Abbey-Roads2

Holy Crap! 

Speaking of gay priests…  “There is a funny little subtext that goes along with this double standard. Private and secret alliances and friendships are formed among the gay clergy who tacitly “come out” to each other while equally tacitly agreeing to never become “inconvenient” by coming out publicly or by getting caught in any type of scandal or even by becoming involved in any type of gay ministry. Some of these relationships are cemented by sex and some are platonic friendships. Those of this group who are elevated to higher rank are then able to advocate for the promotion of their gay friends. My time in Rome gave me an education about the clandestine efficiency of this system.” - Fr. Tony

Fr. Geoff planned the whole thing.

Fr. Raphael G. Farrow, who came out last Sunday in opposition to Proposition 8 in Fresno, California - and then revealed he is a gay priest - now has a blog - Fr. Geoff Farrow… and blogger buddies… some who appear to be gay priests themselves.  One blogger is urging other gay priests to come out as well.  It is almost like St. Sebastian’s Angels all over again.

From the new BFF, Fr. Tony.

“These are the days of unpredictable weather for these priests. One moment, folks are asking for a blessing, and the next, they are raising fists to punch out the teeth of those suspected of child molesting. The Church proclaims that God’s love is all inclusive, but drives out gay leaders who become inconvenient by acquiring visibility and countering Church dogma. The bishops try an impossible balancing act by teaching that homosexual orientation is not a sin but that homosexual actions are sinful. They say they would not suspend a homosexual priest who was living a celibate life, but they concoct new seminary rules that keep openly gay men from entering the priesthood. Meanwhile, in the Vatican, old men who are to spirituality what gourd-shaking witchdoctors are to modern medicine, rail against any priest who even suggests that gay might be good.

The homosexual priest has to keep his mouth shut about his sexual orientation for a number of reasons.” - Can you love a gay priest.

From his old BFF Jeff:

“I don’t see Father Geoff all that often, because he’s based in Fresno. We had dinner about a month ago and he spoke of his plans to publicly come out against Proposition 8. That may not sound too shocking until you realize that he’s based in Fresno, where the proponents are the strongest. So this could be a move that is not only career ending, but potentially harmful physically as well.This morning, Father Geoffrey Farrow delivered this sermon at 11 AM Mass…” - World of Jeff

And then from Fr. Tony again:

“I just got off the phone with Father Geoffrey Farrow. (A blogger friend of his suggested I contact him and was kind enough to facilitate our introduction.)

If the word gracious can be undertstood to mean filled with grace in the spiritual sense, I’d like to apply it to Father Geoff who has surely fired a graceful shot to be heard round the world.He seems like a gentle man. A man of integrity who demonstrates once again that the greatest thing a man can do in this world is simply to be true to himself and to care about the people entrusted to him.

We talked about the fact that most priests are gay, and about the power structure that keeps them silent when in their hearts they know they should be working to overturn the ridiculous mistreatment of gay people by the Catholic Church. He said that at a gathering of priests that followed the news about his sermon, the bishop was assured by many of the priests that Father Farrow was wrong and should be punished. This is disgusting and yet so very believable.

I wish I could shout out to all the thousands of gay priests out there. This is your chance, guys. Father Geoff took the first shot. He made the bold jump. Are you going to let him stand there alone and vulnerable? Are you going to turn your back on him? Or, will you stand up and be counted? Will you use your pulpits to support what he has begun?” - Farmboyz

And yet people get mad at me when I say gay men should not be ordained.

All I can say is what an old black lady named Betty Lou - who once worked for me - used to say after repeating some admonition she had given many times previously.  She was especially forceful when the other person tried to argue their point further.  Her patience worn thin, hands on her hips, leaning into the culprit’s face, Betty Lou would close one eye, toughen up her mouth, raise her finger and wag her head with all the attutude she could muster, and growl in the deepest Whoopie voice you ever heard:  “Whaddaye tell you?  Huh?!”    And I’ll finish that for her:  “DO NOT ORDAIN GAY MEN!”

(H/T to Paula for the story.)

“Insatiable, incredible!”

Cardinal Dario Castrillon de Hoyos complained that for some traditionalists the Summorum Pontificum, liberalizing the use of the TLM, is not enough - they want even more.  I think I just wrote about this - that some would even like to see Vatican II declared null and void if they had their way.

“Cardinal Castrillon, whose commission works with communities using the old rite, said his office continues to receive letters requesting the Tridentine rite be used not just at one Mass a week but at every Mass, and that such Masses be available not just at one church in a town but at every church.

He said he even got a letter demanding that Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major be dedicated exclusively to the celebration of the Tridentine-rite Mass.

Such people, he said, are “insatiable, incredible.”

“They do not know the harm they are doing,” Cardinal Castrillon said, adding that when the Vatican does not accept their demands immediately “they go directly to the Internet” and post their complaints.” - Source

Go easy, go slow.

Be grateful and don’t whine - I think that is what one priest recommends to traditionalists on his site.  Of course Rome knows all about him too…

Thoughts on relativism.

A local - hate to say it - “gay activist” wrote a post on relativism entitled, “Thoughts On Relativism”.  It was essentially a contradiction and challenge to what Archbishop Nienstedt writes for our archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Spirit.  (I’m not linking to any of this.)

I found the post curious since the author seems desirous of rebutting any and all accusations of relativism leveled against any of the dissidents he represents, by what reads to me to be a nearly perfect definition of relativism.  He wrote:

“…most contemporary US Catholics form their convictions and make their moral judgments in reliance on what they have learned from broader communities than just the Catholic Church. Can we be sure that we have absolute truth? No. Depending on how much responsibility we take for inquiring, we can only get as close as humans have currently come to it. It is relative truth, relative to our time, our cultural programming, and our finite minds.” - Wild Reed

That is pretty much the relativist creed, isn’t it?  Oh!  I get it - perhaps the author actually means to defend  the dictatorship* of relativism.

(*Pope Benedict XVI often refers to it as a dictatorship.)
 

Secular press calls the Holy Father the biggest homophobe on the planet…

And yet uber-Catholics post photos like this inviting irreverent and sophomoric comments and captions.  How very, very sad.  Sad, sad, sad - to see unemployed people wasting their vocation and academic achievements on such nonsensical theatrics. 

Liturgical anarchy.

I never could figure that out - why after renovation of a parish church to look like a gym, parishioners chose to worship in the school gym anyway?  That is what they did at St. Stephen’s - they made up their own liturgy and held it in the gym.  The “spirits” guiding these folk discourage liturgical  rubrics, rules of order, and obedience to the Magisterium.  Naturally, to be Roman Catholic, a parish is obliged to follow the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), that isn’t too much to ask.  Unless elements within the worshipping community are not Roman Catholic, in that case, the honest thing to do would be to go elsewhere for worship.

In the Gospel, several followers left Jesus after our Lord revealed himself as the Bread of Life, proclaiming, “if you do not eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” (Jn. 6)  “From this time on, many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer.”  (Jn. 6)  Just so, some of the parishioners at St. Stephens have found the integrity to move off Church grounds to celebrate worship services which accord with their personal piety elsewhere.

Some of the protestors chose to remain behind in the school gym to conduct their eucharistic celebration, an act of “holy resistance” - as the above photo demonstrates.  The woman performing the ‘elevation’  of the wine at the end is a Sister of St. Joseph.

Thankfully, the new pastor, Fr. Joseph Williams, is a very kind and holy priest, he will be an immense blessing for those in the parish who hunger for authentic worship, in spirit and truth.  He arrives on the Sunday after Easter, supported by the faithful of the archdiocese and much prayer.

(Topmost photo:  Laetare Sunday Procession of protestant Catholics leaving the school gym for their new “underground” church.)

Links:

Photos and story of the migration: The Wild Reed

All the background you need on the ruckus:  Stella Borealis

“Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.” - Philippians 2:12

I wonder if many of us understand what fear of the Lord  really means?  Since it surely seems to me fear of the Lord  is often lacking in the moral life, if not the liturgical and spiritual life,  of many Christians.  Of course, the absence of a spirit of fear of the Lord  may be obvious in the behavior of more dissident Catholics, it is not uncommon to note an apparent lack of it in the lives of mainstream Catholics as well.

Dissident Catholics are infamous for the various demands they make upon the Church to change her doctrines to accommodate assorted moral disorders which have become commonplace in the culture.  In doing so, these people presumptively dismiss any notion of sin or its consequences, which forms the basis of what is known as a servile fear of God.  According to some notions developed from post-Vatican II theology, servile fear of God  is often considered a negative, imperfect expression of devotion to be avoided.  Yet servile fear  is typically an initial, fundamental disposition in the spirituality of the pre-convert and newly converted soul.  The fear of hell is not a bad thing, after all, it is one of the components normally expressed in a good act of contrition. 

“A spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.”- Isaiah 11 

In the second lesson from Matins of the ancient Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, these words are placed upon Our Lady’s lips: 

“I am the mother of fair love, and of fear and of knowledge, and of holy hope.”- Ecclus. 24

So often this notion of fear of the Lord  is dismissed by people who use the words of St. John to deny its necessity; “Perfect love casts out all fear.”  Certainly this is true in so far as perfect love casts out servile fear.  However, it is love and devotion which obtains for us the gift of filial and reverential fear, which inclines us to holy hope.  This holy hope is our confidence in the power of God to help us do the good our will intends, this hope inspires our trust in his mercy and promise of salvation.  Tanquerey writes:

“The gift of fear perfects the virtues of hope and temperance.  It perfects the former by inspiring us with a fear of displeassing God and of being separated from him.  It perfects the latter by detaching us from the pleasures that could bring about that separation.  Hence it may be defined as a gift which inclines our will to a filial respect for God, removes us from sin, displeasing to him, and gives us hope in the power of his help.” - The Spiritual Life

Familiarity breeds contempt.

It is fairly obvious when the fear of God is lacking in certain groups or individuals.  As concerns dissident Catholics, the second letter of Peter perhaps offers examples of such people.  Though highly educated, their academic achievement seems to have erroded their faith, or at least replaced any fear of God they may have known.  The following verses from 2 Peter might be applied to these fearless  dissidents: 

“…Those who live for the flesh in whatever corrupts and who despise authority.  These bold and arrogant men have no qualms whatever about reviling celestial beings,” (or even bishops) ”on whom angels, though greater than men in strength and power, pass no opprobrious sentence in the Lord’s presence.  These men pour abuse upon things of which they are ignorant” (or indifferent)…” - 2 Peter 2:10-12

Yet even amongst faithful Catholics, a certain lack of  reverential  fear of God may be detected.  Especially when we consider the casual attitudes people have regarding Mass attendance and decorum in Church, the neglect of the sacrament of penance and lack of reverence for the Eucharist.

A correction of conscience.

Properly understood, the gift of the fear of the Lord is necessary in order to correct our conscience.  We need to understand that any offence committed against God, “the Infinite Good, demands an infinite satisfaction”, as he told St. Catherine of Siena.  Thus holy fear is comprised of three principal attitudes:  1) A living sense of God’s greatness, and his goodness.  2) A deep contrition for the least faults committed against the Divine Majesty.  3) Avoiding sin and the occasions of sin, as well as conforming ourselves to God’s will, living with confidence in his saving power. 

The gift of the fear of the Lord restrains us from presuming an inappropriate intimacy with God.  Tanquerey explains:

“This gift is necessary in order to avoid an excessive familiarity with God.  Some are tempted to forget God’s greatness and the infinite distance that separates us from him, assuming towards him and towards holy things an unbecoming familiarity, speaking to him with too much boldness, and treating him as an equal.” - The Spiritual Life

Reverence. 

It is unfortunate that in our days, many traditional Catholics, especially those devoted to the traditional Latin Mass, are often accused of pride in their piety and observance of the proper rubrics and decorum while attending Mass.  This demonstrates to me how extensive is the loss of a proper spirit of the fear of the Lord, when its principal hallmark, reverence, is considered a form of pride.

Art: Tree of Jesse: Isaiah 11.  Source    

“Judge not and you will not be judged.” - Luke 7:37

Most of us hear these words and yet protest that we must judge between what is evil and what is good.  We must point out the errors of those who teach what is contrary to the gospel.  But I’m not referring to those things, rather, I’m thinking about the tendency we all have to point out to others their sin or disobedience to Church teaching.  Our willingness to exercise the duty of fraternal correction,  a work of mercy some of us eagerly perform, often without charity at times.  

Of course we insist it is a greater charity to correct the sinner and thus save him from eternal damnation, than to leave him alone in his error.  Although we sometimes allow ourselves the liberty to cajole, condemn, mock, and disparage the person and his beliefs.  Despite our failure in charity, we somehow justify ourselves that we at least attempted to lead him to the truth by our “tough love” approach.

“Lord, would you not have us call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” - Luke 9:54

Quite a few years ago, while watching Mother Angelica on her show, she was very upset about Scorcessi’s film at the time, “The Last Temptation of Christ” and she said such things as “I pray that the worst earthquake will destroy Hollywood in punishment for this blasphemy.”  (This is not an exact quote, but she said something to that effect.)  I was taken aback by her tirade and wrote to her, suggesting she ought to be praying in reparation and for the salvation of those who committed this blasphemy.  I suggested she think of the many others who would die in such a disaster.  I got a very nice letter from Mother, wherein she stated she did not say those things, and she did not mean to imply it.  (It is on tape however.)  She obviously had cooled down about the entire matter.

I cite this example because, from time to time, a few of us may have had similar thoughts.  Why doesn’t the Pope or the Bishops excommunicate this guy or that parish?  Why doesn’t the Lord chastise this or that city, as he did Sodom?  Similar to the disciples, we want to call down fire from heaven.  Yet we forget, that the Lord  “shows us generous patience, since he wants none to perish but all to come to repentance.”  - 2 Peter 3:9  And we also forget that we are all sinners, and some of us were perhaps dissident Catholics at one time or another ourselves.

The Barren Fig Tree.

Today’s gospel beautifully illustrates the patience of God.  The vinedresser pleads with the owner of the orchard to allow the barren fig tree to remain, despite the owner’s impatience that the tree bore no fruit and should be rooted up and destroyed.  The vinedresser says, “Sir, leave it another year, while I hoe around it and manure it: then perhaps it will bear fruit.  If not, it shall be cut down.” - Like 13: 6-9.

Thus we get a glimpse into the mind of God here, and the kindness and mercy of Jesus, “who welcomed sinners and ate with them.” -Luke 15:2.  What does this mean for me?  That I need to love others as Jesus does.  That I must show others the same love and patience Jesus has shown to me on the long and winding road that led to my repentance and return to the Church.  Like the vinedresser taking care of the non-productive fig tree, I must care for my brothers and sisters who are not yet perfect.

“You pass judgement according to appearances but I pass judgement on no man.” - John 8:15

I must allow the Lord, who is the true vinedresser, to prune and cultivate the tree as he sees fit; offering the hoeing and manure of my good works, sacrifices and prayers, for those who are most in need of his mercy.  All the while, accepting that they must remain in the orchard of the Church if they are to be saved.  If they are to be excommunicated, that is up to the Magisterium, not me, and even then I am obliged to love and pray for them.   

The diabolical aspect of the underbelly of gay culture.

I have no proof for this assertion, except anecdotal testimony and that which is debased (and flaunted) in homosexual sexual practice and literature or media.

I bring this up because of the preceding post on the upcoming Folsom St. Fair, taking place this week in San Francisco.  A reader sent me an email because the photo I posted of two shirtless gay men in harnesses was too provocative for him, and he said he couldn’t visit my site because of it.  I took the photo down, not realizing how strong temptation can be to anyone struggling with sexual issues.

Fetishism

Fetishes are often used in pagan ritual and they are useful in deviant sexual practices as well, as pornography often illustrates.  The leather scene in gay culture is replete with sexual fetishes, otherwise known as role-play costumes and sex toys.  (Heterosexuals use fetishes too.)  The photo I posted of two male bare-backs sporting harnesses reminded me that many of the costumes gay people don to express their sexuality have an element of fetishism about them.  Which may be one reason why this man was aroused by the image.

Without doubt there has long been a cult aspect to the homosexual lifestyle; special terminology, symbolic dress and fetishism, sexual practices that include group sex or orgies that sometimes  appear to have a parallel with ancient pagan cult worship.  (Think bath-houses.)  I know- it sounds crazy - AND I know every “out” gay person does not engage in these practices.  (Don’t ask them about the pornography they view.)  Although anyone who supports GLBT issues, by association and implication, ultimately supports the rest.  (Yes Christian parents who support GLBT issues of your  gay children, you do.)

Idolatry.

“Put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth; forncation, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust which is idolatry.” - Colossians 3:5.  Curiously, the current translation used for the liturgy  reads, “that lust which is greed” - how did they come by that?

The element  of idolatry in homosexual culture is obvious.  For instance, the glorification and objectification of the male physique and genatalia is paramount in gay culture.  (Likewise, in contemporary culture in general, this idolatry of the  body is pervasive.)  Most homosexual publications exploit the sexualized male anatomy, as does homo-erotic art.  It is right there - in your face.

Exegetical lies.

Christian homosexuals  insist that St. Paul and Old Testament prohibitions against homosexual sex were really condemnations of pagan sexual practices involving idolatry and male temple prostitutes.  In claiming this, they insist that Paul would have been more tolerant of non-cultic homosexual relationships.  I think that is a huge leap.  Huge! 

I think many people are genuinely naive to the absolute pagan dimension in the homosexual movement within our culture and Church.  I doubt very much people understand the worldwide diabolic delusion that contemporary civilization is experiencing.

“Resist, solid in your faith”. - 1 Peter 5:9 

Anyone strugglng with same-sex temptation, along with all Christians who struggle against evil in their lives, must realize that the  struggle is a very serious spiritual combat.  In Ephesians, St. Paul exhorts us:

“Our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above.” - Ephesians 6:12

If I am wrong and there is not a pagan or diabolic dimension to gay culture, one surely cannot deny how deeply sexualized gay culture is, and how the fetishism involved in that culture affects those coming out of the lifestyle.

[Art: The Rape of Ganymede by Zeus.] 

Imagine. 

The Holy Father called for the right of all people to change their religion in a plea for religious liberty directed at Islamic nations.  Hopefully, everyone is aware of the very real persecution of Christians in several Islamic countries, and not just in Iraq.  He stated:

Yesterday, near Rome, the 80-year-old pontiff made a speech in “defence of religious liberty”, which, he said “is a fundamental, irrepressible, inalienable and inviolable right”.

In a clear reference to Islam, he said: “The exercise of this freedom also includes the right to change religion, which should be guaranteed not only legally, but also in daily practice.”  - Pope Benedict’s rebuke to Muslim nations.

Freedom to change.

Another thought came to mind in reference to his words; that of dissident Catholics who seek to undermine Church teaching and discipline.  In the West religious liberty is still extant, so why don’t these people who want the Church to change her teaching on divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, abortion and contraception, and so on, simply change religions and leave the Roman Catholic Church in peace?

Most dissidents, if not all, resent the Pope and the hierarchal structure of the Church, and are opposed to Church teaching and tradition anyway.  In effect, they are really no longer Roman Catholic, so why not change religion and become Universalist or Old Catholics?  It would certainly be more honest.

Today, in this country at least, one always has the freedom to change one’s religion - or just stop believing all together if one chooses.  There is no prohibition against that.

(Art: Image of Our Lady of Mercy whose feast it is today.)