“May Thy continual mercy, O Lord,
cleanse and defend Thy Church”
Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Canon Aaron B. Huberfeld
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
Posted by Peter Kwasniewski on
September 4,2018
It is always a joy to speak to you after the General Chapter of the Institute, when we priests have been filled with valuable counsels and words of encouragement from our superiors as we begin another year of priestly ministry. Those words could not be more timely, as are the divinely inspired lessons we receive from today’s Mass.
Like you, dear faithful, all loyal priests of Christ are tempted at this moment to be discouraged, despondent, angry and ashamed.
We have all had enough of false mercy, of this criminal abuse of so holy a word. True mercy does not turn its back on sin; does not cover up sin; does not say sin is not sin.
The Church today is a weeping widow! The widow of whom the Gospel speaks today is not a woman mourning the death of her husband. No, apart from Good Friday, the Church does not weep for her Divine Spouse, for He has risen and can die no more. No!
Holy Mother Church today weeps for her sons, lying in the death of mortal sin! The Gentle Healer is at hand, ready to restore them to life, if only they have the humility to accept the need for healing.
As the prayer of today’s Mass tells us, the true mercy of Christ cleanses and defends. To the ailing son who begs of Christ this true mercy, He whispers to him, be of good courage; thy sins are forgiven thee; be made clean – and, go and sin no more.
Of the twelve apostles, we note that one betrayed, one denied, nine slipped away, and one stood by at the Cross. That is a terrifying statistic indeed for the Church hierarchy – roughly eight percent traitors, eight percent shameful cowards, seventy-five percent careful cowards, and eight percent courageous and faithful.
But remember that all the cowards returned to Christ and died the holy death of martyrs! The answer to those who seem to be standing in the sidelines is not bitterness and harsh judgment, but prayer and encouragement.
To those of you who are angry, I say, good, be angry. Know that I and countless other priests are angry right along with you, and we hunger and thirst for justice.
We know the Lord is not mocked, and so we cry out, Arise, Lord, and judge Thy cause! But let us not forget the importance of true mercy. Let us heed the words of the Apostle which we hear today: If a brother is in any fault, correct him in a spirit of gentleness, taking heed lest you also be tempted.
Think about all the faithful priests you know, around the world or right here in this diocese. I am thinking right now of all my generous and zealous fellow priests in the Institute of Christ the King, and the young and cheerful faces of all our seminarians in formation. You cannot look into their eyes and honestly think that the Catholic Church is finished.
Thank the bishops who are standing up for what is right, and don’t hesitate to write to others and gently remind them that you’re counting on them to do likewise.
A word to all you young men considering the priesthood: do not be afraid to answer the call! The real men are still here, and we’re waiting for you. You are joining the greatest army that marches upon this earth: the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Be thankful that He is calling you to such an honor.
Like so many other priests, I take courage in this hour when I see your faith. You continue to come to Mass, request Masses, flood the confessional line, call priests to your hospital beds, raise your children in the true Faith and teach them to believe in the priesthood of Christ, the only religion that brings salvation.
And so, let us be patient with one another, encourage one another. Bear one another’s burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ. Let us do good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
Each one shall bear his own burden – each one shall have his own dread moment before the judgment seat of Christ. But if we have sown in the spirit – if we have placed ourselves before the true mercy of Christ which cleanses and defends us, then we shall not despair of seeing the triumph of Holy Mother Church, and reap life everlasting. Amen.
Still keeping my fingers crossed over whether it's really 'different now', as Fr H argues:
It's different now
4 September 2018
The Dubia ... the Filial Correction ... how shy the clergy were about associating themselves with these initiatives.
But, with Viganogate, a number of bishops have been very willing to call for a proper investigation.
Why the change?
Of course, the major difference is that by softening the Church's witness against Adultery, PF was moving in the direction of fashionable assumptions held in the World. The Media, for the most part, would be overwhelmingly in favour of such a 'modernising' stance. The same is likely to be true of any softening of the Church's witness on homosexuality. And PF's views on the Death Penalty fit comfortably with the liberal Western Zeitgeist.
In these matters, the pope was easily seen as moving in line with a 'soft' consensus. And one has to admit that the so-called 'modernising' views are held by very many Catholics.
The problem now is clerical sexual abuse of minors or of the vulnerable, accompanied by a veritable industry of prelatical cover-ups.
-
These are not subjects with which the Media are comfortable and relaxed [Oh yes, they have been pretty cavalier and almost totally acritical of any abuses happening outside the Catholic Church and where no Catholic priests or bishops are involved! Unless it is a celebrity scandal like that of Coach Paterno in Pennsylvania.]
- Nor is child-abuse nearly as acceptable and agreeable to the laity.
"Giving a second chance to people whose first marriages have broken down" ... that seemed kind, merciful, and modern. Not so sex abuse, cover-up, pay-outs, and silence clauses.
And in the secular sphere, it is commonplace for 'investigative journalism' to hunt down 'cover-ups' and 'hypocrisy'. The Vigano event plays into this culture and these assumptions.
[But 'investigative journalism' is suddenly nowhere to be found!]
So, all of a sudden, PF has lost the PR initiative
[Has he, really? When the major media have closed ranks trying to protect and defend him while trying their damnedest to crucify Vigano as the bigtime villain of our age!] which has passed to his critics.
This, surely, is why there is such incandescent rage among his cronies. They have been suddenly cast into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position. Riding on the crest of a 'Francis is Merciful' campaign was rather fun.
Being asked why their pope is so shy, so unwilling to answer questions about a rather horrible sexual scandal, is not at all what they thought they were signed up to.
And it is easier for bishops to call for 'transparency' and 'full disclosure' than it was for them to 'split hairs' in the realm of moral theology, and to discuss the finer points of the 'doctrine' of 'Development'. In Amoris laetitia and his Synods, PF followed his declared policy of 'creating a mess', of getting others to create facts which he would then be able to interpret and push forward.
This immensely civilised PR policy for advancing heresy is unavailable now that the PR imperative is to distance PF from sex abuse and cover-ups. PF, and his rabble of shifty time-servers, find their backs right up against the wall; room for manoeuvre there is none.
In this abuse crisis, schmaltzy Viennese smiles and condescending advice to go away and read Newman will not solve the problems of an angry (albeit hypocritical) world, or of a bewildered and highly distressed laity.
(Maybe this would not quite be the moment for Archbishop Fernandez to produce a new and augmented Second Edition of his Manual on Kissing with a commending preface by PF.)
Yet the teaching found in Amoris laetitia, and the immorality disclosed out by Archbishop Vigano's 'Testimony', are essentially the same. The completely and radically flawed 'lenient'and laxist ethical casuistry proposed for the comfort of German adulterers could, with perfect logic and fairness, be called in aid by paedophiles.
After all, there have been human societies in which paederasty and ephebophilia have been socially acceptable and on public display. They attracted their own extensive and distinctive romantic literature. I, of course, and my readers, will regard such ideas and such cultures with visceral disgust or with reasoned contempt. But the Vigano 'Testimony' has left PF and his faction without a leg to stand on.
Perhaps they do not read Hesiod in Argentine schools; maybe young Jorge never heard about Pandora and her
pithos (jar). But it will be as difficult as ever it was to get the
poma (lid) back on the
pithos.
[NB: the original myth referred to the container of the trapped ills as a pithos or jar, not a box.]
We shall have much characteristically Bergoglian bluster. We may again see the sort of bullying which raised its ugly head after the Correctio even in 'civilised' countries like Austria and Britain.
But this must, surely, be ...
if not the Beginning of the End, at least the End of the Beginning.
Because, at last, a hitherto largely quiescent episcopate is showing signs of becoming restive and audible. Extreme measures, even extreme language, against bishops who call for Facts and Accountability and who want to find out Who knew What When, would hardly chime with the public mood.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/09/2018 01:55]