February 2020
Heroes and Villains
"The days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction." |
- Bishop Jenky (sermon, Peoria, Illinois, 18 April 2012) |
We must pray daily for a pope who subscribes to the above view because he himself believes. The present one, a putative Catholic with whom we are stuck until he converts, resigns, dies or is deposed, calls not for heroic but docile 'Catholics'; those prepared to "live and let live," as commended in his Top Ten Tips for a Happy Life.
A Happy Life is Modernist code for a Quiet Life — of compromise and capitulation to the zeitgeist. For Francis, as for Archbishop Bugnini, the masonic mastermind of the Novus Ordo, we must not swim against the secular tide because the Faith is a lost cause. Secularism has won the battle for hearts and minds. All that remains is convergence with the atheistic spirit of cultural Marxism.
To this end we must avoid making waves and go along to get along with the abortionists, eugenicists, globalists, communists, heretics, perverts, et. al. Following the papal lead, we may entertain and laud the entire spectrum of anti-Catholic forces constituting blessed 'modernity.' But we must not antagonise them with rational Catholic discourse — with counter-cultural statements and reaffirming proclamations and explanations of the necessity of Jesus Christ and His holy Catholic Church.
In fact, according to the Argentine Anti-Apostle, any such speech at all constitutes coercive, sinful behaviour. In this regard, Francis further clarified his position during a 20 December visit to the Pilo Albertelli secondary school in Rome, leaving students in no doubt whatsoever that the Vicar of Christ views "proselytism" as any kind of communication of the Gospel using speech.
"With a non-believer the last thing I have to do is try to convince him. Never. The last thing I have to do is talk," he told his captive audience. "I have to live in accordance with my faith. And it will be my testimony that will awaken the curiosity of the other who says: ‘But why do you do this?’ And that’s where I can talk," he added disingenuously, as if the curiosity of unbelievers would ever be sparked by a Modernistic faith that apes the values of the degenerate world around them!
"But listen," he concluded, "never, ever advance the Gospel through proselytism. If someone says he is a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, he is not a disciple of Jesus. We shouldn’t proselytise, the Church does not grow from proselytising."
Tell that to St. Peter! His thunderous proselytising at Pentecost instantly "grew" the Church by several thousand souls!
The antithesis of Peter, Francis proselytises instead the defeatist, apostate spirit he personifies (CO passim). All the while he mocks us for holding fast to the Faith of our Fathers. As his henchman Cardinal Cupich plainly put it: "Most importantly [Francis] requires that we be prepared to let go of cherished beliefs and long-held biases."
The pontifical Christmas message was more of the same; another Modernist surrender-rant to warm globalist hearts:
Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists! Today we are no longer the only ones who create culture, nor are we in the forefront or those most listened to.
Having all but elevated 'pastoral relativism' to a formal doctrine, he added with trademark deceit,
We need a change in our pastoral mindset, which does not mean moving towards a relativistic pastoral care. (...)
As usual, his Modernist mantra of constant, wholesale "change" was set against the straw man of 'rigid haters:'
Here, there is a need to be wary of the temptation to rigidity. A rigidity born of the fear of change, which ends up erecting fences and obstacles on the terrain of the common good, turning it into a minefield of incomprehension and hatred. Let us always remember that behind every form of rigidity lies some kind of imbalance. Rigidity and imbalance feed one another in a vicious circle. And today this temptation to rigidity has become very real.
If a dictatorial pope repeatedly projecting his own rigidity onto his flock is one of the darkest ironies of this pontificate, a less surprising leitmotif is his humanistic refrain about man as
the focus and measure of all things. Since "what we are experiencing is not simply an epoch of changes, but an epochal change," he says,
... change takes on a very different aspect: ... something more human and more Christian. Change would still take place, but beginning with man as its centre: an anthropological conversion.
Commented Dr. Peter Kwasniewski:
In light of all the transhumanism and LGBTQ stuff going on, to talk about an "anthropological conversion" is pretty scary stuff. What else could it mean but a change in how we understand man himself, and how we preach and minister to him? In such words we see how faithfully Francis is following the agenda of the revolutionary faction at Vatican II who considered modernity a period unique in history, cut off from the past and requiring for Modern Man a new liturgy, a new catechesis, a new theology — in short, a new Church.
Globalist push
Precisely. A New Church to preach the secular humanist diktats of a One World Government.
A century ago, St. Pius X predicted and condemned that godless movement. Today, his perverse successor advocates the globalist holy grail at every opportunity, openly endorsing the notion of transnational governance.
In May 2019, Francis called for a supranational, legally constituted body to enforce United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (read: contraception/abortion goals) to implement "climate change" policies. More recently, during an inflight press conference on his return from a visit to Africa, he erroneously proclaimed a "duty" to "obey international institutions," such as the United Nations and the European Union!
The Deep State's Dictator Pope is also hosting associated initiatives like "Reinventing the Global Educational Alliance," to be held in the Vatican in May. Francis has invited representatives of the main religions, international organisations and various humanitarian institutions, as well as key figures from the world of politics, economics and academia, and prominent athletes, scientists and sociologists to sign a "Global Pact on Education" so as to "hand on to younger generations a united and fraternal common home."
Channelling David Rockefeller, he solemnly announced that "A global educational pact is needed to educate us in universal solidarity and a new humanism." In a cringeworthy nod to Hillary Clinton’s Socialist cliche, "It takes a village to raise a child," he also asserted the need to create an "educational village," in which we must "have the courage to place the human person at the centre."
This proved too much for Mother Miriam, foundress of the religious community Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel's Hope. In her 16 September 2019 podcast she said the Pope's educational village would "once and for all destroy the family and the human race. ... Instead of placing Christ at the centre, we place man at the centre.... what he’s proposing is demonic."
The late Mother Angelica could not have said it more truly and plainly.
Cardinal Burke, too, was in no mood for niceties. During an interview with him published on 26 December, The Wanderer suggested that the Global Educational initiative "sounds like an event to promote a one-world government." Burke shot back, "It is." He continued:
[...] The idea of a one-world government is fundamentally the same phenomenon that was displayed by the builders of the Tower of Babel who presumed to exercise the power of God on earth to unite heaven with earth, which is simply incorrect. What we truly need is a religious conversion, in other words, a strong teaching and practice of faith in God and obedience to the order with which He has created us.
The Francis Effect
That urgent programme of Catholic self-healing and self-preservation, echoed and elaborated herein by the late Father John Hardon, is increasingly difficult under the suicidal pontificate we have just described; at once unrecognisably Catholic and cravenly globalist. Without a strong and faithful Chief Shepherd to lead, inspire and fight our corner before merciless purveyors of 'tolerance' and 'diversity', we are now on our own, humanly speaking.
Truly, the haunting lament of St. John Fisher — "The fort is betrayed even of them that should have defended it" —has never been more contemporary. In his recent letter to the College of Cardinals denouncing Vatican complicity in the persecution of Chinese Catholics, Cardinal Zen paraphrased Fisher thus: "can we passively witness the murder of the Church in China by those who should protect and defend her from her enemies?"
The hierarchical sell out has corroded Catholic identity and weakened resolve across the board. Shameful examples of the Francis Effect abound. To cite just one capitulation: a parish in Ireland crumbled before a social media blitz against its defence of the Catholic condemnation of IVF. In the lead up to Christmas, the Facebook page of the Tullamore parish in County Meath carried a stout and unapologetic pro-life message. It read in part:
We pray for couples struggling to naturally conceive life and who are avoiding IVF treatment.
The process of IVF damages embryonic stem cells and thus life and is therefore completely, clearly and totally incompatible with our Catholic faith. For all believers in God, all life is sacred at all times.
[...] As Catholics — we are unapologetically pro-life and are proud and are honoured to stand up for the voiceless and for the vulnerable unborn persons whom we are called to love, cherish and to bring closer to God.
This refreshingly candid expression of Catholic faith and identity disappeared almost as soon as it was written. All it took was the usual cyber vitriol vented by the usual rent-a-mob, reinforced by the usual indignation voiced by the usual pro-abort politicians. That was it. No threat of imprisonment or torture like the Chinese Catholics. Just the online fury of the Culture of Death: degenerate trolls and their degenerate political fixers. Cue rapid removal of the Facebook post.
Anthony Murphy, director of the Lumen Fidei Institute, reacted to this 180 degree about face:
In removing a post which simply explains the moral teaching of the Church the parish has succumbed to the narrative of the secular media that our faith is something to be ashamed of, something which must be hidden and discussed only in private – not only does this approach limit evangelisation it is also deeply offensive to faithful Catholics.
Along with everyone else, he wondered aloud:
Where was the voice of the bishop and why was he unable to support the parish in the midst of this media storm? Our bishops have been quite vocal in the past few months about things in which they have little or no competence – namely immigration policy and climate change – yet they have consistently failed to defend Church teaching from secular attack. The greatest shame here must fall with the bishops who have remained silent while Church teaching has been undermined leaving those on the periphery of our society, the unborn, without a strong voice to defend them. [LifeSiteNews]
This supine behaviour by the Irish episcopate mirrors the "live and let live" pontiff who, when not lauding notorious population controllers and baby-killers, avoids pro-life issues.
Unholy fear and submission
With noble exceptions to the general rule, it's the same all over: cowardice, treachery, capitulation.... Judas-like betrayals are now so commonplace under Francis they are easily overlooked.
The astonishing sell out recently effected by a bishop he appointed to France in 2014 is one you may have missed.
Bishop Joseph de Metz-Noblat of Langres, eastern of France, is president of the Council for canonical questions of the French bishops’ conference. In that capacity he has "recommended" to his French brethren that they adapt the baptismal registers of their diocese in order to take into account the "increasingly complex situation of families" in France.
LifeSiteNews of 3 January reported that, in practice, the "recommended" formula would scrap the implicit mention of the father and mother as parents of the child, instead using a "catch-all" phrase mentioning "parents or other holders of parental authority." The upshot of the change is to sideline the traditional intact family and introduce illegitimate, gender-neutral situations as the new normal.
The new formula "retrogrades legitimate children to the situation of illegitimate children," wrote Fr. Claude Barthe in an article for Res Novae. "In a word, the exception becomes the norm: baptised children will no longer be called ‘son (daughter) of … and of … ."
Fr. Barthe accused the 'reformers' of "fear of the secular State." Quite so.
Fear of the State.
Fear of the social media swamp creatures who attacked the Tullamore parish.
Fear that caves-in to suicidal demands of tyrannical sodomites and Islamic totalitarians (instead of evangelising them; see Anne Gardiner's review herein).
Fear of all those tearing up the foundations of the freedoms and personal rights they enjoy and vaunt, even as they reject their Source and bimillennial Inculcator in Western institutions and law: Christ and His Teaching Church.
Rather than relish the joyful challenge of explaining to a faithless world this liberating 'trickle-down effect' of the most sophisticated, comprehensive and coherent body of moral, doctrinal and social teaching ever known to man, Francis wars against Christ and all He bequeathed the world. By deconstructing Catholicism through endless "change" while railing against its verbal proclamation and dissemination, he thereby assumes prime responsibility for the ensuing timidity and compromise, and consequent regression to paganism as highlighted once again during the Vatican's Christmas concert.
A celebrity gala held on 14 December, the concert featured a young indigenous woman hailing Pachamama:
"For us, the indigenous peoples, above all for my people, Mother Earth, the ‘Hicha Guaia,’ is everything," she gushed. "It is this Mother who... gives us the sacred water, she is the one who gives us the medicinal plants, and she is the one who reminds us of our origin, the origin of [our] creation. Therefore, we give to her our birth placenta and our first cutting of hair. Our connection with her is constant. That’s how the pulse feels, that’s how the heart feels, it vibrates."
Effectively, she invited the audience to open a portal to these pulsating demons, asking them to cross their arms over their heart and "feel a strong vibration." As pictured below, prelates in attendance, including senior Vatican officials such as Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and deputy Secretary of State, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, readily complied.
Amid the endless scandals exploding all about us, this show of human respect may seem trivial. Not so. It howls and screams submission — to the ferocious zeitgeist fanned by "the prince of this world" [Jn 12:31]. By going along to get along, this pathetic excuse for a hierarchy blithely sanctioned pagan beliefs antithetical to our holy Faith, thereby endangering souls, including their own, without a second thought.
Shameful and reckless hardly cover such public infidelity. For they surely know that New Age wickedness is reviving everywhere under "diversity"/"tolerance" mandates. That demons and witchcraft are being popularised and normalised by corporate giants like Disney. That parents in particular are struggling to protect their children from this occult propaganda, not least in school classrooms.
Defenders of Truth
Happily, there are prelates and priests who reject this "live and let live" spirit of Antichrist embodied by those marching in lockstep with Francis; men who still exude Catholic faith and virility. Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Krakow for one would not have meekly acquiesced like the hirelings above. For him, as for any shepherd with a modicum of Catholic faith, the wicked signals and ramifications of indulging in occult parlour games are immense.
Last year, in response to a question about "ecologism," for instance, the Archbishop condemned the perils of radical environmentalism (encapsulated by the Pachamama cult), which attacks marriage and the family:
It’s a very dangerous phenomenon because it’s not just that a teenager is trying to impose it, but that this activist is becoming an oracle for all political and social forces.
This is contrary to everything that is recorded in the Bible beginning with the Book of Genesis, which clearly mentions God’s miracle of Creation.”
[...] Suddenly, everything is questioned or, that is, our culture is questioned, the whole natural order is reversed, beginning with the existence of God put to the question. The Creator, as well as the role and dignity of every person, is questioned.
On cue, rent-a-mob set social media aflame.
The deputy mayor of Warsaw, Paweł Rabiej led from the front (pun intended). Despite knowing little or nothing about the recurrence of catastrophic fires in Australia since the country's founding 250 years ago (and doubtless uninterested in discovering that inconvenient fact), the neo-Marxist eco-warrior posted a photograph of a bushfire, writing: "From the perspective of the fires in Australia, where I am today, I can say only one thing. There is no worse plague in the world today than those who question the need to take care of and protect our planet. Jędraszewski, go to hell, that’s your place."
Archbishop Jedraszewski did not falter, bow and scrape before the sanctimonious Rabiej and his comrades. He simply turned the other cheek. Better still, on 3 January, fifteen Polish bishops signed a public letter of support. "Metropolitan of Krakow," they wrote, "as bishops gathered at the Christmas meeting (in Rzeszów), we express solidarity with you against the detrimental attacks that the evangelical Defender of Truth must endure. It is always glorious to stand on the side of Christian anthropology, which sees in Man the image of God Himself."
Providential lesson
In stark contrast to the faithless, gutless Irish, French and Vatican prelates — villains in the hireling line of Judas Iscariot — Archbishop Jedraszewski and his supportive brethren stand firm in the heroic line of saints and martyrs who held fast under far greater pressures to kowtow and compromise. Their example and that of other episcopal Defenders of Truth strengthens lay resolve to withstand the escalating persecution of Christians throughout the West.
More importantly and practically, however — in order to instil and animate the heroism required of souls entrusted to their diocesan care — all those faithful bishops must urgently take on board Fr Hardon's programme of Catholic self-healing. For, even in Poland the mutual support so vital to seeing through the worldwide assault on defenders of faith, family and life is often withheld by the selfish, apathetic and cowardly.
The dismal response to Dr. Katarzyna Jachimowicz is a case-study of this abandonment.
A Pole working as a family doctor in Norway, she recently won a landmark case after five gruelling years of legal wafare against her right to refuse to insert abortifaient IUDs into her female patients: a clear violation of her Catholic faith. The final, quasi-miraculous ruling in her favour, on 11 October 2019 by the Norwegian Supreme Court, marked "an important step in the right direction, not only for doctors but for people of faith in all professions," said her lawyer. "The ruling protects one of the most fundamental rights, the right to act in accordance with one's deeply held beliefs."
During an interview with Polish weekly Sieci, Dr Jachimowicz, was asked about the reaction of Christian communities, especially the Catholic Church, to her historic victory and the vital precedent she had created in European case law. She replied that the Society of Christian Doctors celebrated at a special conference, but only two Norwegian Catholic parishes had reacted positively. "Other than that — I must say — it didn't seem to matter to them [the local Norwegian Church]." (Ditto the Irish Church, judging by the capitulation of the Tullamore parish.)
Asked about the Polish response, she said, "It's a hard question. Polish diaspora organisations did not notice this [victory]."
"And Polish parishes, Polish priests or maybe bishops in Poland?" asked the interviewer.
"No. Personally, I didn't hear a word, [not] even 'Good job. You defended Catholic values.' Nothing like that happened."
And yet, even as her brothers and sisters in faith turned away, Christ drew closer through the silent engine that ever powers the Church Militant. Asked, "What gave you strength?", she replied:
There were many moments in this story when I had to base myself on the teaching of the Church, on God's Word, on Ignatian retreats. A lot of prayer and a lot of work: ora et labora. I also got support from a completely surprising wing. Just before the hearing, a friend sent information about the case to contemplative orders throughout Poland. I got thousands of emails saying that people are praying for me. Like a noise — a breeze. So the Church that prays and stands before Jesus, this Church has supported me. Protestants asked: "We organised a lawyer, we collect money, and what will your Catholic Church add?" I said: "I have no money, but I have confirmation that the contemplative monasteries are praying for us, also for you, for Protestants." It was real ecumenism. When Catholic nuns pray for Protestants, when we stand together on an issue, this is something that makes hell shrivel. This is Jesus' victory here and now. During this saga I experienced such things that I have never mentioned. I'm speaking publicly for the first time. [Our translation]
What an uplifting lesson for those who entrust all to God! — who "strive to enter by the narrow gate" in a Church governed and peopled by the villainous "many" who choose the "broad way that leads to destruction." [Matt. 13:24; 7:13]
As Dr Hickson and Gerard Wegemer remind us, it was ever thus.
The years before England's Protestant revolt were marked by "fear, weakness and self-seeking in the very places, where, above all, one might have expected courage, strength and loyalty... ." Moreover, St Thomas More's experience underscores that cyber bullies, for all their malign influence, are not the main problem. In his case, "tyranny succeeded not through war, but through law."
Today, increasingly, the same judicial fiat of self-serving placemen holds sway in prejudicial judgments against upholders of Christian faith and their conscientious objections.
Before this regression to Tudor times the just and sensible Jachimowicz ruling surprised everyone. Doubly so given the added wickedness of a pontiff aligned (often aggressively) with the State against Christ, His Church and His faithful flock. We are denied even the unwavering papal support that once comforted persecuted Catholics as a matter of course!
And yet, with the fort now betrayed to such an unprecedented degree, we can be sure that Our Lord will dispense his grace and mercy more liberally still; attending to all our spiritual and practical needs in daily battle. Just as He did for Dr Jachimowicz, Franz Jägerstätter and Thomas More. As He does for all who believe and trust in Him.
Today, this heroism begins with the fulfilment of our state in life: such that we adhere to the faith of the saints and martyrs, imitate their virtue and courage, and work for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the social reign of Christ the King.
In so doing we will earn the grace to give unflinching Catholic witness against the counterfeit faith of the masonic social gospel preached by Francis for globalist ends. For, as Cardinal Burke underlined during his Wanderer interview, the multiple strands of that diabolical agenda boil down to "an effort to dull people’s consciousness about the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ as it is proclaimed in the Gospel. This is an area where the faithful must especially stand up and give witness to the truth."
As we adopt practical steps to that end — to setting aside casual and accidental Catholicism to become instead "Catholics by conviction," as urged by Bishop Jenky — the example and sobering lessons of Catholic heroism, past and present, never fail to inspire, instruct, and keep us on the same heroic narrow path.