Tuesday, November 13, 2012

This is stunning. Archbishop Vigano at Notre Dame.



Not that Vigano was at Notre Dame, but what he said there.

I came across it at WDTPRS:
(CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has told the University of Notre Dame that there is a concrete “menace” to religious liberty in the U.S. that is advancing in part because some influential Catholic public figures and university professors are allied with those opposed to Church teaching.

“Evidence is emerging which demonstrates that the threat to religious freedom is not solely a concern for non-democratic and totalitarian regimes,” he said. “Unfortunately it is surfacing with greater regularity in what many consider the great democracies of the world.”

He discussed martyrdom, persecution, and religious freedom, with a particular focus on the United States.
“There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted,” the nuncio said. - WDTPRS
 
I say it is stunning not because I fear persecution and martyrdom so much - if God grants me the grace! - but because the hierarchy is acknowledging the threat publicly.  Most of my life I've been dismissed when I would talk about persecution and martyrdom coming to the United States.  As a kid, the nuns said it would never happen here - and over the years religious people have pretty much dismissed the 'likelihood' in our lifetime. 

Art:  Martyrs of Gorcum.  Imagine - they were killed simply for their faith in the Blessed Sacrament and their fidelity to the Pope.  Not all of them were all that holy either...
One of the secular priests killed was notorious for his unchastity. When accused of this by his captors, he offered his famous reply, “Fornicator I always was, but heretic I never was.” - Source
 

3 comments:

  1. "the hierarchy is acknowledging the threat publicly."

    Which is rather like acknowledging the sun sets in the west. We're glad some have finally decided to walk up the hill to join the rest of us to watch as the world recedes from the light.

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  2. Attacks against the Church seem likely to become bolder, more vicious, and more frequent, on an escalating scale, and from ever more numerous quarters. The Enemy gathers his ranks. I have felt all my life like a storm is coming--the crumbling of Western culture like dark clouds on the horizon. We may have to suffer more than our vague uneasiness at being disregarded by American society when we speak up for Christ in public. Besides being in a state of grace, it is even more important to step up our efforts to be prayer warriors, evangelizers, and apologists--in other words, to be faithful, loving Catholics.

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  3. Hi Terry, I saw this huge painting at the Vatican Museum (is it the original painting?) and I am awed and speechless especially when I heard about the background of the secular priest.

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