earth judges the Pope. I have also written on the serious obligations imposed on the lay faithful to offer NOT an assent of Faith to the Pope but a religious submission of mind and will to our Pope and the Bishops united to him in matters of faith and morals. However, there are problems. By the light of our God-given faculties of reason, we can (or at least many of us can) discern logical contradictions. Logical contradictions in what our Holy Father (and some Bishops) has said and what we know to be the tenets of our Faith because, as Jeremiah said, the law is written on our hearts and because it is written in black and white in Scripture and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These logical contradictions also affect our consciences. In these cases, it may become impossible to give this religious submission to our Holy Father and Bishops who are united with him in matters of faith and morals. So how can one be schismatic in these cases if one desires to be in the Barque of Peter but one is subject to such impediments due to our God-given reasoning and our consciences. I have other questions which I do not know the answer to. Fr. John Mary Foster admits that 'normally' it is the Bishops who have the role of discerning the truth or otherwise of the messages coming from seers and locutionists. His get out of jail clause is to say that these are not 'normal' times due to the crisis in the Church. [A crisis which many can plainly see due simply to our God-given reasoning and consciences.] I wonder if this is a good enough reason to set aside this normal requirement? Perhaps not. However if one can nolonger give one's assent to what Bishops or the Pope are teaching - or failing to teach - then it could be seen as the legitimate effort to inform the hierarchical Church authorities of what is plainly wrong in the Church in a way that will force them to deal concretely and transparently with the issues. When St. Paul said "Do not extinguish the Holy Spirit. Despise not prophecy", and also "test every spirit, retain only what is true" - did this apply to the apostles and their successors the Bishops only, or does it apply to every Chistian? We are told that we all in some measure excercise the three-fold ministry of Priest, Prophet and King. Do we not have a role too in discernment concerning the spirits affecting the Church today? The CCC says that we are obliged to make any concerns regarding the Church known to our Bishops. But what if the Bishops are not listening? I do not want to unduly influence anyone on these matters. We all must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, as St. Paul says.
If I may say so, you make many good points here. I've listened to what Mr. Nugent had to say; he's always been a voice of reason so it was surprising to see the turn around. I thought he mentioned a call he received from a woman he knows who changed his mind; that set me to wondering about things......and I'll be including him in my prayers. He's made so many good points about the lack of a spiritual life of so many church leaders; what he said about some "swimming in the castle mote" and "closing the doors to the castle" made so much sense, to me anyway. But in the end, it's up to those men to decide on private revelation by virtue of their office. If they say no go, then imho, it's a no go. They will have to stand before God in the end to give an account, and if they said no just to shut people up, they will have to answer for that before God. We have to abide by the decision and let it go. Msgr. Rossetti is on the money when he says "Moreover those who believe they are listening to Jesus but, in fact, are likely listening to their own spiritual fancies or, worse yet, to the whispers of Satan may be in grave spiritual danger." That's just the simple truth ~ especially now ~ imagine experiencing something like this and having to go to a bishop with no spiritual life whatsoever for help? What bothers me about the Mission of Divine Mercy is that there was never any statement regarding an investigation or a formal decision, after 30 years......Just a big hammer drop saying they're false, etc etc. Whether we think the messages to be true or not, someone did not take the time to do their job......kicking the can down the road and then crushing it when it's a bother is not fair to anyone involved. But that's what appears to have happened, and as sad as it is for those involved, that's the end of it. It's not our job, and we won't have to answer for what was or was not properly done by the authority ~ but we can't ignore what the authority has said. My 2 cents, for what it's worth
Fr Ripperger has said that the local Bishop alone has the God-given charism to rule on locutions and apparitions. Fr Ripperger has said it makes no difference if we like the Bishop or not. It makes no difference what we think of him. We must obey his decision. I stand with that. And with Msgr Rossetti.
