The Catholic Church has seen many crises throughout her history. Right now, she is arguably going through one of the largest that she has ever, which is the continual attack from within albeit on a global scale against unchangeable and settled questions of faith and morals.
According to a recent story, there is a special vote being taken right now about permitting married men to be priests and women to serve as deacons.
Catholic bishops from across the Amazon have called for the ordination of married men as priests to address a scarcity of clergy in the region, a challenge to the centuries-old tradition in the church.
The majority of the 180 bishops from nine South American countries in the Amazon basin region on Saturday also called for the Vatican to reopen a debate on ordaining women as deacons, saying “it is urgent for the church in the Amazon to promote and confer ministries for men and women in an equitable manner”.
It is the first time a summit of Catholic bishops has backed such a historic change to the tradition of celibacy among priests. The proposal, while limited to remote areas in South America and to married men already ordained as deacons in the church, is seen by many as setting a precedent that could bring an end to the restriction on married Catholic priests throughout the world. (source)
I am not going to discuss whether or not married priests are permitted and the historical circumstances, or the absolute impermissible act of women serving in ecclesiastical roles that specifically are for men. Both of these topics have been long discussed, the answers are clear an exist and can be found in the Shoebat archives as well as any Catholic (not Catholic-masquerading-as-heresy) website. I will only leave you with the words of St. Brigid of Sweden, who said thus following a vision about married clergy:
Know this too: that if some pope concedes to priests a license to contract carnal marriage, God will condemn him to a sentence as great, in a spiritual way, as that which the law justly inflicts in a corporeal way on a man who has transgressed so gravely that he must have his eyes gouged out, his tongue and lips, nose and ears cut off, his hands and feet amputated, all his body’s blood spilled out to grow completely cold, and finally, his whole bloodless corpse cast out to be devoured by dogs and other wild beasts. Similar things would truly happen in a spiritual way to that pope who were to go against the aforementioned preordinance and will of God and concede to priests such a license to contract marriage.
For that same pope would be totally deprived by God of his spiritual sight and hearing, and of his spiritual words and deeds. All his spiritual wisdom would grow completely cold; and finally, after his death, his soul would be cast out to be tortured eternally in hell so that there it might become the food of demons everlastingly and without end. Yes, even if Saint Gregory the Pope had made this statute, in the aforesaid sentence he would never have obtained mercy from God if he had not humbly revoked his statute before his death.” (source, source)
I am worried gravely for the souls of the simple and those who do not understand the moral gravity of what some are attempting to do right now.
I am NOT worried even a little about the Church herself.
Sacred Scripture is very clear about the Church, for She was established by Christ on St. Peter, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against her. This is the same Church who has seen every evil that has ever existed, and as I have noted, if there is an evil that has not happened yet and has not been in her first, then it has not happened.
It is arguable that we are in unprecedented times of evil. Likewise, it makes complete sense that the levels of evil in the Church equal those.
Having noted this, the following “vote” about allowing for heresy via the above mentioned dual forms is not even an issue in so far as moral truth is concerned.
If you are Catholic, and if you have ever had “disagreements” with the Church and wanted to disagree about something but was unable to because it was an issue of faith an morals, this is your time because a Catholic faithful to the Church is required to disobey any priest, bishop, Pope, or prelate who supports these positions.
This is not an issue of being a “traditionalist” or not as the above-mentioned news story says. This is an issue of faith and morals. It is specifically because of obedience to the faith and morals of the Church that you are to disobey on these teachings.
Note clearly this has absolutely nothing at all to do with “rebellion”, but rather, with obedience to righteous versus unrighteous authority. St. Thomas More was commanded to reject the Faith and submit to King Henry VIII, and he refused to do up to the point of death.
If you have ever been afraid to openly criticize, verbally (NOT physically) attack, or confront a member of the Church, then if you encounter any priest or member of the Church who supports this, you have full permission to do this.
>But what if the majority of the Church supports this evil?
Since when did God ever care about they tyranny of the majority? The fact is that it does not matter how many reject the teachings, one is still bound by them.
It is the same as my example with the laws of physics. An individual, society, or nation could pass bans against the laws of physics. People who declare that the laws of physics exist could be called “floatophobes” (implying that the law of gravity does not exist as one example), and even be fined, jailed, or put on death row. However, no matter what any person does, it does not change the laws of physics, for a man who jumps off of a building will still crash to his death.
The same is with the Catholic Faith. The Pope himself could excommunicate entire Churches, bishops, prelates, and priests who do not submit to the following two dictates above, and yet, the fact is that the excommunication would be invalid because it is being done to support a moral evil. In short, the one doing the excommuncation would be condemned, not the ones being condemned.
This is a great time to remember that the great St. Athanasius, who valiantly fought the evil Arian heresy, was exiled five times and formally excommunicated twice, but none of this affected him at all because he stood in the moral right through everything.
I have much more concern for the people of good will in the Churches who do not understand what some men are attempting to do, and even the prelates who are supporting these evil ideas because the consequences are permanently serious. It is important to desire the good will for all, even one’s enemies and when it is difficult to do this, because this is what Christ commanded as it is the absolutely right thing.
There is always a need to stand up for what is right, and while I emphasize that one should do this in so much as one is able to, most of what is going to come in the future will not involve “standing up” in any capacity that involves public attention, but will take place quietly. Rather, just like how Christ was forced to walk down the sorrowful path leading to his death, so will the Church have to follow him in doing likewise.
What we are seeing here is very significant. It is a tremendous apostasy, beginning in Rome with the hierarchy. It is the scattering of the sheep that was already foretold by many Catholic prophecies.
But for those who are faithful, who are disgusted at what is happening, rejoice, for if this is not the last walk to Calvary, it is certainly going to be another walk, and a historically significant one, and while there will be death at the end, it will lead to a resurrection. Those who remain faithful- as the Scripture states- to the end will receive their reward.
Rejoice all you sinners, those who believe there is no hope for you, for not only is there so much hope, but there is arguably now more hope than there ever has been in the history of the Church since the Crucifixion itself.