Hello everyone.
I have been checking my blogger feed's statistics, and in a weird and unexplained way, this post I did on the "rescue" of a blogger I liked, "Freyr", has attracted the most views in the month of September. Aside from possible "spam robots" on google, I don't get it. I wrote that two years ago. Well whatever brings people here to Servimus, I guess. However, I bring this post up in light of some unfortunate recent events I want to discuss, revolving around the sickening of the Catholic blog-o-sphere in the Francis pontificate. Another victim has been claimed.
When a blogger you admire for bucking the trend of his contemporaries or the status quo leaves, it's truly sad. Today, someone fighting on the side of balanced orthodoxy in Catholicism left the fray, at least on his own blog. That would be Freyr.
Yesterday, on his group blog, Freyr decided to remove himself as a contributor (now the 2nd of the original `4 horsemen` to depart from there.) On his group blog, he parted ways in the comment box, which can be summed it up to leaving an environment not conductive of the Joy of the Gospel. This is actually a pain I can relate to as I will reflect on below.
Now in my 3rd year of blogging, I've noticed a stark change in the Catholic blogosphere. In the Benedict XVI Papacy, both "orthodox" bloggers (e.g. The Anchoress at Patheos and Aleteia, Fr Longenecker, Mark Shea ...) and the so-called, mis-nomered, "Traditonalist" bloggers, were usually on the same side and co-existed online. Also, the environment of the Latin Mass associated with the "Trad" blogosphere in real life and online, was more welcome in past, in members' conduct and charity. Or at least, any misconduct was usually kept internal and not broadcast publicly, worldwide.
Lo and behold, Pope Francis appears after Benedict XVI abdicates the Seat of Rome, and the mis-nomered "Trads" are revealing their true colours, proving once again when Christ admonished Pharisees in Scripture, how their behavior is not fitting with the Way, Truth, and Life He was giving to the world.
Suddenly, numerous blogs began a hate train of bile and spew against the falsely "liberal" Pope who does everything wrong. Any cleric from Pope Francis downward, or layperson who (rightly or wrongly) behaves "badly" according to the ridiculous standards of the Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalists (RMTs, what they truly do and are,) are punished with anything from: e-mail, Twitter, snail mail bombs, etc. to slander and detraction on the Internet, to public humiliation. These actions are in the hopes that their intended target will bend to their will. It has even gone as far as threat of lawsuit, be it layman vs. layman, and even layman vs. cleric, or even vice versa. While I am not condoning heresy, harassment of good people, sexual sin, etc., I will say that slander and detraction online only aids the Devil in his revenge against Christ and his triumphant victory on the Cross. As for the calumnious and detractors, they only dig their own spiritual graves, and weigh their souls further down to Hell.
While I still blog, I am one of these examples of those who have felt the sinful and barbaric wrath of this RMT community, in person and online. Witnessing over 4 years my local Trad communities, and engaging in 3 years of blogging, while rejecting the status quo for only that fitting of the Lord, has resulted in continual harassment, online and in person. As a result of being un-welcomed by these leaders and their respective communities, I severely limit my exposure to the TLM. I rarely even go to parishes in my archdiocese with the TLM, because people loyal to the radical elements spy for their masters, and give them fodder for additional abuse. That or the parish communities express sicknesses of sorts, lacking joy and the Life of Christ I hunger for, and have become closed off and guarded to outside people, just like Pope Francis has been warning about, with a Church that turns inward on itself and becomes sick. These days, even among praise and worship music, and priests who are lukewarm or boastful in character, I am finding this joy more often in the Novus Ordo Church and communities I frequent.
This Joy of the Gospel should be found also in the Extraordinary Form, with its Gregorian Chant, its orthodoxy among its adherents, and in the liturgy itself. This joy should also be found online on Traditionalist blogs, with the bloggers knowing that it`s an uphill battle to convert the world and those within the Church back to better holiness. These grounds which should have been fertile, are wasting, and continue to waste, opportunities to be vital components for the New Evangelization. Now, because they have missed the boat, in my personal/spiritual life, I assist through altar serving with just one Latin Mass affiliate in my Archdiocese, the St. Patrick`s Gregorian Choir. I do not feel welcome at any other affiliate connected to the Latin Mass, even those that are the ``Latin Mass`` parishes.
Sadly, people are taking notice, and getting sick of it. Even "Traditionalist/Orthodox" blogs and media pundits, that once hosted these misguided "right fighters" known for crossing a fine line with Pope Francis one too many times, like Maureen Malarkey., or Patrick Archbold, are getting axed from their pulpits. Normal blog readers are even cutting these bloggers/sites out of their normal viewing.
Worse, the Vatican and other clergy are noticing, and guess what? Those intended targets are rarely stopping their actions when it is not blatantly obvious they are screwing the laity. If anything, the efforts are backfiring, and the Church's enemies and liberals are emboldening their efforts under the Franciscan papacy, falsely believing the Pope has given them a green light to go ahead.
What I am saying, is that the Catholic Blog-o-sphere, often aligned to the Latin Mass, is becoming a cesspool of hate, anger, and pride. As Scripture says in 1 Kings 19:11-12: "... the Lord was not in the wind; ... the Lord was not in the earthquake ... the Lord was not in the fire; ... he was found in the breeze." Thankfully, Freyr has made a wise, spiritually awesome decision for himself and his eternal salvation, to not be around what is possibly, an occasion of sin for him.
However, as a whole, losing even one good, balanced voice that is an orthodox catholic and not an RMT, is sad for the whole online Catholic blog-o-sphere, and that does resonate on the ground in person with our parishes and communities. When these people leave or cut their involvement, that is one less voice proving that these RMTs are the minority in Catholic orthodoxy, and in traditional circles, even the Latin Mass.
When the voice of the devilish, hypocritical minority becomes the majority of leadership, people will reject Traditional Catholicism, and even the Latin Mass because of bad example. This means the young, "wired" generations of X (mine, late 80's to early 90's), and Millennials (born late 90's to 2000's), will only have but rotten example left to see. They will either reject all forms of Catholic traditionalism based on those few examples, or worse, inherit the sickening poison of the bloggers they see, including a erroneous form of the Hermeneutic of Suspicion. This suspicion will exhibit itself, either in becoming an RMT and isolating themselves in their online, real, and spiritual lives, or rejecting anything besides standard Catholicism in our outdated parish community structure of the Church, even rejecting Holy Mother Church Herself because of the "bad men" within it, including those supposed to be "true faithful."
So, to Freyr, here is my personal message:
Freyr, it is unfortunate that you have decided to remove yourself from the presence of the Catholic Blog-o-sphere for hopefully, just a while. I and likely other readers of your blog, enjoyed hearing your voice and being the "voice of reason" on issues in the Church, and to remind us, that our Catholic Faith is about just one social justice or liturgical cause.
We need more people like yourself out there to demonstrate and provide evangelical Witness in the Church, that this is a great place to be filled with Hope! Not the home of "pickled-faced pepper" people who are liturgical and moral policemen, akin to fictional super (/anti-?) hero, Judge Dredd, whose famous catchphrase is "I AM THE LAW!!!".
I do applaud your reasoning for leaving, as you have been wise enough to realize what the Joy of the Gospel is, and that one must care for their soul and hopeful eternal salvation of such, as a precious pearl of great price. I do hope that this will not end your foray into blogging. I do hope you can re-visit the blogosphere one day.
If you will not do it on your own, then I would be happy to, for the first time, open up my blog to a secondary author to contribute posts, whether as a guest, or as a formal contributor. You are always welcome (save violating my blog rules), to comment here on Servimus Unum Deum. Please Freyr, do not give up hope in this Archdiocese of Toronto, nor online or in person with the Catholic/Trad communities. We must continue to shine forth.
Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.
Showing posts with label Catholic Blogosphere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic Blogosphere. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 October 2015
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Highlight: Spike is Best Strikes Again!
Well said, Spike. Well Said. Pax, Julian.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
A great thwack of Catholics online give their wholesale trust over to the voices of bloggers, columnists and internet personages claiming to see the truth of our times, rather than trusting in the voice of the shepherd who has been given to us for these times, Pope Francis.
Contrarily, as we have seen, these dupes actually posit the pope as either the source, cause, conspirator, enabler - what have you - of all that makes them "duty-bound" to speak out. In fact, they are rejecting the shepherd that has been given to them. For them, the reality of the Catholic faith is just as much "only when convenient" as the polyester pant suit bongo player.
This truth is simply astonishing when you think about it.
Anyhow, I thought this post by Steve Kellmeyer from a few weeks back was excellent on what exactly is the purport and purpose of certain online petitions: Shilling for Donors.
Contrarily, as we have seen, these dupes actually posit the pope as either the source, cause, conspirator, enabler - what have you - of all that makes them "duty-bound" to speak out. In fact, they are rejecting the shepherd that has been given to them. For them, the reality of the Catholic faith is just as much "only when convenient" as the polyester pant suit bongo player.
This truth is simply astonishing when you think about it.
Anyhow, I thought this post by Steve Kellmeyer from a few weeks back was excellent on what exactly is the purport and purpose of certain online petitions: Shilling for Donors.
Monday, 22 December 2014
Deep, Spiritual Food for Thought, Thanks to Abbey Roads Blog
Hello Everyone,
Just wow on this one, courtesy of the Abbey Roads blog of Terry Nelson, and further credit to pre-Vatican II French Theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. O.P. (Dominican):
Big mistake...
A big fat hat tip to you, Terry Nelson. Man I did not know you can get into some deep spiritual muck with all this. This is clearly one for all of us blogging online.
Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.
Just wow on this one, courtesy of the Abbey Roads blog of Terry Nelson, and further credit to pre-Vatican II French Theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. O.P. (Dominican):
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Problems in the blogosphere some spiritual persons miss ...
Big mistake...
THE TENDENCY TO DERISION
Among the causes of tepidity in retarded souls, the tendency to derision should be particularly noted. St. Thomas speaks of the derider when he discusses the vices opposed to justice: insult, detraction, murmuring against the reputation of our neighbor. He points out that to deride or to ridicule someone, is to show that we do not esteem him; and derision, says the saint, may become a mortal sin if it affects persons or things that deserve high esteem. It is a grievous sin to ridicule the things of God, or our parents, or superiors, or good persons who lead a virtuous life. Derision may even become very grievous by reason of its consequences, for it may turn weak souls forever away from the practice of good. Job replied to his friends: "He that is mocked by his friends as I, shall call upon God; and He will hear him. For the simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn." But it is also said of deriders: "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them." The terrible irony of heaven will chastise that of earth.
The derider is himself a retarded soul, holding others back and becoming, often without being aware of it, the instrument of the spirit of evil. His cast of soul, which is the direct opposite of evangelical simplicity, is the one most opposed to supernatural contemplation. The derider, who wishes "to play the rogue," ridicules the just man who tends truly to perfection; he emphasizes the latter's defects and depreciates his good qualities. Why is this? Because he feels that he himself has little virtue, and he is unwilling to admit his inferiority. Then, out of spite, he lessens the real and fundamental value of his neighbor and the necessity of virtue itself. He may greatly harm weak souls which he intimidates, and, while working his own ruin, he may labor at their perdition. - Three Ages of the Interior Life; Part II, Ch 37
Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.
Saturday, 27 September 2014
Highlight: Abbey Roads' Terry Nelson With Great Reflection on Radical Catholic Reactionary Blogosphere
Hello Everyone,
Don't have much to report on Latin Mass stuff right now. However, I will leave you with a little nugget for your reading pleasure.
A few days ago, I caught something from one of the blogs that I've now followed, Abbey Roads by Terry Nelson. He's a young Catholic male buck like myself on the right side of Catholic orthodoxy. I don't have anything yet to indicate he's a Latin Mass attendee or not, but what he writes is a breath of fresh air in a poisoned blogosphere with Trads Behaving Badly.
Recently, he commented quite excellently on the situation I had sunk into spiritual despair about a few weeks ago, in a general manner. You should take a good hard read at this, and even quotes from a favourite Redemptorist saint of mine, St. Alphonsus (the Redemptorist's founding father.). The whole text of the post is worth reading, and so will be displayed in full, in courier font which I use on S.U.D. for quotes and citations of text not my own:
The spiritual desolation generated in blogdum does not come from the good spirit.
"Discernment of spirits is a challenging task. It requires maturity, inner quiet, and an ability to reflect on one’s interior life."
St. Alphonsus Liguori had some things to say that may be helpful to consider in our time. There have always been problems in the Church, bishops and pastors have been exiled, founders of religious communities kicked out of their own orders, and so on. Christ promised us everything - 'and persecutions besides'. We need the perspective of God - we judge as humans judge and fail to see the divine purpose behind his providential designs.
Don't have much to report on Latin Mass stuff right now. However, I will leave you with a little nugget for your reading pleasure.
A few days ago, I caught something from one of the blogs that I've now followed, Abbey Roads by Terry Nelson. He's a young Catholic male buck like myself on the right side of Catholic orthodoxy. I don't have anything yet to indicate he's a Latin Mass attendee or not, but what he writes is a breath of fresh air in a poisoned blogosphere with Trads Behaving Badly.
Recently, he commented quite excellently on the situation I had sunk into spiritual despair about a few weeks ago, in a general manner. You should take a good hard read at this, and even quotes from a favourite Redemptorist saint of mine, St. Alphonsus (the Redemptorist's founding father.). The whole text of the post is worth reading, and so will be displayed in full, in courier font which I use on S.U.D. for quotes and citations of text not my own:
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Abbey Roads contra blogdum ...
Go forth and proselytize the living hell out of them!
I almost got sucked down that vortex of negative speculation and gossip and the sky-is-falling. I strongly urge readers to go to confession, talk to your spiritual director, or a good, solid, holy priest. Don't go to strangers online. Don't listen to me or any self-guided apologist/evangelist/mystical twit online. A few days ago a good priest with a blog said to take the miraculous stories associated with a certain saint 'with a grain of salt'. I say take his blog with a grain of salt. Take my blog with a grain of salt. Take those who cajole and condemn the bishops and even the pope with a grain of salt. If you have a simple, ordinary pure faith and deep piety - avoid reading blogs written by the disgruntled and the rude rad-trad-gic alienated grumblers - be they ordained or un-ordained disorderly.
Spiritual desolation, in contrast, is an experience of the soul in heavy darkness or turmoil. We are assaulted by all sorts of doubts, bombarded by temptations, and mired in self-preoccupations. We are excessively restless and anxious and feel cut off from others. Such feelings, in Ignatius’s words, “move one toward lack of faith and leave one without hope and without love.”
The key question in interpreting consolation and desolation is: where is the movement coming from and where is it leading me? Spiritual consolation does not always mean happiness. Spiritual desolation does not always mean sadness. Sometimes an experience of sadness is a moment of conversion and intimacy with God. Times of human suffering can be moments of great grace. Similarly, peace or happiness can be illusory if these feelings are helping us avoid changes we need to make.
For people who are trying to live a life pleasing to God, the good spirit strengthens, encourages, consoles, removes obstacles, and gives peace. The evil spirit tries to derail them by stirring up anxiety, false sadness, needless confusion, frustration, and other obstacles. - Discernment of spirits.Now about those bishops.
St. Alphonsus Liguori had some things to say that may be helpful to consider in our time. There have always been problems in the Church, bishops and pastors have been exiled, founders of religious communities kicked out of their own orders, and so on. Christ promised us everything - 'and persecutions besides'. We need the perspective of God - we judge as humans judge and fail to see the divine purpose behind his providential designs.
As regards my opinions concerning the present state of the church with relation to the election of the new Pope, what opinion of any weight could a miserable, ignorant, and unspiritual person like myself possibly give? There is need for prayer and much prayer. All the human science and prudence that there is cannot extricate the church from the present state of relaxation and confusion in which every section finds itself; the all-powerful arm of God is necessary.
As regards the bishops, very few of them possess genuine zeal for souls. Almost all religious communities – and one could omit the “almost”– are relaxed. As a result of the present state of general confusion, observance has collapsed and obedience is a thing of the past. The state of the secular clergy is still worse: so, in a word, there is a need for a general reform of all clerics and ecclesiastics if there is to be any improvement in the present great corruption of morals among the laity.
I assure you, my friends, that I desire, like yourself, to see remedies for so many and such unfortunate situations. In all this matter a thousand ideas circulate in my head which I feel like telling everybody about.But, mindful of my own unworthiness, I have not the effrontery to publicize them lest I should appear to wish to reform the whole world. So I share these ideas with you not from any arrogance but for my own peace of mind. - St. Alphonsus
So knock it off.
Have a blessed and holy Sunday, whatever rite you choose. Pax, Julian.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
A Heartfelt Plea To the "Players" in the Neopelagian Evangelii Gaudium Ga-fuffle: Please Stop Giving into the Wishes of the Enemy ...
Hello Everyone.
I realize that it's been almost a month since I've posted on S.U.D. Part of the reason is because of my daily life, which is eating up most of my time between a girlfriend, an odd-hours Monday-Friday Part Time job in afternoons, and my other ministry commitments, outside of the Extraordinary Form.
However, I'll be up front, part of me is becoming torn apart spiritually with all the garbage going on in the Church, some of it wondering what the Holy Father is saying at times to Traditionalists (and what he intends), which also includes the ongoing war between Catholic Traditionalism and the "Novus Ordo Church" as some traditionalist radicals coin it. It is eating at my heart and soul, and permanent spiritual damage has been wreaked upon me while I have ventured into the Extraordinary Form.
While a decent number of adherents to this form of the Roman Rite are good, honest, and LAW ABIDING Catholics who aren't hypocrites, sadly, enough of them are giving everyone a bad wrap, and needless to say, their actions are closing the doors fast on the Extraordinary Form, now that, to quote Fr. Z, "the cutest fluffiest Pope Evah" (read: "Liberal" dissenter ally who is truthfully not one, but now a tool of the liberals) is in power. Those ``Trads Behaving Badly`` (herein, TBBs,) are the ones with their websites and positions of power, who are really ruining it with diocesan offices, and just about everyone in the Church. In turn, Liberals and even neutrals/Orthodox Novus Ordo Catholics, are turning into the very enemies they claim them to be, and in return the TBBs just keep being jerks to everyone around them. Sadly, good young people like myself are turning away from the Mass they love, or worse, once loved, because of their stupid shenanigans.
However, those of the "Novus Ordo"/"Francis Cheering squad"/"Neo-Catholics"/whatever you call them, are also being hypocrites as well in certain cases by giving into the accusations that Trads make of their behavior over the past 50+ years and simply uphold what the clergy/laity have done to them. They are reacting just as brash and rude as their "enemies" or the people they are not supposed to be, those darn TBBs. By doing so, they only harden the mindset of the TBBs to continue what they are doing, and for those like the SSPX to continue being justified in their radical positions and never come into communion with Holy Mother Church. Guess they forget "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Sulam."
All in all, it is making for a truly, spiritually sick environment in the Catholic Church, one that will overwhelm the field hospital, or destroy the road to the hospital whereby the patients will be unable to be treated. Yesterday, and today, that happened with a number of bloggers: 1 Traditionalist priest, and 3 mega phenom "Neo-catholics" or moderates in the Church, here, here, and here. To all of you, and any other blogger or reader, I write this plea for a ceasefire, a truce, peace, anything. Please listen to what I have to say, and harden not your hearts. My plea is in Courier Font, and quotations are in Verdana Font:
To the Catholic bloggers of the Blogosphere, and the "fighters, soldiers, generals" etc. of the liturgical war on both sides, Novus Ordo or Latin Mass,
I am a casualty, collateral damage, caught in the middle of your bickering, your volleys of detraction and/or slander, your apologetics, and/or whatever you are saying on line, and in person.
I came to the Extraordinary Form seeking to enhance my growing spirituality, after starting to part ways with a Novus Ordo parish that was choking my soul. When I first came to the EF, I was aware of the havoc that liberals had wreaked on the Church in the last 50+ years in the "Spirit of Vatican II." However, I was also introduced to the Trads Behaving Badly (herein, TBBs), who were doing their own damage to the Latin Mass and hence, traditional Catholicism. Eventually, in my Archdiocese, I became the target of these TBBs, because I rejected what the TBBs stood for, and the malicious behaviour I was witnessing before my eyes. Based on my experiences, I sympathize with the views of bloggers like Mark Shea et al., for I know first hand what sins and horrible works can come from such people.
Because of what was dealt onto me, I am comfortable at only one parish of 2 with the EF, and Masses organized by one Latin Mass group. The other parish and Latin Mass organizing group in my archdiocese contains the presence of those TBBs at their Masses. Although through my blog and my selective EF serving activities, I have tried to provide a counter presence to the counter-Catholic witness in the Latin Mass/Traditionalist Movement, it has been out-massed by these TBBs and the bad examples of others on the internet. These players still dominate the scene, and after 2 and a 1/2 years of witnessing this, it's safe to say that things, at least in my Archdiocese, are not going to improve anytime soon.
What I have experienced at home though, is sorely being echoed now throughout the mainstream Church in the papacy of Pope Francis. Granted, yes the Church is supposed to reach out to the poor, but it seems that social justice has become the sole focus on a wider scale, at the cost of anything "liturgical" or Theological/Doctrinal. Worse, Francis has not been careful in his words and off-the-cuff comments. Such words have made many question who his intended targets of his fervorinos and messages are, and what the true feelings of Jorge Bergoglio to traditionalists are, despite him being the Bishop of Rome. Worse, it is giving people more ammunition to hate Traditionalists and the Latin Mass all over again, and to remain stagnant in their own ``Cafeteria Catholicism``. Francis has even changed positions in his Vatican dicasteries for more neutral or ``Francis-like`` bishops, and the JPII/B16 ones are being weeded out. What message is that sending to a young guy like me? That EF/Latin Mass/Traditionalists are hated in the Church again???
It also doesn't help when just because one priest decides to make a joke out of the situation with the "Evangelii Gaudium Neopelagian quote", that a number of bloggers who are the "neutral" or "neo-caths" or whatever you get called, all gang up on the priest. A priest no less! Laypeople ganging up on a priest!!! Fraternal correction of a person, is one thing, but what I have witnessed was more on the side of disrespectful, and displayed poor example for a young person like myself to follow. If I was any young buck with no liturgical/theological background at all, I'd think it's open season on priests. To the credit of one of the moderate bloggers, he did rewrite his title of his post seeing it was imprudent and crude.
What I witnessed in these last two days, sickens me even more, because this is the exact same "ganging-up" and harassing behaviour that I have seen the TBBs do online and in person to good Traditionalists, Novus Ordo Catholics of any age, and anyone that does not fit the TBBs' views of Traditionalism. What a number of bloggers have shown in this scenario with the coffee mug Fr. Z created, and perhaps to some extent Fr. Z, clearly goes against the Gospel of Christ, when he is teaching his disciples about piety, the virtue of Humility, and its counter vice of pride, the Devil`s key sin. Recall Luke 18:9-14 when the Pharisee boasts of all the works he does and how Christ replies in verse 14 ``... for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exhalted.`` It is in both`s sides postings and the commentators who did not exert prudence and temperance with what they wrote, I feel this is all I am seeing: Pharisees who are simply on one side or the other of the narrow road, slinging bombs and bullets at each other and accusing each other of spiritual infractions against Jesus, while I, trying to walk in the middle, am being blown apart and/or ridden with bullet holes.
Both sides, you have forgotten that the true enemy in all this, is the Devil. Via those changes, ushered in with the "spirit of Vatican II", I am sure both of you can agree that much spiritual devastation has been brought upon the laity and clergy of the Church, and to our beautiful and sacred Catholic Liturgy (especially the Roman Rite). As His Holiness, Pope Francis quotes in his new book Open Mind, Faithful Heart" in Chapter 12: Testing and Temptation: ".... The devil is intelligent. He knows how and where to tempt people. Saint Ignatius describes him as a militant commander who is attempting to conquer and plunder his objective ... the enemy of human nature prowls around and from EVERY SIDE probes ALL OUR THEOLOGICAL, CARDINAL, AND MORAL VIRTUES. Then at the point where he finds us weakest and most in need in regard to our eternal salvation, there he attacks and tries to take us" (SpEx 327) .... if he attacks something, it is because he recognizes that it is dangerous ...."
Satan knows that the Latin Mass, Catholic Traditionalism/Orthodoxy, and the Hermeneutic of Continuity of Vatican II, flies in the face of his consolation prize after losing to Christ when He died on the cross: Your souls. And he wants EVERY LAST ONE of them NOT to join Him in Heaven. It also throws a wrench into the Devil's current game plan he has enacted, which has succeeded quite well the last 50+ years. He has pried many souls away from the salvation Christ offers in the Church, with what he's done in liturgy, hererical and/or misguided "catechesis", catholic education, etc. Therefore, with the rest of you who can smell his obvious "traps," He must use a different weapon: Pride, via the twisting of your religious zeal into an ugly, sinful weapon. Yes, our Holy Father might not prefer that Latin Mass over the Novus Ordo, but while our Holy Father has a different goal with his papacy vs. Benedict XVI and John Paul II, the devil is using this liturgical war to every extent to get the fewer, remaining soldiers who love Christ and his Church in these times, to "kill each other" and their own souls, with "friendly fire."
Everyone ... this friendly fire is exactly what is killing desire in the faithful to not be lukewarm, including embracing proper Catholic teaching, Traditional Catholicism, and/or the Latin mass. This includes us young people.
If all I see are Trads, hated by liberals and balanced Catholics, and our Pope and those who are "in the middle" are saying non-positive things concerning Trads, and the TBBs are justified in their behaviour, then why should I bother participating in the Latin Mass?
If the modernists/neutrals/"good" Catholic bloggers act the same as the TBBs, and it's a "Francis or bust" culture, then why should I be part of any Catholic community that doesn't practice love, but rather, conform or be hated? Isn't our Holy Father against regimes and governments who act like dictatorships? Because that's what I feel like I am seeing here with the Fr. Z issue: A Pope Francis or TBB Dictatorship is the only way to go.
Further, if what the neutrals are doing is just the same as the TBBs, then what else am I supposed to feel but justification, that the institutional Church is corrupt and hypocritical? My generation (80's onward), hates the hypocrisy of the generations before us and in our secular/religious institutions.
Please everyone .... I beg you ... Traditionalist, Orthodox Novus Ordo, or whatever side you take in Traditional Catholicism/
Liturgy or Forms .... please stop the behaviour you are doing online. What hope can a young person like myself have, to even bother with the Latin Mass, or even Catholicism in general, if even our better exemplars (you,) are no different than those hypocrites of our Faith among our family, friends, instructors, and Church clergy? How can I keep being a leader in youth ministry, and try to encourage my tweens/teens to even weekly Mass, when the institutional and ONLINE leadership in the Church keep failing us?
We hate what is still going on at the ground/parish level in 2013. Many of us reverts have found/renewed our Catholic Faith thanks to your work and examples. But today, you have demonstrated the opposite, and become purveyors of despair in trusting the Church. You, bloggers, myself included, even though we mostly are not clergy, are a PART OF SHOWING PEOPLE WHAT THE TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS, WHETHER YOU THINK SO OR NOT. We are responsible for being those Saints in the sneakers and jeans Francis has asked us to be. It's time again to do that, properly.
If you want to selectively quote me, bash me, criticize, or repost what I have said, do whatever you must. But please realize what I am saying. Please think about the next generation, and how we are looking up to you to give us the guidance we never got from our clergy and "role models", and more often than not, continue not to get with regards to our Faith. We need saints, not Pharisees, Trad or not. Give us hope and a place to turn to in these trying times.
Sincerely, with sadness, Julian Barkin, of Servimus Unum Deum .... trying to be a good, young, practicing, Faithful, Somewhat-Traditionalist, Catholic.
I realize that it's been almost a month since I've posted on S.U.D. Part of the reason is because of my daily life, which is eating up most of my time between a girlfriend, an odd-hours Monday-Friday Part Time job in afternoons, and my other ministry commitments, outside of the Extraordinary Form.
However, I'll be up front, part of me is becoming torn apart spiritually with all the garbage going on in the Church, some of it wondering what the Holy Father is saying at times to Traditionalists (and what he intends), which also includes the ongoing war between Catholic Traditionalism and the "Novus Ordo Church" as some traditionalist radicals coin it. It is eating at my heart and soul, and permanent spiritual damage has been wreaked upon me while I have ventured into the Extraordinary Form.
While a decent number of adherents to this form of the Roman Rite are good, honest, and LAW ABIDING Catholics who aren't hypocrites, sadly, enough of them are giving everyone a bad wrap, and needless to say, their actions are closing the doors fast on the Extraordinary Form, now that, to quote Fr. Z, "the cutest fluffiest Pope Evah" (read: "Liberal" dissenter ally who is truthfully not one, but now a tool of the liberals) is in power. Those ``Trads Behaving Badly`` (herein, TBBs,) are the ones with their websites and positions of power, who are really ruining it with diocesan offices, and just about everyone in the Church. In turn, Liberals and even neutrals/Orthodox Novus Ordo Catholics, are turning into the very enemies they claim them to be, and in return the TBBs just keep being jerks to everyone around them. Sadly, good young people like myself are turning away from the Mass they love, or worse, once loved, because of their stupid shenanigans.
However, those of the "Novus Ordo"/"Francis Cheering squad"/"Neo-Catholics"/whatever you call them, are also being hypocrites as well in certain cases by giving into the accusations that Trads make of their behavior over the past 50+ years and simply uphold what the clergy/laity have done to them. They are reacting just as brash and rude as their "enemies" or the people they are not supposed to be, those darn TBBs. By doing so, they only harden the mindset of the TBBs to continue what they are doing, and for those like the SSPX to continue being justified in their radical positions and never come into communion with Holy Mother Church. Guess they forget "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Sulam."
All in all, it is making for a truly, spiritually sick environment in the Catholic Church, one that will overwhelm the field hospital, or destroy the road to the hospital whereby the patients will be unable to be treated. Yesterday, and today, that happened with a number of bloggers: 1 Traditionalist priest, and 3 mega phenom "Neo-catholics" or moderates in the Church, here, here, and here. To all of you, and any other blogger or reader, I write this plea for a ceasefire, a truce, peace, anything. Please listen to what I have to say, and harden not your hearts. My plea is in Courier Font, and quotations are in Verdana Font:
To the Catholic bloggers of the Blogosphere, and the "fighters, soldiers, generals" etc. of the liturgical war on both sides, Novus Ordo or Latin Mass,
I am a casualty, collateral damage, caught in the middle of your bickering, your volleys of detraction and/or slander, your apologetics, and/or whatever you are saying on line, and in person.
I came to the Extraordinary Form seeking to enhance my growing spirituality, after starting to part ways with a Novus Ordo parish that was choking my soul. When I first came to the EF, I was aware of the havoc that liberals had wreaked on the Church in the last 50+ years in the "Spirit of Vatican II." However, I was also introduced to the Trads Behaving Badly (herein, TBBs), who were doing their own damage to the Latin Mass and hence, traditional Catholicism. Eventually, in my Archdiocese, I became the target of these TBBs, because I rejected what the TBBs stood for, and the malicious behaviour I was witnessing before my eyes. Based on my experiences, I sympathize with the views of bloggers like Mark Shea et al., for I know first hand what sins and horrible works can come from such people.
Because of what was dealt onto me, I am comfortable at only one parish of 2 with the EF, and Masses organized by one Latin Mass group. The other parish and Latin Mass organizing group in my archdiocese contains the presence of those TBBs at their Masses. Although through my blog and my selective EF serving activities, I have tried to provide a counter presence to the counter-Catholic witness in the Latin Mass/Traditionalist Movement, it has been out-massed by these TBBs and the bad examples of others on the internet. These players still dominate the scene, and after 2 and a 1/2 years of witnessing this, it's safe to say that things, at least in my Archdiocese, are not going to improve anytime soon.
What I have experienced at home though, is sorely being echoed now throughout the mainstream Church in the papacy of Pope Francis. Granted, yes the Church is supposed to reach out to the poor, but it seems that social justice has become the sole focus on a wider scale, at the cost of anything "liturgical" or Theological/Doctrinal. Worse, Francis has not been careful in his words and off-the-cuff comments. Such words have made many question who his intended targets of his fervorinos and messages are, and what the true feelings of Jorge Bergoglio to traditionalists are, despite him being the Bishop of Rome. Worse, it is giving people more ammunition to hate Traditionalists and the Latin Mass all over again, and to remain stagnant in their own ``Cafeteria Catholicism``. Francis has even changed positions in his Vatican dicasteries for more neutral or ``Francis-like`` bishops, and the JPII/B16 ones are being weeded out. What message is that sending to a young guy like me? That EF/Latin Mass/Traditionalists are hated in the Church again???
It also doesn't help when just because one priest decides to make a joke out of the situation with the "Evangelii Gaudium Neopelagian quote", that a number of bloggers who are the "neutral" or "neo-caths" or whatever you get called, all gang up on the priest. A priest no less! Laypeople ganging up on a priest!!! Fraternal correction of a person, is one thing, but what I have witnessed was more on the side of disrespectful, and displayed poor example for a young person like myself to follow. If I was any young buck with no liturgical/theological background at all, I'd think it's open season on priests. To the credit of one of the moderate bloggers, he did rewrite his title of his post seeing it was imprudent and crude.
What I witnessed in these last two days, sickens me even more, because this is the exact same "ganging-up" and harassing behaviour that I have seen the TBBs do online and in person to good Traditionalists, Novus Ordo Catholics of any age, and anyone that does not fit the TBBs' views of Traditionalism. What a number of bloggers have shown in this scenario with the coffee mug Fr. Z created, and perhaps to some extent Fr. Z, clearly goes against the Gospel of Christ, when he is teaching his disciples about piety, the virtue of Humility, and its counter vice of pride, the Devil`s key sin. Recall Luke 18:9-14 when the Pharisee boasts of all the works he does and how Christ replies in verse 14 ``... for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exhalted.`` It is in both`s sides postings and the commentators who did not exert prudence and temperance with what they wrote, I feel this is all I am seeing: Pharisees who are simply on one side or the other of the narrow road, slinging bombs and bullets at each other and accusing each other of spiritual infractions against Jesus, while I, trying to walk in the middle, am being blown apart and/or ridden with bullet holes.
Both sides, you have forgotten that the true enemy in all this, is the Devil. Via those changes, ushered in with the "spirit of Vatican II", I am sure both of you can agree that much spiritual devastation has been brought upon the laity and clergy of the Church, and to our beautiful and sacred Catholic Liturgy (especially the Roman Rite). As His Holiness, Pope Francis quotes in his new book Open Mind, Faithful Heart" in Chapter 12: Testing and Temptation: ".... The devil is intelligent. He knows how and where to tempt people. Saint Ignatius describes him as a militant commander who is attempting to conquer and plunder his objective ... the enemy of human nature prowls around and from EVERY SIDE probes ALL OUR THEOLOGICAL, CARDINAL, AND MORAL VIRTUES. Then at the point where he finds us weakest and most in need in regard to our eternal salvation, there he attacks and tries to take us" (SpEx 327) .... if he attacks something, it is because he recognizes that it is dangerous ...."
Satan knows that the Latin Mass, Catholic Traditionalism/Orthodoxy, and the Hermeneutic of Continuity of Vatican II, flies in the face of his consolation prize after losing to Christ when He died on the cross: Your souls. And he wants EVERY LAST ONE of them NOT to join Him in Heaven. It also throws a wrench into the Devil's current game plan he has enacted, which has succeeded quite well the last 50+ years. He has pried many souls away from the salvation Christ offers in the Church, with what he's done in liturgy, hererical and/or misguided "catechesis", catholic education, etc. Therefore, with the rest of you who can smell his obvious "traps," He must use a different weapon: Pride, via the twisting of your religious zeal into an ugly, sinful weapon. Yes, our Holy Father might not prefer that Latin Mass over the Novus Ordo, but while our Holy Father has a different goal with his papacy vs. Benedict XVI and John Paul II, the devil is using this liturgical war to every extent to get the fewer, remaining soldiers who love Christ and his Church in these times, to "kill each other" and their own souls, with "friendly fire."
Everyone ... this friendly fire is exactly what is killing desire in the faithful to not be lukewarm, including embracing proper Catholic teaching, Traditional Catholicism, and/or the Latin mass. This includes us young people.
If all I see are Trads, hated by liberals and balanced Catholics, and our Pope and those who are "in the middle" are saying non-positive things concerning Trads, and the TBBs are justified in their behaviour, then why should I bother participating in the Latin Mass?
If the modernists/neutrals/"good" Catholic bloggers act the same as the TBBs, and it's a "Francis or bust" culture, then why should I be part of any Catholic community that doesn't practice love, but rather, conform or be hated? Isn't our Holy Father against regimes and governments who act like dictatorships? Because that's what I feel like I am seeing here with the Fr. Z issue: A Pope Francis or TBB Dictatorship is the only way to go.
Further, if what the neutrals are doing is just the same as the TBBs, then what else am I supposed to feel but justification, that the institutional Church is corrupt and hypocritical? My generation (80's onward), hates the hypocrisy of the generations before us and in our secular/religious institutions.
Please everyone .... I beg you ... Traditionalist, Orthodox Novus Ordo, or whatever side you take in Traditional Catholicism/
Liturgy or Forms .... please stop the behaviour you are doing online. What hope can a young person like myself have, to even bother with the Latin Mass, or even Catholicism in general, if even our better exemplars (you,) are no different than those hypocrites of our Faith among our family, friends, instructors, and Church clergy? How can I keep being a leader in youth ministry, and try to encourage my tweens/teens to even weekly Mass, when the institutional and ONLINE leadership in the Church keep failing us?
We hate what is still going on at the ground/parish level in 2013. Many of us reverts have found/renewed our Catholic Faith thanks to your work and examples. But today, you have demonstrated the opposite, and become purveyors of despair in trusting the Church. You, bloggers, myself included, even though we mostly are not clergy, are a PART OF SHOWING PEOPLE WHAT THE TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS, WHETHER YOU THINK SO OR NOT. We are responsible for being those Saints in the sneakers and jeans Francis has asked us to be. It's time again to do that, properly.
If you want to selectively quote me, bash me, criticize, or repost what I have said, do whatever you must. But please realize what I am saying. Please think about the next generation, and how we are looking up to you to give us the guidance we never got from our clergy and "role models", and more often than not, continue not to get with regards to our Faith. We need saints, not Pharisees, Trad or not. Give us hope and a place to turn to in these trying times.
Sincerely, with sadness, Julian Barkin, of Servimus Unum Deum .... trying to be a good, young, practicing, Faithful, Somewhat-Traditionalist, Catholic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)