Here We Are
HERE WE ARE
Here we are. We priests and bishops thought we could just keep the perfunctory programs and mandatory sacramental preparations going, along with the standard amount of Mass offerings, with a half hour of Confessions each week, while we made sure we never offended anyone, for fear of keeping the offertory collection at an acceptable level, or losing cred among their fellow clerics.
All while we watched the wolves of this world devour our sheep.
I’ve lost count as to how many have approached me to ask for prayers or any advice whatsoever on what they can do about their child, or their sibling, who has totally turned their lives over to the culture and its “normalization of evil” that is now at historic proportions. Sodom and Gomorrah seems like an Amish community in comparison to our culture today.
My first question I ask is, “Where do you worship?” And then, “Can you describe it to me?” It usually boils down to something “common.” While it is a nice community, they are not challenged, and they never hear sermons that challenge the anti-Christ movements in our culture today that seek to normalize evil. If it is this kind of wishy-washy parish, I then ask if they have any other options of “strong” parishes within driving distance. Staying there is like sending your child to a public school that asks what their preferred pronoun they choose to use.
It seems we priests and bishops avoid speaking against this current culture and the new super-flood of “normalizing evil,” for fear of appearing to “take sides.” This would “cause division,” and we’d prefer to welcome everyone, so we avoid “triggering” anyone.
Balderdash! (socially acceptable word, right? ;-))
Just look at Peter and John in this Sunday’s readings. Peter says, “YOU denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you!” John says, “Those who say, ‘I know him,’ but do not keep his commandments are LIARS!”
I bet their ears didn’t feel “tickled” there!
And, let’s not forget that, while Peter and John were giving their “drill sergeant like” sermons, “the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly” (Acts 6:7). People want something SUBSTANTIAL that calls them to engage in the battle, not thin gruel.
At some point, we priests and bishops need to MAN UP, like Peter and John, and begin to be the TRUE shepherds we are called to be, instead punch-the-clock functionaries that we are now. Our flocks are being kidnapped by a force that is FAR MORE passionate than we are!! They are being devoured while we calculate whether we are at the acceptable level of political correctness.
Those who speak out are accused of being political. POPPYCOCK!! Those who remain silent, for fear of offending, are in fact the ones putting politics ahead of the well-being of their flocks!
Please pray that we priests and bishops grow some hair on our chests.
I speak about this in this Sunday’s sermon:
