A NATIONAL MALAISE NEITHER PHYSICAL OR MENTAL (letter to NZ Herald, October 24)

Back in the day when hospitals were strictly and simply for healing, they shone with cleanliness. They provided medical and surgical treatment for the sick and wounded. 

 

Now that hospitals are also for hurting, for killing infants in utero and damaging mothers for life, they’ve gone mouldy, they leak rain, dangerous bacteria and poisonous asbestos – all symptomatic of a national malaise which is neither physical or mental, but spiritual. 

 

The consequence is huge expense to rate and levy payers, who because of the abortions carried out in those hospitals are 500,000 fewer than they should be.

 

Hospitals are no longer ‘fit for purpose’ precisely because they’ve lost their purpose, which is to heal and preserve life.

NOW THAT PARENTS ARE NOT FIRST TEACHERS ...(Letter to Dom Post, Oct 20)

In saying “Two politicians in the headlines this week have forgotten what they should have learnt many years ago”, Linda Wilkins (Letters, October 20) inadvertently implies a fundamental truth about early childhood education. 

She hopes that in pre-school, children are taught “how to behave in our society”. In pre-school they’re taught by people who are strangers at first, and come and go. When it’s not our parents who teach us in the home “to play fair” etc, the message is not absorbed into our marrow. 

The evidence is all around us: cheating on partners and ‘buddies’, escalating abuse, violence, prisons stuffed full and police on the back foot.

What’s more, depriving very young children of parental role models, male and female, is an essential tool in the Marxist kit for building the all-property-owning state. Left-leaning domination of educational institutions, including pre-school and kindergarten teacher training, has the advantage in shaping very young minds, shut up as they are in alien, racketty, crowded pre-schools and let out into normal life only in crocodiles.

Wilkins can’t blame these two politicians, both almost certainly grads of pre-school, for forgetting what they never learned.

A TALE OF TWO PRIESTS. AND THEIR BISHOPS. AND A POPE.

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How bizarre. On the one hand, the Catholic Church in NZ is losing a fine priest to the US, and on the other is importing one from the US who was defrocked there for adultery. 

Even more bizarre is the silence smothering both issues. How bizarre, that is, in the eyes of the world, and simply wrong  - sinful - in terms of Catholic, Gospel morality. 

But the global Church is getting used to 'Omerta' - the term used to describe the silence deployed and enforced by the Mafia to cover up criminal activity, and employed by some commentators in regard to Pope Francis.

• The Pope's had his finger on the mute button since his days as cardinal in Buenos Aires, when he refused an audience to a woman claiming sex abuse by a priest, and 13 other victims whose letter was acknowledged by a receipt. (That's better than the response to my request to Bishop Charles Drennan of Palmerston North for an exorcist, which was nil.) 
• He refused to take questions on the McCarrick scandal. Even Cindy Wooden, Rome Bureau Chief for the US Bishops' Conference, tweeted that she'd been "shot down by +Pope Francis".
• He hasn't answered the four cardinals who penned the Dubia in response to Laetitia Amoris. 

So it's only to be expected that New Zealand's complaisant bishops would follow the Pontiff's lead and say next to nothing about the impending departure of Father Brian Buenger from Tararua Parish. The Palmerston North Diocese asked for an extension of his visa. It was refused. + Charles could have appealed but he didn't. 

Fr Buenger in a letter to his hapless parishioners stated there were "other significant considerations". Now I know, from a reliable source, that "he didn't get on with the bishop". "There were complaints." 

I know first hand about the complaints. Fr Buenger "doesn't meet people where they're at." I'd guess that's code for not giving Communion to the divorced and/or remarried. Why were these parishioners not down on their knees giving thanks to God for a good, faithful (and I might add, discreet) priest? Because they haven't been formed in the Faith. God only knows who they'll get in his stead.

And then there's the story about the defrocked priest, a Philipino, whom Bishop Patrick Dunn has reinstated as parish priest of Northcote in Auckland. Apart from an article by Jonathan Milne for Stuff  he seems to have accomplished it sub rosa. 

Father Lio Rotor was a canon lawyer in a matrimonial tribunal in the US, enforcing the law on marital fidelity. He was formerly private secretary to the late Cardinal Sin in Manila and a Vatican diplomat. He had an affair with the wife of his best friend and was defrocked for it. 

Years later, he bobs up in Auckland, being nice to the injured and dying at Auckland Hospital. He gains residency as a lay chaplain. If a lay chaplain can get residency, why not a priest? He starts thinking he'd like to be a priest again and +Dunn says, in effect, why not? 

The bishop felt sorry for him. As for Fr Rotor's cuckolded friend, Bishop Dunn "wants him to have peace. But poor old Gab can't let it go." Understandably perhaps, as 'poor old Gab' (Gabriel) alleges Rotor slept with two other women around the same time. And when 'poor old Gab' made his deposition for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles he was warned not to tell anyone. "There was a gag order."

So now he's Father Rotor, parish priest at St Mary's Northcote. In August NZ Catholic ran a story on how Fr Lio Rotor is ‘strengthening’ the parish with ‘liturgical teachings’ once a month instead of a homily. Nothing about his being defrocked. It’s old news but news that seemingly was never news officially for NZ Catholics. 

This isn't a question of forgiveness and reconciliation, as in marriage when there's adultery. Of course the Church forgives Fr Rotor. He repented his sin, so forgiveness is a sine qua non. Specially in view of the way Pope Francis insistence on "God is Mercy".

Ah, God is Love, actually, and God's love (charity) means always wishing and doing what will most help others to attain eternal life. 

So is it charitable to put Fr Rotor in the way of temptation again? Wouldn't he be better off serving humbly as a lay chaplain in a hospital, safe from the type of woman who find the priesthood a special enticement and temptation? Better off not 'taking confessions' as Stuff put it, in the snug little private room we call a confessional these days, where women with arms' reach may share their sexual desires and troubles with the priest? (Bring back the grille!)

Bishops are shepherds who are to lead their flock towards eternal life. They can't indulge the wishes of individual parishioners, no matter how sorry they feel for them, if that means putting their flock at risk - apart from anything else, of being scandalized. 

You may say that by putting this story out there I'm contributing to scandal. But there would never have been any scandal if the bishop, having prayerfully discerned this decision was the right one in view of his people's sanctification as well as Rotor's, had openly discussed it with the parishioners of St Mary's Northcote, and as president of the NZ Council of Bishops with his fellow bishops, and through NZ Catholic - which he owns - included the entire Church of New Zealand in his decision. "Inclusiveness." Isn't that one of Pope Francis' watchwords?

Lay people are not children, to be sent out of the room when certain issues are discussed by adults,  or to be told, "we're going to see a man about a dog".  Silence and cover-ups - in Argentina, the United States, Ireland, Italy - just don't cut it any more.

As Jesus said in this morning's Gospel (Lk 12:1-7): 

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. … Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 

Karl du Fresne said: 

I like your line that lay people are not children to be sent out of the room so that adult issues can be discussed. It seems to me that’s the way the Church has always treated the laity.  The pattern was set in the 16^th century when William Tyndale was branded as a heretic for translating the Bible into English so that it could be read and understood by ordinary people.

Linda S Clarke said: 

Terrific point about the grille.....I'm absolutely over the chats - I want the Holy Spirit to instruct me through the mouth of the priest, thank you very much.   And absolutely, the move to allow Fr. Lio Rotor to be a priest again is hardly helpful to him or to the women he will encounter at cosy chat time.   AND clever point about Pope F's watchword!

Anonymous said:

So we are to understand that Bishop Drennan has implemented the provisions of Amoris Laetitia. I understand this is putting many of the priests in a very invidious position. For instance, Father Buenger and others.

But we only get the message by implication, when the 'informed elites' tell us that Fr X "doesn't meet people where they're at."   As Julia says we non-elites only get the code, and have to guess at the substance.

In the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness and dialogue why has Bishop Drennan not told us straight? Why has the implementation (or otherwise) of Amoris Laetitia in our diocese not been put in writing? If we are to be obedient to the Church hierarchy, how can we be obedient to unwritten doctrine that we don't even know for sure is being used?

Gone (maybe?) are the days when divorced parishioners paid the Church $1,000 to get their annulment and receive the Eucharist in good standing with God.  Waste of time and money so soon.

I assume when Bishop Drennan does one day tell us in writing that he has implemented Amoris Laetitia he will also give us some solid writings to resolve the doctrinal conflicts that Amoris Laetitia raises. But no, Pope Francis will not respond to the Dubia that told him of the doctrinal conflicts, so Bishop Drennan has no obligation to resolve the doctrinal conflicts either?

It seems the carefully written doctrine of the Church, crafted with the grace of God, has been replaced by unwritten doctrine and innuendo.  It seems the same rules apply to the sex abuse and homosexuality crisis. The results there speak for themselves.

How long do we parishioners put up with this craziness and deceit? We must make more noise to encourage Bishop Drennan to be more Catholic.

WHAT ABOUT MEN WHOSE BABIES ARE ABORTED AGAINST THEIR WISH? (letter to Dom Post, Oct 15)

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‘He controlled every aspect of my life’ (October 15) begs some awkward questions.

 

It’s unspeakably awful for women to be forced to have babies, but what about men whose children are aborted against their wishes? Are some (inexcusably) violent men traumatised by that loss? Do some live with the suspicion that their wife or partner killed the child they longed for?

 

Jacinda Ardern wept at the sight of empty shoes representing people who tragically died by suicide. How did she feel about 13,000 empty booties at Parliament representing lives lost last year by abortion?

 

Jackie Edmond’s Family Planning mantra, ‘Every child a wanted child’, ushered in legal abortion which was meant to end child abuse and sexual abuse. Why has it sky-rocketed? And now that 500,000 ‘unwanted’ children have been aborted, where are the teachers, builders, nurses and police we’re desperate for?

 

Instead of Women’s Refuges where ‘they would be heard’, would the needs of pregnant abused women be better met at pregnancy help centres?

 

Pregnancy Help provides not only sympathy, but accommodation and every practical support including referral, if chosen, for adoption - which transforms an unwanted pregnancy into a most wanted child.

 

CLERICAL BULLIES: CARDINAL OUELLET HAS UNDERSTUDIES IN PALMERSTON NORTH DIOCESE

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One mustn't - and can't - judge others' motivation, but Cardinal Marc Ouellet, in his open letter to +Vigano released yesterday, comes across as a bully. (I have belatedly realized this man is Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops.)

You know how some men, especially clerics, when contradicted or even merely questioned stick out their chest and raise their voice? Probably you didn't know that because, I suspect, priests are seldom contradicted.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet sounds like a man who's on the wrong side and believes attack is the best form of defence. He blusters about 'rumours' concerning Cardinal McCarrick.

Dear Cardinal Ouellet, that photograph of  McCarrick in togs, with his arm around a young seminarian also in togs, is not a rumour, it's a fact. And although I don't know when the pic became public, it was taken in 1974. That seminarian was sexually abused by McCarrick for 20 years. The expression on his face is unforgettable; McCarrick meanwhile, grins with delight.

Obviously Cardinal Ouellet doesn't mean to, but he actually confirms what +Vigano stated, that McCarrick was 'requested not to travel or make public appearances'. He says it was 'in order to avoid new rumours' (emphasis mine). He has a cute expression also for McCarrick's odious abuse of seminarians in virtually forcing them, by a devious arrangement of beds at his notorious beach house, to sleep with him. As one journalist commented, on hearing of it, "The bishop sleeping with seminarians? ***" (Expletive deleted.)

Cardinal Ouellet's word for McCarrick's serial sodomitic abuse is 'incoherence'.

He says there are no documents restricting McCarrick's movements signed by either Pope Benedict or Pope Francis. He does not however, deny that paper shredders exist, even or especially in the Vatican.

Cardinal Ouellet tells +Vigano he must avoid calumny and defamation. Dear Cardinal Ouellet, calumny and defamation involve falsehood. So if what +Vigano says is true, you haven't a leg to stand on. When Jesus Christ called the scribes and Pharisees 'whited sepulchres', that wasn't calumny or detraction. He was merely stating the truth.

How much I wish I could help you to return to communion with (Pope Francis), says Cardinal Ouellet. What? Has Archbishop Vigano been excommunicated?

Cardinal Ouellet says +Vigano's testimony is 'scandalous rebellion'; +Vigano is 'blasphemous'. Is Pope Francis God now, that to criticize him is to blaspheme? Certainly, Cardinal Ouellet makes Francis sound godlike: Pope Francis is "a true shepherd … a resolute and compassionate father with a prophetic grace for the Church and for the world" and (ominously) "for the missionary reform he has begun".

Just how can Pope Francis, be he ever so missionary, 'reform' the Church, the Bride of Christ? He sounds more and more like a reincarnation of Luther - who our own Bishop Patrick Dunn is so keen to rehabilitate.

Catholics must believe the revealed truths of the Deposit of Faith, just as they are, unreformed, because God revealed them and the Church has infallibly proclaimed them. Not to believe them is sin of the mortal kind. Which of these truths - or how many (starting with the indissolubility of marriage perhaps?) does Pope Francis intend to  'reform'?

To all these truths Catholics must give the assent of faith. Other Church teachings which are not proposed infallibly and so carry no guarantee of truth require religious assent, required only by obedience, not faith. And if there is conflict between the two, obedience gives way to faith. We are required to be faithful even if it means resistance to false teaching, even by the Pope.

Cardinal Ouellet must have forgotten what St Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, has to say about Popes and their utterances:

"Just as it is licit to resist the Pontiff that aggresses the body, it is also licit to resist one who aggresses souls or who disturbs the civil order, or above all who attempts to destroy the Church." Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was asking legitimate questions about illegitimate activities in the Vatican. A Prince of the Church should surely accept that in charity and humility.

The clincher for me is, Cardinal Ouellet has Cardinal Robert Wuerl, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago and named by +Vigano as promoting McCarrick, on his side. "Donald Wuerl is a criminal," says an angry mother - reportedly one of many in the Washington DC Diocese."He sent a Gay Mafia priest into our school and he destroyed it."


And don't let's think that in New Zealand we above all that kind of thing. Bullying happens here too. 

• In the cathedral of Palmerston North for example, where a parishioner is forbidden to distribute pamphlets attesting to Church doctrine, because, the Bishop says, "This is my cathedral!" 
• In ostracism by priests of their few brother priests who like Archbishop Vigano are orthodox. 
• In the more subtle ostracizing of lay people who don't get to be on parish councils, for the same reason.
• In the forced resignation of an orthodox lay person from their position in a Church Order made completely untenable by overt bullying
• In the gaslighting by a parish priest of a skilled but orthodox organist (who he knew would play traditional Church music), refusing to allow her to play for Sunday Mass until she can prove her good health (physical or mental?) by attending four Sunday Masses  in a row, in his church.
• In a priest's manhandling of a communicant, forcing her from her knees to stand and refusing to give her Communion on the tongue. 

Yes, the 'missionary reform' of  Pope Francis is well under way in Godzone.

$22,500 TO PAINT A PIECE OF ASPHALT (letter to Dom Post, Oct 8)

As I skirted the rainbow crossing on Cuba St today, I was glad I’m not a Welly-dweller. 

Not that I object to ‘inclusiveness’ or ‘diversity’ per se, only the cost. $22,500 to paint a piece of asphalt when, if climate change scientists are to be believed, other parts of the city are set to sink beneath the sea? 

Thousands of ratepayers believe, archaically, that ‘male and female he created them’ and are not besotted with LGBTQ+ ideology so much as beset with the problem of petrol prices. 

And just how ‘diverse’ will Welly become? As diverse as Washington State in the US of A? 

In that hyper-inclusive State of Absurdity, you can now register on your birth certificate as any of the following: intersex, agender, amalgender, androgynous, bigender, demigender, female-to-male, gender fluid, genderqueer, male-to-female, neutrois, nonbinary, pangender, third sex, transgender, transexual, two spirit, or unspecified.

Take your pick, people!

FRANCIS OF ASSISI, LOVER NOT OF THE ENVIRONMENT BUT THE EUCHARIST

This morning at Mass on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, in the Prayers of the Faithful which Father reads from a book, we had the usual incantation of St Francis, patron saint of the environment,  climate change, global warming, indigenous peoples and endangered species.

St Francis was anything but. Oh yes, he may have talked about 'Brother Sun' and 'Sister Moon' and maybe he talked to the birds. And if he hadn't been concerned for the poor and underprivileged he'd never have become a saint.

But for Francis, nothing mattered as much as the Eucharist, and nothing concerned him so much as disrespect for the Blessed Sacrament.

In his first extant letter, he is outraged at "the great sin and ignorance some have towards the most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and his most holy names and words that consecrate his body".

Nothing got Francis going like the use of dirty or inappropriate vessels or containers, or the Sacrament being left "in dirty places, carried about unbecomingly and ministered to others without care".

What would St Francis of Assisi say about the use of common wooden 'patens', paper towels as purifiers, ripped pyx bags, and so-called 'Ministers of the Eucharist' who leave the Host lying around while they get on with other stuff, or chatting with people, pyx bag casually in hand, before leaving the church to take Holy Communion to the sick?

Francis insisted to priests and  his unordained brothers that "in every sermon you give, remind people about penance and that no one can be saved unless he receives the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord. When It is … carried anywhere, let all peoples praise, honour and adore on bended knee the Lord God, living and true.

He was determined to encourage the more dramatic and humbling act of kneeling  before the Sacrament in place of the older bow.

"We must be Catholics. We ought to visit churches frequently and venerate clerics, not so much for their own sake, for they may be sinners, but on account of their office and their administration of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ."

I beg you not to forget the Lord … for those who leave him in oblivion and turn away from his commandments are cursed and will be left in oblivion by Him.  The wiser and more powerful they were in the world, the greater will be the punishment they will endure in Hell.

 - Francis of Assisi, A New Biography, Augustine Thompson, OP (considered the definitive biography of the saint and now used in the formation of Franciscans).