Unstained by the world

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

The raging debate on Reproductive Health has manifested division in the Church, so they say. Catholics for Reproductive Health and of course, the controversial Ateneo professors who hid their dissent under the guise of academic or intellectual freedom, all seem to reveal that not everybody in the Catholic Church listens to the Teaching Authority (Magisterium) of the Church. Media and the whole freethinking world gang up against the Catholic Bishops for what they call repression of intellectual freedom. The accusers of the Church label the bishops as intolerant of modern thought.

Thus, I really think that the Word of God today speaks appropriately about the state of confusion that seems to appear in the Church. In referring to the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites, Jesus quotes Sacred Scriptures: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.” Then he said, “You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” The detractors of the Church will apply these verses to bishops and priests whom they call as the modern day scribes and Pharisees. But in reality, these detractors are the ones who teach human precepts as doctrines as they disregard God’s commandments. For did God not make it clear from the very beginning when he created man and woman: “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth…” (Gen. 1:28) and did he not repeat the same commandment to Noah (Gen. 9:1)? In the 1^st reading, Moses said to the people of Israel: “In your observance of the commandments of the Lord your God…you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. Observe them carefully.” What seems to be narrow mindedness to the world is actually fidelity to the commandments of the Lord. We cannot add nor subtract from the commandment of God: Be fertile and multiply. Fill the earth. The staunch stand of the Catholic Magisterium against the so-called “reproductive health” is simply the fulfillment of the Apostolic Mandate which St. James referred to in the 2^nd reading: (to keep) “religion that is pure and undefiled before God.” And what is this “pure and undefiled” religion? “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” To stand up for the commandments of God, even in spite of the “strong popular support” for the contrary, is, in reality, “keeping religion pure” and “keeping oneself unstained by the world.”

Dissenters enjoy much popular support because they say what the world says. They say what everybody says. They say what everybody wants to hear. And the bishops who uphold the clear commandments of God are labeled as narrow minded and outdated. But that is to be expected. For the thoughts of God are so different from the thoughts of man: “My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. For I am God and not man.” (Isaiah 55:8) Let us keep our religion pure as God is pure. Let us keep ourselves unstained by the world.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Implement the Motu Proprio: A Bishop Speaks

At The New Liturgical Movement blog, excerpts of the pastoral letter of Bishop Mario Oliveri to priests and deacons of his diocese were made. The good bishop said:

"I understand that in some areas, on the part of several priests and pastors, there was also the manifestation almost of ridicule toward faithful who have asked to make use of the option, and indeed of the right, for the celebration of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form; there is also an expression of contempt and almost of hostility toward Brother Priests who are well prepared to understand and respond to the requests of the faithful...

"I ask that you put away every attitude not in conformity with ecclesial communion, the discipline of the Church and the convinced obedience due to important acts of the magisterium or government."

In the Philippines, many priests continue to show hostility towards the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. Among them is a Pauline Priest who recently ridiculed the extraordinary form on national TV. To these priests, the exhortation of the good bishop is fittingly addressed: Put away every attitude not in conformity with ecclesial communion, the discipline of the Church, and the convinced obedience due to important acts of the Magisterium or government of the Church. They should be asked: Are you thinking with the Church? Are you moving with the Church?

Follow the link: Implement the Motu Proprio: A Bishop Speaks

Dissent in the Church

In the heated debate on the Reproductive Rights Bill, a Jesuit theologian came out in the open to express favor for the bill. He teaches in his classes that in this issue, the Church is divided between the Vatican and the Moral Theologians. First, I disagree that the Church is divided on this issue because Moral Theologians do not consist a parallel Magisterium to that of the Pope and the Bishops in Communion with him. Theologians must remember that "the task of authentically interpreting the Word of God, whether in its written form or in that of Tradition, has been entrusted only to those charged with the Church's living Magisterium, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ." (Dei Verbum, 10; Veritatis Splendor, 27.)

Pope John Paul II had this to say about dissent in the Church:

"While exchanges and conflicts of opinion may constitute normal expressions of public life in a representative democracy, moral teaching cannot depend simply upon respect for a process: indeed, it is no way established by following the rules and deliberative procedure typical of a democracy. Dissent, in the form of carefully orchestrated protests and polemics carried on in the media, is opposed to ecclesial communion and to a correct understanding of the hierarchical constitution of the People of God. Opposition to the teachings of the Church's Pastors cannot be seen as a legitimate expression either of Christian freedom or of the diversity of the Spirit's gifts. When this happens, the Church's Pastors have the duty to act in conformity with their apostolic mission, insisting that the right of the faithful to receive Catholic doctrine in its purity and integrity must always be respected. 'Never forgetting that he too is a member of the People of God, the theologian must be respectful of them and be committed to offering them a teaching which in no way does harm to the doctrine of the faith.' "

John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 113.