In his Holy Week and Easter Sunday homilies, Ireland's head archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, called Catholicism a "religion of fear" and a "faith of prohibitions," denouncing the Church for its historic "harshness" towards the LGBT community.
In his speech at the Good Friday Way of the Cross in Dublin, he remarked, "How is it that the Church and its institutions could at various times in history, and not only in a distant past , have been so judgmental and treated broken people who were entrusted to its care with such harshness?"
"How could we have tried to use the teaching and the merciful way of dealing with sinners to justify or accept harsh exclusion?"
He went on, "We can be so judgmental and hurtful towards those whom we decide have failed and those who drift outside our self-made ideas of respectability."
And in his Easter Sunday homily, Martin criticized the Catholic Church: "We had created a religion of fear, so much that even when we tried to live the good life, we were never left with a sensation of being free."
"For many, Christianity had been turned into a faith of prohibitions," he continued. "Certain theologies spoke about freeing people from sin but had developed a concept of sin and sinner which made it almost impossible for a sinner ever to feel himself or herself truly liberated."
The archbishop added, "There were so many rules that many were left with a sense of scrupulosity, which left them trapped and oppressed by guilt and doubts."
Martin has spoken out in the past in support of legally protecting gay civil unions and has commented that the Catholic Church must change with the times."
Of course it's not the Church which must change, but rather the Archbishop. I am inclined to believe he is demon infested or possessed and in need of spiritual deliverance or outright exorcism.
Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., in his classic work devoted to the interior life entitled Divine Intimacy, explains that, "Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel indicates a strong call to the interior life, which, in a very special way, is Mary's life. The Blessed Virgin wants us to resemble her in heart and mind much more than in externals. If we penetrate into Mary's soul, we see that grace produced in her a very rich interior life: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted giving of herself to God, and of constant contact and intimate union with Him. Mary's soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone where no creature has ever left an imprint; here reign love and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of men. Those who wish to live truly devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, must follow Mary into the depths of the interior life...Every interior soul, even if living amid the tumult of the world, must strive to reach this peace, this interior silence, which alone makes continual contact with God possible. It is our passions and attachments that make noise within us, that disturb our peace of mind and interrupt our intimate converse with God. Only the soul that is wholly detached and in complete control of its passions can, like Mary, be a solitary, silent 'garden' where God will find His delights. This is the grace we ask of Our Lady today when we choose her to be the Queen and mistress of our interior life." (Divine Intimacy, pp. 1147-1148).
When a soul is occupied with inordinate attachments to self or creatures or the vain and passing things of this world, it is unable to love God with all its strength and finds itself divided between God and self, between God and creatures, between God and the transitory things of this dying world. But we are commanded, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind." (Luke 10: 27).
It is these inordinate attachments to self or creatures which lead to dissent and ultimately polarization within the Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, tells us that, "The Church 'is like a sacrament, a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men' (Lumen Gentium, 1). Consequently, to pursue concord and communion is to enhance the force of her witness and credibility. To succumb to the temptation of dissent, on the other hand, is to allow the 'leaven of infidelity to the Holy Spirit' to start to work." (No. 40).
This leaven of infidelity has, for many years now, crippled the Church in various region's. And this dissent, which has been embraced by so many like the diabolically disoriented Archbishop from Ireland, has led to polarization.
Why? Because faithful Catholics who do not [and indeed cannot] accept the dissenting view are duty bound to resist it for the sake of the Church's authentic peace, a peace which Pope John XXIII said, "is not completely untroubled and serene; it is active, not calm and motionless. In short, this is a peace that is ever at war. It wars with every sort of error, including that which falsely wears the face of truth; it struggles against the enticements of vice, against those enemies of the soul, of whatever description, who can weaken, blemish, or destroy our innocence or Catholic faith." (Ad Petri cathedram).
There has been so much dissent and subsequent polarization within the Church because the leadership (and here we are being most generous in our terms) of the Church has failed to inspire the faithful (and its own priests first and foremost) to strip themselves of all that is not of God. While St. John of the Cross assures us that, "The soul has only one will, and if it occupies itself or encumbers itself with anything, it will not remain free, solitary, and pure, as is required for divine transformation," many of our "leaders" have encouraged an atmosphere of self-will, self-assertion, self-affirmation and self-promotion. Forgotten is the warning of the Holy Spirit that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4: 6).
We (all of us) must become more Mary-like in heart and mind and not just in externals. "In every deliberate sin," as Dr. Germain Grisez reminds us, such as dissent from Church teaching or deliberate non-assent, "freedom of self-determination is exercised contrary to what is known to be truly right and good. In sinning, sinners tend to regard moral truths legalistically, as if they were mere rules blocking them from doing as they please. Thus, deliberate sin seems to be self-affirming. Affirming the self and rejecting the limits which deny some forbidden fruit, sinners try to be autonomous, as only God really can be."
Faith demands the renunciation of the sinful self which authentic devotion to Mary necessarily involves. Pride must give way to humility. Only then can one find the truth which sets one free (John 8: 32).
In the case of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, I would suggest that he present himself to the Church for deliverance prayer or exorcism. A cleric who hates the Church is evidencing the demonic in his life.
St Malachi's prophecies about the "popes" ends with Benedict XVI, the last pope. Francis is the imposter. And since Benedict is still living he can still be the one the prophecy speaks about
ReplyDeleteBenedict XVI (2005-)Gloria olivæ
The Benedictine order traditionally said this Pope would come from their order, since a branch of the Benedictine order is called the Olivetans. St Benedict is said to have prophesied that before the end of the world, a member of his order would be Pope and would triumphantly lead the Church in its fight against evil. While the Holy Father chose the name "Benedict", this does not seem enough to fulfil the prophecy. Nor is it clear how Benedict XVI (a Bavarian) is "Glory of the Olives". Since he is said to have remarked in the Conclave after saying he would take the name Benedict that it was partly to honour Benedict XV, a pope of peace and reconciliation, perhaps Benedict XVI will be a peacemaker in the Church or in the World, and thus carry the olive branch.
In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, & Judex tremêdus judicabit populum suum. Finis.
(In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.) I wish we were there already at that point of History.
This is the Irish Bishop whom people have quoted as the proper judge of the authenticity of Maria Divine Mercy's mystical writings. I am not defending whether or not Maria Divine Mercy is authentic or not, rather, I am pointing out that Bishop Martin is judge of nothing. He is heretical in his views and therefor loses his ecclesiastical authority to make such judgments. The author of this article makes a fine contrast between the authentic interior ife of grace available to us through the Church and the rampant theological dissent of many clerics. Let us pray for them and for Holy Mother church.
ReplyDeleteAmen Barbara. Martin is serving the Devil with his hateful attacks on the Church. And on Easter!
DeleteAny cleric who can turn on the Church with such venom is clearly in the grip of the Evil One.
It's not just this Francis Bishop.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-pope-conservatives-2017-story.html
The Archbishop refers to, "those whom we decide have failed."
ReplyDeleteNo Archbishop, when people violate moral norms, when they reject God's Commandments, they are self-condemned, unless they repent.
The Church's moral norms are not "man-made rules" which we impose.
Even one as ignorant as you should understand that.
You may not realize what a help it is to point out the Archbishop's likely status.
ReplyDeleteThese men cause such confusion among the laity. Even for Catholics who earnestly try to use their formed conscience, such men are terribly problematic. They naturally speak with the church's authority, and this is why they are a scandal. If nobody speaks to that error, it is easy to see how they can cause such great confusion and souls can ultimately be lost. How terrible.
Can I just share with you all one reason why the teachers of a man like this are so horrible today?
I work with adolescents, and I am growing more astounded by the day of how many children are showing up now with self-identified "transgender" issues. This diabolical menace is hitting the children and young people very hard. They are being taught such self-hatred for their sexuality. Many girls are obviously conflicted. It seems to have hit girls harder than boys, although I have had boys who are "transitioning" to girls. But girls are often masculinized, and are often heard saying things like "I don't want to be a girl!". I recently had one very sad-faced adolescent, all of 12 years old, announce proudly to her peers and I that she is "gender-queer". She became livid when I reminded her this was not the forum to discuss that topic. For these children, who have difficulty with abstractions, it is impossible for them to make sense of this. They are, who you say they are.
This assault on children is positively satanic. Men like this archbishop are intentionally or inadvertently encouraging such a terrible reality. Children and young people, especially those who have certain vulnerabilities, such as cognitive issues, are particularly at risk and are being affected. They have not the resources to combat this. These children are at high risk of being taken advantage of by sexual predators of the same sex. As I said, I am concerned about how often this is now happening.
Lord Jesus, protect your innocent children, please.
Amen Kathleen! Archbishop Martin is endangering the faith of countless Catholics. His hatred of souls is plain for all to see. And the Lord Jesus will hold him accountable on the Day of Judgment.
DeleteI would speculate that the entire charade of 'FrancisChurch' is in lock step with Satan.
ReplyDeleteMartin isn't the only one that is possessed. A good part of the Vatican itself needs exorcism. I would say that when Malachi Martin exposed the Black Mass that was held in the Vatican itself in the 60's, it's obvious as to how things would go from there.