Anyone who follows this blog, knows that I grew up in a protestant church and converted to the Catholic faith as an adult. I had more than 30 years of protestantism in my life- and I was not someone who never attended a church. I grew up in church, joined everything they had...youth groups, Sunday school for children and adults, bible studies, Christian book clubs and on and on.
I heard over and over again, that as a Christian I could discover God anywhere at any time because every believer was a "priest" (in the "universal priesthood" theology from dear ol' heretic Martin Luther). That my personal relationship with God was my own to explore in whatever manner worked for me. I didn't need a specific church or a minister/priest because ALL believers and followers of Christ were themselves members of the "universal priesthood"-there was no royal priesthood and still isn't for Protestants and their theology. As the saying goes "Protestants are their own popes!" - its true. Each Protestant gets to decide everything for themselves.
For some people, that means never setting foot in a church building. This is why so many people tune in to watch televangelists- they are taught they can find their "personal relationship with God" anywhere so there is no need to attend or belong to a church community. They can instead tune in to Christian televangelists to occasionally "be fed the Word of God" and to "grow in their Bible knowledge".
This is protestant theology for many Christians.
Today when I heard it (via Rome Reports) coming from the Vatican my heart sank.
"The gift of mercy is the announcement that the Church is called to transmit in her work of evangelization in this time of great change.”
It was the plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. The Pope asked them to continue questioning without fear about what exactly is "the most coherent place to find Christ and follow Him.”
Knowingly or unknowingly, people at the Vatican (including our current pope) are promoting Protestantism and telling people (people who hear the words of televangelists on TV and other protestant leaders will recognize this in a heartbeat) that they DO NOT NEED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. That the "great change" in the Catholic Church is suddenly Protestant theology. It's not, but that is how it sounds to people who have heard this sort of teaching before. This isn't new to protestants, this is the foundation of their theology.
When people hear the Pope telling anyone (yes, I realize this is spoken to the PCNE) to "continue questioning without fear about what exactly is the most coherent place to find Christ and follow Him" what they will get out of that is exactly what Protestants have been teaching for centuries "You don't need the Catholic Church to have a personal relationship with God. You can find that anywhere all on your own."
That IS the message being heard here.
If the Church doesn't make the message loud and CLEAR (something this Pope has a problem with) that the Holy Catholic Church IS "the most coherent place to find Christ and follow Him" then the Church is COMPLETELY failing in Her mission.
There should be NO question here.
Jesus Christ created ONE Church and that Church is the best place to "find Christ and follow Him".
Why is the Catholic Church ENCOURAGING anyone to "question" this?
Why is the Catholic Church telling anyone to question these beliefs "without fear"?
Its almost as if they have forgotten the existence of the Eucharist to hear such talk.
They are knowingly or unknowingly making the Church irrelevant to many people when such messaging comes out.
The Church must BOLDLY proclaim that She has always been and always will be "the most coherent place to find Christ and follow Him" because She is the ONLY place He is found Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity. Period.
On Friday (November 14, 2014) Michael Voris’ “The Vortex” (entitled
The Razor’s Edge) was once again devoted to clarifying their position on Pope
Francis and the fear running rampant among the faithful because of what is and
isn’t coming out of the Vatican.
I am assuming (perhaps wrongly), this Vortex was done because the faithful are
still contacting Church Militant TV with their concerns about the Pope and
their possible confusion over where exactly Church Militant TV stands on the too often controversial hot topic of Pope Francis and the direction of the Catholic Church under his
pontificate. Here is "The Razor's Edge" from The Vortex:
I listened to and read this episode of The Vortex over a
half a dozen times – I do that quite often with what Church Militant TV
produces because I respect them and want to make sure I am clearly hearing
exactly what is being said- or in some cases NOT said.
In “The Razor’s Edge” Voris gives his opinion of only two
opposing sides of Catholics (the traditional leaning group who are running in
fear over what Pope Francis says, does and seems to allow with his blessing)
and the “Church of Nice” crowd- who refuse to admit anything is wrong at all. Overall, Voris makes excellent points with what he says, my point in writing this is more with what he didn't say and about another side of opposing Catholics who don't fit in the groups he mentions.
Voris says: “As of now, a
careful middle seems to be being carved out – indeed, NEEDS to be carved out -
amidst the flurry of hysterical responses from both extremes of the Catholic
world – those angry mean-spirited Catholics who populate the ranks of so-called
traditionalists – but, and this is VERY IMPORTANT – do NOT, repeat do NOT speak
for the vast majority of faithful Catholics – even though they think and act
like they do – AND on the other end of the spectrum – those Catholics who
simply refuse to report on anything troubling – like recent affairs at the
Synod, sugarcoating everything. Battle lines
have been drawn between a subset of traditional-minded Catholics who write and
publish venomous screeds against the Pope, and those who pretend Rome is
nothing else than a valley of lilies where everything is perfectly fine –
denying the reality of what Bishop Athanasius Schneider has rightfully termed –
the fourth great crisis in the life of the Church. Both sides are
wrong in their reactions because they each fail to take into account the
DIFFERING damage they inflict on various individual Catholics. Neither
approach is – quite frankly “catholic”, meaning universal enough.”
Here I disagree with Voris in two respects. Yes both sides mentioned are causing
damage- though I think the damage they are causing is rather low. Admittedly, I could be completely wrong on this. I am sure the folks at Church Militant TV pay far more attention to many of these groups than I do. Yet, there is another opposing side of Catholics Voris failed to mention. Catholics who are not in the least bit tempted by the "subset of traditional minded Catholics who write and publish venomous screeds against the Pope" to leave the Church or the Church of Nice Catholics who bury their heads in the sand. There are Catholics who believe the Pope is a legitimate valid pope, though not a very good one- so far at least (we still hold out hope things will improve). Why do we feel this way? Because we believe it is Pope Francis himself causing the MOST damage - not the hardcore traditionalists or even the Church of Nice crowd- though it is Pope Francis himself who strengthens the Church of Nice crowd when he says things like "Who am I to judge?".
It is Pope Francis’ OWN WORDS AND ACTIONS that are
panicking people. The hardcore
traditionalists have been beating their drums for decades and the “Church of
Nice” crowd has remained silent on anything and everything for just as long.
The difference now is, the Pope himself.
Suddenly, the Church of Nice crowd have a pope leading their way to more progressive points of view INSIDE the Church (look at Cardinal Dolan and the upcoming St. Patrick's Day Parade- this is another direct effect of our current Pope on the Church). The Pope’s words and actions are now lining up with many of the
warnings the hardcore traditionalists have been warning about for decades. It's causing some Catholics to contemplate whether or not these hardcore traditionalists are right or not (their not).
So the Pope himself is sending people into the arms of
religious groups OUTSIDE the Church.
That is the problem that *I* see and I believe the Vortex
has not (and probably will not) address.
Voris has always made it very clear, that he and the folks
at Church Militant TV have a deep concern over a SINGLE Catholic leaving the
Church because of any sort of confusion or fear.
Because of this Christian concern, Church
Militant TV does their best to tread carefully in what they say and do.
That is commendable and why I have such respect for them.
This Vortex was no different in that respect. Voris again reiterates the need to STAY IN
THE CHURCH regardless of what we see and hear.
I agree completely- though I am very vocal in my distrust of
our current Pope (see my sidebar for more on that- specifically those entitled "My Issues with Pope Francis: Part I and II").
One problem is, it is natural human nature to RUN when we
feel fear and panic. Most of us like our
comfort zones and get very antsy when we are pushed out of it.
Sadly, Pope Francis IS pushing us out of our comfort zones-
and not in any good way that I can see (I truly hope that perhaps one day I see
things differently, because I don’t like the fact that I dislike and distrust
my own Pope). The result is fear and
panic and for some a hasty exodus from Christ's Holy Catholic Church to something that LOOKS like what they believe is Christ's Holy Catholic Church.
I was not raised a “cradle Catholic”. I came from outside the Church and personally
KNOW how being on the outside has little to offer compare to the fullness of
being inside the Church. There is no man
on earth, pope or not, who would make me look outside the Church for anything. There is only ONE Church that Jesus Christ
created on earth- there is no other. In
the words of our first Pope, St. Peter “To whom shall we go?” (John 6:68)
To whom indeed? There
is nowhere else to go. Hold fast to what
Jesus has given us, don’t allow fear to chase you from where our Lord wants you
to be.
We have a “flight or fight”
instinct, yet right now too many are in full “flight” mode. Stop.
Fight back that fear with the trust in our Lord. He has not abandoned us- he won’t. It is us who are abandoning Him when we leave
His Holy Catholic Church for anything else.
I get it.
Faithful
Catholics are seeking comfort, stability and that homey feeling the Church used
to give us, but is too often these days lacking. I feel it too, but I won’t give in to it by
abandoning the gift of the Holy Catholic Church from Christ to us because I don’t
particularly like who the current Pope is.
It is MY problem to get over those fears. It is MY cross to carry, not dump on the
ground and go running for something outside the Church that gives me the “warm
fuzzies”. I belonged to the “warm fuzzy”
Protestant denominations once upon a time, and I left that for a good
reason. There is no substance to those “warm
fuzzies”, the true substance is with staying inside the Catholic Church no matter
what. Don’t be shaken. Stand firm and trust in Jesus. Period.
Voris goes on to say: “This is the
position of ChurchMilitant.TV. We have never said the Pope, or more
importantly his prudential decisions or misstatements or off the cuff personal
thoughts are beyond the realm of critique.
What we consider simply out of bounds is the name-calling, Pope-bashing
response of SOME, important distinction there – SOME, a few, in the more
traditional minded crowd. Here’s the
bottom line. Unless he is speaking directly on a question of faith or
morals and makes it binding on all the faithful, whatever the pope says, or for
that fact, ANY pope says, or sometimes doesn’t say, carries with it no
guarantee of infallibility whatsoever. THAT is why
there exists a reserved set of circumstances in the first place for him to
speak infallibly. If he isn’t speaking in that very narrow set of
circumstances, then it shouldn’t be regarded as infallible.”
Personally, I think Voris is dead wrong here.
The “bottom line” isn’t about the Pope
speaking infallibly – the entire world would know if the Pope was speaking
infallibly- that would be clear news.
The “bottom line” in my opinion is “WHO is driving people into a panic
so awful that they are abandoning the Catholic Church for 'hardcore
traditionalist' groups outside the Church?”
In my opinion
that is Pope Francis himself.
It’s never
(at least in my mind) been about infallible teaching…it’s been about the words
and actions of this Pope.
The ripple
effect of “who am I to judge” and washing Muslim women’s feet during Holy week
and horrible interviews and his removal of orthodox Bishops from positions
inside the Church only to replace them with liberals and so on. These actions speak VOLUMES to the “bottom
line” problem Catholic laity are suffering now and it all points back to Pope
Francis himself.
Pope Francis is the author of this
storm we are all trying to weather.
With each news day more panic and fear is poured out to the
faithful by way of off the cuff comments, liberal priests or heretical speaking
Bishops. See it for what it is…the Church
is under attack. This isn’t new or
news. But it is troubling- especially
when the terror rippling across the world is seen as coming from the Vatican.
When our Holy Father FAILS to comfort his children (and let’s
face it Pope Francis himself is too often the epicenter of the problems) the
fear grows.
We want a Vicar on earth who will comfort us against the
storms, not a Vicar who IS the storm.
The problem with that way of thinking is that good and bad
Vicars come and go. It would be
WONDERFUL to again have a Vicar of Christ who kept us in our comfort zone,
where we felt safe and protected against the evils in the world. Pope Benedict did that for me. And because he did, I naively thought ALL
popes did that. I was wrong. Our comfort should be in our Lord
himself. Jesus sent the Great Comforter
to us who will protect His Church against ALL the storms –inside and outside
the Church.
Stop running OUT of the Church seeking the Comforter, you
won’t find Him there. He is INSIDE the
Church- in Her Truth and official Teachings.
Find your comfort in the ONLY place it truly exists, inside the Holy
Catholic Church with Jesus Christ himself.
You won’t find that anywhere else. On that, Michael Voris and I will always agree.
