Where Are You Going, My Lovely?

Just a few thoughts. Disagree if you wish -I have no charism of infallibility...

The Church is the beautiful Bride of Christ, and the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb the supper to which we are invited (Rev.19v9). In this Church all grace, truth, wisdom and justice are found. She makes heaven available to us on earth in the Mass where we join with the angels and saints singing Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus; She raises souls from hell to heaven in Baptism and Confession and She accompanies us to heaven by the Anointing of the Sick when death approaches. She is the repository and channel of all God’s graces, the mother of our souls and our sure path to God. Sadly She is being ruined by many of Her members today -not as we all do by our anger, pride, gossip, sloth etc, but by their demolishing of her walls and floors as they take apart her age-old teaching on marriage and sexuality, deny Her place as the One True Faith, and turn her worship from adoration and propitiation of God to the affirmation and upliftment of those present. Such folk are attempting to give Her credibility in the eyes of the world, remodelling Her Doctrines and worship in order that She might fit in with and be attractive to that world, when in fact it is a world to which Christ declared we do not belong (Jn.17v14-16; 2 Pet.2v1-2; 1Jn.2v25-19).

One example of this ruination is well-meaning Catholics supporting civil partnerships. We can surely understand the desire to grant next-of-kin status, protect inheritance and pension rights etc, for those who would not have them if no such partnership was available, but since the way these partnerships are constructed today contravenes Biblical teaching, the constant teaching of the Church and the natural law, we would surely sin if we called for them to be retained in law as they stand. The only way we could support them is if  -and what a stretch of the imagination this is-  if in law such partnerships specifically exclude recognising sexual acts between the two persons, but homosexuals would not want a civil partnership if they had to state that by entering it they were not conferring sexual prerogatives on one another. Thus, to support civil partnerships as we have them today has, I think, serious repercussions for one's salvation, since to support what is forbidden by Scripture and Tradition and contrary to natural law, is to renounce Christ’s teaching as made known via Scripture and Tradition. Indeed, by supporting relationships which contravene God’s law, one is guilty of an injustice against the majesty and sovereignty of God Himself.

Add this situation (wherein the Moral Tradition of the Church is being diminished if not dismissed) to the sanctions taken against the Franciscans of the Immaculate –folk who simply hold to Tradition in their teaching, lifestyle and often (though not exclusively) in their worship- and it looks as if the Church is so hateful of her doctrinal and liturgical past that she destroying herself in the present.

Part of the reason for this, I think, is the perception –pushed by the mainstream media- that Pope Francis is laid back on marriage and sexuality issues, and not concerned with authentic, God-centred worship. If he is concerned with safeguarding the Church’s doctrine of sexual ethics, her Traditions and authentic worship (as indeed he must since as Pope he is caretaker of Christ’s Church but not its CEO much less its proprietor) then his advisers need to advise him better and point out the corollary of his current public image and the effect of his off-the-cuff remarks so that changes may put in place.

We need more voices in the Church and in society decrying the assault on marriage, life and more Catholics decrying the assault on authentic worship. We cannot permit that these treasures of Holy Mother Church are denigrated since by doing so we reject Her past and deny Her a future as THE channel of Truth and Salvation. We have to remember that while we can accept a deeper penetration of doctrine and changes in ecclesiastical discipline, we cannot accept contradiction of doctrine. The reason is simple: God is unchanging: the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13v8; Gal.1v8-10), and the Church is but His voice in the world (Lk.10v16., Matt.28v28-29), so it is unchanging doctrine she must proclaim. In the Church, as the one authentic voice of the unchanging God, change in doctrine and worship is not a sign not of life as some too imprudently proclaim, but a sign of  self-destruction and impending death; a cutting off of the Church from Her roots, and a renunciation of Her role as the one sure anchor in the life of the Spirit. Yes, we can and ought to accept a deeper penetration of Doctrine, but not contradiction; the former is growth, the latter a tearing down. Sadly it is the latter where we seem to be headed. God help Holy Mother Church. St Michael the Archangel, Pray for us.