Thursday, March 17, 2011

Fr. Robert Kennedy and Pedophilia

I went through a couple of years of soul searching during the 'sex abuse' crisis. I really tried to figure out how far the priests go to run a successful diocesan fundraising machine and what it meant for the salvation of my soul and the souls of my children.

It got low.

After going through rigorous training about salvation, if priests were willing to lie to the people in the pews, through omission and commission on all the hot button issues, I didn't have any trust that as they were standing there saying the words of consecration, they had the intentions of the Church to convect the wine and bread into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord.

Aryan heresy, schmeracy.

The priest has to do three things. He's got to say the right prayers, he's got to use the right matter and he has to believe and intend to Consecrate.

If he uses the wrong matter or if he doesn't say the prayers - or both - you can't tell me that he showed up at the Altar with the intention. My mother did not raise a fool.

We watch people coming and going each week without any sense of sin, being blasted and maligned and scandalized when they believe in the Sacraments. There is no basis for believing the priest is a believer.

You've got to pick up your family and find a good priest. If your efforts to try to convert them have failed, Christ gave us the instructions. Dust your sandals and get out of Dodge.

There are more priests out there who are believers than there was 10 years ago. Even in Boston. They have to fly under the radar here because the Chancery is occupied by catechetical terrorists -- but they are out there. Find one. Settle in and let the curses pass over.

Matt Abbot has a story today that exemplifies the ridiculousness of crowd in control of and withholding the temporal goods of our faith in a story about a priest who claims there is no teaching that pedophilia is a sin.

Technically speaking, this is true. You've got to know what the Commandments mean and then apply the tools to all behavior. If you eliminate that tool, you lose it all.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carol, I don't know about you, but I personally have really had it with the Church. Our new bishop is no improvement over the old and is, in fact, worse.

There is no place for me to go. I am at a loss what to do. I am an alien in my own Church. The SSPX are too overly-pious for my taste, so they are not an option. The FSSP sticks their head in the sand and is of no use in a Church that is falling apart since they aren't allowed to say anything that would cause the slightest wave. The sedevacantists are good priests and nice people, but their beginnings were too bizarre, and you can't do evil in order to bring about good.

So, that puts me in a bind and backs me into a corner. Prayers are unceasingly being sent to my friends in Heaven, but they seem to have turned a deaf ear to me.

I leave Mass each Sunday feeling like I have missed something. Something vital is missing in the novus ordo Mass no matter how reverently it is said.

I will say it again - the present day Church and the faith bear no resemblance to the Church and faith of my younger days. It is the complete opposite.

Thanks for listening.

Veronica

Anonymous said...

Mary Immaculate of Lourdes. Oak St. Newton upper falls, 10:30 am every Sunday.

A great mix of people, an inspiring group of young men who act as alter servers, genuine liturgical music that you can sing to, a great coffee hour after the Mass and above all...The Mass!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't help me. I am not a Bostonian.

Veronica

P.S. Who needs coffee and donuts? I want the Faith with dilution and without compromise. I want priests who are warriors for the Faith and not afraid of losing their tax-exempt status.

Anonymous said...

Ooops!

That should read that I want the faith withOUT dilution.

Thank you!

I feel like a mouse in a maze.

Veronica

Is there anyone out there aside from my own pleading voice echoing back?

Anonymous said...

Veronica - I feel your pain. Unfortunately the Church is going underground & we believers have to remember - Christ is Present at the Consecration (most) and that's all that matters, that's what we're there for & that's all that matters. With God's help soon things will turn around in His Church for the better, don't let the flies drive you away.

Anonymous said...

Veronica,
SSPX for Mass, Opus Dei for confession. I totally understand your frustration with the Novus Ordo.

Jack O'Malley said...

Veronica,

First, Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and to Carol and to all the readers of this excellent Catholic blog.

Second, I completely agree with you -- I am totally fed up with the Church in Boston -- the Holy Trinity fiasco is just the last straw. I actually used to go there but when it was closed by order of the Roman reformation protestant presbyter Seán O'Malley (no relation, for which I retain a bare modicum of belief in the eternal mercy and justice of God) I gave up even the so-called "indult" (gimme a break, Wojtyła, an indult for a real Mass? and this clown is a "Venerable" soon to be a fabricated "Blessed" because some nun is cured of what? - mononucleosis from kissing a coran?). Though I did go to Charlie Higgins' new parish in Newton once or twice -- big novus ordo table in front of the high altar, but still, he does a good job with the so-called "extraordinary form" of the Roman rite. But it's too little too late.

This being the feast of that Welshman who learned the ancient Irish tongue as a slave herder of Irish sheep, I rather wish he had spared us his Lorica and other bad Latin rhetorical imprecations and left us to our Druidic belief in the Supremacy of the Natural World and good guilt-free sex. But the High Kings figured there was a profit in the alliance with Rome. So the Druids got the tonsure. And we got Henry II and the Normans and Henry VIII and Her Britannic Majestic Virginal Quimness Elizabeth and the plantations and the centuries-long gang-rape of our country.

Anyway, God love you and Carol for your honesty and legitimate ire at the machinations of O'Malley's Sanhedrin in Braintree. For myself, I say, don't trust them with your money, don't trust them with your children, don't trust them with your soul.

I'd put that in Irish but my Irish is not equal to the task. Maybe St. Patrick would say it with his Welsh accent were he alive today. Erin go bragh!

TTC said...

Veronica,

You're a frequent reader here. Does it seem like I've had it? LOL.

It would be a lie to say I haven't felt robbed and scandalized. People write me stories about their treatment and I just am blown away by the sneakiness, ineptitude, cover ups, lies and victimization. There is no limit to who they will abuse - from the lay person to our solid priest, sick priests, dying priests, the employees, people who came to them for help...etc.

Is it really that bad where you are? In our worst days here in Boston, we had at least one decent priest about every 50 to 75 miles. Isn't there an opus dei where you are? They're solid. God never leaves us emptyhanded. There's at least one. It's a matter of finding the bloat.

I pray the Novus Ordo. As the priest comes down the aisle, I am in Jerusalem with our Lord on the ass. When the Word is read, I am with Him during His 3 years of Ministry. When the prayers of Consecration start, I am at the Last Supper and in Gethsemene and at the foot of the Cross as He Sacrifices His Life.

When I receive Our Lord, I savor that moment for as long as I can - and I petition.

I am closer to Christ when I leave.

I start running into problems if there are whacky petitions or homily or something liturgically scandalous or some daffy dame tries to steal our attention. That used to send me on a toot for weeks, maybe even months. But there is less of it now.

Do you want to give your vicinity and we can network to get info?

TTC said...

p.s. - they're saying the nuke meltdown is no threat to the west coast. Keep us up to date - if there's a local story...

TTC said...

Jack,

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours!!!!! And to all who read here..

Maria said...

Happy St. Patricks to all. The first thing I thought of when reading this post is what Fr.Hardon said. There are Masses being said all over the place by priests who don't believe in the real presence,priests who don't believe that Christ institued the Sacraments. No one wonder the Church is in the state it is in!!!
Fr. Hardon all says that the Church has always FLOURISHED under persecuted. This time the persecution is from within. Finally, Hardon makes that point the early Christians changed the world in a relatively brief period of time--and they were few in number. Given the state of the Church we must now be heroic Catholics because, as he says, being an ordinary Catholic won't do. We just have to be heroic, that's all.

I went to Blessed Sacrament in Chevy Chase MD last Sunday. An old, old parish. Parents were married and buried there. The hight altar hidden, the "altar" in front was awash with "altar girls". The piece de resistance? The priest quoted, yep, Joan Chittister and Teddy Kennedy. I lambasted him after Mass. It is the first time I have ever called a priest on the carpet. Raised as I was, it felt strange, but my goodness, how much more can we take? Luckily, I just found out that there is an old church in DC where they have a Latin Mass every Sunday. I have not yet been and plan going Sunday. Will let you know how it is.

We will need a reformation. We will need people like St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Jesus. You are right, Carol, he will not abandon us. I truly believe that fasting will help.

"Fight to the death for the Truth, and the Lord will war on your side".

Anonymous said...

Hi Carol~!

A happy belated St. Patrick's day to you and your readers in far western Celtic land. :)

I feel so sorry for the folks who have commented here. Believe me, even where I am from, I too feel your pain.

I mean, make no mistake, we too have our share of abuses of the Sacred Mysteries - I do not believe that they are to the extent that you folks are experiencing.

However, having said that, with so few ordinations (though the few we've had give me hope for authentic "reform of the reform") we've hit the proverbial "status quo" - and it is starting to drive me nuts.

So, how to deal with it?

Well, since Maria mentioned Fr. Hardon I thought I would post a link to a conference he gave on this topic:

http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Mass/Mass_004.htm

As for "AmChurch Comes Out" - all I can say is, "Lord have mercy!"

I read it back in the height of the Great Lent of 2002.

If even 10% of what is chronicled in the book is true - it is *way* too much!

It is so hard to be a Roamin' Catholic these days (speaking in the light of searching for authentic and true worship of Our Savior).

The Extra-ordinary form of the Mass in our diocese is virtually non-existant - so, to whom shall I go? (John 6:68).

I sufffer with you all out there in Beantownland.

Catechist Kevin

TTC said...

Top of the morning to ya Kev!

And, a belated and blessed St. Patrick's Day.

Please accept our sympathy for your journey with the cyclopses. It's such a gift to be able to have the internet to share, advise, encourage and support -- whatever role we are called to play in the adventures.

TLM is non-existent? Whoah. And here we are lamenting the passive-aggressive kiboshing from our diocese! At least we still have priests willing to do it in this oppressive environment.

Can you imagine living in times through the Church's history that were worse?

Anonymous said...

Carol, I can no longer do what you do. Truthfully? I resent having to have to do that. Since when does a Catholic have to have a vivid imagination in order to get through what is supposed to be the HOLY Sacrifice of the Mass?


Jack O'Malley, I am with you and at your point as well. My last straw was realizing that the bishop we had hoped and prayed would be better than his predecessor is actually (if you can believe it) worse than him.

I read that on Good Friday (of all days) in the Cathedral (of all places), His Excellency will be holding an ecumenical Tenebrae "service" with (hold onto your caps!):

- an Episcopal "bishop",
- (this one is a doozy) a FEMALE "Transitional Executive Presbyter" (whatever the hell that is),
- the "bishop" of the Lutheran church,
- a rep from the United Methodist church, and
- a "bishop" from the "Christ Holy Sanctified Church of American" (has anyone here even heard of such a "church"?).

His reason for this is sheer sophistry - he says it was "inspired (think JXXIII and his dud inspiration in 1958) by his observing in our diocese that there are many families whose spouses belong to different churches. He further says that he thought it would be "wonderful" if the leaders of all these heretical sects could come together (the "spirit of Assisi") and provide an opportunity for these families to worship together.

Friends and those who dislike me, sorry, I really have had it. This is not my Church nor is it my Faith. I can't fool myself any longer.

Three days of darkness would be preferable to this ongoing nightmare with no end in sight.

Veronica

Maria said...

Kevin: This is a great article. He says at the end:

"The Catholic Church will survive only, only where there are still bishops, priests, and the laity who have the supernatural even heroic fortitude to live up to what they know the Vicar of Christ expects of those who call themselves Catholics".--Hardon SJ

The reason we have adoration now, at all, is because of him. He was responsible for re-introducing it in parishes. He worked tirelessly to revive it. There is a reason the site is called the real presende. He knew that faith in the Real Presence us our only hope.

Jerry said...

Hi Veronica,

You can't let all this destroy your peace of mind. I don't know how to answer you on SSPX vs FSSP for Mass. However, pick one and live with it. You will get a reverent Mass and a lot of good teaching. Just don't worry about the rest.

We have gone to the FSSP on vacation and have usually been quite pleased with the sermons. Has it been perfect? No. But would I consider going to the Novus Ordo? Not a chance. Especially, I could never in good conscience voluntarily take my kids to one.

Just keep remembering that the Lord has shortened the days, or no one would would be saved. Keep your peace of mind, and realize that there must be a good reason for this trial.

Joseph D'Hippolito said...

Fr. Kennedy's comments about pedophilia have nothing to do with Vatican II or the lack of the Latin Mass or any other traditionalist atmospherics. Remember that many "traditionalists" and "conservatives" (like Fr. Maciel) either molested the innocent or protected the molesters. Remember, also, that St. Peter Damian fought this problem a thousand years ago, when the Latin Mass was the norm and Vatican II would have been impossible.

No, the problem is that Catholic ecclesiology encourages this kind of attitude because nobody gets punished. About a year ago, the president of the German conference of bishops said on German television that Christ's death on the cross was not an expiation for human sin! It was, rather, "an act of solidarity with mankind."

I am still waiting for public discipline from Pope Benedict, a German and a supposedly "orthodox" theologian, whatever that means these days.

Catholic ecclesiology isolates prelates and clerics, inclucates institutional arrogance and a sense of personal entitlement and turns the laity into third-class citizens, if not serfs. It's a "good ol' boy" network that puts the Mafia to shame.

But, at least, the Mafia doesn't pretend to stand for God or moral values.