The Cowards of Mother Church

 

The Book of Revelations 21:8

“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (my emphasis)

I won't name names, but you are aware of some. In fact, you may know all of them... just as our Lord does. I refuse to be on the list.

Like a very many Catholic, I am sickened by the stench dealt forth by the direction of the Church. Do you agree? Consider the lack of participation and discussion by the casual Catholics. Casual Catholics (including casual clergy) don't pray, read scripture, or even want to talk about the negative effects being promulgated by the "leaders" of our Church. The evil is permeating our pews and we (as a whole) don't even seem to care. 

We committed Catholics remember the poll by Pew Research. Over 70% of Catholics don't believe in the True Presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. I haven't been able to overcome the shock of Pew's findings, as it continues to bother me. The only good part, it opened my eyes as I am no longer naive to the corruption and negative direction of the Church. You might be a stronger and determined Catholic than I am, but not by much. I commend you. What I am is fearless. I love our Catholic Church and I will defend her until the day I day.

You see, and I'm sure you've noticed, we are in the fight of our lives. We are being persecuted, not by wild animals in an arena, but by our psyche. We are constantly told we hate and are evil by, ironically, calling real evil what it is... sin. The devil has created a war that we will win. He may win some battles, but God will win the war. Casual Catholics, which side do you want to be on?

Each day I ask myself, why? Why are so many Catholics acting like robots and minions? Why are they caving to the progressive movement within the Church?

1. Let the Vatican clean up its own mess.

In a recent presentation, renowned Exorcist Father Chad Ripperger stated: 

"The elephant in the room is we have people in high places in the church, running parts and aspects of the church, who are evil. This is something we simply have to accept. I'm sorry, but when every single thing you do maximizes damage. They promote the guys who are openly homosexual and things of that sort, they don't do anything about a certain country (Germany?) of Bishops who are completely schismatic or heretical in their thinking and yet the minute a priest wants to get up there and teach Authentic Catholic doctrine, they pull the plug on him."  (my emphasis)

With those Cardinals recently appointed, we know we can't depend on the Vatican. Some very good Archbishops were passed over for Cardinal while two US Bishops, one who promotes homosexuality and another who fails to promote (in fact seems to diminish the importance of) the Holy Eucharist, received promotions.

I do believe that Pope Francis is, indeed, the Pope. But he has really let me down. As a youngster, when being confirmed, I chose St. Francis as my patron saint. I was thrilled when the new Pope took that name of Francis. He has really let me down. Some claim he is a false pope. I can't quite get there, but I understand and appreciate where they are coming from.

2. Very little help comes from the pulpit (they want to be liked).

An Archbishop I have admired over the years is the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. 

"Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and your religious act like religious."

Over a year ago my wife and I left a parish, a huge parish that was at one time the largest in the United States, for a much smaller parish. We helped build that parish. When we left we had over 12,000 families. We didn't leave because it grew too large. We left because it became too Protestant. This huge parish hasn't had a pastor in over 5 years. (long story) A Chief Operating Officer runs the church. I could do an entire book on the how this parish is spiritually failing its congregation. But the fact is, the Bishop has not replaced the ousted pastor. The administrator assigned to, temporarily, run the parish isn't even allowed to sell the old rectory. I'm sure someone can use the money.

But money isn't the point. Our newly selected parish has a good shepherd. He preaches the Gospel, with zeal. There is no doubt what is expected from us as Catholic Christians. He teaches God's Truth. Folks, not every priest does that. You may know some.

In addition today's priests liked to be liked. Some don't dare challenge the corrupt lives of many sitting in the pews each Sunday. When our old parish announce the findings of the Pew poll, the pastor's reaction was, "Ouch." Ouch? That's it? I about left the Holy Mass that day. Again, my eyes were opened.

Our new pastor offers hours of confession opportunities. He is explicit in making sure we understand the consequences of sin. (Our daughter and family are just as fortunate with their parish.) And there lies the hope. Many priests still understand the mission of leading us to heaven.

3. Lazy Catholics

St. John Bosco has a quote that I live by: 

“Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book."

There is no reason why Catholics can't be better educated and informed. I'm not a great reader, but I read. A neighbor once asked me what I read and my answer was, "Catholic books." Unlike many, who don't know why they believe what they say they believe, I want to know. Goodness, there is a plethora of books available by excellent authors. (See my 5 star books page). That page contains less than 10% of the books I've read. I know people who have told me they don't read. DUH!!!! It's obvious. 

Some of those books are regarding spiritual warfare. I believe a dozen would be an accurate count. If we don't know the enemy and how the demons attack, we can't know how to defend. Many clergy are uneducated in spiritual warfare, particularly the dangers of the occult. 

In the recently released movie, Nefarious, the doctor claims, "I didn't know we were in a fight." The demon responds, "That's why you're losing." No kidding!

Most of all, as St. Jerome said: 

"The ignorance of scripture is the ignorance of Christ."

Does this make me a scholar? Absolutely not. I read scripture to build my relationship with the Holy Trinity. If you were to test me regarding where a particular passage may be found, I can give you the book but then would have to look up the chapter and verse. I'm 70 and the brain doesn't work well most of the time (if it ever did). 

4.  God Apathy

I don't care for the Covid excuse as to why our parishes aren't filling back up. All it means is the faith of these folks, that have stopped attending Holy Mass, was not real after all. It was obligation. 

I mentioned earlier about the parish we left. When we met with the COO she actually asked me how to get people back in the pews. Because I'm seldom at a loss of words, I told her to quit streaming the mass. She then asked what were the home bound to do? I answered by saying that they could stream EWTN or another channel. I told her that the word dispensation meant nothing to most people. She disagreed. That's okay... she asked. However, months later, my wife ran into a couple who still stream the mass when they don't feel like going. And they live within 5 minutes of the church! 

If you haven't already, read Ezekiel 33:1-20. You and I have a responsibility to preach the Gospel, as a sentinel, to the best of our ability. I take Ezekiel's passage to heart by trying to educate and promote our Faith. If I don't do the job, God will hold me accountable. If I do my job, and a person continues to sin, at least I'm no longer liable. I have the "save the world" vision. But as a wonderful priest one time told me, "Jesus couldn't convince everyone, why do you think you should be able to?"

Holy Scripture is full of brave men, women and deeds. One of the most popular is from 1 Samuel  17:32, in which he writes:

“Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”

That's the same fortitude every single Catholic should have. Each one of us should fight for our Mother Church, Christ's Church. If we don't have our Catholic Church, we have nothing. 

I'm not hateful angry, but I am definitely "Jesus in the temple" angry. I want my Holy Catholic Church back. I don't want to hear small talk in the sanctuary before mass, or witness irreverence of the Holy Eucharist. I want to be able to receive Holy Communion on the tongue without the look of disbelief on a clergy's face. Although our newly selected parish meets the demands of Mother Church, I want to be able to walk into any Catholic Church and know it's actually Catholic. 

Mostly I don't want to hear Catholics ask what a parish can do for them (as in what programs are offered). I want to hear Catholics tell a pastor what they can do for the parish and make Jesus Christ the central figure of Mother Church again.

Amen?

God Bless you all very much.