R. Thomas Richard's Blog

The Church Will Remain; The Papacy Must Fall

Yes, “we have, other times, had ‘bad popes’”. My conclusion drawn from hearing the passages below is that “yes but….”.  The papacy has always had a root problem – that is, concupiscence – that will effect (by prophecy, I conclude) the fall of the papacy itself before the End. The petrine dimension of the Church will fall before, but the johannine dimension of His Church will remain even until the Second Coming and the final end of this creation.

We can see two or even three “primacies” in types originating in the Twelve.  Jesus shows us a “trinity of primacies” among the Apostles Peter, James and John, gathered in the Transfiguration scene (Mt 17) – window to the Second Coming in Glory.  They saw His Glory – and with Him Moses of the Law and Elijah of the pre-Christian prophets. Peter – the type of the petrine dimension in the Church – would have the primacy of governance, the papacy. James, type of the jacobian dimension, the first apostolic martyr, would have the primacy of self-sacrifice in blood after Christ. John – type of the johannine dimension in the Church – has the primacy of divine [agapaō] love – holy supernatural charity – in the Church: John “the Beloved Disciple.”

The johannine and the jacobian dimensions in the Church will remain, but the petrine church will fail and must (according to prophecy) fall at the End, completely corrupted by a false prophet – in apostasy – sitting in the Chair of Peter.

Below are listed foundational Scripture passages that establish the conclusion and title of this paper.

(1.) Prophesy from the OT, Isa 22:14 – 25 especially:

Isa 22:22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.
Isa 22:24 And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
Isa 22:25 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”

Comment on (1): verse 22 points ahead clearly to Simon Peter’s reception of “the keys” in Mt 16; verses 23-24 strengthen that identification to the Chair of Peter, to the papacy. Verse 25 is startling and disturbing, heard outside of and apart from the additional pointers to the final conclusion God wants us to discover.  This conclusion is strengthened in the prophecies in the New Testament presented below.

(2.) NT Scripture, Peter is given the keys:

Mt 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Mt 16:16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Mt 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Mt 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.
Mt 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
…..
Mt 16:22 And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
Mt 16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.”

Comment on (2.): The Church will endure until Jesus comes again: the Church will not succumb to the “powers of death.” But the petrine dimension, the papacy, has its deep human natural flaw which is to bring its fall near the End. Simon, type of the petrine, is “Bar-Jona” – son of, the younger of, John and John of course is the type of the johannine dimension. The petrine is “son of/ the younger of” the johannine dimension. Prayerful supernatural communion with God the Holy Trinity in Holy (agapao) Love has precedence over governance in the institutional Church.

(3.) NT Scripture, Jn 21:11,12; a hundred and fifty-three large fish; the net is not torn, they knew it was the Lord.

Jn 21:11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large*[megas-large or great] fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many*, the net was not torn.
Jn 21:12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

(3.) Comments: megas can mean “large” simply in size or great in significance.  It seems Simon only gradually began to sense Jesus was showing them a number of fish – 153 – great in significance to Peter.  Peter would remember, in time, that 153 was the total number of soldiers sent by evil king Ahaziah, son of the archetypes of evil Ahab and Jezebel, sent to the prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 1:1-15).  The soldiers were sent in three waves of a captain and his 50 soldiers – three captains and their fifties, a total of 153 sent to the man of God, to fetch him before the evil and offended king.  The first two groups of captain plus 50 sent were killed by fire from heaven by the word of the man of God for whom the captains had shown no respect.  The captain of the third group, knowing the fate of the first two, was rightfully afraid when he was next sent by the king to get Elijah.  This followed:

2 Ki 1:13 …  the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and entreated him, “O man of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight.
2 Ki 1:14 Lo, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.”

Thus Peter would hear, eventually, the prophetic significance: “Peter, do you love [agapaō] Me more than these captains of their fifty feared the God of Elijah? “– the Peter, in fear for his own life, who had denied Jesus three times?  This, then, introduced the interrogation of Peter by Jesus specifically about his love for Jesus Who Is God Incarnate.  It is as if Jesus is saying, “Is your love the perfect love, Holy Charity, agapao love, the love for God above and first of all – supernatural and divine?”

(4.) NT Scripture, Jn 21:14-16, the Interrogation of Peter by Jesus in His final (3rd) post-resurrection appearance to the disciples:

In this interrogation Jesus asks Peter twice if he has Holy Love, the Greek agapaō Love, for Jesus who is.  This is the Love that is commanded in the New Commandment for the Church, the Love that coheres with and within God the Holy Trinity.  Peter answers truthfully no, his love for Jesus is brotherly (phileō) – this is good – but fundamentally incomplete without the higher, supernatural and divine love of agapao love.

John the Beloved Disciple shows this self-forgetful self-donating agapaō love for Jesus in his remaining under the Cross with the Blessed Mother Mary, when al the other disciples had run away.  This fundamental distinction between Peter and John was acknowledged by Jesus concerning John and of course concerning Mary in His entrustment to them both, one to the other, John as “son” to Mary, and Mary as Mother to John, in Jn 19:26-27.  Thus John foreshadows all Beloved Disciples, as those in the Faithful (and Beloved [agapaō]) Church are foreshadowed in perfection by Mary.

Jn 21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love [agapaō] me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love [phileō] you.” He said to him, “Feed [boskō – feed, keep] my (little) lambs [arnion].”
Jn 21:16  A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love [agapaō] me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love [phileō] you.” He said to him, “Tend [poimainō- tend, rule] my sheep [probaton]..”
Jn 21:17  He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love [phileō] me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love [phileō] me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love [phileō] you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed [boskō – feed, keep] my sheep [probaton].

This deficiency in completeness of love, in Peter, did not bring separation of Peter from the Church nor from his own final salvation.  Peter’s case is parallel to Moses, the man of the Law also at the Transfiguration (Mt 17). Moses struck the rock twice to release the saving water from it (Num 20:11-12), and this defect in faith on his part blocked his entry into the Promised Land with his people.  In a parallel way, the defect in Love – in Holy Charity – on the part of Peter, lacking agapao love but having phileo love alone for Him, blocked his “presence” – that is, his papacy – at the Second Coming of Jesus in Glory at the end.  Of course both Moses and Peter were saved personally before they died, but their legacy was a prophecy for our instruction.  If and when we see the papacy fall, we need not fear if we remain in the Church that does remain faithfully in Him.

(5.) NT Scripture: Again, in the third post-resurrection appearance to the disciples:

Jn 21:20 Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”
Jn 21:21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
Jn 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”
Jn 21:23 The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

Comment: The johannine dimension is to endure, to remain faithful even to the End when Jesus comes again in glory: he will remain even after the petrine falls. As Peter fell at the Passion of Jesus, so the petrine dimension, the papacy, will fall in the Passion of the Church (see CCC 675-677). The Beloved Disciple John was at the Cross with the Blessed Mother Mary; so also the johannine dimension will remain faithful to and in the faithful Church even in her Passion at the End.  Indeed, the johannine dimension is kept alive among us now in the living saints in their personal most holy communion with God in prayer.  Their lives are truly alive in the supernatural virtues of Faith, and Hope, and most beautiful Holy Charity, [agape] Love.

The petrine dimension, on the other hand, will fall:

Jn 21:18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry [or “lead”] you where you do not wish to go.”

Comment: Governance – the papacy – will be led by “another” in the coming Passion of the (institutional) church.  A false teacher will lead the institutional church into error. Thus Bp. Fulton Sheen’s prophecy of a counter-church, led by a false prophet elevated by our bishops, as Bp. A. Schneider quoted and cited in Christus Vincit (1):

“[Satan] will set up a Counter-church, which will be the ape of the Church. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content…. The False Prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a counterfeit Church. Christ’s Church will be one, and the False Prophet will create the other. The false Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global. It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association, a world parliament of Churches. It will be emptied of all divine content; it will be the mystical body of the Antichrist. The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the False Prophet. Satan will recruit him from our bishops.”

That the Johannine dimension will remain, is shown also in the Church of Philadelphia – Brotherly Love – Rev. 3:7-13. This Church will remain as will Smyrna (i.e. the jacobian – those of martyrdom by blood), while the five worldly churches of compromise are called to repentance before judgement.  Philadelphia remained in His word – “kept” His words – as Smyrna did unto death.  Jesus promised this in John’s Gospel:

Jn 14:21 He who has my commandments and keeps [tēreō] them, he it is who loves [agapaō] me; and he who loves [agapaō] me will be loved [agapaō] by my Father, and I will love [agapaō] him and manifest myself to him.”

Thus was the johannine church, Philadelphia, loved [agapaō].

Rev 3:8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept [tēreō] my word and have not denied my name.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved [agapaō] you.
Rev 3:10 Because you have kept [tēreō] my word of patient endurance, I will keep [tēreō] you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth.

Conclusion:

The above shows prophesies from Scripture – the Old and the New Covenants – that reveal God’s faithfulness to His Faithful Ones, the true Church personified in the Blessed Mother Mary.  God remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself: Nothing unclean can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  All are called to holiness and the perfection of Charity; thanks be to God for Purgatory.  Hence my conclusion: the Church will remain; the papacy will fall.

End Note:

* Note: The issue of ‘153’ large fish was first considered in a paper I published in 2017, in Homiletic & Pastoral Review on-line, which led to the further study in this paper.

(1) from: Communism and the Conscience of the West, Bishop Fulton Sheen (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1948), 24–25. Cited by: Schneider, Bishop Athanasius; Montagna, Diane. Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age (pp. 306-ff). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition.

Poem: Song for Proud Men

We came today across this poem-song I wrote, dated 30 years ago, Song for Proud Men.  The photo “Where will you be…” is from the same era.  Both pierce me still today…

Man blasts his trumpet proud,
Boldly loud the crowd crows one to another,
Grabbing, brass-cold clutching, only such as they know….
Nowhere brother’s love’s there to break their great pretending.
Oh! To bask in song, to belong, (crying),
To embrace and kiss those faces, (dying),
Horizontal set, stiff-necked yet
Against the One above!

Christ comes calm, morning mist among quiet houses.
They are not dead: pulsing breasts rise and fall,
Spouses close, skins touching, dreaming each
A million miles apart.  Startles not, none arouses, none yet
Weeping, quiet sleeping corpses to His call.

Hush He comes as high white clouds,
enfolding One in bright among blue.
But quiet too as early mist moving unknown, closer
still.  Gray with old hates,
where are you going, oh crowing boldly?
Listen.  Listen.

The Passion of the Church, the Exaltation of the Counterchurch

Where is the Truth, and where the lie?  Which is the cult, and which the Church? Which is the counterfeit, and which the Certified?  Who are the persecuted, and who are the persecutors?

The Catechism (CCC 675-677) teaches a time will come for The Passion of the Church – when we, the Church, will be given hatred, persecution, the Cross because we are followers of our Lord. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you,” (Jn 15:18). Mysteriously, we will find in our passion, that our enemies will be from both the secular world and the religious world – as it was in the time of our Lord, so it will be for us.  There is much world in the Church; there is still Church in the world.

From Bishop Athanasius Schneider (1):

When Christ was arrested and interrogated, the Apostle Peter, whom He constituted the visible rock of His Church, in a cowardly way thrice denied Him. When Christ was crucified, there remained only one faithful Apostle at His side, St. John, together with Our Lady and the other holy women. From the circumstances of Christ’s Passion, we can better understand the spiritual and even mystical sense of the suffering of Christ’s Bride, the Church. The current crisis within the Church represents the deepest form of suffering, since the Church is now persecuted, scourged, stripped, and derided not by her enemies but to a large extent by her Shepherds, by many of those who are successors of the Apostles, by many traitors in the clerical ranks who are the new Judases.

Bp. Schneider continues, and quotes a most familiar evangelist of the past who gave a startling prophesy.  (The prophecy I have edited – not changing any words, but writing in bulleted format.) The format is to help careful listening to every sentence separately and prayerfully.  Bp. Schneider continues: “Here I cannot fail to quote the following words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, which he wrote in 1948 and which are strikingly relevant and significant for the current situation:”

“[Satan] will set up a Counter-church, which will be the ape of [the imitation of] the Church.It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content….The False Prophet will have a religion without a cross.A religion without a world to come.A religion to destroy religions.There will be a counterfeit Church.Christ’s Church will be one, and the False Prophet will create the other.The false Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global.It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association, a world parliament of Churches.It will be emptied of all divine content; it will be the mystical body of the Antichrist.The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the False Prophet.Satan will recruit him from our bishops.”
[This from Communism and the Conscience of the West (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1948), 24–25.]

I repeat – Today, where is the Truth, and where the lie?  Which is the cult, and which the Church? Which is the counterfeit, and which the Certified?  Who are the persecuted, and who are the persecutors?

There is much world in the Church, and there is still Church in the world.  Come, Lord Jesus!

____________________

(1) Schneider, Bishop Athanasius; Montagna, Diane. Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age (p. 306). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition. 

Considering the Spectrum of Souls in a Parish

I have referenced several times on this site a 17th century Jesuit teacher, spiritual director and formator of Jesuit seminarians, Fr. Louis Lallemant, S.J. (1588-1633).  I know of only one book that has collected his teachings, The Spiritual Doctrine, printed in 1855 in London, which I happily found on-line.  One brief excerpt of this book I find especially interesting, which I want to apply one more time to our very precarious state of affairs in both the ecclesial world of the Catholic Church, and in the secular world here especially in the U.S.A., America. 

Fr. Lallemant saw four kinds of professed religious members of a given religious order or group:

THERE may be said to be four kinds of religious: some perfect; others bad, proud, full of vanity, sensual, opposed to all regularity; others, again, tepid, slothful, careless; and lastly, such as are virtuous and on the way to perfection, although they may perhaps never attain to it.

I’ll rearrange these religious-order groups below, in order of spiritual maturity.  This can help us understand how and why some parishes, for example, might be growing materially – in donations and membership – while shrinking spiritually in an interior famine of things supernatural and eternal.  Consider then the four groups in a given parish:

Some (few, perhaps) are “perfect” – that is, they are spiritually mature, fruitful, holy and faithful in Christ.  They are truly saints.Some (more, we hope) are “virtuous” – not yet perfect, but they are earnestly striving for holiness.  They are serious in their faith, seeking to learn and grow and advance in the interior life of grace and holy love.Some (possibly many) are tepid, “lukewarm.”  They want to enjoy the world of secular pleasures while not offending God “too much.”  They are lovers of the world while attempting to keep a connection with God.Some (few, we hope) are “bad” – They remain physically in the religious group most of the time, but in their hearts they are seeking only themselves.  They are lovers of evil pretending to be “good people” except when they want to do evil.

Looking at these descriptions, I would expect that we would see these groups represented in most Catholic parishes:  a very few members in groups 1 and 4, more in groups in the middle: 2 and 3.  Fr. Lallemant observed the groups among the Jesuits, and concluded “a religious order inclines to degeneracy when the number of the tepid [my #3] begins to equal that of the fervent [my #2]”.  How important are these two groups, to the health and viability of the religious order!

To stress this: yes, although the (few) members who are truly mature in Christ, the truly saints on earth, are important and are sources of Holy Grace for the whole community – and although the (few) members who are truly bad and are sources of corruption and evil in the community, are significant and “important” matters of concern – the crucially important statistic for the health and viability of the whole community is the comparison of the two groups in the middle of the spectrum. Which is the larger: the group of the striving virtuous, or the group of the lukewarm complacent, who live in an impossible compromise of loving the world and loving God?  Fr. Lallemant saw the “incline to degeneracy” when the number of the lukewarm begins to equal that of the fervent.  How important, then, to the religious head of them all, to work to guard the spiritual dynamism – the spiritual life – in his religious community, by tending to the garden prudently!

In the secular – political – world of today in America, we see an amazing and very precarious situation.  We have globalists leading the party of so-called “progressives,” who still call themselves Democrats; we have populists leading the party of so-called “conservatives,” who still call themselves Republicans.  Among the populists, patriotism is a virtue; among the globalists, patriotism is a sin if not a crime.  In America today, the division in a poll of the two possible ways to go is amazingly close to 50/50.  Close to half of the voters prefer the one way and close to half, the other.  Both believe they must vote as they say “to save democracy”!  This is truly a dangerous time for America and for the world.

In the ecclesial world of today – in the Catholic Church – we have a pope who allies himself with globalists and progressives, while marginalizing the traditional, the “conservatives” among the faithful.  In a local parish I see a pastor who provides support for beginners in the Faith, while suppressing or marginalizing the fervent seeking to truly advance in the faith.  In many parishes I have seen, in several dioceses around the country, I have seen this same tendency, a spiritual “dumbing-down”, a secularizing, or protestantizing, of the Catholic Church – this is truly a dangerous time for the Church and therefore for the world, in the eyes of God.

What do we need to do?  We need shepherds who will feed the sheep!  If the shepherds are incompetent to feed others because they have little or nothing inside themselves to give, then they need to find catechists among the sheep who have received gifts of the Spirit to do so.  We need shepherds to tend the sheep – to pay attention to the true needs of the sheep before God, and tend to those needs.  For example, the sheep who are tepid – lukewarm – need to be warned of the grave danger in which they stand.  The lukewarm who rest in a false contentment are not only a scandal to the faithful, the virtuous, but they are impoverished and empty before God.  Jesus says to them:

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
(Rev. 3:15-17)

As for the fervent, they are owed – the Church owes them – the solid food that enables their spiritual growth!  Some pastors, lacking spiritual depth and maturity themselves, cannot recognize the needs of the hungry and seeking fervent ones; they ignore their needs, offering them food fit for babies, stunting their growth and leaving them hungry.  The Church is overflowing with the food fit for heaven!  Supernatural treasures of Holy Truth!  But in many places in the churches of today we see an eclipse of the divinely revealed supernatural and a foolish clinging to the dead thoughts and understandings of our fallen human nature.  No, Church, we are being called. “Arise!”

What is the “one thing needed” today?

The world is in a deepening crisis.  It grows in depth, gravity and danger daily, it seems.  The real possibility of a new world war is a threat of increasing credibility.  Uncontrollable consequences of current wars and continuing terrorist attacks against any target of opportunity, rob any serious thoughtful observer of confident optimism toward the future, distant or near.  Nation is against nation, culture against culture, ideology against ideology.  Civilization itself is attacked within nations by their own citizens – a kind of cultural suicide that exposes rebellion within human nature itself: no one is safe.  Enemies are neighbors, family, coworkers, one’s own self!  No one can be trusted, because the world is without love.

Solutions are offered.  Some, the secularists, want to restructure the structures of society: we need to reorder the bureaucracy.  Some, the clericalists, see that the church has become dysfunctional: we need to restructure our religion.  The pope restructures his curia; the bishop restructures his diocese; the pastor restructures his parish.  Some, the spiritual, see that love is lost because faith is lost: we need to reform and teach the leaders; we need renewal of the formators of clergy, of catechists, of liturgists, of liturgies – of worship itself.

All will be wastes of time, fruitless, mere delay of inevitable failure until we discover and deal with the real poverty at the foundation of our life.  We busy ourselves with rearranging the furniture while ignoring that the house is on fire; the earth trembles in deep prophetic quakes pronouncing “contradiction!”  We continue to do the impossible.  We insist on a fantasy.  We refuse to awaken from the self-satisfying dream that is in fact a nightmare: living as if God is not here, as if He does not see us and all we do and even think.  We refuse to believe that apart from Him, actually, we can do nothing.  And since that is true, all that we do ought to be in whole-hearted union with Him.

Remembering St. John Vianney’s simple realization, “Prayer is nothing other than union with God,” the one thing needed is immediately seen; the answer to the needs of humanity today is clear:  We need to live in prayer.  We need to live, to do, to work, to rest prayerfully, “in prayer.”  Our consciousness of God, our presence with the ever-present God, must be continuous, habitual, covenantal, substantial, sustained.

And why has it not been, before now?  Why has the obvious not been embraced and lived before now, yet?  Because we do not love Him as we should – as is commanded, in His laws of life.  And we do not love Him because we do not know Him.  We hardly seek to know Him.  In truth we often seek to avoid Him.  But when we do seek to know Him, we approach His Glory.  His Glory would blind us, but then we could see.  His Glory would consume our lives, but then we could live.  We need to trust Him, to believe Him, to believe in Him, to be in Him and He in us: our vocation, our call from the instant when, by His will, we began.

It is all here: the journey to find and be found, to embrace and be embraced, to consummate union:

Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be your Name!
Your Kingdom come!
Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!
Give us this day our Bread for the day,
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
And deliver us from evil,
Amen and Amen.

Catechesis in the Wading Pool

Yes, I admit it.  The title does drip a bit with sarcasm.  For some time in my not-too-long career in Catholic Faith Formation, I did my best to lead Catholics into the deeper end of the doctrinal pool – with the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church as our textbook.  And some, I’m still happy to remember, were grateful.  One comes to my mind: a retired physician who was delighting to read this doctrinal storehouse in the weeks between our weekly parish meetings. He shared with the class that he as an active medical doctor felt it urgent to keep up with the science and medical practices of his profession, for all those years of his practice, but never had he felt in need of learning and growing in his Catholic Faith.  He was sincerely, innocently, almost child-like joyful to discover in the Catechism a precious, beautiful treasure.  He was growing, deepening, maturing within himself in ways unexpected.

The “unexpected” nature of this not uncommon discovery in this man brings me still, to the day, a deep sorrow also.  So many Catholic adults today still, it seems, are led in what are called “Adult Faith Formation” parish or diocesan offerings, shallow “catechesis in the wading pool” of the near-infinitely deep  wealth of knowledge and wisdom divinely entrusted to this Church of the Lord.  We the Church were sent to “make disciples”!  Learners!  Followers of Jesus Christ!  Yet we are miles away from doing it the way He did.  And our results show it.  We are more like the shameful Church of Laodicea of the Biblical Book of Revelation, than the Church praised by Jesus, that of Philadelphia.  To the Church in Philadelphia:

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.
“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you.
Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth.
I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
(Rev. 3:7-13, RSVCE)

Notice what is coming upon this faithful Church – does this not sound ominously near, in this unstable and dangerous world now come upon us: an “hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth”?  Wars and possibilities of wars encompass the world, corruption and lies find chairs of power to sit upon, to deceive and divest the innocent, to rape and impoverish the unsuspecting – or are we all just too busy to notice the wolves in sheep’s clothing working for our destruction?

Even this faithful praiseworthy Church has yet to persevere to the end, to “conquer”, to “hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.”  They possess, they “have” what they must not lose!  But Laodicea does not “have” yet – even yet – but must acquire while there is still time, while the Lord still holds out time, and grace, and patience.  Church of Laodicea, listen! To the Church in Laodicea:

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
(Rev.3:14-22, RSVCE)

Laodicea has become lukewarm and poor in matters that truly count – in spiritual matters of great value and importance.  Perhaps she has the most enviable campus in town!  Perhaps her church building has the highest steeple and the best manicured grounds and the biggest and loudest organ (with real pipes!) and the most expensive vestments and statues and altar furnishings in town – but there is an invisible, yet real, famine weakening the souls gathered to her.  What then?  Then God is calling to her, “Repent.”  He says, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.”

God is even now warning us all.  All in the Church, all in the world, God is warning us all.  Time itself is not an absolute; it is created, and transient: it will cease, and timeless eternity will again be the unstained reality for which we were created!  May God have mercy on us.  “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Pope Francis: the Church to “bless” homosexual couples

Pope Francis was something of a surprise upon his election to the papacy.  His chosen papal name, “Francis” was unique and intriguing, his expressed concern for the poor and humble of the earth was inviting, his behaviors at first promising of a simple, sincere, honest representation of Christ the poor one in a hostile and materialistic world.  That was 10 years ago.

Waving the Rainbow Flag

In those ten years, a revolutionary side of the Jesuit priest Jorge Bergoglio from Argentina, land of revolutionary “liberation theology,” began to emerge.  Traditional conservative Catholics were troubled but trusting; liberal-leaning progressives in the Church were excited and hungry for more.  This latter group, still clinging to the  conveniently pliable “Spirit of Vatican II” that had been suppressed and corrected strongly by John Paul II and reinforced by Benedict XVI, began to emerge with a new and very different hero in the Vatican: Pope Francis.

I will not recount the many troubling acts and words – and inactions and duplicities – of Francis up to now.  It is a long, growing, disturbing foreboding story that may well bring forth the last of the Last Days described by our Lord, times sure to come before the final triumph of good over evil: the second and final coming of Christ as King over all Creation.

The revolution of Francis on the moral issue of homosexuality – specifically, “gay” equivalence – began with his enigmatic “who am I to judge?” comment on the matter years ago, 2013. Today it is bearing bitter and deeply troubling “fruit”.  The LifeSite News headline, become a title to this essay, says it all:

Pope Francis publishes norms for clergy to ‘bless’ homosexual couples

The stunning contradiction to the Catholic Faith that this “new reality” introduces, is obvious by referencing the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoted below.  This Catechism was promoted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997 as an “authoritative exposition of the one and perennial apostolic faith, and it will serve as a ‘valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion’ and as a ‘sure norm for teaching the faith….’” And although this Catechism was and is for all Catholics, it was written “primarily” for the bishops of the Church, and for all catechists who teach the Faith, that all might communicate the “the one, perennial deposit of faith” with one voice.

Apparently then-Bishop Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, did not agree either then or now.

First see in the Catechism (bold added here for emphasis) the clear Truth entrusted perennially to this Church:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. 

Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity (1), tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”(2). They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. 

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. 

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. 

Notes:
1. Cf. Gen 19:1-29; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10.
2. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1975, Persona humana 8

Pope Francis clearly has a radically different idea, deeply disturbing to the Catholic faithful. Following below is a response from one faithful Catholic priest.  In the light of Catholic tradition and teaching, the Rev. Gerald Murray of the Archdiocese of New York, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in down-town Manhattan, commented on this new and problematic extension of Catholic blessings on homosexual persons in unions together.  The NewsMax interview reports:

“It’s the groundwork for redefining the nature of sin because basically the church has always said that sex outside of marriage is sinful, so all homosexual activity is sinful,” Murray told “The Chris Salcedo Show.” “The document also talks about people who are in invalid second marriages, the church says, according to the words of Christ, that is adultery. So now the church is saying that your behavior is gravely sinful, offensive to God, but the church should bless you. And what does a blessing mean? It means that we ask God to favor you in that relationship. This is absurd. This is a horrific document. It is revolutionary.

“All kinds of distinctions were made [in the document] saying well, this isn’t blessing it, in view of it being recognized as a marriage. Fine, that’s what the church says. But you know exactly what’s going to happen. The document that says people seeking the blessings shouldn’t get dressed up in wedding garments … and come the same day as they have their civil ceremony. Well, people are going to do what they want, and this is really very upsetting. This is not how the Catholic Church has ever conducted himself, and I’m very upset by what the pope has done.”

Murray said the document claims it is an “innovation,” or a “development of the church’s teaching,” but he contended “that is a specious claim.”

“It’s an innovation, meaning it’s something new that was never there before,” he said. “But it’s not a development of the church’s teaching; it’s a contradiction and a corruption of that teaching.

“Here I am, I’m a parish priest, and I give a class on Catholic morality, and I say that homosexual activity is immoral and people shouldn’t do it; well at the end of the class if two men come up to me and say, ‘Well, you know, Father, I heard what you said, but I don’t agree with that. Neither does my partner, and we’re married civilly, and we’d like you to bless our relationship, and by the way, Pope Francis said you should bless our relationship,’ this is the contradiction that we’re living.”

Brothers and sisters, we need to pray as never before, for faithful guidance, for personal fidelity to Truth and for the fortitude to live it.  Contradiction cannot stand!  It will fall.  These are very troubling times!  And they are not over yet.  But in Christ, in His truth, is all that we need to stay safe – if we will remain in Him.  What a privilege He offers to us!  It is possible with and by His grace, to remain in the safety, the holiness and the peace of Christ, King of all Creation!

Desupernaturalization of the Church Called to Holiness

The Catholic Church was formed and built and directed by God to be Holy!  Light for the world!  What a dark mystery has come upon us, at this time in human history.  How can it be, that many in His Holy Church now appear to be directed away from the radiant glory of the divine, and instead be directed and focused on man himself, the concerns of men – an idolatrous obsession with the works of his own hands!  This misdirection in man is ancient.  Man was tempted from the beginning, in the Garden, to turn from God to himself as his own Guide, his own Rule, his own Judge.  Adam and Eve turned from God to themselves, and then they fled from the One who made them. (Gen 3:1-8) 

There began then Two Ways for human persons in their freedom to choose: to seek the Truth, the true God in order to live in Truth; or to deny Truth and fabricate a counterfeit of reality, a preferred fiction, a make-believe of what “ought to be” as I wish.  God will lead rightly those who seek Him!  But those who deny Him, in whatever degree of culpability they may have personally for their sins: they find themselves left to themselves, easy targets of the destroyer of souls, easily seduced by the ambitions and pleasures of the world.  These misguided souls find themselves left (enslaved!) to idols of human or demonic invention.

The nature of man, by divine design, is good.  He was made to lean not toward the merely natural but to be drawn beyond – toward the supernatural, the divine, the eternal.  God made us in His divine image and likeness! (Gen 1:27)  Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.(1)  But because of original sin our nature was wounded, and we can easily fall if we do not resist.  And these are times of powerful temptations.

The Catholic Church – including both hierarchy and laity – is now, amazingly, divided between these Two Ways.  The battle for human souls once understood as engaged “in the world” outside of the boundaries of the Church, is now felt within the Church.  Poorly formed or malformed laity, or consecrated religious, or clerical hierarchy at all “levels” of ecclesial authority – the whole acting Body on earth of our Lord is found here or there to be infected, corrupted, carnal, worldly.  The faithful groan with tears, crying to the Lord, “How can this BE!”  The enemy, clever deceivers, clever sons of their father, laugh with one another in their secret assemblies, boasting with one another of their victories and their power.  They have forgotten the power of the God they have betrayed: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Gal 6:7)

Several faithful and strong bishops have emerged in this time, to the great consolation and joy of the faithful laity!  The Lord has not left us without shepherds.  Bishop Athanasius Schneider has written well in one of his books a section on “the loss of the supernatural” in the Church today, focusing on this as “the deepest root” of it all.  He wrote:

I think that the deepest root of the problems and the crisis in the Church is the weakening of the supernatural, and in some cases a loss of it. One can say that the deepest consequence of Original Sin, of the first sin of man—of Adam and Eve—expresses itself as a flight from God. They fled. When you flee from God’s presence, you abandon the supernatural—the essence of God is supernatural. God is supernatural. The basic distinction between God and creation, or creatures, is supernatural and natural.

When any Catholic is unaware of, or insensitive to the radical, absolute difference between the natural or created world, and the One Creator God the Holy Trinity, he is in ignorance of the most serious kind, and vulnerable to many dangers to his immortal soul.  He may confuse superstition with supernatural and salvific faith, for example.  The Catechism points to this possible confusion here:

III. “YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME”
2110 The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion. 

Superstition 
2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition. [Cf. Mt 23:16-22] 

The sons of Adam and Eve named in Scripture, Cain and Abel, illustrate this difference.  The two offered worship to God, but only the worship of one, Abel, was accepted:

In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Cain said to Abel his brother, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. (Gen 4:3-8) 

Why was Cain’s offering not accepted by God?  What had he done wrong?  The Lord told him afterward that he needed to “do well” to be accepted.  What had he not “done well”?  The Letter to the Hebrews explains:

 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. (Heb 11:4)

Cain thought that he had done well – that he did what his brother Abel had done – and he had, outwardly. Perhaps he did not realize that within him, in his heart, he had not done well.  The Catechism number 2111 above explained the problem: Superstition “can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.” 

Cain was lacking the necessary “interior disposition.”  He lacked faith – a supernatural gift from God.  “By faith” Abel had offered his sacrifice.  We cannot please God by the externals of our works; necessary is the gift within, by the interior grace of God, enabling us to act in faith.  We need grace – a participation in the life of God – within us to please God with our outward expressions of love and adoration of Him our Creator. “And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Heb. 11:6)

The efforts of the evil one to purge humanity of God and all that is supernatural and divine has accelerated, in our time.  Even in the Church, satan works to blind us to the supernatural hunger for the holy and the divine, distracting us with busyness, with outwardness, with human concerns and problems and attractions.  How we need to grow and deepen in prayer, in an interior life and communion with God!  Apart from Him we can do nothing!  Bishop Schneider offers razor-sharp insight into our problem, our Church threatened from within, by the loss of the supernatural:

The Modernist movement, which has been present in the Church since the nineteenth century, used the Second Vatican Council as a catalyst for expansion. Thus, after the Council, the Church became immersed in a deep crisis marked by naturalism. It seems that, to a certain degree, there has been a victory of the natural over the supernatural in so many aspects of the life of the Church. However, it is only an apparent victory, since the Church cannot be overcome by the powers of Hell. 

But temporarily, we are witnessing an eclipse, an obfuscation of the supernatural, of the primacy of God, of eternity, of the primacy of grace, of prayer, of sacredness, and of adoration. All these signs of the supernatural have been extremely diminished in the pastoral life and liturgy of the Church in our days. On a global scale, the deepest crisis in the Church is the weakening of the supernatural. This is manifested in an inversion of order, so that nature, temporal affairs, and man gain supremacy over Christ, over the supernatural, over prayer, over grace, and so on. This is our problem. As Jesus Christ said, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). The whole crisis in the Church, as seen after the Council, was manifest in an incredible inflation of frenetic human activity to fill the void or the vacuum of prayer and adoration, to fill the void created through the abandonment of the supernatural.(3)

The solution is self-evident, is it not?  Is the Spirit not clearly speaking to us what we are to do: turn from the world and the lusts of the world!   Church, return to your God!  Be the Body of your Lord on earth; show His Holy Face to mankind by your holiness! (4)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever. (1Jn 2:15-17)

End Notes:
(1) Augustine, Confessions, 1.1.1.
(2) Schneider, Bishop Athanasius; Montagna, Diane. Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age (p. 107). Angelico Press. Kindle Edition.
(3) ibid p. 112
(4) I recommend this video on the Church today, a conversation between Robert Moynihan and Fr. Murr:   October 11: From 1962 to Today

 

The Synod – and the Holy Deposit of Faith

The upcoming “Synod on Synodality” remains a mystery to many, it seems.  I wanted to post some thoughts – some of mine – but mostly from a remarkable Bishop, Joseph Strickland, whose burden of responsibility toward those Catholics under his care has brought forth a beautiful witness from him, of fidelity to the Church, and the Truth, of Jesus Christ.

Most of the links below are to share Bishop Strickland’s counsel to his own in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, concerning the Synod.  I wish that all Bishops, in every Diocese, would have done what Bp. Strickland has done for his “sheep,” to help them understand the threat that he sees – may God intervene, and safeguard the Church and Her Faith!

A “Synod on Synodality” in Rome will begin Oct. 4, and close Oct. 29, 2023.  This gathering of bishops, with some observers, theologians and laity (men and women), all selected and invited by Pope Francis, will follow guidelines discussing among themselves a list of topics written or approved by Pope Francis.  They will come to conclusions about those topics and present a closing document to Pope Francis, and he will do with it, if anything, as he decides.

The topics will include matters that have been or could be settled within the Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Church already by the Holy Spirit.  God has spoken on these matters, one could say, but the world does not like what He said.  It is this taking up for “discussion” anyway, then, that is troubling to the Faithful. Is the Holy Deposit of the Faith threatened?  Do they want to “change” it, and think that they can?

There are other problems as well. The synodal process itself is not precisely defined.  It has been criticized as quasi-democratic, or parliamentary, and is not the traditional hierarchical, apostolic process the Church has followed for centuries.  It seem likely that discussed will be matters such as diaconal (or even priestly) ordination of women, blessings by the Church of same-sex “unions,” open reception of Holy Communion for non-Catholics and even non-Christians, common worship services with non-Catholic, non-Christian, non-theistic religions, replacement of evangelistic proclamation of the Catholic Faith with “walking together” with all, seeking to reveal to all the universal unconditional love and acceptance of all by Jesus, period. Set aside, it seems, would be the Church of the past, as “old-fashioned” and “rigid” –  preaching “repent and believe the Gospel.”  As if that were a bad thing.

It seems we are seeing, in our lifetimes, a move of radical atheistic globalism: no borders, no boundaries, no walls, no distinctions both in the secular world or in the Church: loud powerful voices are clamoring for one world government, one cashless society, one united godless “Church of Humanism”; complete personal equivalence of men, women, unisex or no-sex, gender by choice, marriage of any definition or of no definition, … an ugly dystopia that used to be confined to the sci-fi horrors of movies and novels.

Some courageous leaders in the Church have spoken out against this dangerous spirit working in the One Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ.  Several Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, priests and laity have done so and have been punished by their superiors for doing so!  The Lord will give them their reward.  I’ve chosen one to recommend to you, one who has written and spoked humbly, faithfully, lovingly, beautifully and bravely in defense of the Holy Catholic Faith.  (He, by the way, is now “under review” so to speak, by the Pope) I include a few papers (linked to, below) and a video that I recommend to you.

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, has sounded a warning to the Catholics of his diocese about this approaching Synod, and the direction the Church seems to be heading under current leadership in the Vatican.  References below include several Pastoral Letters from the Bishop, in chronological sequence.  The Video Interview (**) reveals a lot about the man, which is very relevant, I believe, to what he writes.

1.  Initial warnings concerning the Synod on Synodality — (Pastoral Letter of Aug 22, 2023)

2. Teachings on the Eucharist, and Church teaching on homosexuality. —  (  Pastoral Letter of Sept. 12, 2023.

3. Teaching on the Sacraments of Matrimony, and of Holy Orders. — (Pastoral Letter Sept 26, 2023 )

4. ** You Tube Video: Robert Moynihan and Fr. Murr Interview Bp. Strickland (on His current status w/ Rome). — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-mwbJkalq4

5. An article (Lifesite News) on possible outcomes from the Synod is well-presented, I believe, here: — What should Catholics expect regarding the Synod on Synodality’s final document?

Blessings to you all, and please Pray for the Synod participants that they be TRUE to the Church, that is, true to the TRUTH.

Thomas

One Example Among Many – WYD 2023

Some days news from the Vatican is so troubling and sad that I can hardly believe what I am reading or hearing.  Recently, it has been on the matter of the World Youth Day, which is but one example among many radical departures from “the Church” I used to know, love, believe, and follow in Christ.

World Youth Day was established by Pope (now Saint) John Paul II in 1985, to be celebrated every three years or so with the pope in office at the time. The intention and purpose of the Day, as described on the official website for World Youth Day, WYD, is this:

WYD is open to all young people who want to take part in a festive encounter centered on Jesus Christ together with their peers. This event is an opportunity to personally experience the universality of the Catholic Church, and to share with the whole world the hope of many young people who are committing their lives to Christ and His Church. World Youth Day is a unique way to deepen your faith and grow closer to Christ, through prayer and the sacraments, together with hundreds of thousands of other young people who share your interests and ambitions.

If we hear the new head of the WYD rightly, anyone going to the event this year, expecting to find it as described in its website, will be as stunned and troubled as I was to read there is a new WYD, re-defined by our current pope.  It is very near. The next WYD will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, August 1-6, 2023 – a mere 2 weeks and 4 days from now, as I write this, and as I write this, I am still stunned from reading the radical and disconcerting news of the new intention and purpose of WYD as envisioned by Pope Francis.  And his intention is to be implemented by his newly named Cardinal of the Church – just announced – upon the hundreds of thousands of youth anticipated to be present.

This new purpose of WYD is definitely no longer to introduce youth of the world to Christ and His saving Gospel, and to His Church sent to the world – not at all.  The Cardinal-designate Bishop Américo Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and new president of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation – described in the Catholic News Agency this redefinition and intention of the event this way:

In the interview [by Walter Sanchez Silva, and Natalia Zimbrão] the bishop said that in his opinion the intention of World Youth Day is to have young people journey together, respecting their diversity.

For the cardinal-designate, the goal is to enable each young person to say: “‘I think differently, I feel differently, I organize my life in a different way, but we are brothers and we go together to build the future.’ This is the main message of this encounter with the living Christ that the pope wants to provide to young people.”

“We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that at all,” Aguiar continued. “We want it to be normal for a young Catholic Christian to say and bear witness to who he is or for a young Muslim, Jew, or of another religion to also have no problem saying who he is and bearing witness to it, and for a young person who has no religion to feel welcome and to perhaps not feel strange for thinking in a different way.”

The prelate stressed that it’s important “that we all understand that differences are a richness and the world will be objectively better if we are capable of placing in the hearts of all young people this certainty of Fratelli Tutti (Brothers All), that the pope has made an enormous effort so that this enters the hearts of all.” (Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti is dedicated to “fraternity and social friendship.”)

World Youth Day had always been – as described above from the website – an opportunity for young people from all over the world to personally encounter Christ through the witness and example of committed young Catholics, and thus to be encouraged to also choose to give themselves completely to His service, perhaps even in the priesthood or in consecrated life.  These days things are changing.

Pope Francis’s “gospel” of “fraternity and social friendship” for the youth of the world and for the Church, is laid out in his encyclical, Fratelli Tutti.  It preaches a very different vision, and his to-be-Cardinal and new Head of the WYD Foundation has echoed the same, if I may say so.  Please read it yourselves!  Here is a passage in the encyclical that illustrates the often confusing if not problematic writings of this pope, here in lifting up his chosen model, St Francis of Assisi:

4. Francis did not wage a war of words aimed at imposing doctrines; he simply spread the love of God. He understood that “God is love and those who abide in love abide in God” (1 Jn 4:16). In this way, he became a father to all and inspired the vision of a fraternal society. Indeed, “only the man who approaches others, not to draw them into his own life, but to help them become ever more fully themselves, can truly be called a father”

There are some important problems with two imprecise statements in the quote above, in Fratelli Tutti, which prove to be central to the pope’s whole thesis:

1.) “Love” has widely divergent interpretations, especially in these days!  By “the love of God”, a saint and the Gospel would mean here divine love, godly love, the love with which God loves.  The Greek word “agape” in Scripture is well-described in its perfection as self-emptying love of Jesus in His Incarnation (Phil 2:7) as well as the “kenosis” of His Passion, not the self-seeking, self-fulfilling “love” of this world.
Even true “friendship”, a recurrent theme of this papal encyclical, has its new meaning in the Gospel:

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:13-15)

2.) Such godly love and friendship does not seek to help others “become ever more fully themselves” until they have received the new self in Christ given in Christian Baptism!  Thus we are sent to evangelize!  To make disciples, not “diversity.” Then with disciples begins the life-long journey of sanctification in Him, the journey of dying to the old self and growing in the new.  Then, one can truly be “friend” and even “father” to the other, as Paul wrote:

I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.   For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.  I urge you, then, be imitators of me. (1 Cor 4:14-16)

By such imprecise uses of very significant and important words, the encyclical is confusing. It carries a very soft and “spongy” gospel,  and its “rubber” is really hitting the road in a matter of a few weeks.  What has happened to the command “Go and make disciples [of Jesus Christ!] in all the nations of the world (Cf Mt 28:20), because Jesus is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father, but by Him! (Cf Jn 14:6)?  Is this traditional and historic basis of the Catholic Faith now become… what? “Divisive”? Not “inclusive” enough? Not respecting the “richness” of “diversity” of the non-Christian religions of the world?  

Lord God help us.  These days foreshadow a deep darkness, and troubles ahead.  Holy Church – how long can you sit silently, while sterile progressivism – present from antiquity in the world, and growing even in the Church – is being proclaimed among the hearts and souls of the faithful?  Your saints of these days are being cancelled, while contradictions of Truth are being preached instead of Truth as “gospel” to the innocent and vulnerable.   Lord, send grace, and raise up saints among Your people!   Let us pray.