Excommunication of a priest on basis of 37-minute sermon, Part 2 — Looking for the guilty parts . . .
. . . and suggesting what the bishop and his men, listening to a recording, found heretical or schismatical.
For instance, early on, he told parishioners:
If you have been tracking the news concerning the current crisis within the Church, the past few months have likely been the occasion of disappointment, disgust and anger and perhaps you have been tempted to resentment; or have experienced an ever- deepening sadness.
Did the bishop and his men see in this an unduly pessimistic assessment? Did or do they also feel sad? Do they see the church in crisis? More to the point, did or do they think it prudent to say so publicly?
A few paragraphs later, the preacher spoke of
these troubling times when, as Pope Benedict XVI said, the Bark of Peter has “taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.”
Did that resonate well with them? Did they know Benedict had said that? Did they wonder whether it was prudent of him to talk that way?
Continuing, the preacher noted that what he’d said was to urge his people to an increased “personal piety,” but he had more to say in another vein.
IN ORDER TO PROPERLY UNDERSTAND the current crisis in the Church it is necessary that we…
FIRST KNOW and APPRECIATE THE SPIRIT OF CATHOLICISM…
And know and appreciate what some have called the “SPIRIT” of the SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL…
AND THE RELATIONSHIP that exists between these Spirits! [His
upper case throughout]
He followed through with something that surely set the bishop’s teeth on edge, indeed must have cut him to the quick:
FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ETHOS and CULTURE of the Catholic Church is the fact it is set in opposition to the world!
If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you…He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. [John
15:18-20,23]
The bishop would have sat up, listening more intently. “FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ETHOS and CULTURE of the Second Vatican Council is an embrace of the world!” the preacher concluded.
Say what? Dissing the council big time, putting it up against John 15?
Then the preacher called up the sainted John XXIII, telling the bishops gathered for Vatican 2:
In these days, which mark the beginning of this Second Vatican Council, it is more obvious than ever before that the Lord’s truth is indeed eternal. [check] Human ideologies change. [check] Successive generations give rise to varying errors, and these often vanish as quickly as they came, like mist before the sun. [check] The Church has always opposed these errors, and often condemned them with the utmost severity. [check]
Today, however, [Pope John continued] Christ’s Bride prefers the balm of mercy to the arm of severity. She believes that, present needs are best served by explaining more fully the purport of her doctrines, rather than by publishing condemnations. [Emphasis added]
Here is a major if not the chief trademark of the spirit of Vatican 2, as embraced by so many Catholics — hold back and withhold the hardball response, persuade, as in case of pro-choice politicians where it’s a matter of refusing communion. Pope Francis is all in for playing nice in this way, as we know, for instance with the vigorously pro-choice Joe Biden, not to mention the omnivorous Chinese rulers, now in essence accorded the respect held long ago by the Holy Roman emperors, Charlemagne and his successors.
We see now the preacher lining up with hardballers. And so, needless to say, did the bishop and his men see it. This was no dog whistle the preacher was sounding. It was a declaration of war.
— To be continued —