Monday, November 21, 2022
It’s Iimi! Rapprochement (The Long Goodbye: Part I)
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
It’s Iimi! Bear One Another’s Burdens
Sunday, July 25, 2021
It’s Iimi! Lone Wolf and Bug: Handcart at the Gates of Heck
Thursday, October 23, 2014
TFTD: Have We Lost the Will To Fight?
As the shouting fades out on the Catholic blogs, I look at the complaints against the Pope and the synod and find myself wondering—when did we stop being members of the Church Militant and start becoming members of the Church Whining? I mean we have had saints who have had to fight real heresies, real laxness, real abuses—all of which had lasted longer than the life of the saint. Sometimes they had to pay for them with their lives. But they always had to work hard without ceasing in combating error and promoting the truth.
But today? A leaked unofficial document from a small group of the synod, the media misrepresentation of said document, and people are complaining that the Church will never be able to undo the damage, that Pope Francis has lost his chance to win over conservatives, that he will no longer be able to lead the Church effectively.
So, are we going to just throw in the towel? Concede the battleground to the enemy? Blame the Pope?
If our forefathers in the faith had behaved this way, there would be nothing but heresy out there today.
Let’s face it. There are a lot of lies told about the Church that never go away. The concept of the Middle Ages, the Crusades, the Inquisition . . . and let’s not forget the modern falsehoods: The so-called “Silence of Pius XII” or the sexual abuse scandal etc. Does that mean we should blame the Pope and bishops for the ignorance of others? Should we complain because we’re undergoing hostility?
To behave like this is to abandon the fight, leaving the Magisterium isolated.
If we’re going to be like our forefathers in faith, we have to realize there will always be an “all hands on deck” situation where we are called to be the witness to the Church where we are in the world.
Maybe we should consider the possibility that the reason error seems to be running so rampant is not because the Pope dropped the ball, but rather that we have dropped that ball. That we’re expecting a perfect world without the toil.
That’s not reasonable. Christ gave all of us a mission to spread the good news. That’s not just the people off in Darkest Africa. That’s also the de-christianized here as well. The “Nones” and the “not practicing” are the fastest growing group in the country. Why are we blaming the bishops when it may be our job to reach out to them?
Instead of bewailing the media distorting the teaching of the synod and blaming the Pope and bishops, why not consider helping them out?
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
And Now We Wait… and Pray
Extra omnes (Everybody out)
The Cardinals have entered the conclave to begin the process of choosing a new Pope. Many of us have picked up the apps, have registered at Pope alarm for notification of the new Pope, and adopted a cardinal.
(If you're curious, I was assigned Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, and for him I pray that he be guided to choose a man who would best serve the Church in the eyes of God, and if he is personally chosen to be Pope that he guide the Church wisely and well).
So now with all the instant media updates, we are now faced with… having to wait. That's the antithesis of the modern technology. We need to wait for the Cardinals to cast their ballots and pray until they have selected the next Pope. We want to know NOW! So we see the media filling the airwaves with speculation. We can't stand silence. But the conclave exists cut off from Twitter, RSS feeds and text messages and until we see the white smoke, we won't know anything.
This is where we need to slow down, practice patience and wait for the next Pope.
We can either pace the floors or we can devote our time to prayer. Prayer for the conclave, for the Church, for the world, for our family and friends.
Let's have faith in God. Let's remember Matt 16:18 and Matt 28:20. We don't know what the future will bring, but we know the Church will continue to be under His protection.