By REY FLORES
Merriam-Webster defines the word “manifesto” as “a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, views of its issuer.”
It goes on to say that it is a word rooted in Latin, and that both the words “manifest” and “manifesto” derive ultimately from the Latin noun manus (“hand”) and festus, a combining form that is related to the Latin adjective infestus meaning “hostile.”
Well, there is certainly an internal hostility against the Church herself today and we are called to defend her.
On February 8, 2019, His Eminence Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Mueller released his controversial Manifesto of Faith. Mueller has been a strong voice for traditional orthodox Catholics, and with the recent controversial Amazon Synod, he started raising serious concerns and speaking out about it months before it began.
Mueller served as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 until 2017. That’s when Mueller was told by Francis that his mandate as the prefect of the Congregation for the Faith would not be extended past July 2, 2017.
As the July 8, 2017 Catholic Herald reported:
“In an interview with German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, the cardinal said that on the last working day of his five-year term as a prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, Pope Francis informed him ‘within a minute’ of the decision not to extend his mandate.
“ ‘He did not give a reason,’ the 69-year-old cardinal said. ‘Just as he gave no reason for dismissing three highly competent members of the CDF a few months earlier’.”
Ironically, it was Pope Francis who elevated Mueller to the rank of cardinal in 2014.
So, there we have it. A very real and ugly division exists within the Church today. While some of our shepherds are truly shepherds, others are the wolves in shepherd’s clothing. Funny how the filmmakers of Manifesto of Faith also made a docudrama film in 2016 called A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing about Saul Alinsky bringing cultural Marxism to America.
In Manifesto of Faith, the father and son team of Richard and Stephen Payne have brought the German cardinal’s text to life. The 22-minute film was created by Arcadia Films, an American independent film company established by the Paynes. Arcadia is a division of City of Light Studios who has also brought us films and television shows like The Saints Speak, Parable, and the Gabriel Award-winning Saints Alive.
In the film’s press release, Stephen Payne tells us:
“This work brings to life and visualizes the Manifesto of Faith text written and released by Cardinal Mueller on February 8, 2019. He wanted to make a public testimony of the truth ‘in the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the Faith’ among the laity and the clergy. The Amazon Synod in October presents a good time to re-set these discussions with the truth of the faith as practiced for 2,000 years. Controversy is nothing new to the Church, and, when these do occur, reasoned voices, like Cardinal Mueller’s speak out to provide guidance and reassurance to the faithful.”
The text of the film is Cardinal Mueller’s effort to carefully, clearly, and succinctly express the truths of the Catholic faith. Its intent is to reassure Christians that, no matter what they might hear, the Church remains firm in expressing the teachings of Jesus Christ and in guiding believers along the path to salvation.
Truth is truth and relativism is death. The film takes the cardinal’s words and paints a picture of joy, sadness, Heaven, Hell, triviality, sublimity, and every other human emotion and state of being imaginable. We see the Holy Eucharist being lifted up in consecration, the same as we see it done at Holy Mass. We watch a seemingly innumerable number of images of God’s children like ourselves and we see sacred art, all pounding at a pretty rapid pace with a very intense musical soundtrack, accompanying the cardinal’s words that the filmmakers present to us.
“Our world is being increasingly polarized, disordered by what Pope Benedict called the evils of ‘the dictatorship of relativism’,” said Richard Payne. “The Manifesto of Faith presents the essentials, the basics of the Deposit of Faith. Jesus left this proclamation of the ‘Good News’ of the Gospel to His apostles. The Catholic Church has passed it down to us unchanged since the death of the last apostle, St. John, about AD 100.”
The filmmakers are reminding us of Cardinal Mueller’s words, calling us out to be “beacons of light in this time of darkness.” Abortion, separation and divorce, homosexuality, earth-worshipping environmentalism and pornography are among the many evils plaguing not just our world, but the members of our Church herself.
Holy people have turned away from God and are now embracing the very things they once abhorred, sins that guarantee eternal separation from God. Why? Because many of our shepherds have fallen away and are being used by Satan like tools to draw us away from God and salvation.
From the top down, we have priests, bishops, and Popes throughout history, especially today, who have been duped into buying a Godless relativism with its “if it feels good, it must be good” mentality, and worse yet, advising the souls entrusted to them that it’s perfectly fine to defy the indelible tenets and truths of the Church.
This film is only 22 minutes long, but what we have here is quality over quantity. It’s short enough time-wise to convince a fallen-away Catholic or an unbeliever to watch it, yet long enough to deliver the much-needed wake-up call so many of our brethren need.
Watch the film right now at www.manifestooffaith.com. Watch it, share it. I strongly encourage you to invite your pastor to watch it with you, then encourage him to preach about it, include it in the announcements at Mass, and promote it in the weekly bulletin. If not us; who? If not now; when?
When visiting their website, please prayerfully consider making a donation to City of Light so that they may continue to speak the truth through this powerful media ministry.
+ + +
(Rey Flores writes opinion and book and movie reviews for The Wanderer. Contact Rey at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress