Sensus Fidelium @Sensus_Fidelium Fr Ripperger’s dad, who had a life long devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, died last night on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at the age of 90. Please, in your charity, remember him in your prayers. His name was Charles Anthony Ripperger.
Eternal rest grant unto Charles oh Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he Rest In Peace.
Rest in peace, remembering him at mass tomorrow. He must have been a very good man to have had such a wonderful son.
It just occurred to me to ask, I have listened to numerous talks from Fr Ripperger but I never heard him mentioning any concerns he might have with current goings on in the Church?
He very indirectly alludes to things but doesn't talk about specific people. I think he is very careful not to speak badly of others, but he conveys a sense of urgency in his admonitions to learn the Truths of the Catholic faith...because confusion is descending upon the Church like a fog. He also mentions how the devil told him his power within the Church is about to be over.
I wouldn't criticise him for that. It's the same in our own Traditional Church, they know they will get wiped if they speak out. So they are perhaps being prudent in their silence. But this can only go on so long.
He preached a homily at Fr Heilman's Church about 4 months ago and said "things are very bad" and went on to say on the grace force podcast that given the actions of higher ups in the Church you would have to say it is intentional. Done with malice in order to destroy the Church.
I don't think it is only prudence and charity. They know they'll face the big chop if they speak their minds. It's a bit like the Netherlands during the Second World War when they had to be careful what they said about the Shoah of the Jews. A balance of harms. Churches being closed or keeping a discrete silence.
But there will come a point and it is fast approaching when they will have to speak out; when it would be sinful to stay silent .
I suppose even in the life of Jesus and Mary that there may have been times when silence may have been better than forcing an issue. Life is like that. There is a wonderful film about the Prophet Jeremiah ; at the start of his mission when the Holy Spirit pretty well picked the poor guy up and forced him to speak. HE certainly did not want to; he knew what it meant, but he was forced to:
Father knows how powerful social media is, he can touch many, many souls with his videos. They would shut him down in a heart if he wasn't careful. You are right though Padriag, the time is fast approaching when silence may no longer be an option.
There a documentary I heard recently about a Seminary in a Catholic Diocese in Drug Cartel controlled area of Mexico by BBC Radio 4. Many, many priests have been butchered and tortured by the drug barons in the area. Speaking out is a virtual death sentence. It is the same thing in Sicily in Italy with the Mafia. There are now only one third of the Seminarians in the Seminary because the young men know if they become priests there is a very ,very good chance they will be slaughtered. But still young men go forward for the priesthood knowing it may very well be a Death Sentence. Still they come. Wonderful , truly inspirational young men. The local Bishop walks a very,very difficult path. Where speaking out means an immediate death and keeping silence might mean going along with evil.
I think the Key Point in knowing when to speak out and when not to is the Holy Spirit in your own heart. He tells when to go forward and say your say. This is why lay people and our voice may be so important at the present moment because we are very often in a very good place to speak out when priests and Bishops may not. We risk little whereas many clergy may risk everything. Luke 12:11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,
I must say that I have been, up until this point been very much more impressed by the words and actions of my sisters and brothers layfolk in our present dreadful circumstance in the Church than I have of that of the Clergy. This may not come as a total surprise since as I recall when King Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church in England only one Catholic Bishop in the whole of England, St Thomas Fisher refused to conform, whereas many, many Catholic layfolk , laid down their very lives, often under great torture to do so.
I enjoy your clip, Padraig; it is from a movie I rate in the top 10. Superb acting and of course the story of a noble man who placed God before government!
I always recall from a bio of Saint Thomas Moore how he applauded the burning to death of Protestants in the Netherlands by the Church authorities there. The author claimed that his true growth to holiness came when he himself was imprisoned and faced death himself. It reminds me of the Protestant theologian and Pastor Dietrich Bonhoffer who was very holy before his imprisonment and death by the Nazis grew to his full light in the time , in prison before his execution.
