Monday Musings - We Have Undermined The Faith

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At times, we are so close to something, or so obstinately attached to our own view of things, that we do not notice, or refuse to see, what is actually happening around us. I believe that is the case among many Catholics today.

But that was the not the case of a Czech priest who, after having served a dozen years in a Communist prison, shared his concerns about the shocking condition of the Western world and the Catholic Church he discovered after his release from incarceration.

This faithful priest “who wished to remain anonymous” shared his observations with Cardinal Robert Sarah who in turn disclosed them during a presentation the Cardinal recently made in the Netherlands. Jeanne Smits included this priest’s words in an article entitled “Jesus Never Created Bishops’ Conferences or Local Churches” which was published in the June 27, 2019 issue of The Wanderer.

I was profoundly challenged by what this priest said and knew I had to share the following excerpt of his comments as they appeared in the Smits’ article:

“I was in prison for 12 years because I wanted to remain faithful to Rome. I was martyred because I did not want to be unfaithful to the Pope. I lost everything for my faith. But this faith has given me a peace and a certainty that turned those prison years into the most enriching years of my life. You in the West have lost this peace in God. You have undermined the faith in such a way that it does no longer offer peace. In your freedom, you have betrayed that for which we have suffered in our persecution. The West has disappointed me deeply. I would rather spend another 12 years in that Communist jail than to remain with you any longer.”

In this day and age, we in the West are living through a silent apostasy. We no longer need God. People are trying to detach the local churches from Rome. People want to be autonomous with regard to Rome and the Vicar of Jesus Christ, that is Peter, he who gives direction to the Church of Rome…Without Peter, everything in the Catholic Church would be destroyed, reduced to fragments and become nothing.

Jesus never created bishops’ conferences or local Churches. It is on Peter that he built His Church. Destroying that unity of His Church amounts to rejecting Jesus. People want to tear up and destroy the unity of the Church.”

God sends His prophets to warn us. May He open our ears to hear and heed the warnings of this martyr priest and faithful Cardinal. May we stand up for His Truth and His Church while we still can.