https://onepeterfive.com/the-moments-before-the-storm/ The Moment Before the Storm Steve SkojecJuly 31, 2018 0 Comments I’ve been sitting at my desk for the better part of three hours, skimming through news and social media, trying to get a sense of things this week. It’s not entirely clear to me what I should say. In my entire lifetime as a Catholic, I don’t think I’ve ever seen or felt anything like this. There is a groundswell building in the Catholic world, like the beginning of a scream that starts deep in the gut and begins forcing its way upward. It is a feeling of countless voices beginning to rise in pure, unmitigated outrage. This afternoon, I spoke to someone who has been in Catholic media far, far longer than I have. He echoed this sentiment, saying that he, too, had never seen anything like it. I am searching my mind for an analogy that fits, and what comes to mind is the kind of thunderstorm one gets on a late summer afternoon, where the bright sun begins to give way to thick, dark, roiling clouds that nearly turn the day into night. The kind of sky that tells you on an instinctive, primal level that you’d best get indoors. The lightning hasn’t broken loose, but the early deep-throated growls of thunder can be heard from afar. The hail and drenching downpour haven’t begun pelting everything in sight, but the air is electric with their promise. What will become tree-bending gusts of winds are for the moment only hinted at, the tips of branches rustling gently, leaves turned up to show pale undersides. We are in the moment before the storm. More accusations against McCarrick — and others — are beginning to come forth like the first fat droplets of rain. In a new story I read this afternoon about the accuser going only by his first name, James — the boy who claims he was molested by a young Fr. McCarrick when the child was only 11 — there was a heartbreaking passage: It was the start of an abusive relationship that lasted well into James’s adulthood, said James, whose story was first reported by the New York Times. He said it drove him to alcoholism as a teen. He is now long sober but said the abuse has haunted him since. “What he did to me was he ruined my entire life. I couldn’t break the hold. I couldn’t live up to my ability — to stay employed, married, have children. I lost all those opportunities because of him,” James said. Breaking into tears, he said, “I try to be a really good kid every day.” Imagine it: a 60-year-old man still thinking of himself in terms of trying to be “a good kid” because the abuse he began suffering at age 11 never allowed him to escape that moment in time. My heart aches for that child. You know who it doesn’t ache for? The papal henchmen: Vatican representatives Greg Burke and Paloma García Ovejero did not respond to several requests for comment. I wonder what it feels like to sell your soul. It can’t be pleasant. Meanwhile, the Honduran Bishops, rather than addressing the concerns of nearly 50 of their seminarians alleging serious problems with homosexual activity in the major seminary at Tegucigalpa, have chosen to attack them – even in the immediate wake of the resignation of the sexually abusive auxiliary bishop of that diocese, Juan José Pineda Fasquelle, CMF. According to a report from CNA, the Honduran bishops issued a statement yesterday attacking those who came forward, saying that “it is evident that there are weeds and evil, especially, in making ‘anonymous’ reports;’ in airing them, mixing in facts, suspicions and interpretations; while ignoring the monitoring given to the challenges that arise. And further, they asked everyone to “increase your prayers for our Major Seminary and avoid any kind of speculation which fails to respect the dignity of bishops, seminarians, the formators, and that of all of us who with limitations and failings seek to carry out the Lord’s work.” It has the fingerprints of the villain, Cardinal Maradiaga, all over it. And considering his pull in Rome, perhaps it should be unsurprising that even the Spanish section of Vatican News got in on this, joining the Honduran bishops in accusing “American media” of publishing “a series of news attacking the Honduran church, and the cardinal” and spreading “infamies against the Major Seminary in Honduras”. It sells the line given by the Honduran bishops, which asserts, “With complete certainty and truth, we affirm there does not exist, nor has there existed, nor ought there exist in the seminary an atmosphere as presented by the aforementioned National Catholic Register report, in which the impression is given that [the seminary] institutionally promotes and sustains practices contrary to morality and the norms of the Church, viewed with complacency by the bishops”. Clericalism. Clericalism again and again. Not the good kind of clericalism, that constitutes a reverence for the sacramental priesthood and its sacred functions, but the kind that makes moral monsters feel superior and untouchable because they have been ordained. The kind of clericalism that buries abuse and misconduct. Meanwhile, the Farrells and Wuerls and Tobins of the Church continue to deny everything they almost certainly knew about McCarrick. In an interview with the Catholic Standard — the archdiocesan paper for Washington, DC — Wuerl also says: There is understandable anger, both on a personal level due to the charges, but also more broadly at the Church. Our faithful have lived through such scandals before, and they are demanding accountability. I believe the actions taken by Pope Francis clearly reflect an understanding that we must move swiftly to address claims of any form of abuse or serious breach of trust by ministers of the Church, no matter who they may be or what position they may hold. Acknowledging such grave breaches of trust and seeking forgiveness open the doors for healing. Understandable anger? No, Your Eminence. You don’t understand the anger. You don’t know what’s going through the mind of every Catholic mother and father who have to consider leaving their child alone with a priest, not knowing if he’s part of the “network.” Altar boy practice? Summer camps? The confessional? Are they ever safe? And what about the priests who have nothing to do with this? How angry do you think they have a right to be for being associated with this and under suspicion because the bishops either refused to rein in the perversity in their dioceses or were actively involved in it? How many of them have spent their priesthoods dodging unwanted advances from fellow priests and wary glances from parishioners at the same time? How many have faced retributive action from active homosexuals higher up the ecclesiastical food chain because they won’t play along? Maybe they’re past anger. Maybe they’re just despondent. Maybe a number of them have even sought solace in other things that do not build up their priesthood or the Body of Christ because they are completely isolated and powerless and ready to give up hope. And lets not pretend the “actions taken by Pope Francis clearly reflect” anything except that he continues to be willing to protect his own. We’ve covered the cronyism on this here before. We’ve been doing it for years. I won’t repeat it now. The doors aren’t going to open for healing, Your Eminence, until the entire Church has been gutted and the infestation cleansed with fire. And this is all before the interim grand jury report drops next month from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court – a report that will reveal information regarding findings about sex abuse in six out of eight Catholic dioceses in the state. A report that is supposed to identify THREE HUNDRED “predator priests” – although some are fighting to have their names redacted. The Pennsylvania Attorney General is asking Pope Francis to help the truth come to light. Does anyone really think he will? Do we think the “healing” can start while the wounds are still being inflicted? This has only just begun. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see churches torn down stone by stone and be forced to worship in someone’s basement than to allow a single one of these predators another moment of cover. The storm is almost here, and its ferocity will be a marvel to behold.
Sexual Abuse and the Third Secret – A Timely Reminder On May 11, 2010, during the flight to Portugal, Benedict fielded a small number of pre-selected questions from the media that were presented to him by Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., then-Director of the Holy See Press Office. The third and final series of questions reads as follows: “… Your Holiness, what meaning do the Fatima apparitions have for us today? In June 2000, when you presented the text of the third secret in the Vatican Press Office, a number of us and our former colleagues were present. You were asked if the message could be extended, beyond the attack on John Paul II, to other sufferings on the part of the Popes. Is it possible, to your mind, to include in that vision the sufferings of the Church today for the sins involving the sexual abuse of minors?” [emphasis added] Here, in part, was Benedict’s explosive answer: “… In 2000, in my presentation, I said that an apparition – a supernatural impulse which does not come purely from a person’s imagination but really from the Virgin Mary, from the supernatural – that such an impulse enters into a subject and is expressed according to the capacities of that subject. … Consequently, I would say that, here too, beyond this great vision of the suffering of the Pope, which we can in the first place refer to Pope John Paul II, an indication is given of realities involving the future of the Church, which are gradually taking shape and becoming evident. So it is true that, in addition to moment indicated in the vision, there is mention of, there is seen, the need for a passion of the Church, which naturally is reflected in the person of the Pope, yet the Pope stands for the Church and thus it is sufferings of the Church that are announced. The Lord told us that the Church would constantly be suffering, in different ways, until the end of the world. … As for the new things which we can find in this message today, there is also the fact that attacks on the Pope and the Church come not only from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church. This too is something that we have always known, but today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church, and that the Church thus has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn forgiveness on the one hand, but also the need for justice. Forgiveness does not replace justice.” [emphasis added] Although he did not give a simple “yes” in response, Benedict clearly implied an affirmative answer to the question concerning “the sufferings of the Church today for the sins involving the sexual abuse of minors”. By emphasizing that the Third Secret concerns “the future of the Church”, and more specifically, “a passion of the Church” resulting “from sin within the Church” that is manifesting itself “today…in a really terrifying way”, Benedict unmistakably affirmed that the Third Secret deals with much more than a failed assassination attempt. (The idea that anyone familiar with the facts and in their right mind could buy such an absurd explanation is both insulting and comical.)https://www.catholicfamilynews.org/blog/2018/7/2/sexual-abuse-and-the-third-secret-a-timely-reminder
It makes me wonder from who and where did this report originate from? A grand Jury? Who created it and what are the criteria for naming someone as abusive?
Reminded me of this from MM's blog..... REVELATION AND TODAY Ironically, it was Pope Paul VI who used a passage from St. John’s prophetic vision to describe, in part, this very crisis of faith in the Word of God. The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church. —Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13, 1977 It was Paul VI was alluding to Revelation Chapter 12: Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. (Rev 12:3-4) The most likely interpretation given by biblical scholars is that these angels or stars represent the bishops or pastors presiding over the seven Christian communities. Thus, Paul VI is referring to apostasy within the ranks of the clergy who are “swept away.” And, as we read in 2 Thess 2, the apostasy precedes and accompanies the “lawless one” or Antichrist whom the Church Fathers also referred to as the “beast” in Revelation 13.
Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. (Rev 12:3-4) The most likely interpretation given by biblical scholars is that these angels or stars represent the bishops or pastors presiding over the seven Christian communities. Thus, Paul VI is referring to apostasy within the ranks of the clergy who are “swept away.” And, as we read in 2 Thess 2, the apostasy precedes and accompanies the “lawless one” or Antichrist whom the Church Fathers also referred to as the “beast” in Revelation 13. I was listening to a talk show yesterday on catholic radio and they were talking about Angels. It was a widely held belief that the third of the stars that fell from the sky referred to the initial fall of Satan and the angels he took with him from Heaven. A priest once told me that when we read the book of Revelation, we should not look at it in Chronological order.
It has multiple meanings and should be read in concentric rings if that makes sense: “what was, what is, and what is to come” so the woman clothed with the sun is both Mary and the Church. The stars falling from heaven are the bad angels but in the life of the Church the bad prelates imitating the bad angels. Things are also both literal and figurative. Wormwood is an evil star/bad angel but also a bad prelate. Poisoning the water is the Living Water in the Church. Literally the disaster at Chernobyl was significant because in Ukrainian it meant wormwood. Literally. And the poisoned water of that whole district is still unsafe.
AED, When Pope Benedict was a cardinal he also stated that the Woman Clothed With The Sun represents the Church and Mary as you have stated here but also Israel too. This why I think that we should continue to watch what is occurring in regard to Israel and "big" things have been happening in it's regard recently also. Imho it is pretty amazing that this is the case, that both in the Church and in regard to Israel "big" things are occurring almost simultaneously. I can hardly say that I understand it all but I am trying to stay abreast of what is occurring as best that I can. I have often looked at the similarities between Israel and the Vatican. They both are small nations, they both have citizens who live all over the world who are both part of a nation and members of a religion associated with that nation. My comparisons are probably just so-so but if we consider what Pope Benedict has stated about the Woman Clothed with the Sun and we consider my so-so comparisons and then we think of certain scriptures it is a very interesting thought imo. I know that my thoughts are not 100% correct at all about this but sometimes I have wondered if the following scripture is not meant to be taken literally. Iow that it might not mean that all those descendants of Israel are supposed to physically return to Israel but all of us will have our minds, lips, and hearts pierced by God when this scripture does occur if it is in fact a future event which I believe that it is. Ezekiel 39:26-29 (DRA) And they shall bear their confusion, and all the transgressions wherewith they have transgressed against me, when they shall dwell in their land securely fearing no man: And I shall have brought them back from among the nations, and shall have gathered them together out of the lands of their enemies, and shall be sanctified in them, in the sight of many nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I caused them to be carried away among the nations; and I have gathered them together unto their own land, and have not left any of them there. And I will hide my face no more from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon all the house of Israel, saith the Lord God. This is just an idea but it is something that sort of dwells in me for lack of a better term and I think that it is possible that this scripture relates to the Triumph of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart. PS- Thank you for your reply to the question that I had about Father Malachi Martin's book "Windswept House" on another thread. You are very well read and you certainly keep abreast of a lot of information regarding the Church.
Thank you Carol. I used to read and study a great deal but not so much these last years. You are the go to source for research now. I am very impressed with the breadth of your posts. I agree that Israel is a prototype for the Church. The early Church fathers certainly saw this. Whatever happens in Jerusalem affects the whole world it seems.
