Perverse Prelates, Priests & People: What's A Mother To Do?

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[ 5 minute read ]

CCC975
We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church,
continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ.
Pope Saint Paul VI, CPG § 15

Errant Catholic clergy are nothing new. Errant worldly Catholic laity? Same. There is no shortage of both. Some eras seem saturated with wicked people in the Church. Who's judging? History.

Repentant sinners trying to do their best to change? That's one thing; a good thing. Obstinate sinners? Let's call them out and pull the plug on bad behaviour and end the free reign of the heterodox.

The Prophet Ezekiel reminds us:

(T)he word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life. Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you will have saved your life.” - Ezekiel 3:16b-21

Those in leadership positions, laity and clergy, bear a massive burden. Their example influences others far beyond one conversation or a homily. The potential for devastation wrought by the actions of a misguided "influencer" in whom is unfortunately placed the trust of unsuspecting or willing accomplices is measured not in the hundreds or thousands but often in the millions of souls at risk of damnation.

The vast number of souls grazed by the evils of calculating men and women has led to a reduction of labourers in the harvest and an increase of adversaries. A corresponding spiritual apathy has resulted in a diminishment of mission, a loss of belief in the Real Presence, a loss of respect for authority, an inversion of values, the annihilation of unborn children by Cafeteria Catholics, an increase of rivalry or careerism and disdain for holiness, and the consumption of innocence by ravenous adults.

Lactantius

“[T]he sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo punishment. For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man, like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding forever, that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire. . . . The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment” (Divine Institutes 7:21 [A.D. 307]).

Derelict prelates have provided cover for jackals.

Marko Rupnik

Víctor "Tucho" Fernández

Jean-Pierre Ricard

Theodore McCarrick

 A Strong Delusion

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Though many leaden shadows cling to the Church, holy souls continue to inhabit parishes and bring light into those communities. They are signs of hope because their hope is in Christ and His Gospel. They are icons of Jesus. Their love for Holy Mother Church will defy the contempt of worldly men and birth a renewed Church conformed to Jesus and His Gospel. Not a new Church made in the image of bad actors, but the same Bride of Christ - the Catholic Church - who knows and is known by the Bridegroom.

The Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church,
continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ's members,
cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.
Pope Saint Paul VI, Credo of the People of God

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