Well things have been are really heating up on Facebook and the Blogosphere with regard to my events spoken about in my posting here: http://torontotlmserving.blogspot.ca/2013/06/radtrads-once-again-stir-up-storm-of.html
So I decide to pull up my blogger feed today, and I get a fun read from Team Orthodoxy on today`s (Saturday Day, not vigil)`s Feast Day in both the Novus Ordo and the Extraordinary Form Calendars, The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.
You may view the work of this team of young, Glad Trad, Soldiers for Christ here: http://orthodoxcatholicism.com/
One writer has reflected on the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, of which contains the topic of fraternal correction. On the topic, the poster writes in reflection of the Feast Day and readings:
``There is a rich tradition of admonishment in the Church beginning with Christ and the Apostles. The Church has, in her wisdom, included admonishment, also known an Fraternal Correction, to the list of the Spiritual Works of Mercy. This spiritual work, however, tends to fly in the face of the world’s standards. Sadly, the world’s standards have affected many of us, and so, like myself in the story above, we struggle with being corrected. The world encourages us to be our own measure of right and wrong, and so when someone corrects us, if we have even a small amount of the sin of pride, our defences go up and we want to fight or run the other way. Have we seen this in our own lives? How many of us tend to let things slide instead of dealing with our brother or sister in Christ? In Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s Message for Lent in 2012, he spoke on this very fact stating that, “It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness.”
Those are some mighty words. Yes, many people, including your lukewarm ``c``atolic friends live life not as Catholics but as if they were secular atheists with a sprinkling of Jesus at Chrsitmas and Easter. Many will not correct their friends or family when it comes to moral and ethical issues, many of them usual being sexual stuff (e.g. contraception, abortion, homsexuality, etc.). Worse, as implied, society forces upon us the adoption of relativism, where you are ok and I am ok with our values as long as we do nothing. Tough beans. If you are a practicing Catholic, the world will hate you, and your very way of life is offensive to others.
Now some of you are likely thinking in the back of your minds `Yes I can chastise my hedonistic friends and liturgical violating idiots in my life!!!! NO WAY!!!! FRATERNAL CORRECTION IS NOT MEANT TO BE BULLYING, HARASSMENT, OR A LICENSE TO SLANDER AND DETRACT OTHERS. In fact, the author continues, knowing that the opposite extreme of vices exist:
`` .... There are those who use the concept of “Christian Admonishment”, and beat people into the ground with their words. This is not what Christian Admonishment is at all. Pope Emeritus ... said, “Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other.” If this is not the case, we need to shut our mouths. The bloggersphere is a breeding ground for unhealthy conversation and public humiliation. Our Blessed Lord, however, set the standard for how to deal with one another. He states:
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matt 18:15-17).
Whoa! That is quite a lot. Unfortunately, there are but one too many examples of this happening daily in the Catholic Blogosphere, and sadly the bulk is done by a minority of self-governing authorities and bloggers who are the ``mouthpieces`` of Traditional Catholicism and the Latin Mass. They embarrass us, and give our enemies in the world and the institutional Church good reason to hate anything Traditionally Catholic, believing in the lies of the ``Spirit of Vatican II.`` Over these past few days I have seen a number of anonymous bloggers with a few, notoriously known ringleaders in my Archdiocese rip apart a family involved in Catholic entertainment. Because David Wang, famous frontman of the Catholic rock band, Critical Mass, led the charge to defend a young female artist of the likes of Kathleen Dunn, Chris Bray, and others, the primary culprits who have refused to put the words of Scripture above and these messages of the Holy Father Emeritus to Heart, haved named all those who side with the artist, ``Wang`s Warriors``. (Though in honest credit, there is no racial slurs there in the statement, with the racial slur being the connection of someone being Asian and knowing martial arts. Rather this was just a moniker thrown at the young woman`s defenders).
The main point is: Fraternal Correction must be done with love for the person`s being and eternal salvation. When it is done out of a manner of liturgical, moral, etc. enforcement, it is done as a hateful control mechanism which debases the person`s dignity, a la Judge Frollo of the Disney Co. rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or, as has been quoted by a couple of people, General Javert in Les Miserables (with Russell Crowe doing a marvelous job portraying the merciless and legal-obsessed captain in the recent remake). Further, one should logically, and rationally, do it in the manner dictated by Christ in his Gospels. That`s what a normal person does, going up the Chain of command. And yes, that does including trusting (to a certain extent) in Church authority in governing spiritual Matter. Ever heard of the Pastor, Bishop, Nuncio, then Vatican (Pope, congregations)???
Finally, the author of this post on Team Orthodoxy, leaves off with this:
"Catholic communities need to be built upon charity. This is obvious. You can really tell the spiritual maturity of a Catholic Community by how well the members bridle their tongue and speak in truth and charity. Our wonderful Pope Emeritus reminds us that, “the Lord’s disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a fellowship that binds them one to another as members of a single body. This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation.” In the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, Cain turned against Abel and killed him in cold blood. When God asked where Abel was after Cain murdered him, Cain responded, “I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?”(Genesis 4:9) "
So go spike the stats of Team Orthodoxy, and have a Happy and Holy Weekend. Go to Mass, especially the Extraordinary Form if you can attend in your diocese.
Pax, Julian.
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