Pope Francis seems to think, and wrongly of course, that traditional Catholics, especially bishops and priests, are the most clerical ones to be found within today’s clergy. His insults are always directed to them as being backward looking (backwardists) but in a rigid, crazy and anti-intellectual way.
Be that as it may, “as the end is nearing as Frank Sinatra reminds us” certainly His Holiness should also call out Non-traditional Catholics, especially bishops and priests, as equally into clericalism, but theirs on steroids. His insults can be directed toward them as being forward looking without looking back (Forwardists) but also in a rigid, crazy and dumb way.
At any rate, the video of the bishop in Brazil who humiliates a young person in the most abusive way by not giving her Holy Communion at her Confirmation Mass is an excellent example of how non-pastoral forwardists are and who are quite cruel and uncaring as they act in dictatorial ways to push forward their forwardist agenda.
The Modern Mass has created more “little monsters” than the Ancient Latin Mass ever did. At least the clericalism of the Ancient Mass was based on rubrics and canon law. The clericalism of the Modern Mass is based on whims and forcing a rigidity that comes not from the rules of the Mass but from the rigid personality who says in word and deed, my way or the highway!
And we all know that the theme song of those in hell is, “I Did It My Way!”
8 comments:
Could not have said it better, Father McDonald. The good news is that these forwardist loons have about another 10 years of shelf life. No young priest I know is in their camp.
Excellent post, Fr. MacDonald! 😀
Thanks so much for this.
Father McDonald,
Are you thinking specifically of Pope Francis’s August 5 letter, or more generally?
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255025/pope-francis-spiritual-worldliness-is-one-of-the-greatest-dangers-facing-priests-the-church
"Pope Francis wrote that spiritual worldliness begins to take hold in the lives of priests not only through temptations to mediocrity, power and influence, and vainglory but also 'from doctrinal intransigence and liturgical aestheticism,' which have the appearance of religiosity and even loving the Church but instead seek human glory and personal well-being.
'How can we fail to recognize in all of this the updated version of that hypocritical formalism which Jesus saw in certain religious authorities of the time and which in the course of public life made him suffer perhaps more than anything else?' the pope wrote."
Mark, that letter is but one source of my post. Pope Francis has repeated this over and over and over again as a kind of OCD mantra. It is always directed towards traditionally minded clerics of the John Paul II and Benedict XVI eras. It is a mantra I was taught in the late 1970’s liberal seminary I attended in Baltimore. And yes, back then the. Scripture the pope quotes in your post is used to malign the worst of the worst of clergy in the 1970’s, those who were labeled as pre-Vatican II. That name can be likened to the use of the N word. It was not complimentary.
While I don’t deny that some young traditional priests lack in pastoral skills, love the finery of the older Mass and of the priesthood prior to Vatican II, progressive clergy do the same thing as some feign simplicity in order to look good in the eyes of the progressive Post-Vatican II Church. And God forbid that you challenge their simplicity, humility and forward looking vision of the Church. Rigidity is a psychological issue that can afflict anyone of any vocation or lifestyle and even progressive “forwardist” clergy.
Pope Francis is the backward looking pope of this century, not John Paul II or Benedict XVI. Pope Francis vision is the same nastiness I encountered in the 1970’s and God forbid you get in the way of a progressive as they can be as authoritarian and dictatorial as any conservative/traditional member of the clergy.
The Brazilian bishop who denied a young girl Holy Communion simply because she kneeled to receive is an example of my last point and symptomatic of so many problems Pope Francis has revived that are rooted in the 1960/70’s.
Mark, I should also add that in either that letter to priests in Rome or some other time just recently, maybe the Spanish interview he gave, he accused the backwardist clergy who are rigid and hiding behind their clerical finery of being immoral, presumably in the area of sexuality either abusing minors or vulnerable adults. I find that kind of generalization completely immoral and breaking of the 8th Commandment of bearing false witness through gossip.
Let me break the same commandment. It isn’t just backwardist, rigid clergy who are immoral in these areas. The most notorious child sex abuser in our diocese, now mercifully dead, was very progressive in many ways apart from sexual abuse. In many ways he was what Pope Francis looks for in a priest in terms of his theology and pastoral style. And then we have the now “defrocked” Ted McCarrick. No conservative or traditionalist nor rigid. Before the public learned about his lifestyle, he was very much aligned with Pope Francis pastoral theology.
Father McDonald,
You are talking to a wall. He is impervious to reason. Nice try though. Be prepared for a host of non sequiturs and holy, holies!
TJM:
If you want to be ugly and hurl an insult, at least try to identify the right target. Or better yet, try not to be ugly and insulting at all!
Mark J.
Mark J,
I posted my comment on the wrong article and not directed to you but our resident papalator. Sorry.
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