POPE FRANCIS AND HIS 'SINFUL CONDUCT'

At a Confirmation ceremony this morning I wondered what had happened to the last-named gift of the Holy Spirit, which I received many years ago at mine.

And at my computer this evening, I wonder what will happen to Pope Francis, called out today by a former Papal Nuncio to the US for "deceitful … grave, disconcerting and sinful conduct".
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano says Francis had revoked strict canonical sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict against the disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. 


The gift that was conspicuous by its absence from Bishop Charles Drennan's list of the gifts of the Spirit at Confirmation this morning was 'the fear of God', as listed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (p 512). It's been replaced (as I noted at a display in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North some time ago) by 'reverence and awe'.

That's not only undoctrinal, it's unintelligent. 'Reverence and awe' are by no means synonymous with 'fear of God'. Bishops have no authority to change Church doctrine, and when the attempt is made in such an ignorant way it's downright embarrassing.

I wonder also whether the disappearance of this last-named gift of the Holy Spirit has something - everything! - to do with the sex abuse scandal in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I wonder if priests like the infamous James Martin SJ *- whose video on refugees and migrants I'm told was sucked up recently by the NZ Bishops' Conference - feel free to live a homosexual lifestyle because fearing God is just so 'pre-Vat II'.

*Yes, that's the very same Fr James Martin described today by the former Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, as "a sad example of the deviated wing of the Jesuits - unfortunately today the majority - an activist who promotes the LGBT agenda, chosen to corrupt the young people at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin". 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: all who attain it are wise (Ps 111:10). Popes and bishops and priests who think Scripture like this is outdated need reminding that the saints all say most people go to hell. And no one more expeditiously than a shepherd who hornswoggles his flock.

Which brings me back to the subject of Fr Brian Buenger, PP of Tararua Parish, and his reasons for returning to the US. Yes, officially, his visa's run out. Visas have run out before now and been renewed, and the PN Diocese has  offered - unenthusiastically, it seems - to renew this one. But Fr Buenger says there are other 'significant considerations'.

I got a whiff of what those considerations might be when a mover and shaker in his parish recently confirmed my suspicions by telling me, "He's a bit pious. People are missing out. He (Fr BB) doesn't take people, like Pope Francis does, 'where they're at'."

There you have it: doctrinal differences. I take it (and I stand to be corrected) that Fr BB doesn't give Holy Communion to divorced or separated people who are living in adulterous relationships.

I've already suggested that Fr BB might have been set to re-order one of his parish churches to meet the requirements of the Magisterium, as opposed to those followed at OLOL in PN - and the cathedral.

Obedience to the Magisterium demonstrates the wisdom which derives from fear of the Lord. What's clever about defying the Judge who judges justly, and by so doing condemning oneself to Hell?  For Heaven's sake (and I say that advisedly) how can 'good Catholics' not go down on their knees thanking God for a good priest, even if he's not to their franciscan liking? Tararua Parish, and the diocese, may lose a priest of proven worth because he obeys the Magisterium, when other parishes, even in Godzone, are losing their priests they're predators. How clever is that?

Not only, but also: I'm reliably informed that another priest in the PN Diocese is on the verge of leaving, and for similar reasons: he doesn't enjoy being bullied - by the diocese. These two priests join two others I know of in this neck of the woods who feel ostracized for their orthodox, traditional belief and practice.

Laity deserve to know the real reasons for priests coming and going.  As Archbishop Vigano said today:

"The people of God have the right to know the full truth, also regarding their shepherds. In order to trust them they have to know them openly in transparency and truth as they really are."