Once again, I want to make it quite clear that I believe that Vatican II was one of the councils of the Church. I am not of the opinion that Vatican II should be "ditched." However, I do believe that there has been an orchestrated campaign to present the teachings of the Second Vatican Council in such a way as to indicate that there was a break from the "bad old days" prior to the Council.
I say orchestrated, because it cannot be accidental that the same themes are mentioned again and again as examples of the changes demanded by the Council (Mass in the vernacular, Mass "facing the people," the primacy of conscience, the need for the Pope to consult with his fellow Bishops and collaborative ministry are the most obvious examples which spring to mind) while examination of the actual documents reveals that, in reality, the Council had very different ideas.
I have already explained, at great length, (sorry!) about the Council's actual statements on the primacy of conscience and on papal infallibility. The inability of the self-professed "champions" of the Spirit of Vatican II to abide by the actual statements of Vatican II is quite striking.
Which brings me back to the Stand Up for Vatican II conference.
The groups which are supporting the campaign all object to some aspect of the teachings of the Magisterium. This puts them in the same camp as Martin Luther - only they are less honest than Luther, because they dress up their dissent as "what was really intended by the Spirit of Vatican II."
Reality check: what was really intended was what was promulgated... and we have it in black and white (or brown on yellow ochre if you're reading it off the Vatican archives!)
The three main speakers demonstrate how much dissent from Church teaching is involved here.
Sr. Myra Poole is a campaigner for women's ordination, and heads the Catholic Women's Ordination group. Her attitude to obedience is interesting (she's a Religious who has taken a vow of obedience.) On being instructed, by her Superior, not to attend the first meeting of Women's Ordination Worldwide in June 2000, she initially complied, staying nearby instead. The Tablet reported that:
"Sources close to Sr Myra say that this put an intolerable burden on her and that the struggle to choose between obedience to her superiors and her own deeply held convictions put her under enormous emotional strain. After much agonising, she withdrew. In the end, though, conscience did prevail, and she slipped quietly into the hall towards the end of Saturday afternoon's business..."
What??? Conscience? Her conscience told her she had to attend a meeting which defies the teaching of the Church?? And so she broke her solemn vow of obedience??
That doesn't sound much like the Holy Spirit at work. St. Joseph of Cupertino would go into ecstasies before the Blessed Sacrament, levitating... however, when given an instruction by his Superior, the levitation (and the ecstasy) ceased, simply because of the vow of obedience... make of that what you will.
Robert Nowell was a reporter at the time of the Second Vatican Council. He was a sub-editor at The Suppository, and translator of many of the works of leading dissident, Hans Kung, so it comes as no surprise to hear that he is highly critical of the Church.
Finally, Michael Winter is a former priest, who founded the Movement for Married Clergy. Putting aside any arguments that a married priesthood is more a matter of discipline than doctrine, not to mention red herrings about former Anglicans, we are again faced with someone who wants to change the Church because he hasn't found its teachings to his taste.
So far, I haven't heard any word of protest from our Bishops about this conference being held in a convent next to Westminster Cathedral...
They've moved it.
ReplyDeleteThese people are clowns! 'By their fruits ye shall know them' - and they are all fruits (and some nuts to boot!).
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry it must all sound so flippant, but by advertising themselves as they do, there is nothing I can muster-up other than contempt and derision! Not very Christian-like I know - but then I also attended the meeting with the Bishop at Blackfen Parish and the scenes there were far from Christian 'love thy neighbour'!
And the best they can do for speakers includes such notables as....
'A women's ordination organiser' who has the gall and nerve to call herself a Sister!!!! From which order I ask - Satanist! Because by her blatant DISOBEDIENCE to Catholic Church Teaching she is no Sister of the Church - it's plain and simple heresy and by her own actions she is already excommunicated. Then there's the ex-Priest and Mr 'grey-anonymous' who writes for that famous 'fish-wrap' as Fr Z calls it - the tablet - what a claim to fame! Could they not have dug up anything better for their conference.
And this is all masterminded by the guy who caused so much hassle at Blackfen! What's his gripe? Does he want to be pope! Maybe a bishop at least - maybe he wants to be a chairman of a parish council (Blackfen of course) so he can strut his stuff and tell 'Farver' that he don't like this latin stuff and he don't like it when Farver turns 'is back to the people, and he don't like it when the people are excluded from the littergy and he don't like not having the great sign of peace so he can chat to his pals and shake their hands and grin and wave to everyone to show he is the Guv!
Roll over Bernard 'Beethoven'- your time is over, well and truely over! Make way for a young and vibrant Springtime of Renewal led by Summorum Pontificum. This is the future of our Church.
The Dissenters have had their day and lost. Enough prattling on about it's all 'up to your conscience' - this has led to thousands of unwanted pregnancies, hundreds of thousands of abortions, thousands of marital breakdowns, an upsurge in pornography, promiscuity etc...
An UNINFORMED conscience is indeed a dangerous thing! Womyn priests and priestesses is never going to happen as it is totally at odds with the whole concept of 'in persona Christi', and as for Priestly Celibacy - that precious gift of total self giving has been reserved for Our Blessed Lord and no other.
All I can say to these people is try a serious examination of conscience in a spirit of real humility. If you do that in earnest you will immediately search out the nearest Confessional and not even wait for the next Saturday to come up, but go immediately and beg your Priest to hear your confession NOW. please don't hesitate your souls are in mortal danger and none of us know the day or the hour when we will awake on the shores of eternity!
God Bless
Now I may be a bit simple but surely if you belong to any type of organisation you abide by the rules or else you get thrown out or leave.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it then that with the Catholic faith we can all call ourselves Catholic but make up the rules/doctrines as we go along to suit our lifestyle. Jesus Christ left us our Mother the Church to tell us exactly how we should lead our lives and what we should believe - the Magisterium of the Church makes sure of this. There are no grey areas only black and white, so what is it with all these 'clowns' as George politely puts it. If you don't want to be Catholic then go and be a protestant, but don't try to change the doctrines of the Church.
George your observation is brilliant.