Abp. Schwietz has officially MOVED the Episcopal Bishop "consecration" from OLG Catholic Church

(Since a lot of new traffic has come to read this story, I am giving a brief synopsis of the situation, as there seems to be some confusion based on emails that I have received, including who requested the move [The Archbishop or the Episcopals]).

After learning last week that Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church was slated to hold an Episcopal Bishop "consecration/ordination" on September 4th, 2010, we posed some questions on this blog regarding whether that was proper. We also were perplexed that the Archdiocese was willing to host it due to the fact that Katharine Schori would be presiding over the event. (Read Original Post here)

We then posted Vatican documents explaining our position and mentioned that we would be writing a letter stating our concerns and questions regarding the matter. (Link). Our intention was never to be right, but to get the event moved from the Catholic church. Our reasons were grounded in Catholic teaching, and concern for the Sacredness of the CONSECRATED Church, Altar, and the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. At this point we were unsure the person responsible for granting the OK for this event. We were especially concerned, due to the vetting policy of the Archdiocese.

We then posted a letter to the Archbishop explaining our position and asking our questions. We sought understanding and clarification, but most of all we sought a change of heart. We included with our letter, a petition for those wishing to sign on to the letter that they also include some sort of prayer, almsgiving, or fast that they would dedicate to the Archbishop, the Parish of OLG, and this matter. You can read the letter here: (Link.) 

Almost immediately, the Archbishop posted an open letter to the faithful. It explained that he was the one responsible for allowing the Episcopals access to the Church and that he did so for reasons of outreach and in the spirit of "being a good neighbor." You can read that letter here: (Link) As you can imagine we were quite saddened by this news, but were committed to getting signatures to the letter, and sending it off, with the enclosure of the spiritual bouquet. We were hoping that prayer would change hearts and minds.

Less than an hour later, the letter had been removed from the Archdiocese website. (Precisely, the link was taken down.) This confused us as to its meaning, but we waited in hope that it meant that the Archbishop had some change of heart. We had to wait until the next day, but our hopes were realized! Although we haven't received official word from the Archdiocese we learned from various sources that the event had been moved. (end synopsis).

So we checked on some of the Episcopal websites and it seems that the Archbishop has decided to move the Episcopal "consecration" that was slated to occur at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on September 4, 2010. (Full Story)

(Source: Episcopal AK)

Our Bishop has "...not fled in fear of the wolves," and has made a very difficult, but courageous decision. He has chosen his flock over the niceties of "ecumenical outreach." He has upheld the Sacredness of the Church, the Altar, and the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Alas! Our job is not done! In fact, the difficult part is just beginning. Our Archbishop is sure to face fire and attack over this decision. The wolves world is sure to criticize this decision and attack the faith and attack him personally. We must blanket him with spiritual support -

WE MUST PRAY.

This is a joyful time and we must offer prayers of joy, gladness, and thanksgiving. Yet, we must also pray for the Angels and Saints to intercede for us and for our protection. The devil does not like to lose, and he is sure to look for a way to strike back an make amends for this defeat. It is our job to battle against him and defend our faith and defend our courageous Bishop. As the lay faithful, as the Ecclesia Militans, we must take Heaven by force.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force! -Matthew 11:12

Be sure to write the Bishop and thank him for his courageousness, and tell him you will pray for him:

Email: Archbishop Roger Schwietz, OMI

Finally, please stop over and thank the following folks for their help and dedication to the faith in this matter:
The Devout Life
Gun Lovin' Alaska Catholic Club
ChesterBelloc
Acts of the Apostasy
&
Restore DC Catholicism

Bishop Hebda of Gaylord - a TRUE CATHOLIC BISHOP

Sword & Shield-Tip (h/t) to: A Catholic View

Awesome! Bishops are finally starting to see the light on the CCHD issue. Bishop Bernard Hebda from the Diocese of Gaylord in Michigan is going to delay sending funds to the CCHD that were collected during a CCHD drive in his diocese. It appears that he will await the outcome of the review that the CCHD is currently undergoing. Read the full story below. (Original Link) [My Emphasis]

GAYLORD, Michigan, June 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another United States bishop is taking precautions in light of continuing allegations that the U.S. bishops’ domestic anti-poverty arm, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), is funding groups that support abortion and other activities contrary to Catholic teaching.

Bishop Bernard Hebda of Gaylord, Michigan has decided to delay sending funds to CCHD from the 2010 collection while the organization is under review, LifeSiteNews has learned.

Candace Neff, communications director for the Gaylord diocese, emphasized that the bishop has not “discontinued” the collection for CCHD. “A tremendous amount of very important work is accomplished through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development,” she said.

She explained that unlike other dioceses, Gaylord rolls many of the annual special collections, including the one for CCHD, into one large Catholic Services Appeal that takes place in the spring. In most U.S. dioceses, the special collection for CCHD is taken up in November.

“After consulting with a number of advisors Bishop Hebda has decided that for this year (2010), while CCHD’s systems are under review, a donation will not automatically be sent to CCHD from funds donated through the Diocese of Gaylord’s Catholic Services Appeal Campaign,” she said.

“It is possible that a special collection might be taken up for CCHD in our parishes later in the year so that those who like to contribute to CCHD’s ministries might do so. But that decision has not yet been reached,” she added.


CCHD has been embroiled in controversy over its funding practices since September, when the Texas-based Bellarmine Veritas Ministries (BVM) began releasing reports with evidence that numerous CCHD grantees are involved in promoting abortion, same-sex “marriage” and contraception, among other things.

Though CCHD reacted by defunding two of the groups, many concerned Catholics were dissatisfied with the response. Leading up to the national collection in November, BVM and other groups such as Human Life International and American Life League joined forces to call for a boycott of the collection. The Reform CCHD Now Coalition (RCN) argued that supporting CCHD while it continues to fund groups advocating practices contrary to the Catholic faith would constitute complicity in those practices.

Bishop Roger Morin of Biloxi, Mississippi, who heads the U.S. Bishops’ CCHD subcommittee, defended the group in an address at the bishops’ plenary meeting in November. He denounced those who “spread outrageous claims that the bishops are funding groups that are pro-abortion, groups that are not in support of the family, or other untruths.”

But 10 bishops, representing over 5% of U.S. dioceses, have decided to no longer take up the collection due to concerns about CCHD’s funding practices. A number of others have made public calls for CCHD’s reform.

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, told LifeSiteNews in November that he questions CCHD’s “ideology.” He said he would not offer the collection in his diocese until there were "some changes in the organization itself, or its purposes, or its goals."

He said that Bishop Morin too easily dismissed the concerns. “We are shocked at the scandalous participation with the ACORN organization and also the participation with other organizations of questionable moral values or standards.” He added that CCHD’s "controversial character made it appear that it was not effective" in meeting its purposes.

RCN compiled a full report of their evidence on each of the implicated CCHD grantees, and sent it to every U.S. bishops earlier this month. The report aims to highlight the fact that many of the concerns about CCHD have yet to be addressed, and to ensure that the bishops have the most up-to-date information.

Stephen Phelan, communications director for Human Life International, a member of RCN, praised Bishop Hebda’s decision saying “it is completely in line with what faithful Catholics expect from their shepherds: that great care is taken in determining who receives the money that they give.”

“Who knows how many other bishops are already taking this approach?” he asked.

Phelan emphasized that Catholics want to serve the poor and to support groups that do so, but said this must be done only “in ways that do not oppose the Church.”

The Reform CCHD campaign, he said, is meant “to bring accountability to those who should have been doing what Bishop Hebda and other faithful bishops have been doing all along – being very careful that Catholic's hard-earned money isn't co-opted by those working against the Church in the name of false ‘social justice.’”

This is prudence. This is what BISHOPS ARE SUPPOSED TO DO! Michigan is so very blessed to have some AMAZING BISHOPS! I am so impressed every time a story comes out about one of them! More Bishops need to follow in the footsteps of their brothers and show the faithful that they too have mighty strong backbones!

The Vortex... a strong message.

The Vortex doesn't pull punches. In fact... it hits harder than a ton of bricks. It is hard not to get inspired and motivated by their videos. Strong messages like this don't resonate with everyone, but the content is what is important, and they are very rarely off the mark.

Bishop Slattery's Sermon - Pontifical Mass at Basilica Nat'l Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

The following is the full text of Bishop Slattery's Sermon from the Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception - Washington, D.C.  (Taken from Te Deum! Blog)

I was going to post excerpts, and direct everyone over there, but out of fear that some may not take the effort I want to post it. I challenge you to find me a better Sermon from over the weekend. Granted this was not on the Good Sheppard readings, and yet it was extremely poignant.

Please take the time to read this... I can almost gurantee you haven't heard a sermon or homily like this, in a long while.

Bishop Slattery's Sermon at Solemn High Mass at National Shrine

4/25/2010 - EOC Staff

Bishop Slattery's Sermon at the Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception - Washington, D.C.
Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the ascension of Benedict XVI to the throne of Peter - ad multos annos!

We have much to discuss - you and I …

… much to speak of on this glorious occasion when we gather together in the glare of the world’s scrutiny to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the ascension of Joseph Ratzinger to the throne of Peter.

We must come to understand how it is that suffering can reveal the mercy of God and make manifest among us the consoling presence of Jesus Christ, crucified and now risen from the dead.

We must speak of this mystery today, first of all because it is one of the great mysteries of revelation, spoken of in the New Testament and attested to by every saint in the Church’s long history, by the martyrs with their blood, by the confessors with their constancy, by the virgins with their purity and by the lay faithful of Christ’s body by their resolute courage under fire.

But we must also speak clearly of this mystery because of the enormous suffering which is all around us and which does so much to determine the culture of our modern age.

From the enormous suffering of His Holiness these past months to the suffering of the Church’s most recent martyrs in India and Africa, welling up from the suffering of the poor and the dispossessed and the undocumented, and gathering tears from the victims of abuse and neglect, from women who have been deceived into believing that abortion was a simple medical procedure and thus have lost part of their soul to the greed of the abortionist, and now flowing with the heartache of those who suffer from cancer, diabetes, AIDS, or the emotional diseases of our age, it is the sufferings of our people that defines the culture of our modern secular age.

This enormous suffering which can take on so many varied physical, mental, and emotional forms will reduce us to fear and trembling - if we do not remember that Christ - our Passover - has been raised from the dead. Our pain and anguish could dehumanize us, for it has the power to close us in upon ourselves such that we would live always in chaos and confusion - if we do not remember that Christ - our hope - has been raised for our sakes. Jesus is our Passover, our hope and our light.

He makes himself most present in the suffering of his people and this is the mystery of which we must speak today, for when we speak of His saving presence and proclaim His infinite love in the midst of our suffering, when we seek His light and refuse to surrender to the darkness, we receive that light which is the life of men; that light which, as Saint John reminds us in the prologue to his Gospel, can never be overcome by the darkness, no matter how thick, no matter how choking.

Our suffering is thus transformed by His presence. It no longer has the power to alienate or isolate us. Neither can it dehumanize us nor destroy us. Suffering, however long and terrible it may be, has only the power to reveal Christ among us, and He is the mercy and the forgiveness of God.
The mystery then, of which we speak, is the light that shines in the darkness,Christ Our Lord, Who reveals Himself most wondrously to those who suffer so that suffering and death can do nothing more than bring us to the mercy of the Father.

But the point which we must clarify is that Christ reveals Himself to those who suffer in Christ, to those who humbly accept their pain as a personal sharing in His Passion and who are thus obedient to Christ’s command that we take up our cross and follow Him. Suffering by itself is simply the promise that death will claim these mortal bodies of ours, but suffering in Christ is the promise that we will be raised with Christ, when our mortality will be remade in his immortality and all that in our lives which is broken because it is perishable and finite will be made imperishable and incorrupt.

This is the meaning of Peter’s claim that he is a witness to the sufferings of Christ and thus one who has a share in the glory yet to be revealed. Once Peter grasped the overwhelming truth of this mystery, his life was changed. The world held nothing for Peter. For him, there was only Christ.

This is, as you know, quite a dramatic shift for the man who three times denied Our Lord, the man to whom Jesus said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Christ’s declaration to Peter that he would be the rock, the impregnable foundation, the mountain of Zion upon which the new Jerusalem would be constructed, follows in Matthew’s Gospel Saint Peter’s dramatic profession of faith, when the Lord asks the Twelve, “Who do people say that I am?” and Peter, impulsive as always, responds “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Only later - much later - would Peter come to understand the full implication of this first Profession of Faith. Peter would still have to learn that to follow Christ, to truly be His disciple, one must let go of everything which the world considers valuable and necessary, and become powerless. This is the mystery which confounds independent Peter. It is the mystery which still confounds us: to follow Christ, one must surrender everything and become obedient with the obedience of Christ, for no one gains access to the Kingdom of the Father, unless he enter through the humility and the obedience of Jesus.

Peter had no idea that eventually he would find himself fully accepting this obedience, joyfully accepting his share in the Passion and Death of Christ. But Peter loved Our Lord and love was the way by which Peter learned how to obey. “Lord, you know that I love thee,” Peter affirms three times with tears; and three times Christ commands him to tend to the flock that gathers at the foot of Calvary - and that is where we are now.
Peter knew that Jesus was the true Shepherd, the one Master and the only teacher; the rest of us are learners and the lesson we must learn is obedience, obedience unto death. Nothing less than this, for only when we are willing to be obedient with the very obedience of Christ will we come to recognize Christ’s presence among us.

Obedience is thus the heart of the life of the disciple and the key to suffering in Christ and with Christ. This obedience, is must be said, is quite different from obedience the way it is spoken of and dismissed in the world.

For those in the world, obedience is a burden and an imposition. It is the way by which the powerful force the powerless to do obeisance. Simply juridical and always external, obedience is the bending that breaks, but a breaking which is still less painful than the punishment meted out for disobedience. Thus for those in the world obedience is a punishment which must be avoided; but for Christians, obedience is always personal, because it is centered on Christ. It is a surrender to Jesus Whom we love.

For those whose lives are centered in Christ, obedience is that movement which the heart makes when it leaps in joy having once discovered the truth.

Let us consider, then, that Christ has given us both the image of his obedience and the action by which we are made obedient.

The image of Christ’s obedience is His Sacred Heart. That Heart, exposed and wounded must give us pause, for man’s heart it generally hidden and secret. In the silence of his own heart, each of us discovers the truth of who we are, the truth of why we are silent when we should speak, or bothersome and quarrelsome when we should be silent. In our hidden recesses of the heart, we come to know the impulses behind our deeds and the reasons why we act so often as cowards and fools.

But while man’s heart is generally silent and secret, the Heart of the God-Man is fully visible and accessible. It too reveals the motives behind our Lord’s self-surrender. It was obedience to the Father’s will that mankind be reconciled and our many sins forgiven us. “Son though he was,” the Apostle reminds us, “Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.” Obedient unto death, death on a cross, Jesus asks his Father to forgive us that God might reveal the full depth of his mercy and love. “Father, forgive them,” he prayed, “for they know not what they do.”

Christ’s Sacred Heart is the image of the obedience which Christ showed by his sacrificial love on Calvary. The Sacrifice of Calvary is also for us the means by which we are made obedient and this is a point which you must never forget: at Mass, we offer ourselves to the Father in union with Christ, who offers Himself in perfect obedience to the Father. We make this offering in obedience to Christ who commanded us to “Do this in memory of me” and our obediential offering is perfected in the love with which the Father receives the gift of His Son.

Do not be surprised then that here at Mass, our bloodless offering of the bloody sacrifice of Calvary is a triple act of obedience. First, Christ is obedient to the Father, and offers Himself as a sacrifice of reconciliation. Secondly, we are obedient to Christ and offer ourselves to the Father with Jesus the Son; and thirdly, in sharing Christ’s obedience to the Father, we are made obedient to a new order of reality, in which love is supreme and life reigns eternal, in which suffering and death have been defeated by becoming for us the means by which Christ’s final victory, his future coming, is made manifest and real today.

Suffering then, yours, mine, the Pontiffs, is at the heart of personal holiness, because it is our sharing in the obedience of Jesus which reveals his glory. It is the means by which we are made witnesses of his suffering and sharers in the glory to come.

Do not be dismayed that there many in the Church have not yet grasped this point, and fewer still in the world will even consider it. You know this to be true and ten men who whisper the truth speak louder than a hundred million who lie.

If then someone asks of what we spoke today, tell them we spoke of the truth. If someone asks why it is you came to this Mass, say that it was so that you could be obedient with Christ. If someone asks about the homily, tell them it was about a mystery and if someone asks what I said of the present situation, tell them only that we must - all of us - become saints.

The Importance of the Tabernacle, Rubrics and other Rituals - Bp. Jenky of Peoria

I must give a sword-tip to Father Z. on this story:

The following is a story from the Catholic Post which is the Catholic newspaper from the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois. The story explains a recent directive from Bishop Jenky regarding the placement of the Tabernacle in all Churches in the Diocese.

The following is the article from the Post [Emphasis and Comments]:

Saying that placing the Blessed Sacrament at the physical center of the church puts Christ at the center of our spiritual lives as well, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, is asking that the tabernacle be located “in the direct center at the back of the sanctuary” in all churches and chapels in the Diocese of Peoria.
The bishop’s letter was issued on Holy Thursday, the day when Catholics around the world gather for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and celebrate the institution of the Eucharist.
"A gift in the bishop’s letter is that he is giving people five years,” said Msgr. Stanley Deptula, director of the diocesan Office of Divine Worship. “Some of those parishes, for architectural, financial and catechetical reasons, will need to take some time to revisit the Eucharist. . . . They have five years to pray over this moment of renewal.”
Following is the full text of Bishop Jenky's directive:
------
April 1, 2010
+Holy Thursday
Dear Priests, Deacons, Religious and Faithful of the Diocese of Peoria,
The Mass, of course, is our most important act of worship -- the very source and summit of all we do as a Church. A profound reverence for the Reserved Sacrament is also intrinsically related to the Eucharistic liturgy.
The Reserved Sacrament must therefore be treated with the greatest possible respect, because at all times the Blessed Sacrament within that tabernacle, as in the Eucharistic Liturgy, is to be given that worship called latria, which is the adoration given to Almighty God. This intentional honor is incomparably greater than the reverence we give to sacramentals, sacred images, the Baptistry, the Holy Oils, or the Paschal Candle. The Sacrament is reserved not only so that the Eucharist can be brought to the dying and to those unable to attend Mass, but also as the heart and locus of a parish’s prayer and devotion. [The reservation of the Eucharist isn't a "garage" for "leftover" Host. It is the "heart and locus" of the Parish's prayer and devotion... in other words the essence or purpose of the Parish.]
There is a kind of bundle of rituals in our Catholic tradition with which we surround the Tabernacle. As we enter or leave the church, we bless ourselves with holy water, we genuflect towards the Tabernacle [This is important... we must know why we do what we do... when and if we do it.], we prepare for Mass or give thanks after Mass, consciously in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament. At prayers and devotions, during the Liturgy of the Hours, in any private prayer which takes place in a Catholic Church, we truly pray before the Risen Christ substantially and really present in the Sacrament reserved in the Tabernacle.
These core Catholic convictions and their architectural ramifications have recently been reaffirmed by many Bishops in the United States. As bishop of this Diocese, I am also convinced that where we place the Tabernacle -- and how we ritually reverence the Reserved Sacrament -- is as important for the continuing Eucharistic catechesis as is all our preaching and teaching. [What he means here is: the placement of the Tabernacle and how we treat it says something about us as individuals, a parish, and what we believe in teach in relation to the True Presence in the Eucharist. Actions speak louder than words.] With Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament at the physical center of our places of worship, how can He not also more firmly become the center of our spiritual lives as well?
After consultation with my Presbyteral Council, [In other words this isn't simply the Charism or Catechsis of one man and his idea.] I am therefore asking that those few parish churches and chapels where the tabernacle is not in the direct center at the back of the sanctuary, that these spaces be redesigned in such a way that the Reserved Sacrament would be placed at the center. In some cases, this change can be easily achieved, but given financial and design restraints, plans for redesign may be submitted to the Office of Divine Worship at any time during the next five years. Monastic communities whose chapels are open to the faithful as
semi-public oratories may also request a dispensation from this general regulation according to the norms of their particular liturgical tradition. There may also be some very tiny chapels where a change could be impossible. These requests should be submitted in writing to my office.
I would also like to remind everyone in our Diocese that at Mass, in accord with the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the Tabernacle should only be reverenced at the beginning and end of the liturgy or when the Sacrament is being taken from or returned to the Tabernacle. At all other moments and movements in the liturgy it is the Altar of Sacrifice that is to be reverenced.
It is my conviction that Eucharistic Liturgy and Eucharistic devotion are never in competition but rather inform and strengthen our shared worship and reverence. May all in our Diocese grow in greater love and appreciation of the gift of the Eucharist.


Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C.
BISHOP OF PEORIA

This concept, this letter, this idea is very important to think about. Where else should the Tabernacle be? What does it matter where it is or how we treat it?

Let me explain my theory of the "House of Cards" as it relates to customs/traditions/rituals/beliefs/rubrics in our faith and the importance of following them. I will do this by showing how ignoring a small thing in one area can lead to big implications somewhere else.

What is the  first thing you see when you walk into a Church where the Tabernacle is not in the center? Maybe the Crucifix. So then where do you genuflect? Towards the Crucifix or towards the Tabernacle? Why do you genuflect? Let's say the Tabernacle is off to the side, and you genuflect anyways towards the Cross or the Altar? What does this say about your belief in the True Presence and the Eucharist? Now, what do you do before the reception of Communion? Do you bow or kneel? Why do you do this? What about AT reception? Do you take in your hand or mouth? Kneeling or standing? Again, why do you do what you do?

So you see, our posture in one instance bleeds into another. Sure moving the Tabernacle towards the center of the Church doesn't fix this automatically but it offers the opportunity at proper Catechesis. It allows the priest to explain WHY we do what we do, and what our focus should be - The True Presence of Christ.

This is true for other things as well. There MUST be a CONTINUITY in what we do in relation to the Rubrics of the Mass and the Catechism of our Liturgical Faith. We cannot pick and choose what we believe or do, simply because some appeal to us while others don't. On top of that, we must be INTENTIONAL  about why and what we do in relation to the important rituals and functions of our Faith. Bishop Jenky calls these things "Architectural Ramifications."

L.A. gets their MAN... Abp. Gomez.

Archbishop Jose Gomez will be the Coadjutor of L.A. becoming Archbishop as the successor to Archbishop Mahony.

I know a lot of Catholic news sites had this up so I found that Erin Manning over at "And Sometimes Tea.." has a great round up. So go there for more information. It is a pretty big story, and although I hate simply re-linking to other blogs this is a big enough story to do simply that.

This is a huge statement... and a lot is said by this move. The fact that Abp. Mahony is notorious for what has occured in his Archdiocese over the years is one thing. But to then replace him by an Opus Dei trained priest? I don't think there is really a bigger "Actions speak louder than words" statement that could have been made in this situation.

Remember this link as you read the stories:
Liturgy + Heresy = Liturgesy?

Archbishop Chaput urges Catholics: 'Fight Satan'

A recent article from CNA regarding a talk and Q&A session by Abp. Chaput of Denver [He is one of my favorite American Catholic Priests]:

My emphasis in bold, my comentary in red:

Rome, Italy, Jan 28, 2010 / 04:28 am (CNA).- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver followed his keynote address to the Emmanuel Community of Rome's conference on "Priests and Laity in the Mission" with a short reflection on the "disappointing times" he is experiencing.  He also elaborated on a major theme of his talk—the reality of Satan and the importance of "spiritual combat."

Just before launching into a question and answer session, Archbishop Chaput gave a reflection on his years as a bishop to stimulate discussion, saying, "I thought that after 20 years more of my life things would change and things would be a lot better but I don't think they are.

"I think we live in disappointing times, in times of confusion, and in some ways that is the result of our failure to understand that we have an enemy in the Devil, but also we have enemies in the world around us." [One of my favorite sayings is: The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world that he did not exist.]

He pointed to a "great talk" from an American Protestant pastor he once heard which was titled "We preach as though we don't have enemies," and reflected that this sentiment "is true in the United States... .”

"I think it's important to understand the we are in a battle, we really do live in a time of spiritual combat and I think we've lost that sense of the Church," Archbishop Chaput stated. [I wish I could just turn my blog over to Abp. Chaput, I think this is the most critical thing we face in this country as both Catholics and Americans.]

He continued with a comparison of the temptation we face to be like "everyone else" like the Israelites from the Old Testament wishing for a king like the other nations.  They wanted a king ... they got Saul and he was a good man, and then he became a politician and he lost his faith.  We're just like that."

"In America, we don't want to be different than our Protestant brothers and sisters, or the secular forces around us.  And, I think that's the great danger of our time, we don't love God enough and we don't enter into combat with the enemy enough and we need to recommit ourselves to doing that," the Archbishop of Denver urged.

During his keynote address, Archbishop Chaput had also referred to the importance of recognizing that evil exists and that "Satan is real." [!!!!!!!!!! Finally !!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Responding later to a question from CNA about where he sees the Devil's presence in society, the archbishop said, "Well, one of the most obvious things in the United States is internet pornography which is pervasive, and subtle, and attractive and totally destructive of peoples' lives and there's very little talk about fighting it. 

"If you talk about fighting pornography in the media you're somehow seen as anti-American, anti-freedom of speech. ... things that are so obviously destructive to society..." he said.

The archbishop also named divorce and the changing definition of marriage as places where Satan is holding sway. 

"All of the statistical studies show us that a stable relationship between a man and a wife for the sake of children is what produces good, healthy human beings and you can't say that today without being branded as somehow on the opposite side of freedom and truth," Archbishop Chaput explained.

"So, those kind of basic human values, the value of chastity and the value of family life are popularly seen as 'old fashioned' because of the lies, because of the deceptions of the Evil One. Even Catholics are afraid of standing up for the truth because we're afraid of being branded 'old-fashioned.'"[Our entire mindset about life and culture are warped by this destruction of the idea of the family and its values.]

When asked whether there are any successes in the fight today, the archbishop responded, "I think we're doing a lot of very good things and doing well in terms of fighting but in terms of winning the battles, we're not winning many of those cultural battles in terms of the formal direction of society.

"But," he added, "every time an individual is converted the battle has been won in a huge kind of way, because we're not saved as a group. We're saved as individuals and what pleases the enemy of God, Satan, is that individuals are not being faithful to their identity as children of God. 

"So, I think every time there's a conversion, every time one of us turns from our sins there is a victory in the battle,” he remarked.

Archbishop Chaput concluded, "There are lots of victories, so I don't think we measure our success in terms of swaying whole segments of society, but it's convincing individuals to give themselves faithfully to the call of God in their lives."

Ok, obviously this article makes me squeal with both glee and despair. It makes me happy because it is soooo central to my message and mission with this blog. It saddens me because of the obvious problem that it addresses - the battle against evil in our world and lives, which appears to be going poorly in the eyes of the Archbishop - at least on some fronts.

I think this article should be a wake-up call to American Catholics. We cannot sit idly by anymore. We must each pick up our "swords" and storm into battle. If you are a father who doesn't go to Church - go. You don't have to necessarily be smarter than the Pope, just go. If you are a mother who allows their children to do things or participate in things that are contrary to the teaching of the church - stop, be willing to be unpopular for the sake of the souls of your children. 

I am sure all of us can think of ways that we can fight this battle. The first step for many might simply be accepting that evil is real and that we are in a battle. From there, the determination must be made on an indiviudal basis as to how we can best fight this battle. This often takes an examination of your soul and your life to find ways in which we are being deceived, tricked and lied to by the ultimate deceiver: Satan. Once we admit and accept that we fall prey to such trickery we can then defend ourselves and fight back. The easiest and best ways to do so are: confession, Mass, and Adoration. Our weapons are Rosaries, Liturgy of the Hours, Holy Water, and Prayer. 

So why not say a Rosary tonight? Why not say the St. Michael prayer after Mass? Why not pick up your sword and "...take the Kingdom of Heaven by force?!"


Original:
Denver archbishop urges Catholics to fight Satan :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Other blogs commentary:
Intentional Disciples: Intercessory Prayer and Spiritual Combat

-Posted by: Joe