I think yours is a fair criticism of Taylor Marshall. Taylor Marshall wouldn't be my favourite Catholic youtuber. Michael Lofton tends to be my first port of call on YouTube although I don't like it when his guest is the insufferable Kevin Symonds/Symons/Simmons (he wrote a book about Fatima). It's a pity that Lofton seems to have an obsession with trads and Taylor Marshall because much of what he does is excellent. Marshall's Consecration video was a storm in a teacup. In fairness to him, I don't think that the controversy started with him. Native French, Spanish and possibly Italian speakers were alarmed at translations to those languages, and Marshall corrected his error after Bishop Schneider contacted him. It's a pity some of the "nothing to see here" crowd aren't a bit more honest. Why don't they do videos pointing out how Coffin and Marshall are wrong on each and every point rather than picking the most obvious errors and saying "Read my book or my friend's book to find out the rest of how wrong they are". Michael Lofton does better than most in correcting the errors but even he tends to slide past some points. Taylor Marshall's sizeable following is miniscule in comparison with the following of many who promote or are ambiguous about Church teaching on sexual morals. To my mind the worst of them are those who appear to be happy for the Church to keep the teaching on the books while contradicting it in practice. That's what the German Bishops did prior to Amoris Laetitia. No Catholic blogger or youtuber has a larger following or greater influence than a Bishop. Now those Bishops use Amoris Laetitia and the Pope's failure to unambiguously defend Church teaching as license to mount an all-out attack on the teaching. My questions to all of them: If the Church has always been wrong about sexual morality, what else in the perennial teaching is erroneous? What about the papacy? Church Councils? Synods? Conclaves? Love of neighbour? The Sacraments? Transubstantiation? The triune God? The Crucifixion? The Resurrection? The afterlife? And if the Church's teaching on sexual morality can be kept on the books but contradicted in practice, how long will it be before science teaches us that it's best to consign the entire creed to the shelves as we conform our practice to the spirit of the age? Yes, Taylor Marshall is wrong to proclaim Pope Francis a heretic but he's not the one causing division. For want of a better description, he's more symptom than disease.
I loved reading about Saint Francis De Sales during the Protestant so called,, 'Reformation' . He was Bishop of Geneva , right at the very centre of Calvinism in Switzzerland and there were numerous attempts on his life. Yet perhaps his most famous saying was that you catch more bees with a spoonful of honey than you do with a barrell full of vinegar and he won tens of thousands or Calvinist souls by this kindness. Ralph Martin reminds me of this legacy and so too does Matt Fradd. It would be so very,very easy to get caught up in a down spiral of angry, ceaseless rhetoric and argument, but where would it leave any of us better off?? I know things are very,very bad, but I don't really need to be told constantly how bad things have gotten. I need a break from the Cancer. I know and have known for quite a few years now that there are serious, serious issues with both the Vatican and the Holy Father himself. But what good would it have done to ceaselessly dwell on them and go and on and on about it?? It would be a little like someone who had cancer and thought about nothing else but their cancer and their possible prognossis. What good would it do? Better to pray and leave it in the hands of the good God. If there had been anything practical I could have done I would have been very glad to have done so. But , really there was not. Padre Pio was such a marvellous example in his own day of how to deal with bad people at the helm in the Church. Prayer and silence. Banging our heads constantly against the wall will only bring heartache, headaches and interior anguish.
I think Mother Angelica was another good example of someone who knew how to handle troubled times in the Church in her own times. But she did not become obsessive about it. The same with Fulton Sheen. They could see the dark and wrestle hand to hand with it. But they drew attention to the Light too.
I think, Padraig, that where you and I differ is that I don't regard them as schismatics. I think they are mistaken. I also think it possible that a heretic can be a valid Pope. That's two important points where I disagree with Taylor Marshall............I don't believe that Pope Francis is a formal heretic and even if he were I don't believe that anyone has the authority to depose him. Where I disagree with many of his detractors is their rushing to call him a Protestant. He is mistaken, imprudent bordering on rash, but he's no Martin Luther. In fact, some of those denouncing him as Protestant are closer to Luther than Marshall is. Yes, it would be better we didn't spend so much time on the negatives. Unfortunately, the negatives will be increasingly hard to avoid as we approach the Synod.
The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Yes bishops have larger followings than YouTubers...but God gave the bishops that authority. He didn't give Taylor Marshall authority. We must be much more careful in our criticism of bishops because God Himself appointed them and will judge them accordingly. Our duty is to pray for them. Laymen like Taylor Marshall ought to be careful as they draw followings of people who might see more to follow in them than their bishops. We laity don't have the special grace and appointment by God to shepherd souls and therefore we ought to be extra cautious and pray hard that God help us to never harm His Church. True, many bishops and cardinals are doing great harm...but is it really our job to constantly criticize them? Do we really need to do that? If we live our lives in Truth and love, pray deeply for the conversion of our leaders and neighbors, I think we'd do far more good than we do by pointing out errors. People will be drawn to Truth when enough of us are living it. Let God deal with His bishops.
I guess I’m the only one here who is grateful for the critiques. I do love Taylor and Matt for their spirit. These men are telling priests to get ready for the fight of their lives. I don’t believe they are asking for a schism. I feel they are trying to make sure Catholics don’t let these Cardinals, who are against Christ, get their way. Ralph Martin very diplomatically criticized this Pope. He didn’t call him an anti Pope, which he’s not, but he left the door open for heresy. Depending on how Pope Francis deals with the German synod, it may be very possible. Pray for this Pope.
You do a far better job than all the professional apologists pointing out the problems with Taylor Marshall. I really don't disagree with anything you have said. We definitely shouldn't constantly criticise our Bishops but it is not sinful to point out where Bishops are leading the charge against Church teaching. That's the problem I see with outright condemning people like Taylor Marshall. If they weren't speaking out clericalism would be far worse than it is. At least one or two Bishops have publicly corrected the German Bishops who make no secret of their dissent from Church teaching. In the English speaking world, the Bishops who have corrected their German brothers are American. The question that bothers me is whether there would have been any public correction at episcopal level if people like Taylor Marshall didn't have a large following on social media. Yes, we do need to pray for everyone especially Bishops and well known Catholics who could be leading people astray.
I have no intention of doing otherwise. I'm just not comfortable with setting up lay people as whipping boys as a means of distracting from far more serious problems,
There's definitely trouble on the horizon. I find it strange that nobody seems to join the dots between the alphabet agenda in secular society, sexualising children, etc. and this assault on Church teaching coming from within the Church. The day is fast approaching when even the most mild mannered people like Ralph Martin will be silenced. When that day comes Patrick Coffin's questioning whether or not Pope Benedict fully resigned will be seen as the good old days.
Sometimes you just gape open mouthed and say, 'Is this really happening?' Gasp. I wouldn't mind so much but Cardinal Marx is a very,very Senior advisor to the Holy Father, pretty well a right hand man. What is going on ?
I agree. This “excommunication” on our part of anyone who raises serious questions such as these men do might be acting in a premature manner. These are honest questions which are becoming much more common due to the obvious errors of this pope, being raised by sincere, grace filled honest Catholics.
Pardon if this has been posted already. Bishops sign letter warning that Germany's 'Synodal Path' could lead to schism By CNA Staff Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 12, 2022 / 06:00 am More than 70 bishops from around the world have released a "fraternal open letter" to Germany's bishops warning that sweeping changes to Church teaching advocated by the ongoing process known as the "Synodal Path" may lead to schism. The letter expresses "our growing concern about the nature of the entire German 'Synodal Path,'" which the signatories say has led to confusion about Church teaching and appears focused more on man's will than God's. “Failing to listen to the Holy Spirit and the Gospel, the Synodal Path’s actions undermine the credibility of Church authority, including that of Pope Francis; Christian anthropology and sexual morality; and the reliability of Scripture,” the letter states. “While they display a patina of religious ideas and vocabulary, the German Synodal Path documents seem largely inspired not by Scripture and Tradition — which, for the Second Vatican Council, are ‘a single sacred deposit of the Word of God’ — but by sociological analysis and contemporary political, including gender, ideologies,” the letter continues. “They look at the Church and her mission through the lens of the world rather than through the lens of the truths revealed in Scripture and the Church’s authoritative Tradition.” The letter was released Tuesday. Its initial signatories included 49 bishops from the United States. Another 19 are from Africa, 14 of whom are from Tanzania. The letter's organizers provided an email address — episcopimundi2022@gmail.com — that other bishops can use to add their names to the document. Cardinal George Pell. Daniel Ibanez/CNA Those lending their names to the document include such well-known prelates as Cardinal Raymond Burke, Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, and Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver. Aquila released his own 15-page commentary in May on the Synodal Path's first text, saying it puts forward "untenable" proposals for changes to Church teaching. "The German bishops are sowing confusion for the entire Church and this should worry every bishop," he said in a statement regarding the bishops' letter. Another prelate who signed the letter, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, released the following statement: “The German Synodal Way has strayed far from the path of authentic synodality and has placed itself in opposition to the truths of our Catholic faith as taught over the centuries from Scripture and Tradition. In fraternal correction and in union with bishops from around the world, I encourage the Bishops of Germany to return to the true deposit of faith as handed on to us by Jesus Christ.” The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference and the Nordic bishops have expressed similar concerns. The latter group issued an open letter cautioning against what it called a “capitulation to the Zeitgeist” and an “impoverishment of the content of our faith." God's revealed truth doesn't change The Synodal Way is a controversial multi-year process bringing together Germany’s bishops and laypeople to discuss the way power is exercised in the Church, sexual morality, the priesthood, and the role of women. The Synodal Assembly consists of the bishops, 69 members of the powerful lay Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), and representatives of other parts of the German Church. In February, the assembly voted in favor of draft texts calling for same-sex blessings and changes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. More recently, in an interview published on March 31, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx asserted that the Catechism’s teaching on homosexuality is “not set in stone” and “one is also allowed to doubt what it says.” The 859-word letter doesn't cite any specific changes to Church teaching called for so far.
I have to say with a very,very heavy heart. There can't be much doubt at this stage that the Holy Father goes along with the German line that homosexuality is fine. If it looks likes a duck and quacks like a duck , its a duck. Let's face it. The only thing he has not yet done has come right out and said it. But he's a Jesuit. I wouldn't expect him too. He has all but said it. Let's be honest about it. The Pope thinks homosexuality is fine. He is fixing things so the rest of us will go along with it. That's why he is zinging the Trads, he knows they'd never go along. Only my dog is fighting back
If looking, 'moved', is a sign of goodness...and innocense.. The dogs sometimes try this out on me too. They deserve Oscars.
