St. Alphonsus De Liguori, a Doctor of the Church and a moral theologian, explains that, "The Lord ordained in Leviticus that for the sin of a single priest a calf should be offered, as well as for the sins of the entire people. From this Innocent III concludes that the sin of a priest is as grievous as the sins of the whole people. The reason is, says the Pontiff, that by his sin the priest leads the entire people into sin ('Unde conjicitur quod peccatum Sacerdotis totius multitudinis peccato coaequatur, quia Sacerdos in suo peccato totam fecit delinquere multitudinem' - In Consecr. Pont. s. I.)
And, long before, the Lord himself said the same: 'If the priest that is anointed shall sin, he maketh the people to offend.' Hence, St. Augustine, addressing priests, says, 'Do not close heaven: but this you do if you give to others a bad example to lead a wicked life.' Our Lord said one day to St. Bridget, that when sinners see the bad example of the priest, they are encouraged to commit sin, and even begin to glory in the vices of which they were before ashamed. Hence our Lord added that worse maledictions shall fall on the priest than on others, because by his sinful life he brings himself and others to perdition.'...says St. John Chrysostom, the life of the priest is the root from which the people, who are the branches, receive nutriment.
St. Ambrose also says that priests are the head from which virtue flows to the members, that is, to seculars. The whole head is sick, says the Prophet Isaias;...from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein. St. Isidore explains this passage in the following words: 'This languishing head is the priest that commits sin, and that communicates his sin to the whole body.' St. Leo weeps over this evil, saying, 'How can health be found in the body if the head be not sound?' Who, says St. Bernard, shall seek in a sink the limpid water of the spring? Shall I, adds the saint, seek counsel from the man that knows not how to give counsel to himself? Speaking of the bad example of princes, Plutarch says, that it poisons not a single cup, but the public fountain; and thus, because all draw from the fountain, all are poisoned. This may be said with greater truth of the bad example of priests; hence Eugene III has said that bad Superiors are the principal causes of the sins of inferiors...St. Bernardine of Sienna writes that many, seeing the bad example of the scandalous ecclesiastic, begin even to waver in faith, and thus abandon themselves to vice, despising the sacraments, hell, and heaven." (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, pp. 142-144, 149).
Father John Franck, Assumptionist assistant general in Rome, acknowledges that "we need good shepherds." But, anxious to assign the blame for a lack of such good shepherds on the laity - the People of God - Fr. Franck has been quoted in The Catholic Free Press as having said that, "Unless the laity begins to be mindful of the demands of their own Christian commitments, of their radical other-worldliness, there is no hope that the clergy will find the strength to do so. Only a Church of mystics can realistically expect their clergy to be saints." (CFP, August 3rd edition).
The Word of God, however, resounds throughout the ages: "But let no one protest, let no one complain; with you is my grievance, O priests! You shall stumble in the day, and the prophets shall stumble with you at night...My people perish for want of knowledge! Since you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from my priesthood; since you have ignored the law of your God.." (Hosea 4: 4-6).
For years the Church in the United States (and other corners of the Church throughout the world) have succumbed to the disease of modernism and the leaven of infidelity which is dissent from the Magisterium. This spiritual dry rot, according to Our Lady in her messages to Father Stefano Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests, is the direct result of unfaithful priests who have failed to offer the wheat of sound doctrine and have instead offered the chaff of theological dissent.
Our Lady has referred to such issenting and apostate clerics as "mute dogs." God's Holy Word, which these unfaithful priests have largely abandoned, is most clear:
"Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will will take care to punish your evil deeds. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock...Both prophet and priest are godless! In my very house I find their wickedness, says the Lord. Hence their way shall become for them slippery ground. In the darkness they shall lose their footing, and fall headlong; Evil I will bring upon them: the year of their punishment, says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23: 1-2; 10-12).
The languishing head communicates his sin to the whole body. Not the other way around.
3 comments:
Good to see your back Paul. God Bless you!
We request that you seriously consider that Catholic bloggers support a national network of faithful Catholic newsletters that defend the faith, promote Catholic teaching, and offer an antidote to the Tablet.
Greetings,
The following is in reference to Richard Collins' Linen on the Hedgerow post in which I am the MC to which he refers http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/teaching-great-unwashed.html
We are specifically calling on the network of Catholic bloggers that have been faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church over the past five years. You will appreciate that you are a ready made network, spread throughout Great Britain, that time and time again has shown that you care about the future direction of the Catholic Church in this country. I am convinced that blogging has already made a substantive contribution to the battles that have already been won in the Church over the past five years.
Catholic blogging must continue, but there is also a growing belief that our message could go further and specifically to the Catholics on the pews that do not read blogs (or the Catholic Herald for that matter). They have a right to hear the authentic version of Catholicism. This message would also support Pope Benedict's Papal Visit wishes that there is a need to re-catechise and re-evangelise the faithful. Due to the proven track record of enthusiasm for the Catholic Church and the geographic spread of bloggers around the UK we are in a unique position to support Pope Benedict's wishes and to actually make a potential difference on the ground and 'get this important message out there'.
We need a network of Catholics who are willing to take an active part in spreading this message and myself and Richard (initially) suggest a nation newsletter that will carry this message to the pews every month. EVEN IF YOU ONLY WANT TO PRINT OUT TEN COPIES A MONTH THIS WILL STILL BE A MASSIVE STEP FORWARD!
Please read the following section and I would then ask that you would place your initial comments on Richard's Linen on the Hedgerow Blog.
[Please note that I have attached my own newsletter that I recently started distributing once a month at my local churches. Of course, this is not how a finalised network newsletter has to be. I have simply included it to show you that it is relatively easy to do. I presently print out 40, leave some at the church, target some to specific people, and place two copies on Church notice boards. I pin copies up at other local churches if I pass them. I am sure that a final network copy would be superior to my attempts]
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Why do we need a network supported traditional/faithful Catholic newsletter championed by Catholic bloggers?
1. The way I see it is that 'the message' needs to go beyond those that read Catholic blogs. It appears to me that those who need to hear the message very rarely hear it.
2. There is a need for an antidote to The Tablet. We already have one it is called the Catholic Herald but once again the people who need to read it do not seem to be the ones that ever buy it.
3. When making up your mind on whether to support us please bare in mind that The Tablet is now publicly supporting 70 Catholic priests (and other prominent lay Catholics) who are calling for dissent against Church teaching during The Year of Faith.
4. Who is the target audience?
Those who are generally un-catechised.
Those who love Catholicism but are embarrassed (due to the present climate) to go that step further i.e. a lady who said that she was too embarrassed to ask for Holy water because she felt the priest would look at her as if she had gone mad. We need these people to be more confident and start talking openly about all aspects of Catholicism. We can encourage these people to be open about Catholicism once again. No more closet Catholics.
Those 'fringe liberals' who can still be 'saved' if they had it properly explained to them why the rules of the Church are actually present.
5. A free monthly one sided news letter would at least have some impact because:
Catholics always pick up anything that is free (sad but true).
If it is short then the chances are at least one article will be read - Long diatribes must be avoided.
Copies could be distributed in the editors own Church (and further a field if they could afford to print more).
6. What is imperative?
The headlines and the articles must be pithy and get over the points of view within 2 sentences.
7. We need a network of enthusiastic Catholics who want to get the word out there.
It seems to me that we already have a network of enthusiastic people, they are called bloggers and many have the same goals.
8. I have to be honest this was initially seen as a network with everyone who signs up creating their own newsletter tailor made to their own parish. The reason I said this was because I believed that individual editors will only take the 'bull by the horns' and be enthusiastic if they are creating their own content. They know what needs to be said in their own parish. However, there is no reason why there should not be just one central newsletter that could have contributions by various bloggers. Please leave your thoughts on this aspect on Richard's blog post.
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