Saturday, September 30, 2006
"ONLY THE UTTERLY OBLIVIOUS CATHOLIC WOULD NOT REALIZE THAT SOMETHING IS DEVASTATINGLY AMISS IN THE CHURCH IN OUR PRESENT DAY"
So begins Erven Park's article in the October "New Oxford Review."
Ya gotta hand it to NOR. Whether you agree with them or not, there's no denying they've got guts. First they took on the document on homosexuality in the seminary, making it clear that Benedict's conclusions were less than satisfactory. Now comes this.
Not only does the article tell the unvarnished truth about the state of the Church, it also talks about Fatima, a subject bound to get you sent to the Outer Reaches of Raddom five years ago. But it gets even worse:
"The "Third Secret" revealed to the Fatima seers speaks of the apostatizing of the hierarchy of the Church, which would unleash deadly consequences on the unsuspecting faithful. ...Sr. Lucia (10-year-old seer Lucia dos Santos) of Fatima repeatedly referenced the coming about of an intellectual atmosphere consisting of a "diabolic disorientation" permeating the works and acts of the Church's leadership.
Yup! It's right there in black and creme.
Park writes further:
The Church's sacred doctrine can only be corrupted by her highest leadership, meaning that the Church's leaders are the logical target of Satan's malice, and pride will be the door by which he enters into them. ...We will thus witness disoriented shepherds leading their sheep on a trek to the abyss.
How does a shepherd spare himself from this disaster when all his peers and superiors become subject to the same testing? When the die is cast in such a manner, the shepherd is on his own and his only secure and rewarding course will be unflinching observance of the constant teachings of the Church. Change or novelty must invoke immediate suspicion and examination. ...
The foretelling of the apostataizing of the Church's hierarchy was contained in the "Third Secret" entrusted to Sr. Lucy by the Holy Mother.
That's not exactly the Third Secret released by John Paul II, is it?
Park goes on to point a calendar at the Council that intersected the key year given by the Blessed Virgin--1960, and with it Cardinal Roncalli, Pope John XXIII--making the Council the great apostasy predicted at Fatima in 1917. Quoting Mario Cardinal Ciappi, personal papal theologian for five popes, and a man who was privileged to read the Third Secret, Park writes:
In a personal communication to a Prof. Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Ciappi revealed that: "In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top."
That would certainly be an interesting letter to read!
Lest we become smug and self-righteous, Park adds that
...the deadly crisis in the Church is not without our own personal culpability in the embracing of forbidden liberties and their appended decadence. God's allowance of bad shepherds is a punishment directly related to the disobedience of those claiming to be His followers.
Park's prescription is confronting, and exposing resolutely, the evil wherever it lies. He points our vision to bishops as well as priests, and calls the current crisis "unprecedented." He speaks of "very vocal pastoral concern for their criminal clergy accompanied by disgraceful silence regarding the victims who were assaulted and left to the dumpsters of life, a total reversing of proper moral priorities". He refers to the document on homosexuals as a "studied ambiguity" that "undermines those bishops whose beliefs and efforts may be inclined to upholding the true teaching of the Church.
That is certainly pulling no punches. He doesn't tell us anything we don't already know apart from that Third Secret, but the public telling of it in NOR signals to me that this thinking is going Catholic mainstream. A necessary prelude to effective reform, IMHO, and hopefully sufficiently timely to prevent canonization of any of the participants in this deconstruction of Christianity.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
