Now is the time for us to gather to the voice of the shepherd. This week every Catholic priest I speak to seems a little depressed, its a number of things: certainly the accusations of abuse in Germany and Austria, the attacks on the Pope but also the CES's support of Ed Balls Sex Ed Bill, the silence of the Church here doesn't help.
Maybe when the frenzy has died down, we Catholics might learn to be a little more open. Silence doesn't preach the Gospel but it does signify cover-up.
11 comments:
"This week every Catholic priest I speak to seems a little depressed"
Father, priestly morale here in Ireland has never been lower since penal times. Were it any profession, we'd be dealing with mass suicides. It would take a really heroic priest to walk down alone any of our city streets wearing clericals; I almost never see priests anymore.
We are with you Father. We will never give up on the Church. But it will have to be from the Traditionalist side. The New 60's Church is finished.
Cheer up Fr Blake, read Edward Norman "Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England" and reflect on how much worse it was then. Accusations of sexual irregularity levelled againsy convents and priests were common in the literature of the Protestant underworld. Dr Thompson , former Sociology student of the London School of Economics ,is doing a magnificent job of exposing untruth and misreporting.
Ironic that you mentioned A.I. when his latest article in his 'America' magazine is tantamount to...well read it for yourself.
http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=65009351-3048-741E-7653140462428786
...add this to his promotion of condom-use among couples where one member is hiv+ [just like his ex-boss did] and one begins to wonder who exactly are the real Catholic Voices ?
as for Damo ? sans the sartorial anomalies - he's back on form [but aren't you glad he's on our side ?]!
Have just read the article - well done, Damian, indeed! It is good to know there is at least one person in the press who is on the side of the Church and Holy Father.
I would venture to say that it is not only priests, but also quite a lot of us Catholic laity, who are feeling somewhat depressed at the moment. It is hard to see the Church we love being attacked everywhere; for those of us who make no secret of our Faith, it is unpleasant to have to face snide comments and stupid questions from work colleagues and acquiantences. This makes it so much harder when, like Damian, we are experiencing our own, quite proper, anger when we hear of those genuine cases of abuse by clergy and religious, and of the monumentally inept way in which many of them were dealt with by those in authority.
When faced with the barrage from the media, and those influenced by them, we need to remember that, yes, there have been, and will be, some priests, religious and others in the Church who commit terrible sins; yes, these have been dealt with badly in the past, and some 'chickens are coming home to roost'; BUT, the Church is Holy, the vast majority of her members are good people, trying to do what is right and to live the Faith, and most of her priests are good, honest and moral men; and, we now have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past and move forward in Hope.
St. John Vianney, pray for us.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you... Psalm 55:22
It's easy to say but we need to
give each worry, one by one, to God. God handles our problems the things that overwhelm us with such ease.
What we all need to do (me more than anyone) is to remind ourselves that God is able and willing to handle all our worries we just need to hand them over.
God only allows bad to happen if good is going to come from it, just look at Job.
But I, for one, have very little patience and the long term picture seems an eternity away.
Father, you are in our prayers.
I suggest everyone says the Prayer for England for our good and holy Priests.
The Pope speaks of this awful abuse as a 'grievous wound'. I think he chose this phrase very carefully and it is packed for me with undertones to the wounds Our Lord received during his passion. But I also note that it is not a 'mortal wound', a wound that by itself can kill.
I am also convinced that our Church is going through a change of heart. When the Pope addresses the "WHY?" such an awful situation has come about he says, 'misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandal' and I think this is the heart of what needs to change within our Church. Our canon lawyers have been too focussed on the avoidance of scandal at the expense of the common good.
An excellent article by Damian and full marks to The Daily Telegraph for having the intelligence to print something positive.Unlike The Guardian and Evening Argus which will probably not be with us very much longer.
Going by the BBC and most of the "Garbage Media"Catholics are the source of all the troubles in the Universe.We have been through all this nonsense before but we will get over it by Faith as we always have and be a lot stronger for it.
"...Silence doesn't preach the Gospel but it does signify cover-up..."
Well said, Padre.
Depression and anxiety are for girls.
Put on your suit of armor: simple Faith and contrite heart. Get in the fight. Don’t whine and cry. Once, Saint James was invoked and he showed up fighting hand to hand against the Heretics.
Invoke the Saints. Petition the Holy Mother, the Dispenser of Divine graces.
Realize we are now at this point:
«... “Divine Providence often permits even good men to be chased out of the Christian communion through the unruly activities of carnal men. If they bear this undeserved affront with great patience for the peace of the Church, if they do not foment any new heresy or schism, they teach the world with what true attachment and with what sincere love God must be served. Their desire is to re-enter the Church when the trouble has passed. If they are forbidden to do so, if the storm lasts, or if their return were to arouse a similar or even more violent storm, they continue to wish well even to those through whose machinations and intrigues they have been chased out. Without ever forming separate conventicles, they defend to the death and they confirm with their testimony the faith they know to be preached by the Catholic Church. Then the Father crowns them in secret, He who sees them in secret. Such men are rare, yet examples are not wanting: and they are even more numerous than might be thought.» (Saint Augustine, Liber de vera religione, 11)
We are dug in and have asked the old ladies and children to pray on your behalf. We are storming Heaven with prayers and supplications.
Those met against God and His Christ have been taken to task and have been demonstrated harm to our Padres will be met with greater harm to them.
We are confident Divine Providence will make Martyrs as it pleases; it will restrain us in those instances.
When the Lord sends His Holy Angels to take account of us, we want them to say “They were all busy, going about toiling in your vineyard”.
May God our Lord in his infinite and supreme goodness be pleased to give us his abundant grace, that we may know his most holy will, and entirely fulfill it.
Santa María de Guadalupe Esperanza nuestra, salva nuestra patria y conserva nuestra Fe.
*
The depression will pass, I am sure. I am unsure whether it is prudent, or just pusillanimous to let the Times article with its libellous headline pass.
Personally, I feel that starting proceedings for libel would put a stop to the baying for the Pope's blood, and cause the Times to apologise effusively an completely. I wish the Nuncio would get instructions to do this. It would make them and others in the media, think twice before taking on the Church Militant.
"The World Tonight" on BBC R4 on Friday wheeled out an Irish priest called Fr Raphael Gallagher whom they described as "a lecturer in Rome" (NFD). He said that, while hoped to remain a priest, he had lost all faith in the institutions of the Church, that celibacy was partly to blame for the abuse scandal and that this was the worst crisis facing the Church since the Reformation. Where do they find them?
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