My Thoughts On The Essence of the Current Crisis in the Catholic Church
On October 7, 2017, over one million Catholics in Poland rose up and grabbed their rosaries and, mainly on their borders, called out to God with the powerful intercession of Our Lady (the photo for this article shows just one area in Poland on October 7, 2017). This was a grassroots effort that was, in essence, saying, “The demonic secular forces of this world are not welcome on our soil!” While not immune to the infiltration of modernism in Poland’s Catholic Church, they remain one of the strongest on the planet.
In St. Faustina’s diary, she relates how our Lord told her,
“I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming” (Diary, 1732)
Inspired by Poland — Ireland, the British Isles and Australia followed suit in praying for their respective countries with rosaries in hand (all “grassroots” efforts of the laity). The United States has been praying this way since 2016 (and the lead up to the Presidential election), with Novena for Our Nation, with over 40,000 USA Catholics praying the miraculous 54 Day Rosary Novena from August 15 (Feast of the Assumption) to October 7 (Our Lady of the Rosary). With the inspiration of Poland, we (USA) have reframed the concluding October 7 prayer campaign with the new title of “Rosary Coast to Coast” (Go to rosarycoasttocoast.com). Now, many nations have accepted the clarion call, and will be praying together on October 7, 2018 in what we now call the “Holy League of Nations” (Go to holyleagueofnations.com).
In the lead up to our launch of this 2018 enormous “Rosary Coast to Coast” nation-wide (now worldwide) prayer campaign (We launched on March 31, 2018), our planning team sought the support of all of the USA bishops. I warned the team that we would not get many to respond, much less support. And, as I predicted, only a handful responded and what support we received was timid (barring a few, including my own Bishop Morlino, Bishop Conley and Cardinal Burke). Why did I accurately predict this? Because I knew full well the “condition of our prelates in America.” I knew we would be received as more “dangerous” than “beneficial” to the Church in America. Why? Let me explain …
There was one reply, in particular, that still rings (stings) in my mind and heart, nearly on a daily basis, that, sadly, truly expressed this “condition of our prelates.” It came from a very prominent prelate who will remain nameless. Here was his reply …
“Father, I’m not fond of these national campaigns. I don’t know that they accomplish a whole lot and because of that, I just haven’t been willing to offer endorsements.”
Yes, you read that correctly. Tens of thousands of people joined together in prayer to call out to God, through the powerful intercession of our Lady, to protect and heal our nation does not “accomplish a whole lot.”
St. Louis de Montfort once wrote:
“When people say the Rosary together, it is far more formidable to the devil, than one said privately. Because in this public prayer, it is an army that is attacking him. He can often overcome the prayer of an individual, but if this prayer is joined to other Christians, the devil has much more trouble in getting the best of it.” -St Louis de Montfort.
You see? This is the “problem” … this is the “condition” of the vast majority of our prelates. To them, St. Louis de Montfort and all of those crazy saints were just that … “crazy.” You see? WE have arrived on the scene and, thank God, WE are here now to take the “crazy” out of Catholicism. No more of this silly hocus pocus superstitious nonsense, under our watch. No more of this ridiculous belief in the supernatural power of God and the power of prayer, as long as we are here.
In fact, those who advocate “the supernatural” are to be considered “dangerous” in our Church. Also, anyone who would actually defend the teachings of the Church is to be considered “dangerous.”
The following was written by an anonymous priest (yes, bishops, we priests are afraid of you, so we need to write anonymously) in Crisis Magazine …
If I may, I now speak for myself and my peers directly to the American prelates: Bishops, we can appreciate how you feel when attacked for doing what is right. We can appreciate the hurt, the desolation and the immense loneliness. We can appreciate it, because we live it as well. We live it when we preach a homily defending the Church’s teaching on marriage, and are chastised by you for “upsetting the people.” We live it when we express how difficult it is to live with someone who drinks himself into a rage every night, and we are told by you that we need to “get along with our pastor.” We live it when you let our brothers mock us behind our backs over cocktails with benefactors. We live it when we are chastised for legitimate liturgical expressions and our brothers who preach counter to the faith are given plush parishes and diocesan offices. We live it when our peers call us names, and paste misplaced quotes of Pope Francis on our doors. We live it when we see seminarians leave because a priest made an advance on them and you do nothing about it after we report it. We live it when our family and friends part ways with us because of Church abuse scandals. We live it when we are insulted in public. We know that it is difficult to do what is right in the current climate.
We often look to you, our spiritual fathers, for solidarity and support. We need someone to stand with us to be “shining lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” But we remain alone. At best, you ignore us, and, at the worst, you punish or reprimand us … We can no longer find consolation in our spiritual fathers. When I was a young seminarian, I could find consolation in the words of the pope. Those days are gone. Pope Francis often says things that confuse the people of God and appear to contradict the very material we preach; even more distressing he joins the ranks of his generation who label and stereotype younger clergy. He now gives them permission to call us “little monsters,” and provides them with cliché adages to use out of context, such as “Who are you to judge?!” This has created an environment of intense loneliness.
Nope … Talk of the supernatural and liturgies that point to the transcendent may be too much for some and may not “grow our base and fill our coffers.” Nope … Actually defending the teaching of the Church may “trigger” some (our churches must be “safe spaces”) and may not keep us in the good graces of the cultural elites (virtually all are the radical secular left). No, filling our coffers by watering down our faith and colluding/compromising with the powers that be is the only way to “save our Church.” We must rely on “worldly tactics” instead of the preposterous belief in supernatural powers. What does that sound like? See picture here.
The soon to be canonized Archbishop Oscar Romero once said,
“Those who, in the Biblical phrase, would save their lives – that is, those who want to get along, who don’t want commitments, who don’t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us – they will lose their lives. What a terrible thing, to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially—lacking nothing, having everything, to what good? They will lose their lives.”
“A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what gospel is that?”
Jesus warned …
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).
Bishops, like the “anonymous priest” above, I know the world (those who see God as a threat rather than a destiny) hates me, and I also know most of you hate me. And, for the same reasons, I know most of you hate Cardinal Burke. But, I will always remain firm in my belief that the way of the Lord is a narrow path that passes through the cross. Like President Ronald Reagan once said, “We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression.” The “weakness” you have advocated has left all of us vulnerable to the aggressive forces of evil. We must challenge the faithful to become “strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” (Ephesians. 6:10), not coddle them into complacency and compromise with the world. Your fear of the supernatural, your silence on difficult issues, your appeasement of the powers that be – your compromise with the world – is why our Church is in the crisis it now faces.
Bishops … strong, obedient, supernatural believing Catholics (as are so many young priests) are not the enemy; they are the future of the Church. Once you understand this, the Church will rise again from the ash heap you have caused by your advocacy of weakness (Soft bigotry of low expectations) and your compromise with the world for all these past 50+ years.
If any prelates would like to endorse this worldwide collection of a million or more strong – supernatural believing – Catholics praying together on October 7 … if you don’t think it will not accomplish a whole lot, please write to: [email protected]
