For the first time in the Church’s existence, a secular authority will choose Bishops with Vatican approval.
That remarkable development has caused me to reflect upon the present state of the ecclesiastical affairs and how different the Catholic Church is nowadays.
Without any question or doubt, the Church today is not the Church I grew up in or the Church which called me to Holy Orders.
In fact, more and more, the Catholic Church is becoming unrecognizable to me.
The recent Vatican-Chinese accord is just the latest example.
I grew up during the Cold War. Communism was the greatest evil and the greatest threat to freedom and to the Faith. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary was hailed as the great symbol of resistance and suffering under Communism.
Prayers for the conversion of Russia were offered after each Mass on every weekend.
Rosary crusades were organized to crush the godlessness of the Communist Party and its avowed goal over overtaking the world.
Now, the Church appears to have fully capitulated to the Communist Chinese Party which may continue to persecute the Catholic faithful with impunity. But even more disheartening, faithful Catholics will be made to appear to be disloyal to the Holy Father if they resist or refuse to march in lockstep with the government and its newest ally, the Holy See.
Which has gotten me to thinking.
What is my place in the Church today, a Priest who still believes in moral absolutes and ageless dogma?
More and more, being a Catholic today appears to mean embracing not the person of Jesus Christ, His Word and His Sacraments.
Today, there are clear indications that the Church has succumbed to the pervasive redefinition of morality in which there are no absolutes, in which no act is intrinsically evil, and the preservation of the environment is the Church’s greatest mission.
This latest wink at Communist China in what clearly appears to be the betrayal of loyalist Catholics who have suffered for decades to remain loyal to the Pope is just another indication that the Church has abandoned its affirmation of traditional truths and values and has instead accepted the rejection of dogmatic stability and fundamental moral values.
We are witnessing a deconstruction of Catholicism in the situational ethical considerations it espouses as the new moral norm.
Recently (September 15), Cardinal Müller preached at a priestly Ordination in Rome. He stated:
“The Church, founded by God and made up of human beings, is, according to its human side, in a deep, man-made crisis of its credibility. ... Not clericalism, whatever that may be, but the turning away from the truth and moral lawlessness are the roots of the evil. ... The real danger to today’s humanity is the greenhouse gases of sin and the global warming of unbelief and the decay of morality when no one knows and teaches the difference between good and evil.”
Lord knows, I am not a fan of His Eminence!
But I believe he has made a legitimate observation.
Is Cardinal Muller, am I, are you just dinosaurs of the Faith unwilling to pass into extinction?
Are we obstructing the impetus of the Holy Spirit or are we defending the Faith?
Some days, I just don't know anymore.
Anyway, my thoughts of late as I read news reports that I could never have ever imagined being written about the Church I have loved and served all my life.
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