By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
If the conflicting sound waves of truth and lies were measurable, the hearing of the general public would be declared in danger. The Catholic faith always builds on reason, grace uplifting and sanctifying nature. But when the unnatural is substituted for the natural, as with the Flemish bishops, the German Synodal Way, and the recent viral Chicago same-sex blessing in a Catholic church, the center cannot hold.
As Catholic Conclave blog reported, “Flemish bishops first in the world to give green light to Church blessing of gay couples and issue specific prayers.”
“Bishops first in the world to give green light to Church blessing of gay couples and issue specific prayers” (CATHCON.BLOGSPOT.COM). If being a Catholic bishop was about capturing headlines, the Flemish would win the prize. The only problem is being Catholic doesn’t mean leading the race to eternal damnation and this holds true for our bishops as well. Scandal is one of the most harshly condemned sins in the teaching of Christ and this defiance of God certainly qualifies.
In publishing their “Gay Union” liturgy, the Flemish bishops lean on Pope Francis as they seek approval for their “brave” journey across the moral Rubicon. The statement begins benignly enough: “Every human being, regardless of his sexual orientation, must be respected in his dignity and treated with respect.”
But then it continues on a more sinister trajectory. “We want to continue on that path by giving this pastoral relationship a more structural character” and same-sex unions, they continue, “although not a religious marriage, can be a source of peace and shared happiness for those involved.”
They then cite Amoris Laetitia for a supposed papal grounding of their ridiculous leap of fantasy. “Pope Francis expressly asks these families to offer respectful pastoral guidance so that their homosexual members can enjoy the necessary support to understand and fully accomplish the will of God in their lives” (n. 250).
All this despite a 2021 Vatican declaration that one cannot bless sin and therefore cannot bless same-sex couples. Blasphemy is operative here which attacks the very idea of God’s holiness and the purpose of grace, which underscores blessings, that man must be holy as God is holy.
The German Synodal Way presented a slate of inversions to moral teaching, asking the bishops to approve evil. Even after the bishops refused their assent, the lay members are vowing to press forward on all fronts: against the male priesthood, celibacy, the sanctity of marriage and human life, and more. This is simply the vanguard of the Evil One and must be condemned as such.
Catholic News Agency reported on September 9, “After bishops blocked a vote demanding changes to the Church’s teaching on sexuality at the German Synodal Way, organizers on Friday voiced their displeasure with the outcome and vowed to ‘take it to’ Rome.”
God is love. On that just about everyone seems to agree. But God is also holy. The next logical step in mental progression leads, therefore, to the conclusion that love is holy. The love of men must be holy as well, to reflect the Lord and to live the life of grace which anticipates and prepares the way for Heaven, the objective of all blessings on Earth.
Without the perspective of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell, without the four last things, the way becomes murky and dark through time. Without Christ as light, men becomes confused in the “futility of their minds.” The apostolic teaching of Paul stands now as always. The confusion and error of our age merely confirm the truth of his words.
“Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness. You did not so learn Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:17-32).
The Flemish and German bishops, along with others, have forsaken the Christian way, and the chastity proper to every vocation. They fail to call Christians to live the Gospel when they leave them unchallenged in the sins of the Gentiles. This is false and treacherous, making shepherds like wolves, ravening instead of feeding the sheep. The men of God must teach bodily continence and call every other Christian to the moral life which they themselves are charged with living.
Fr. Gerald Murray appeared recently on Bannon’s News Room and stated “the Holy See is not defending the people of the faith, while blessing sin.” The hierarchy, he said, is “denying Catholic teaching” which amounts to an “overthrow” of that teaching by those entrusted with defending it.
He scored the Vatican for failing to support Cardinal Zen who is about to be tried in China. As a matter of fact, Pope Francis’ comments on the plane trip back from Kazakhstan were a kick while the hero of the Catholic Church in China was down by dismissing him as an old man who talks too much.
The irreconcilable teaching of the same-sex blessing ceremony by Flemish bishops defies the Vatican statement that one cannot bless sin. “The wayward bishops are going to continue marching down the way of sin” as long as Rome fails to correct them, Murray stated.
The Pope must obey the Pauline injunction to “preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). The role of the preacher and teacher is one which, far from guaranteeing comfort and human respect, more often brings the very opposite for the priest or bishop who is faithful to the Lord in all things. There is no Christianity without the cross.
“Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of man is to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay every man for what he has done” (Matt. 16:24-27).
Time ever races toward eternity for all of us. There is no going back. Death and judgment will meet us on our journey sooner or later. We must remain faithful to Christ for our own salvation while we pray for, and call to account if we must, even the Pope and the unfaithful bishops he fails to correct.
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