Clash of the Titans: Strickland v. Martin

Elijah versus the prophets of Baal

[ 4 min read ]

A prophet is not without honour except... .

From the Catholic Herald an article by John Lavenburg. Bishop Joseph Strickland on the “basic truths” which include:

• Christ established only the Catholic Church.
• It is (a) sacrilege for anyone to unworthily receive communion.
• Marriage is between one man and one woman.
• Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God and shouldn’t be supported in attempts to reject their biological identity.
• Sexual activity outside of marriage is a grave sin.
• The belief that all men and women will be saved regardless of how they live their lives is false and dangerous.
• In order to follow Jesus Christ all must willingly choose to take up their cross.

“We must hold fast to these truths and be wary of any attempts to present an alternative to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or to push for a faith that speaks of dialogue and brotherhood, while attempting to remove the fatherhood of God. (...) When we seek to innovate upon what God in His great mercy has given us, we find ourselves upon treacherous ground.” - Bishop Joseph Strickland

And then... there's Father James Martin who, with the slithery skill of a Jesuit - because he is one, a Jesuit that is, and a heterodox one at that - uses language in a way that, at least to those who are on the fence about whether his agenda trumps the agenda of Jesus Christ, provides him plausible deniability. But not really.

Wait for it though. 'It' being a fall. Father Martin loves the sound of his own voice. He loves that Pope Francis, to Martin at least, loves the sound of Martin's voice and that those who think themselves allies of the Holy Father love the sound of Martin's voice. God has a way of surprising those holding a comfortable confidence about seemingly forgone conclusions.

Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. - St Luke 6:26

The public record clearly reflects the mindset of a man enamoured with his own "truth", as if truth according to one person's caricatures of reality were boxable and brandable as the Truth, capital 'T'. The expression "my truth" is utterly ludicrous. All defections from reason, from reality, masquerade as truth until the obvious is pointed out. I.e., that a position or process of argumentation is irrational and the math - the process of evaluating and exposing false conclusions - confirms contradiction.

Father Martin's take is out-of-touch with reality, as is much of the quasi-ecclesiastical subculture that sees the Synod on Synodality as a parliament of equals inventing a new Church, a better Church, is playing hockey without sticks... and skating around without a puck. How is Martin out of touch? Martin insists on selective and partial observations, offers no critical evaluation of those observations, and then attempts to pass off his counterfeit conclusions as the Gospel. His understanding of human sexuality, for one, which demands that others waste their time winding through a veritable maze of dissonant ideas, is at odds with God's design.

Let's remind Father Martin that Pope Francis has said

(t)he church is open to everyone but there are laws that regulate life inside the church(.)

• The Church has rules.
• Those rules help us avoid self deception.
• Those rules keep us from destroying the life of God in us.

Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." Commandments he said, not suggestions! Jesus also provided the means whereby we can be restored to grace when we fail to keep his commandments and fall into sin. It's called the Sacrament of Penance. What's the point of the Sacrament of Penance if there is no sin, no need for reconciliation?

Pope Francis' comment is a gentle way of encouraging us to accompany people but not to enable sinful behaviour. No pope, no bishop and certainly no priest can change what God has created and what the Church has always and everywhere handed on from the Apostles taught by Jesus, the Church guided by the Holy Spirit and protected from doctrinal error as promised by Jesus.

Social media are populated with countless martyrs who will witness Father Martin gored by his own 'b' as in 'bull, 's' as in... ,... by his own pride. Sadly, there is often little that can be done to reach someone who is possessed, if not by an evil spirit, by his convictions that blind him to the truths revealed by God.

The text of Holy Scripture viewed through the lens of a Father Martin is distorted to suit some contemporary political or social norm. Through such a lens, the Gospel is purposefully set out of focus. Details are difficult to perceive because the lens is dirtied or shattered by pride, or worse, the lens is not a lens but instead a mirror reflecting only what one wants to see. The process of becoming enamoured in something less than revelation requires a series of little choices that combine to reinforce each other until they form a barrier to holy influence. That process of incremental denial of virtue and affirmation of sin may well be a sign of diabolical influence.

Father Martin, by virtue of what he's said and promoted, probably doesn't considered spiritual behaviours like self denial, abstinence and the like - practices inspired and sustained by God's grace to dispose us to grace - as important to becoming a saint, to growing in holiness. Whether it's his intent or not, he enables sin.

One cannot say for certain, but Father Martin seems to have become hardened to criticism of his teaching, as was Arius, as was Luther. Nevertheless, the charity of the truth spoken with love must continually be offered this side of heaven to those in most need of God's truth and mercy.

We can hope that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, also possesses the skill of a Jesuit - because he is one - who, playing his cards in a way that keeps people guessing, might also keep the Father Martins of the world guessing. Getting all the Church's internal adversaries in one room would be a master stroke of the Holy Ghost, because then the lot of them could be held to account and have their disordered ideas dismissed at once.

The degree to which Pope Francis is cooperating with the Holy Ghost remains to be seen. We can be certain, however, that the verdict and sentence is already set for the enemies of Christ and His Church.

Yep - them's fightin' words. Let's storm the gates of hell together, armed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that with Saint Paul we can say

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. - 2 Timothy 4:7-8