‘Confusion and error’ from Catholic leaders may be sign of end times: Cardinal Burke

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, August 8, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- “Confusion, division, and error” within the Catholic Church coming from “shepherds” even at the highest levels indicate that we “may be” in the end times, said U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke in an address in Kentucky.

The Cardinal, who spoke at the July 22 “Church Teaches Forum” in Louisville, said that, in his opinion, the times “realistically seem to be apocalyptic.”

“We are living in most troubled times in the world and also in the Church,” he said.

Burke, one of the Church’s leading canon law experts, outlined how evils now commonly accepted in the West’s “ravaged” culture have now managed to infiltrate the Church, passing from the shepherds to the sheep.


Cardinal Raymond Burke preaches during opening Mass of the 27th annual 'Church Teaches Forum' on July 20, 2017. Glenn Rutherford
“But, in a diabolical way, the confusion and error which has led human culture in the way of death and destruction has also entered into the Church, so that she draws near to the culture without seeming to know her own identity and mission, without seeming to have the clarity and the courage to announce the Gospel of Life and Divine Love to the radically secularized culture,” he said.

He cited as one example the recent remarks from the president of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who said that the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in Germany was not a major concern for the Church. Instead, Marx said that the Church should be more concerned about what he called intolerance towards persons suffering from same-sex attraction.

Silent shepherds
Burke, who is one of the four Cardinals who signed the dubia asking Pope Francis to clarify ambiguities in his teaching, said there are “many shepherds” who are no longer truly shepherding the faithful entrusted to them.

“For whatever reason, many shepherds are silent about the situation in which the Church finds herself or have abandoned the clarity of the Church’s teaching for the confusion and error which is wrongly thought to address more effectively the total collapse of Christian culture,” he said.

Burke said that one clear sign to him that the Church is “failing badly” in her mission is that she is no longer facing hostile attacks from secular media.

“Some time ago, a Cardinal in Rome commented on how good it is that the secular media are no longer attacking the Church, as they did so fiercely during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI,” he said. “My response was that the approval of the secular media is, on the contrary, for me a sign that the Church is failing badly in her clear and courageous witness to the world for the salvation of the world,” he added.

He specifically noted how secular media has pitted those who are being faithful to perennial Catholic teaching against Pope Francis and his “pastoral” agenda for the Church.

Cardinal Burke accused “secular voices” of promoting Pope Francis as a “reformer who is a revolutionary, that is, as one who undertakes the reform of the Church by breaking from the Tradition, the rule of the faith (regula fidei) and the corresponding rule of law (regula iuris).”

“Regarding the frequent statements of Pope Francis, there has developed a popular understanding that every statement of the Holy Father must be accepted as papal teaching or magisterium. The mass media has certainly wanted to pick and choose among the declarations of Pope Francis, in order to demonstrate that the Catholic Church is undergoing a revolution and is changing radically its teaching on certain key questions of faith and especially of morals,” he said.

 

(continued)
'Idolatry of the papacy'
The Cardinal noted how the Pope does not help the situation by regularly choosing to “speak in a colloquial manner, whether during interviews given on airplanes or to news outlets, or in spontaneous remarks to various groups.”

He said that Catholics seeking to remain true to Christ and the Church he founded must learn to discern between the “words of the man who is Pope and the words of the Pope as Vicar of Christ on earth.”

“Pope Francis has chosen to speak often in his first body, the body of the man who is Pope. In fact, even in documents which, in the past, have represented more solemn teaching, he states clearly that he is not offering magisterial teaching but his own thinking,” the Cardinal said.

“But those who are accustomed to a different manner of Papal speaking want to make his every statement somehow part of the Magisterium. To do so is contrary to reason and to what the Church has always understood. It is simply wrong and harmful to the Church to receive every declaration of the Holy Father as an expression of papal teaching or magisterium,” he added.

Burke has previously called the Pope’s controversial 2016 Amoris Laetitia “not an act of the magisterium” but a “personal reflection of the Pope.” The Apostolic Exhortation has been interpreted by various bishops and cardinals as allowing civilly-divorced-and-remarried Catholics living in adultery to receive Holy Communion. Such an interpretation contradicts previous Catholic teaching.

The Cardinal said that making the distinction between “words of the man who is Pope and the words of the Pope as Vicar of Christ on earth” is crucial for showing “ultimate respect” for the Petrine Office while staying true to the perennial teachings of the Catholic faith.

“Without the distinction, we would easily lose respect for the Papacy or be led to think that, if we do not agree with the personal opinions of the man who is Roman Pontiff, then we must break communion with the Church,” he said.

He warned Catholics about falling into an “idolatry of the papacy” where every word spoken by the Pope is treated as if it were doctrine, “even if it is construed to be contrary to the very word of Christ, for example, regarding the indissolubility of marriage.”

Any declaration of the Pope, said Burke, must be understood “within the context of the constant teaching and practice of the Church, lest confusion and division about the teaching and practice of the Church enter into her body to the great harm of souls and to the great harm of the evangelization of the world.”

“The faithful are not free to follow theological opinions which contradict the doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures and Sacred Tradition, and confirmed by the ordinary Magisterium, even if these opinions are finding a wide hearing in the Church and are not being corrected by the Church’s pastors as the pastors are obliged to do,” he added.

The Cardinal warned Catholics in anguish over the current situation within the Church against even thinking about schism, that is, separating themselves from the Catholic Church headed by the Pope in the hope of creating a better Church.

“There can be no place in our thinking or acting for schism which is always and everywhere wrong,” he said.

“Schism is the fruit of a worldly way of thinking, of thinking that the Church is in our hands, instead of in the hands of Christ. The Church in our time has great need of the purification of any kind of worldly thinking,” he added.

Overcoming the crisis
Burke laid out a number of practical ways Catholics striving to be faithful can respond to the current crisis within the Church. They must:

• Pray for an increase of faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ “Who is alive for us in the Church and Who never fails to teach sanctify and guide us in the Church” and whose “teaching does not change.”
• “Study more attentively the teachings of the faith contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and be prepared to defend those teachings against any falsehood which would erode the faith and thus the unity of the Church.”
• Gather together to “deepen their faith and to encourage one another.”
• Go to the Blessed Virgin Mary…in order to seek her maternal intercession.
• Invoke frequently throughout the day the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel
• Pray daily to St. Joseph, especially under the title of “Terror of Demons” for the “peace of the Church, for her protection against all forms of confusion and division which are always the work of Satan.”
• Pray for the Pope, especially through the intercession of St. Peter.
• Pray for the Cardinals of the Church that they be of “true assistance to the Holy Father in exercising his office.”
• “Remain serene because of our faith in Christ who will not permit the ‘gates of hell’ to prevail against his Church.”
• “Safeguard especially our faith in the Petrine Office and our love for the Successor of Saint Peter, Pope Francis.”

Cardinal Burke urged Catholics to not “worry whether these times are apocalyptic or not, but to remain faithful, generous and courageous in serving Christ in His Mystical Body, the Church.”

“For we know that the final chapter of the story of these times is already written. It is the story of the victory of Christ over sin and its most deadly fruit, eternal death,” he said.

“It remains for us to write, with Christ, the intervening chapters by our fidelity, courage, and generosity as His true co-workers, as true soldiers of Christ. It remains for us to be the good and faithful servants who await to open the door for the Master at His Coming,” he added.

Editor’s Note: Read Cardinal Burke’s full address here.

 

GOD BLESS CARDINAL BURKE!

 

What an absolutely amazing witness, what a courageous way of saying the truth without falling in papolatry or schismatic speech. Of course his enemies will now say that he is criticizing the pope. Thank you God for blessing us with this Cardinals!

 

Amen Carol!

 

That is a very brave, and practical speech.

 

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Thank you for posting this excellent article!

 

A modern-day Athanasius.

 

Double Amen!

 

Speaking of confusion from Catholic prelates...if homosexuality is preached as a gift from God it should be a good to act upon it...ufff...the devil is really at maximum strength levels within the Church

https://www.lifesitenews.com/mobile...exuality-you-cannot-say-its-an-option-...-but

Bishop Antônio Carlos Cruz Santos of Caicó, Brazil, said at a July 30 Mass that “when you look at homosexuality, you cannot say it’s an option,” Crux reported.

“If it is not a choice, if it is not a disease, in the perspective of faith it can only be a gift,” the bishop added.

“A gift from God. It’s given by God. But perhaps our prejudices do not get the gift of God.”

Cruz, who was appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 after serving in some of Brazil’s more notorious slums, said when slavery was legal, “they said we black people didn’t have a soul.”

“Just as we were able to leap, in the wisdom of the Gospel, and overcome slavery, is it not the time for us to leap, from a perspective of faith, and overcome prejudices against our brothers who experience same-sex attraction?” the bishop asked.

Cruz said he was disturbed after hearing a radio interview with a professor who documented high rates of suicide among transsexuals and transvestites.

 

Could this bishop not consider the possibility that the high rates of suicide referred to might, at least in some cases, be due to guilty consciences or mental illness?

Is he so sure that homosexuality is not a 'choice'?

Many people sin in many different ways. Can the bishop, in light of his homosexualist reasoning, seriously argue that these people have an option?

Some paedophiles claim that their tendencies are not of their own choice, that they can't help it. Is paedophilia also a gift?

Many transsexuals claim that their wishes to be of the opposite sex are based on complete acts of the will. There is conflict between those who claim that it is all down to one's will and the significant portion of the homosexual community who insist that they were 'born this way'. With whom would the bishop side?

The comparison with slavery is simply risible.

 

It does not concern me so much that our Bishops have headed off into outer space in many cases. This is a common place. What concerns me is that do so without getting their asses kicked into out space. Imagine the CEO of a large Company where executives go against company policy. How long would they last. Hours? A day? But in the Church at the moment every Bishop and Cardinal can say just whatever they please and are allowed to do so.

What does this say about our own , 'Board of Directors' and our CEO? Cardinals and Bishops are openly speaking in direct opposition to Catholic Doctrine and not a word against them. They should be excommunicated at once. A buisness company would sack them, a political party would toss them, even a golf club would show them the door. Even the Orthodox would slam the door in their faces.

Yet our Cardinals and Bishops can say whatever they like , whenever they like, however they like.

The bottom line is, if there is no Discipline in the Church there will be no Church. I take from this that those in the Vatican do not really know what they believe themselves. Since they no longer believe themselves how can they enforce Doctrine in others?

It is a mad house.



John 10:14

Jesus the Good Shepherd
…13The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, 15just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.…

 

To use an old phrase:

CONCUPISCENCE

Definition
Insubordination of man's desires to the dictates of reason, and the propensity of human nature to sin as a result of original sin. More commonly, it refers to the spontaneous movement of the sensitive appetites toward whatever the imagination portrays as pleasant and away from whatever it portrays as painful. However, concupiscence also includes the unruly desires of the will, such as pride, ambition, and envy. (Etym. Latin con-, thoroughly + cupere, to desire: concupiscentia, desire, greed, cupidity.)


Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil CONCUPISCENCE, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. ( Colossians 3:5-6 )

 

Thank God for people who can recognise the truth and spell it out simply and clearly.

But oh what a pass we are come too when lay people see it quite clearly and speak it quite openly when the shepherds dither, lost.

 

Those who abuse the flesh for sexual gratification and perversion are in great, great darkness. Their flesh burns with lust as a symbol of the hell they create for their bodies. They are idolaters of the worst kind since they worship human flesh rather than the Triune God.

Woe to sexual perverts.

 

Like a ship taking in water.

 

I am not he least bit depressed. The ship must sink.

But three days later...

 

I am not he least bit depressed. Irritated yes, depressed, no.

The ship must sink.

But three days later...

 

We have our Lady to guide us to the safe harbour of heaven