You are right and I think Our Holy Father is quite aware http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...6a9354-1b93-4662-abbb-d877e49f15ea_story.html
Father Z is a good priest with a wry sense of humor. As far as him being concerned with Jesus, trust me he has counseled me through many storms despite the overwhelming demands on his time. He ran the Compuserve forum for many years. Catholiconline for many years and now his blog. He deals with people with much more tolerance and charity than what I have witnessed here. You can ban me for this. I have a bad taste in my mouth anyway.
You are entitled to your opinion just as much as I am . But I disagree with your interpretation that Fr Z has a wry sense of humour with regard to the Pope. He mocks the Pope and is disrespectful. The Pope was clearly using Evangelii Gaudium to correct both liberal errors and conservative errors. Fr Z's response was one of pride - he thinks he is above reproach and will not accept correction from the Holy Father. “I am a Self-Absorbed Promethean Neopelagian and proud of it.” — what would Jesus say? The same that he said to Peter when our Lord corrected him. (16:23) And turning away, Jesus said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan; you are an obstacle to me. For you are not behaving according to what is of God, but according to what is of men.”
I think, as ever, we have to be very careful to judge the sin but not the sinner. I do read the traditionalist blogs from time to time to see how people are viewing developments in the Church. I must admit that I find Fr Z's blog far too intellectual to be even 'interesting' for me. But from what I have encountered, he does generally seem to try to stay clear of criticising the Pope unlike many other blogs which are already confirmed critics of Pope Francis. We should also remember that the Pope has indicated that he supports criticism but the important point Catholics must never forget is to treat the Holy Father with reverence because of his God given role. It is precisely at this time that we need to hold firm and follow the Pope even if we may not understand where he might be leading us. Both the liberals and the traditionalists will happily speak about following the Pope when they agree with him. A true Catholic (and enlightened non-Catholics!) will follow him at all times.
I think Terry your post here is quite prophetic. I believe the upcoming Synod will be source of great conflict, perhaps even I schism. It reminds me of the showdown at the OK Corral. If I were Pope Francis I would be tempted to cancel it, but perhaps it is all going to come out in the wash anyway. It is certainly a time to stay very close to God in prayer. But it is always time to stay very close to God in prayer, isn't it?
You know in a funny, strange ,sad kind of way what is happening on this forum may well mirror what is happening in the Church both now and what is to come in the future. This should give us pause for prayer. .
Unfortunately I think you are right Padraig. I have been relatively offline for a while and completely missed all the angst over Cardinal Kasper's leaked speech in late Feb. I have been somewhat gob-smacked by the level of vociferous deep indignation and side-taking that has followed since by both Cardinals and laity alike (mostly perjorative to both Pope Francis and Cardinal Kasper). As you say, if we just continue to pray for the Pope and for the Church and for each other and forget the illusory need to play Pope ourselves (except for our own souls) then everything falls back into perspective and we see there is nothing to be so fearful of. All will be well and all manner of things will be well.
I certainly hope you are right. However if Catholic Prophecy is to be believed we may quickly find ourselves in a real thick maze. In a very, very much more confused and troubling situation than any of us could ever have imagined. In St Catherine of Siena's time during the Great Schism there saints on both sides. Saints on BOTH sides. Each of them claiming to follow the true Pope. At one point there were several Popes. Even historians cannot untangle the rights and wrongs. Something to think about. It may be much more complicated than saying, 'My money's on the Pope'. Much more complicated.
Isn't that the very key to the matter Padraig. In prayer we realise/discern that many of our "opponents" are as sincere and well intentioned as we are (or we are as proud and impure as them) - and so we learn that we cannot always trust our own selves or religious instincts to find the truth by our own lights and strength. We do this together, and that togetherness is something deeper than externally formulated doctrine. Through this fraternal friction (if we each fight to maintain a charity which never gets to the "rhaka" point) and trust in God despite the desert/darkness we shall together arrive at the Promised Land. Its a purification by fire no doubt. But it can be deeply healing if we honour the usual spiritual rules in this dark journey. There is no doubt that the Church needs this purification to regain its holiness once more. The salt has lost its savour (our spirituality has become mundane as you quoted previously). Not everyone will make it, but what a waste of spiritual energy to judge or lament in the abstract who will and who will not. Lets just encourage one another to fight the good fight and be as brothers and sisters to one another despite the difference in views. Somehow God will unite the faithful.
I think that is absolutely correct, Padraig. The choice ahead will be following the Pope or following our own understandings. The devil is an expert at influencing the latter!
I have been contemplating the situation with the Synod, the angst among do many mirrored right her at this site. I was praying about it and a thought came to mind that in many ways our Holy Father is similar to Moses who led the Israelites in the desert. As Gods servant, Moses led them away from enslavement of the Egyptians only to hear and see the people rebel against that very God with creating false idols. As their punishment, God would not allow them into the Promised Land and they wandered the desert for 40 years until they were made ready to enter it. I sense Francis is a present day Moses. With God ultimately leading, he is leading us in the deserts and idolatry of our own day. Perhaps he is helping us to prepare to enter the Promised Land. I wonder if like Moses, he will sacrifice much - his life- and still not be allowed to enter. I pray for him and all of us that we stop the grumbling and complaining to God about our deserts.
I think the devil is involved, yes. But I sense it will be a little bit more complicated than whether or not we support Pope Francis. If it were to be that simple I would have no concerns whatsoever. I believe the devil has something up his sleeve, in fact he has several very nasty things up his sleeve and they are heading in our direction.
O yes indeed as it has from the the time of the Garden, our time is most certainly being influenced by the devil. His tricks however are more or less the same- he plants the seeds of idolatry. We see it today- the false idols of nationality, money, sex, wealth, and yes even the false idols of creating "liberal" and "traditional" factions within our Church. All of these cause us to sin by placing these false idols before God. These idols do not allow us to see God, but only the version that we have created and if course the greatest deception of all by the devil, to make gods of our selves. I think the only way to overcome the false idolatry is to humble ourselves like Christ did so that we come to see and understand The Truth! Pray, pray, pray.
I disagree......he has warned people many times not to say anything bad about the Pope on his blog or they would be banned. I have seen him defend the Pope several times, and I have not seen any mocking.
Newest message from Pelianito: I mean to rebuild my Church, and what joy and celebration there will be on that glorious day! Published by pelianito at 9:41 pm under Church,Hope,Tribulation,Trust Ezra 3:10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel. “My beloved, I mean to rebuild my Church, and what joy and celebration there will be on that glorious day! But before that day, a storm of destruction, for what must be rebuilt must first be razed. Do not tremble in fear at these words, for they are words of hope. I am coming to restore my Bride to a glory never before seen, a glory I have desired from the beginning. I will tear down what is rotted and replace it with pure gold that will not tarnish or decay. Be at peace, my children, whatever comes. I am near—as near to you as your own breath.” O my Jesus, I thank you for your nearness and for loving your Bride so much that you will do whatever it takes to see her restored. Jesus, in all circumstances help my trust in you to never waver. You are Lord forever! Maranatha! Amen http://pelianito.stblogs.com
Ezra, how suitable. Why is Ezra so important? The book of Ezra provides a much-needed link in the historical record of the Israelite people. When their king was dethroned and captured and the people exiled to Babylon, Judah as an independent nation ceased to exist. The book of Ezra provides an account of the Jews’ regathering, of their struggle to survive and to rebuild what had been destroyed. Through his narrative, Ezra declared that they were still God’s people and that God had not forgotten them. In the book of Ezra we witness the rebuilding of the new temple, the unification of the returning tribes as they shared common struggles and were challenged to work together. Later, after the original remnant had stopped work on the city walls and spiritual apathy ruled, Ezra arrived with another two thousand people and sparked a spiritual revival. By the end of the book, Israel had renewed its covenant with God and had begun acting in obedience to Him. Ezra also contains one of the great intercessory prayers of the Bible (Ezra 9:5–15; see Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 9 for others). His leadership proved crucial to the Jews’ spiritual advancement. - See more at: http://www.insight.org/resources/bible/ezra.html#sthash.18JJk59y.dpuf http://www.insight.org/resources/bible/ezra.html
I agree and I am very sad to see what transpired over the weekend with Fatima and the others banned. I pray and will continue to pray that you reconsider, especially on the eve of Our Lady of Fatima's first visit to the children. We're doing a rosary tonight at church and I'll dedicate a decade to all on the forum. We have to stick together and questioning does not mean attacking. I'm aptly named Thomas, Doubting Thomas. It's not a sin to question, I think we grow closer to God when we do question and then find the Truth. We should never be afraid of the Truth and should always seek it. I think we always do better to find the Truth when we listen to all sides and views. Does Satan attack this forum and is he seeking to split us up? Strength in numbers. I love all of you and thank you Padraig for building this and am very thankful to our Lord for leading us here. If, or actually, when things get worse, we'll need each other.
