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"Every baptised person can administer the sacraments. He is to be ordained only for the sake of external order."
"There is now agreement in regard to the theological meaning of the Eucharist/Last Supper."
Pick the most outrageous of those three heresies.
Outrageous, because the document in which they are published is a creature of the "German (wouldn't you know it) Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians".
It's described by the head of the German section of the official Vatican news service, Vatican News, as "inspiring. The Vatican will take attentive note of it." You bet.
Stephan von Kempis has the grace (or the cheek) to admit that the last of those three statements "is a sentence at which a Catholic first has to gulp". Or vomit, perhaps? To put it another way, the Vatican is saying that the Catholic Mass is not the only liturgy in which the fullness of Christ is experienced. A Protestant service will do nicely.
"When offered in the self-giving spirit of Christ the High Priest, the Mass is our most intimate union with God and with one another. And the reason for this is clear: whatever conduces to prayer focused entirely on the divine Majesty and his angels and saints brings about by its very nature the fullest union of one Christian with another in their common goal of knowing, loving, and serving God" (Dr Peter Kwasniewski, www.catholicculture.org › culture › library › view )
So in what form other than the Catholic Mass can the "fullness of what Jesus instituted" be found?
.
If you like, you can read 57 pages of this spurious nonsense - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/vatican-cardinal-objects-to-intercommunion-argument-that-protestant-last-supper-is-identical-to-catholic-mass
from the German Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians (It takes even longer to say that in German).
Let's take those three heresies - endorsed by Vatican News as 'inspiring' - one by one.
As a well-catechised contributor to this blog (would that there were more of them) comments, "Every baptised person cannot administer all the
sacraments. They cannot effect:
- the Sacrament of Reconciliation
- the Sacrament of the Eucharist
- the Sacrament of Holy Orders
- Confirmation
- Anointing of the sick
- The Sacrament of Marriage is conferred by the spouses, on each other. A priest is usually present to witness that the consent by the couple is in canonical form.
- Baptism may be conferred by a baptised Christian,but only in an emergency situation providing the right procedure is followed."
The Eucharist is the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary made present once more. It is the source and summit of the Christian life.
The Last Supper is "the inexhaustible mystery: the final meal of the Master with His disciples, the communion of the divine Lover with His beloved friends, the anticipation of His supreme act of love on the Cross, the institution of that unbloody sacrifice which will never cease to resound in churches until the end of time" *Peter Kwasniewski, https://onepeterfive.com/meditation-maundy-thursday/
Catholic Tradition teaches that the Eucharist is the Sacrifice of Calvary re-enacted and that the Last Supper was the Institution of that Sacrifice.
A Protestant service of the Last Supper is in essence merely a meal among friends in which Christ is remembered.
A Protestant service of the Last Supper is in essence merely a meal among friends in which Christ is remembered.
Spot the difference?
Thank God, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has spotted it. He managed that much, at least. He says the document, published in September last year, which asserts that "the differences of opinion that stem from the 16th century have been sufficiently discussed (well, yes) and clarified and that there is now 'agreement' ", is based on an "assumption" which Cardinal Koch cannot share, "namely: that the Catholic Eucharistic celebration and the Protestant Last Supper are identical."
The cardinal was asked also to comment on Protestant theologian Professor Volker Leppin's statement that "he who wishes to argue against intercommunion is in need of very strong arguments."
Although the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has advanced these arguments ever since the Reformation, it would seem that the cardinal has forgotten them. He doesn't mention them. As to the heresies listed above, he says, “I believe we still have to discuss these open questions.”
Heresies are not 'open questions'. This is creeping Protestanism.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Kazakhstan, has stated that: "The confusion spread by incorrect interreligious events and discussions is one of the deepest crises in the Church today. In some ways it is a betrayal of Christ ...
"The uniqueness of Christ and of His Church is the core of the entire Gospel. Truly, we must return to the Catholic missionary zeal of all times." (Christus Vincit).
Elsewhere, +Schneider has stated: "The Church must be “very clear with the Protestants, not hiding anything.
However on the subject of intercommunion, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has this to say: “Intercommunion is not permitted between Catholics and non-Catholics. You must confess the Catholic Faith. A non-Catholic cannot receive Communion. That is very, very clear. It’s not a matter of following your conscience.
"Many priests have told me: “I give Communion to everybody.” It’s nonsense."
Cardinal Sarah believes that intercommunion without unity in faith and doctrine "would promote profanation."
"It’s not that I have to talk to the Lord in order to know if I should go to Communion. No, I have to know if I’m in accord with the rule of the Church. ... My conscience must be enlightened by the rule of the Church, which says that in order to communicate, I need to be in the state of grace, without sin, and have the faith of the Catholic Church. …
"It’s not a personal desire or a personal dialogue with Jesus that determines if I can receive Communion in the Catholic Church. ... Sometimes, an Anglican who is very far away from his church for a very long period of time and who desires to receive Communion, can participate in Mass and receive Communion in the Catholic Church, where there is no sin, and he is properly married.
Heresies are not 'open questions'. This is creeping Protestanism.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Kazakhstan, has stated that: "The confusion spread by incorrect interreligious events and discussions is one of the deepest crises in the Church today. In some ways it is a betrayal of Christ ...
"The uniqueness of Christ and of His Church is the core of the entire Gospel. Truly, we must return to the Catholic missionary zeal of all times." (Christus Vincit).
Elsewhere, +Schneider has stated: "The Church must be “very clear with the Protestants, not hiding anything.
“We read in the Second Vatican Council document that real ecumenism is not irenicism, but sincere dialogue in which we hide nothing of our identity.” He added that any gesture which is “not clear, not sincere, and ambiguous will never help true ecumenism”.
He said “pastors and shepherds” have to be “very careful” in their pronouncements not to “create ambiguity and confusion among the people,” leading them to believe that “Catholic and Protestant doctrine are basically the same, with only minor differences.”https://aleteia.org/2015/11/30/cardinal-sarah-and-bishop-schneider-respond-to-pope-francis-comments-on-intercommunion/
In 2015, Pope Francis appeared to “suggest,” in the words of National Catholic Register Rome correspondent Edward Pentin, “that a Lutheran wife of a Catholic husband could receive Holy Communion based on the fact that she is baptized and in accordance with her conscience.”However on the subject of intercommunion, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has this to say: “Intercommunion is not permitted between Catholics and non-Catholics. You must confess the Catholic Faith. A non-Catholic cannot receive Communion. That is very, very clear. It’s not a matter of following your conscience.
"Many priests have told me: “I give Communion to everybody.” It’s nonsense."
Cardinal Sarah believes that intercommunion without unity in faith and doctrine "would promote profanation."
"It’s not that I have to talk to the Lord in order to know if I should go to Communion. No, I have to know if I’m in accord with the rule of the Church. ... My conscience must be enlightened by the rule of the Church, which says that in order to communicate, I need to be in the state of grace, without sin, and have the faith of the Catholic Church. …
"It’s not a personal desire or a personal dialogue with Jesus that determines if I can receive Communion in the Catholic Church. ... Sometimes, an Anglican who is very far away from his church for a very long period of time and who desires to receive Communion, can participate in Mass and receive Communion in the Catholic Church, where there is no sin, and he is properly married.
"But it is rare and would happen under very exceptional circumstances. This is something extraordinary and not ordinary.
New Zealand's Bishops, then, are way ahead of Rome. They allow intercommunion in so many churches and parishes here. To take just one example: although not strictly speaking under the authority of NZ's bishops, Our Lady of the Southern Star Cistercian Abbey in Hawke's Bay, or 'Kopua' as it's called now, offers Holy Communion to Protestants every day of the week. There have been no new vocations to that monastery for many years.
And wouldn’t you know it, one of the two academic leaders of
the ‘German Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians’
(takes even longer to say it in German) calling for intercommunion is a woman. Prof
Dorothea Sattler has been appointed as head of the ‘Synodal Path’s’
discussion forum on women’s access to Church ministries as organized by the
German Bishops’ Conference.
Are you, like me, getting a whiff here of women priests, another heresy?
Perhaps it needs to be said, and said again, that the primary duty of the Pope is the teaching of Catholicism in its fullness and the anathematizing of erroneous doctrines.
Are you, like me, getting a whiff here of women priests, another heresy?
Perhaps it needs to be said, and said again, that the primary duty of the Pope is the teaching of Catholicism in its fullness and the anathematizing of erroneous doctrines.
*For a beautiful description of this most beautiful work by Tintoretto, go to:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/a-stunning-depiction-of-the-last-supper
Terrible isn't it? Rampant Pelagianism amidst nice people who demand to receive it all on their terms. But God's terms are different and He owes us nothing,
ReplyDeleteSt Paul told us that to receive the Eucharist unworthily was to eat and drink and our own condemnation.
It is a massive loss of faith, a triumph of relativism, a loss of piety and denial of the holy.
Hi Julia, This note is not for publication but for your information. You may be aware of this sort of thing, but it was news to me.
ReplyDeleteWe were at St Mary of the Angel's this morning. Two friars were in the congregation. We happened to bump into one after Mass near the parish supper room.
Turns out they are from West Virginia, USA. One was the Superior of the Order, we didn't meet him. The other was a priest. They are of the Augustinian Canons Regular of New Jerusalem. This Order was founded in 2002 by + Raymond Burke now Cardinal.
It seems the Superior loves New Zealand and has been trying to get a spot here for his Order 'for years'. He has been speaking over the years with + Dunn in Auckland. These priests are wonderful, full Latin Mass etc. So far they have been unsuccessful.
I did tell them they were currently in the heart of Mordor, which is Wellington.
Anyway, the take away is that clearly faithful Orders are trying to come to NZ but being turned away. This seems crazy when we already have so many overseas priests and a great shortage of our own necessitating wall to wall lay people and the great abandonment of parish Churches and the reduction of the number of Masses.
So we are being purposefully starved for the sake of Church politics.
No doubt the Superior senses a calling to our wilderness and is trying to answer it.
It could be worth writing something about this, knowing the facts are certain. However, you cannot identify this particular Order or it will do them no good whatsoever. But in principle lay people should know what they are not being provided with.
I did tell them about Fr Sumich, FSSP. How he is a first rate NZer who didn't go into our local seminary but went further afield. But +Bishop Dunn only let them fill the Titirangi Latin Mass when the priest could no longer carry on. They also have a shed for a Church somewhere in South Auckland. So no Churches for them.
Our two friars were impressed with the Church of St Mary of the Angels. I imagine they would love such a Church here and how magnificent that would be.
Keep up the good work.
Linda