I thought to myself during the papal visit that not too many Canadians turned out for the papal Masses and events. But no one seem to make any comment from the sites I turn to for Catholic news.
But now a Canadian Catholic journalist, albeit conservative, offers his take on why no one turned out for a papal pilgrimage. To be fair, ETWN’s Father Raymond DeSuza does say some things about this as does EWTN, although I did not see these until our watched the video.
The other thing I learned from this video is that the so-called mass graves of indigenous children at state run schools managed by religious groups, 60% of these managed or run by Catholic religious orders, did not in fact exist. It was a lie to magnify an already horrible scandal of abuse of all kinds against indigenous peoples of Canada.
The lie about mass graves resulted in many attacks against Catholic institutions and desecrations. It is all rather sad, scandalous and tragic. I think it was eye opening for the Holy Father that there was so little interest in his trip, especially given his physical limitations and may be a sign to him that indeed he should resign as His Holiness indicates in the high altitude frank interview he gave on his return from this trip:
13 comments:
Why would anyone want to see this mean old man, attacker of Faithful Catholics?
Can't wait to see the Hosannas from Mr. Cut and Paste
Father, during the COVID Lockdown in Canada,certainly in Ontario; ALL Sacraments were suspended. Even the dying were told;"just say a good Act of Contrition,you will be fine".Even the number of people allowed to attend
burials in open cemeteries (there being no Funerals) was monitored.I know of one case where a passing motorist notified the Municipal Police there were more than the alloted number at one internment.Of course the Federal Government handed money to churches to help.But as the old Scottish saying runs;"he who pays the Piper,calls the tune".The Bishop's all fell in-line with government dictats.
In this atmosphere of abandonment and dereliction,many of the Faithful found they no longer took comfort in the leadership of the church; neither in the parish, the diocese,and certainly not in Rome.
The Faith has been dying in Canada for the last 50 years....the fruits of a certain Council yet again.The COVID lockdown,and the demographic sink hole, have advanced things a lot.Parishes have not recovered financially or in attendance.The visit by His Holiness, yet another Papal apology for non-existent mass graves(as you noted) was in itself a non-event.
Amont as you might know, I am half Canadian. My father was a Canadian from Cape Breton and we, as a family, took summer vacations there quite frequently in my youth and young adulthood. I remember how devotional Nova Scotia's Catholicism was prior to the Council and quite faithful. My first visit there when I was 9 years old was the summer of 1963. The Catholicism there was different than what I experienced in Georgia at the time although similar liturgically. The one thing that was quite different and disconcerting to me at the time, was that the men sat on one side of the church and the women on the other side. I preferred to sit with my mother and did not like sitting apart from where she was!
But I also recall subsequently, that Nova Scotia was more "advanced" in implementing the council and stripping itself of all visual aspects of the pre-Vatican II Church including so much concerning with the church building and how priests and nuns dressed. They went secular very early and my dad's home church there, which had a beautiful high altar and reredos of Italian marble was dismantled and destroyed. Much of that form of Catholicism was destroyed too.
The ongoing sex abuse scandal there involving one of my father's diocese there (Antigonish) whose bishop was arrested for child porn and defrocked didn't help things in the least.
It is all very sad and tragic. Perhaps the pre-Vatican II Church there was too much aligned with the government, but post-Vatican II Catholicism seems impotent in the face of official secularization and the anti-Catholicism/clericalism of today's society. Pope Francis seems to bow to the secular government to confirm so much that is opposed to what Catholicism should be.
I am becoming more uncomfortable with criticism of Pope Francis because I am concerned that it is undermining respect for the Papacy. I am also concerned that may be one of his objectives. So I am dealing with a dilemma.
As far as Canada goes, it is sad to hear that support for the Church is waning. But the complaints I hear are hopeful because they mean people have the correct expectations.
Keep in mind that tickets for the stadium mass were sold out. Apparently there was some ticket scalping going on, but probably not enough to affect attendance that much...
I appreciate Father McDonald posting the video. It provides a revealing glimpse into the mindset and worldview of those minority of Catholics who dislike Pope Francis, or at least a stridently vocal subset of such Catholics. The presenter can scarcely disguise his contempt for the Pope and the video is full of snarky remarks and distortions of the truth such as the ridiculous assertion that no mass graves have been found, for example. Unless I am terribly misinformed and misreading the sources, several have in fact been found, and many others are suspected. Of course, the reason for the deaths and burials is an entirely different issue. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_gravesites#Investigations_that_found_no_gravesites.
There may well be legitimate reasons for criticizing Pope Francis, but shouldn’t it be done more honestly and charitably?
P.S. To avoid any possible confusion, here is a link to the entire Wikipedia article, not just that portion discussing the one case where no graves were found, at least not on the 70% of the particular property that had been searched:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_gravesites
David Deane, a theology professor at the Atlantic School of Theology, says the visit went just how he expected it to.
“This is not something that has been organized by a public relations team. This is Pope Francis being Pope Francis – expressing his personal grief, expressing his personal remorse and that’s what we’ve seen. We’ve seen an imperfect man make an imperfect apology, which was none the less extremely heartfelt, extremely personal and extremely real.”
“I think what he wanted to do was come here and express his sorrow, his remorse, his shame and his guilt.
"And by that standard it has been a success.”
Large crowds, which are normally seen during papal visits to Canada, have been smaller during this trip. Dean says a trip with waving crowds and a Popemobile isn’t what this one was about.
“Despite that, there was a little bit of that (Thursday) night in Quebec City and I think that speaks to the affection that people have for him.
"Huge amounts of people who are angry – understandably and rightly so with their own Catholic church – nonetheless, they know Pope Francis, they know his heart, they know what he’s about, they know his genuine remorse and pain.”
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I know this is off the narrow topic of the Pope’s visit to Canada, but it is very much on topic of the continual lies and distortions being spewed by some people. The following article discusses a disgusting segment by Tucker Carlson a week ago Thursday (you know, during the prime time FOX News was making sure its viewers knew nothing of the January 6 Committee findings because it refused to air the hearing—I watched Carlson when the show was repeated early Friday morning, by the way):
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/07/scicheck-covid-19-vaccination-increases-immunity-contrary-to-immune-suppression-claims/
As it was Tucker Carlson, I immediately suspected more lies and distortions and spent a couple of hours doing my own fact checking. But the above piece clearly does a more thorough job than I could do.
I am getting exhausted constantly having to fact check all these lies and falsehoods. I implore all of us to please exercise our critical thinking skills and fact check claims that are made by those who seek to manipulate and divide us.
I have just come across the following resource that looks very good. I am looking forward to reading the various items in it and commend it to everyone for their consideration:
https://getpocket.com/collections/going-down-the-rabbit-hole-why-people-fall-for-conspiracy-theories?utm_medium=email&utm_source=pocket_hits&utm_campaign
It appears to offer several ways to fight back against the disinformation epidemic we are currently experiencing and against the forces that seek to manipulate and divide us.
It isn’t disinformation to articulate what half the country or half the Church believes (not in the sense of doctrine or law, but opinions). Fox News is way ahead in the rating because they have their finger on the pulse of what most Americans who watch cable news want. CNN on the other hand, the voice of the progressive left, is clueless about how to put their finger on the popular pulse of the people . They take themselves way to seriously and of course all of that is an act too. But no one watches their stuff it is so dour, boring and uninteresting plus predictable.
The video of the Canadian telling it like it is from his perspective and more than likely the majority of actual practicing Catholics, is important for progressives to hear as progressives are normally elitists looking down their nose at those less educated but more articulate than they are.
Academia as well as progressives in Catholicism are filled with a clericalist mentality. They are the ones who know and everyone else is either stupid, misinformed or spreading lies. If you want to understand clericalism (which applies not just to the clergy but can be as virulent in the laity, especially in academia) just look to the progressive clique who teach in academic institutions.
Father McDonald:
Thank you for your reply, but I must respectfully disagree with some of it (I think).
First, regarding FOX News, I have no problem with their News Division, just with their Opinion division (which their News Division also detests, according to some reports). I also have problems with CNN and MSNBC, albeit not to the same extent as FOX. You say that “It isn’t disinformation to articulate what half the country or half the Church believes (not in the sense of doctrine or law, but opinions).” But how can you say that if what people believe, or what they want, is untrue? Or is it alright now to believe, want, and propagate lies and falsehoods? If it is, and if this is the position of the Catholic Church, then I guess Catholic teaching must have changed without me knowing about it.
Moreover, whatever happened to the view “you are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts”? And one cannot simply claim that a falsehood—a false claim of fact, for example—is a mere “opinion” and that A’s false “opinion” of the facts is just as good as B’s correct “opinion” of the facts.
But perhaps you will say, academics are guilty of clericalism when they challenge something as a falsehood. I challenge what you call progressive academic clericalism in my book too. But if what I am trying to do here is clericalism, I thank God for it and am happy to plead guilty. However, I don’t think it is clericalism to defend the truth. Just look at Rusty Bowers, the former Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives who is now in a fight for his political life in the Arizona Republican primaries. I have just watched an interview with him. When asked why he was disowned by the national, state, and local Republican parties, he explained that it was because the January 6 Committee asked him to tell the TRUTH and he did tell the TRUTH and that the party has now become a cult. Remember that Bowers was a Trump supporter (and perhaps still is, although I would certainly understand if he was rethinking his support given his abusive treatment at the hands of those promoting the cult’s Big Lie).
I have said before, and I say again—and I don’t think I am being melodramatic or exaggerating, especially as I am not alone in saying it—no less is at stake today than the future of our Republic, democracy, and the Rule of Law. Our polity cannot be based on lies but only on the mutual trust of the citizens in each other and in their government, and this begins most fundamentally in a mutual commitment to the truth. We are currently in a very diseased state and are probably facing the worst political (and cultural) crisis since the Civil War one hundred and fifty years ago. I for one will not let the above-mentioned precious and hard-won achievements go down without a fight (albeit not the Trumpian kind involving violence -:)). And I strongly suspect Father Kavanaugh shares this sentiment and commitment. I hope you will join us.
The argument that the visit was just for "one" segment of the overall Catholic population seems difficult to accept.
Usually, there's planning, excitement, clamoring for tickets a material amount of time prior to the actual visit.
Society, and the Church, has changed and been rewired, in part, due to changing norms/mores, COVID, scandals, apathy etc. Are these voyages really going to be effective the way they once were? True, a leader who doesn't inspire and inspire loyalty isn't going to draw a non-forced crowd (a.k.a. your average parade in N. Korea), however, I also wonder if the days of this sort of thing truly being a draw aren't coming to an end, at least in the Western Hemisphere. We'll see with the next pope who hopefully can pull at people's heartstrings perhaps the way the current pontiff does not seem to be able.
Post a Comment