All Are Not Welcome |
Edit: Some may remember a few gallant priests who have preached in a very uncompromising way the truths of the Catholic Faith a little while back, in addition to Father Marcel Guarizo, who was not only reprimanded publicly but attacked by Quasi-Canon Peters and fired from his job. Defending the Catholic Faith can be a perilous business in places like Portland, Maine, Washington D.C. and El Paso, Texas, just to name a few. You're not even safe on the internet.
Along with approved bloggers like Mark Shea, there are several Bishops in the United States, who are sending a message that seeks to relativize the long-standing condemnation of sexual activity outside of marriage for the sake of false charity. These 'defenders' of niceness waste no time viciously attacking, or just walking away from, Catholic priests who defend Catholic teachings, however.
Mark Shea looks like he's taking a very familiar trajectory, like Gerald Augustinus of "The Cafe is Closed" who underwent a dramatic (or contrived?) shift from defender of orthodoxy, to cafeteria Catholic in about two short years. You'd think men like Mark Shea would treasure courageous priests, but they don't, they just shill for the Archdiocese. Why are these people attacking those who defend Church teaching?
It is just possible that a Diocese would love to have a fervent, zealous priest at the helm of a big parish, nope, not if he's preaching sexual chastity. Fr. Micheal Rodriguez is doing just that. He's actually too inoffensive and makes too many concessions to political correctness in our opinion, but that doesn't matter. Not to the Diocese.
Not surprisingly, the Diocese insists that Father's message isn't the Catholic Church's message, but they don't specify how that is.
It's stories like this that reinforce the impression there is a group within the Church that will no suffer to hear the Catholic truth of the ages, as Lifesite reports:
“Without question, God loves all of His children, regardless of sexual ‘orientation,’” he continued. “We Catholics must show charity, respect, and understanding towards our homosexual brothers and sisters. Above all, we are to show love and compassion towards homosexuals by leading them to the truth, and helping them to reject sinful homosexual activity.”
In the final essay, Rodriguez faults modern culture in harsh terms for framing the breakdown of the family as an advancement for society, and criticizes El Paso officials for “acting immorally” by promoting gay domestic partnerships.
“Here in El Paso, certain City Council members have remained obstinate in promoting public recognition and legitimization of homosexual unions,” he wrote. “Whether they realize it or not, their actions are objectively immoral and gravely harmful to marriage and the family. It should be obvious to all Catholics what our duty is with respect to these members of City Council.”
Meanwhile, in Liberal Maine, the usual kinds of people are out advocating "change", more of the bad kind, as they attempt to redefine marriage outside of the Church's teachings. As you can see in the photo, most of them are elderly baby boomers out to cause trouble. In their self-adulation, it probably never dawned on them that their personal views are at variance with the Church's actual teachings and that if they were right, there would be no point in being Catholic.
Baby Boomers |
Meanwhile, is there any response from the Bishop of Maine?
3 comments:
So who could not treasure the couragous priest? Who would not fight to defend Church teaching? Only the coward or the fraud. You have named several of both.
I don't think Maine has a bishop right now, he moved to Buffalo
I don't read Mr Shea. A man so full of himself (and judging by his girth, full of other things, too) does not make for pleasant reading. Pomposity is an almost infallible mark of one who is :in it" for the prestige and the adulation.
But Mr Shea also has some rather heavy baggage he refuses to let go of, and this is a rather interesting, and distasteful, story in itself. Men can change, and we can hope Mr Shea fdiscovers humility one day soon, but in the meantime it is helpful to know about some of the things he has defended. CULTURE WARS, a respected journal, has a fascinating account of the strange man Father Sirico, and his connection with the ubiquitous Mr Shea.
It makes for sad reading, but it can be found here: http://www.culturewars.com/2007/Sirico.htm
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