Raw sewage

Austin Ruse titles it The Fetid Sea in Which They Swim.

Ruse documents and brings to light what he calls the gaying of the Church which the McCarrick scandal has now made more 'believable' if you will.  I say it that way since powerful voices, like McCarrick and Fr. Martin have always dismissed as homophobia any report that the sexual abuse scandals were homosexual in nature.  I myself have been strongly criticized whenever I wrote about the inappropriate lgbtq outreach conducted by some parishes, including participation in gay pride events, and so on.

Now we are forced to look at the raw sewage that has risen to the top of an already polluted sea of immorality and corruption - something Laudato si never touched upon.

Cardinal McCarrick’s crimes are at least something of a gift since no one can claim this was merely pedophilia. It was homosexual predation like practically all the others.

If you wonder how a Prince of the Church spent decades sexually assaulting boys and young men not only with impunity but with high honors and acclaim, look no further than this gaying of the Church. An authority on that is one Joseph Sciambra who has painstakingly chronicled this fetid sea in which the likes of Cardinal McCarrick swim.

When he was just beginning his gay life many years ago, Sciambra went to Catholic priests who did not try to dissuade him but rather confirmed him in his disordered desires. This helped to set Sciambra on years of sexual degradation. Nothing has changed since those days. In fact, according to Sciambra, they have gotten worse. There are now priests openly promoting the gay lifestyle, usually under the guise of gay-friendly outreach at the parish level. - Crisis

I'm not a Crisis subscriber, but Austin Ruse's article lays it out quite bluntly.  It's literally sickening to read, and I am amazed at how Church leaders have deceived and manipulated Catholics over the decades.  It doesn't shake my faith - because my faith is in Christ, but it makes me sad to have lost respect for that segment of clergy who have taken advantage of ordinary Catholics.


Everyone must admit that the real problem of clergy sexual abuse ...


Fr. Regis Scanlon makes a great contribution to the discussion in his article, Clergy Abuse: We finally know the  problem ...

...[N]ow that everyone must admit that the real problem of clergy sexual abuse is homosexuality and has witnessed the impotency of the Church’s past regulation concerning homosexuals entering seminaries and religious life, the Church must up date the past regulations regarding these matters.

According to the Congregation for Catholic Education’s Nov. 2005 Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called “gay culture.”

This directive is good but it does not go far enough. Ruling out “deep seated homosexual tendencies” is not sufficient to protect our young men from clergy sexual abuse. The past epidemic of clergy homosexual predation on the young is evidence of this. 

A person’s sexuality lies at the center of their identity and is, therefore, always “deeply” related to the person. So, in reality, there is really no such thing as a “shallow seated homosexual tendency” or a so-called slight homosexual tendency or one not so “deeply seated.” Every homosexual tendency is “deeply seated’ and a danger to the young. Even though a priest may think that he has overcome not so “deeply seated homosexual past tendencies, “these tendencies can be fanned into flames in an instant when a priest and young man are together in a private and secluded place, like a confessional, discussing the young man’s problems with masturbation or some other sexual difficulty. 

Is it really necessary to put these young men at risk just to satisfy the politically correct notion that we must consider homosexuals for the priesthood for the sake of justice? - Fr. Scanlon

It seems to me the reason these instruction have never been followed is because many of the clergy/hierarchy are homosexual or have friends and colleagues who are, while religious houses and oratories have been established as 'safe havens' for them - in some cases to ostensibly 'minister' to the fallen and 'rehabilitate them'.  One can't deny Christ may be present and inspired these apostolates, but there is a tendency to 'cover' for those who abused their position of 'power' and/or lived double lives.  The subject is too complicated to get into here.

Is it really necessary to put the faithful at risk by making these men bishops and cardinals?

Finally, I want to mention Magister's article, McCarrick and His Proteges.

It's truly creepy to think a Cardinal came through the Legion under Maciel and then became a close protege of McCarrick and climbed the ladder to Cardinal, and he never knew anything about their homosexual proclivities much less their sexual antics?

After leaving the Legion, Farrell was incardinated as a priest of the archdiocese of Washington. And at the end of 2001 he became auxiliary bishop there, when McCarrick had been archbishop for a year.

McCarrick’s promotion as archbishop of the capital of the United States - at the summit of an ascent that had seen him become auxiliary of New York, then bishop of Metuchen, and then archbishop of Newark - had already prompted serious objections back then, motivated precisely by what had already leaked out about his insatiable sexual practices. The objections made it all the way to Rome. But the appointment moved forward all the same, and the following year McCarrick was also made a cardinal.

But the appointment of the Irishman Farrell as his auxiliary caused astonishment too. His previous militancy among the Legionaries of Christ was certainly not set down in his favor, seeing what was starting to leak out about the double life of its founder, Maciel, and about the complicity or the culpable silence of many around him. But by this time McCarrick was a force to be reckoned with, in the upper echelon of the American hierarchy and not only there. He wanted Farrell there with him and he got him, ordaining him bishop personally. And he also wanted him to live in the same apartment with him in Washington, not in the bishop’s residence but on the fourth floor of a former orphanage, conveniently renovated. Once again, it appears implausible that Farrell knew nothing about the ongoing casual sexual adventures of his patron. - Sandro Magister

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

It smells and looks raw sewage to me - polluting the waters which should be flowing out of the Church to refresh and give life to every sort of living creature?  Laudato si almost seems a very bad irony in contrast.

The oceans are the common heritage of the human family. Only with a deep sense of humility, wonder and gratitude can we rightly speak of the ocean as “ours”. To care for this common inheritance necessarily involves rejecting cynical or indifferent ways of acting. We cannot pretend to ignore the problems of ocean pollution resulting, for example, from plastic and micro-plastics that enter the food chain and cause grave consequences for the health of marine and human life. Nor can we remain indifferent before the loss of coral reefs, essential places for the survival of marine biodiversity and the health of the oceans, as we witness a marvellous marine world being transformed into an underwater cemetery, bereft of colour and life (cf. Laudato Si’, 41).

Blood and water flowing from the side of Christ

I trust in you.

Song for this post here.

The Feast of Our Lady of the Angels of the Porziuncola

Preaching on the Sacred Pardon.

"St. Francis loved this place above all others; this place he commanded his brothers to venerate with a special reverence; this place he willed to be preserved as a model of humility and highest poverty for their order, reserving the ownership of it to others, and keeping only the use of it for himself and his brothers."

In thanksgiving for the intercession and patronage 

of St. Francis and the Sacred Pardon of Assisi.

Prayer of St. Francis to Our Lady

Hail, O Lady, Holy Queen,
Mary, holy Mother of God:
you are the Virgin made Church
chosen by the most Holy Father in heaven
whom He consecrated with His most holy beloved Son
and with the Holy Spirit the Paraclete,
in whom there was and is all fullness of grace and every good.

Hail His Palace!
Hail His Tabernacle!
Hail His Dwelling!
Hail His Robe!
Hail His Servant!
Hail His Mother!

And hail all you holy virtues
Which are poured into the hearts of the faithful
through the grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit,
that from being unbelievers,
you may make them faithful to God. Amen.

Ralph Martin's Letter to Troubled Catholics

Ralph Martin gets it.

I remember Ralph Martin from a prophecy he received in 1975 regarding the coming purification of the Church, given at St. Peter's the Monday after Pentecost:

“Because I love you, I want to show you what I am doing in the world today. I want to prepare you for what is to come. Days of darkness are coming on the world, days of tribulation....Buildings that are now standing will not be standing. Supports that are there for my people now will not be there. I want you to be prepared, my people, to know only me and to cleave to me and to have me in a way deeper than ever before. I will lead you into the desert...I will strip you of everything that you are depending on now, so you depend just on me. - Read more here.

Ralph Martin's prophecy fits hand in glove with the prophetic view of the Church made by Ratzinger as a young priest, long before he was a cardinal or pope:

“The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.

She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes…she will lose many of her social privileges…. As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members…." - Ratzinger

Unfortunately, the rot is wide and deep...

I came across Ralph Martin's recent letter on FB this morning.  He looks the problem straight in the eye.

The Archbishop McCarrick case may prove to be the "straw that broke the camel's back." It may make the bureaucratic, carefully worded, evasive statements that have come from our leaders finally address sin and repentance, instead of the mere policies and processes they typically focus on. Could it be-finally-that the revelation of the long-term sexual harassment of seminarians and priests that never stopped Archbishop McCarrick's rise in the hierarchy will be so totally repugnant that real repentance may actually start to happen? I have never prayed more for the pope and our leaders than I have in the last several years, and we all must continue to do so. More about that later.

Unfortunately, the Archbishop McCarrick case is certainly only the "tip of the iceberg." The cumulative effect of revelation after revelation of immorality in high places is devastating. First, a number of years ago, a cardinal from Austria was forced to resign over homosexual activity; then, more recently, a cardinal from Scotland resigned over sexual harassment of seminarians and priests; and then the archbishop of Guam underwent a canonical trial in Rome over the sexual abuse of minors; and now cardinals in Chile (one of whom is on the pope's Council of Cardinals that oversees reform) are under heavy suspicion for covering up homosexual abuse in their country. In fact, the whole bishops' conference of Chile, acknowledging complicity in not taking seriously reports of a bishop's cover up of sexual abuse, recently gave their resignations to the pope, and he has so far accepted several of them. The pope himself at first stubbornly backed the appointment of this bishop and dismissed the victims' pleas as "calumny" and "gossip." And before we could absorb this news, there was news of an archbishop in Australia getting a prison sentence for covering up abuse on the part of a priest. And just today, as I am writing this, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered the release of a grand jury report implicating more than 300 "predator priests" in six of the eight Pennsylvania dioceses involved in the sexual abuse of minors over many years.

Unfortunately, the rot is wide and deep and years of covering up abuse (and the concomitant reluctance to really preach the Gospel and call people to faith and repentance) and its ultimate exposure have injured the faith of millions. How shocking and tragic was it to see tens of thousands of Irish people in the streets of Dublin wildly celebrating that they could now legally kill babies!!!! Just when the Irish bishops needed to speak most strongly on fundamental moral issues, their credibility was destroyed when it was finally exposed that they had covered up abuse for decades. Satan is indeed like that wild boar Scripture talks about that rampages though the vineyard of the Lord because the hedges of protection have been destroyed (Ps 80:12-13). The corruption, ineptitude, and cowardice runs wide and deep, and its effects on the eternal salvation of millions, and the destiny of nations, is devastating. - Finish reading here.

Cracked-pots.

Ralph Martin points out this is not the first time the Church has faced such a crisis of decadence and corruption, he cites the Dialogue of Catherine of Siena, I would also mention St. Peter Damien's efforts and influence at the beginning of the Second Millennium - c1049 - to cleanse the Church of the epidemic of sodomy among the clergy.  None of these, nor the prayers of those who cry out to heaven for justice were ever accused of self-righteous Pharisaism, condemning the sinner while justifying themselves in the process.  Corruption and decadence is a deadly rot which destroys souls.  It is not limited to progressives and liberals, it infects conservative as well as traditionalists alike.

Of course we need to repent and do penance with the entire Church, no doubt about that.  I recall a traditionalist blogger once expressed suspicion over my writing because I always wrote about penance and our need to do penance - that is still my style.  She thought it odd, even questionable, apparently thinking I was a crack-pot blogger.  Though she was right about that.  But the time of penance is here, more important than ever.  Though priest and prophet forage in a land they know not, we can sit alone and in silence, praying and hoping in the Lord, encouraging one another as we ought to do.

The Church is going through a radical purification under the chastising hand of God.

Ralph Martin includes very good advice in his Letter, advice we can all follow and remain steadfast in the Lord:

We need to go about our daily lives, trying to live each day in a way pleasing to God, loving Him and loving our neighbor, including the neighbor in our own families. We need to look to ourselves, lest we fall.

We need to remember that even though we have this treasure in earthen vessels (or as some translations put it, "cracked pots"), the treasure is no less the treasure. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater! Baby Jesus is the treasure, and He is still as present as ever and still as ready to receive all who come to Him. And the Mass! Every day, He is willing to come to us in such a special way. Let's attend daily Mass even more frequently, to offer the sacrifice of Jesus' death and resurrection to God the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of souls and the purification of the Church.

We need to remember that the Catholic Church is indeed founded by Christ and, despite all problems, has within it the fullness of the means of salvation. Where else can we go? Nowhere; this is indeed our Mother and Home, and she needs our love, our prayers, and our persevering in the way of holiness more than ever.

We need to remember that there are many truly holy and dedicated bishops and priests, and we must pray for them and support them. They need and deserve our support. - R. Martin

So evidently the McCarrick sex-capades were our fault?

What about the rest of what?  

I haven't logged into my Tumblr yet so I couldn't leave a comment on a friend's site after he posted a Crisis article asking, "What about the rest of it?" Pretty much indicting the entire Catholic world for allowing McCarrick to slip by unnoticed.  There's an element of truth to the article, which almost sounds like someone on his high horse blaming the victims - that is, the 'faithful' for being scandalized and betrayed by hypocrisy and cover-up by members of the hierarchy - each a 'vicar of Christ' in his own vocation to 'serve the servants of God'.  Like it's our fault?  I hate it when people make those claims, like, 'you get the priests/bishops you deserve.'  Truth be told, we do not deserve anything or anyone.

Of course we are all guilty of sin, serious sins.  We tolerate or even laugh at all sorts of sin in our daily lives.  The culture feeds on it, as well as promotes it for profit.  As John of the Cross tells us:

"Where does this poisonous harm fail to reach? And who fails to drink little or much from the golden chalice of the Babylonian woman of the Apocalypse? ...There is hardly anyone of high rank or low, saint or sinner, who does not drink of her wine, subjecting his heart somewhat. For as pointed out in Revelation 17:2-4, all the kings of the earth were inebriated with the wine of her prostitution. She reaches out to all states, even the supreme and illustrious state of the priesthood, by setting her abominable cup in the holy place, as Daniel asserts [Dn. 9:27], and she hardly leaves a strong man who has not drunk a small or large quantity of wine from her chalice..." - John of the Cross, Ascent III, 22:4

So yeah, we know that and we are reminding of it when we look at the corruption in the Church and the world - be it politics or entertainment.    But don't blame Catholics for the crimes and double standards of Church leaders, priests and bishops, who take their money and support and live lavish lives of self indulgence while creating burdens for the rest of sinful humanity too heavy to carry.  Don't shame the rest of sinful humanity because the white-wash has eroded from the facades of their whited sepulchers.

Perhaps the best thing about these scandals is that it brings us to our knees to examine our own conscience.  However, when discussing the scandal, which has been festering below the collective conscience all along, one is not simply looking at or pointing out other people's sins.  This is about corruption, false teaching, hypocrisy, and injustice.  It is about evil and diabolic delusion.  It's not about human weakness and other people's sins.

Get it through your head, get it into your heart.  This is a great evil.  Quit trying to silence or guilt others - let this all explode and make a mess.  No one can feel self-righteous in exposing this type of wicked deception which leads souls astray.  Bishops and priests like McCarrick go to the ends of the world to make one convert and make him twice as fit for hell as they are.  God's mercy is so great, he can and will forgive their sin if they repent, but what about those they corrupted and whose faith they abused, to the point they left the Church?  Will they be saved?

Stop trying to guilt Catholics for the sins of their fathers.

Blessed Solanus, Simplex Priest

Fr. Solanus, pray for us.

July 31 - anniversary of his death.

I forgot yesterday was his feast day, I thought today was, being the anniversary of his death in 1957.  Naturally he couldn't take St. Ignatius' day.

I like that he was a simplex priest.  Too bad they did away with that.  A simplex priest is so designated because the bishop or religious superiors do not grant faculties to hear confessions or preach.  (Perhaps they should consider restoring the designation.)

Anyway, I think the secret to Fr. Solanus' sanctity is that he really believed in the Gospel, in all that the Church teaches, and he especially believed in the Eucharist.  I think his simplicity and humility was absolutely genuine, that he was absolutely devoid of self-interest, his devotion sincere, which permitted his confidence and love to overflow to others.  He really and truly believed.  He did not have to preach - his example of an authentic religious life was a sermon in itself.  His outreach to laity, his counsel was as close to the sacrament of reconciliation one could get outside the confessional.  He directed souls to the sacraments and encouraged faith in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass - in and through participation in the Seraphic Mass Association.  He had faith, living faith in the sacraments and Holy Mass.

His is a very simple way of holiness.  No church-jokes, no silliness at the pulpit to make Mass fun.  No socialite fund-raisers, or those fund-raising events and drives offering compensation for the participants, such as wine tasting and silent auctions for resorts and lavish dinners and banquets.  Fr. Solanus was available - to all.  He listened, he offered counsel, prayer, and Masses.

Fr. Solanus was a really simple 'guy' who knew what his vocation was all about.  He was so holy because he loved Our Lady.  Really, truly loved her.  He read Ven. Maria Agreda's Life of the Blessed Virgin on his knees.  He prayed the Little Office and the regular Office.  He prayed the rosary - many rosaries.  Never seeking notice or calling attention to himself ... his was a hidden, ordinary life.  The faithful, the poor, the little, all flocked to him.  He never had to advertise.

Faith.  Holy faith.  He believed and rejoiced in the faith, his life a living Eucharist of praise and thanksgiving - thanks be to God!

Thank you Bl. Solanus.

Well, this made me laugh ...

Wearing really tight scapular, Register's Dan Burke says the McCarrick

story just means that humans are broken.

"If it makes you sick watch EWTN."

Canon 212 

Well it was amusing.

Frank Walker is kind of a hero for me now days.  His copy is rather brilliant: "Wearing really tight scapular ..."  LOL!

Even the bishops get a kick out of Walker's editorials.

They laugh and laugh and laugh.

What did Bella Dodd know and do and what did she really tell Bishop Sheen?

Responsible for 1,200 vocations to the priesthood.

I don't know?  Do you?

But if, as people like Alice von Hildebrand and Michael Voris claim, and if the stories Dodd told Congress are true, where are the names of the infiltrators?

Dodd testified before the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). She said: "In the 1930s we put eleven hundred men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”. 

Dodd told Alice von Hildebrand that:

“When she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party]”(Christian Order magazine, “The Church in Crisis”, reprinted from The Latin Mass magazine).

Dodd made a public affidavit which was witnessed by a number of people, including Paul and Johnine Leininger. 

In her public affidavit, among other things, Dodd stated:

“In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the [Roman] Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in [Roman] Catholic seminaries”.

von Hildebrand confirmed that Dodd had publicly stated the same things to which she attested in her public affidavit. - Wiki

Yeah.  So?

Dodd claims she herself put 1,200 men in seminary.  She claims no fewer than four Cardinals in the Vatican were working for the Communist party.  Who were they?  What were their names?  Why wasn't some investigation into these 'facts' ever made?  Why weren't these infiltrators questioned and exposed?

No one asked Bella for names of the seminarians?  She simply testified and everyone believed her?  She personally fostered 1,200 vocations to the priesthood?

Now supposedly Sheen wouldn't allow her to reveal the names of the Vatican Cardinals, but others have attempted to speculate, one example here.  I thinks it's crap.

That said, we now know some type of pinkos infiltrated seminaries and the College of Cardinals, but they don't appear to be Communist operatives.  The big difference here is that now we are learning their names.

What?

Masons can't be Communists, right?  Left?

Have a nice day!

Something too important to forget ...

Anto Carte

Just a couple of follow-up thoughts...

I personally believe that what we have come to know about the McCarrick scandal is more than a sex scandal or a #metoo scandal - it is about the corruption of clerical culture - clericalism - especially as it concerns Catholic teaching on homosexuality.

I cannot possibly understand the 'lifestyle' of men like McCarrick without believing that priests and Catholic leaders who do these things, or cover up these abuses, no longer believe that homosexual acts are gravely sinful and that homosexuality is a condition which is objectively disordered.  In other words, they believe it is not sinful to desire another man for sex or romantic love - just as long as you don't act on it.  I'm not talking about temptation - I'm talking about the more or less predatory sexual inclination connected to lust.  Forgive me if it sounds as if I'm saying the inclination itself is sinful - it is not, and the Church doesn't teach that.

Moving along.

The tolerance of a homosexual culture - call it ssa or gay - in religious life and priesthood seems to me to be a culturally based rejection of the notion that homosexuality is an objective disorder.  In other words, gay is equal to natural heterosexual love between a man and a woman.  (Which even in an adulterous relationship is objectively ordered towards procreation.  Which pretty much means artificial contraception is objectively disordered, as is sodomy for sexual pleasure as an end in itself in a hetero situation.  I think that's right - someone will correct me if I got it wrong.)

That said, Anthony Esolen actually made a good point on a Joseph Sciambra post in connection to the McCarrick scandal:

The McCarrick business is not, as I see it, mainly about the harassment of the seminarian. It is about the WHOLE life that McCarrick has led, a life of subterfuge, hypocrisy, and sexual disorder. It is no surprise that he was one of the signers of the infamous Land O' Lakes statement way back in 1967. We should also, I think, be aware that people like McCarrick may not necessarily believe that they have violated their vows of chastity ... They set up casuistic categories. So long as you don't do X, but only do Y, you're in the clear....

Esolen points to the real problem which has been exposed in the McCarrick debacle as being a life of subterfuge, hypocrisy, and sexual disorder.  Fair enough, but it is enabled in and through through clericalism - which is corrupt.  Pope Francis consistently warns against it and has himself even fallen victim to it, as he admitted in the Chilean abuse case.

Nevertheless, this is the point I believe to be very key in the comment made by Esolen: . "We should also, I think, be aware that people like McCarrick may not necessarily believe that they have violated their vows of chastity ... They set up casuistic categories. So long as you don't do X, but only do Y, you're in the clear...." This is getting close to the heart of what is wrong when it comes to interpreting Catholic teaching on homosexuality as an 'objective disorder."

Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. - CDF

Living the lie.

Many in the Church no longer believe that. Esolen points out that many may not think they are violating any vows if they give themselves some leeway - for instance, hug or cuddle or kiss - so long as the do not commit 'complete abuse'. That used to be the criteria for mortal sin when I was in 8th grade, essentially it meant not touching or fondling yourself to the point of ejaculation. The same principle applies in the McCarrick case - maybe - I have no proof. But some people believe you can cuddle, hug, kiss, etc. so long as there is no penetration or ejaculation. This is important to point out, especially for those who think same sex friendship can allow for that sort of intimacy without committing sin.

Accepting that, it means you can do anything gay so long as you don't commit a mortal sin. Then of course we have the theologians who tell us it is nearly impossible to commit a mortal sin if every factor is not present to constitute mortal sin and so on.  (Not to mention Fr. Martin's deal that there is no sin since some aren't able to 'receive' the teaching in the first place.)  Of course, if they go too far and do X, they go to confession and go back to the beach house the following weekend to do Y. (Willing themselves not to do X of course - it's a matter of the will.) This is very troubling because they clearly do not believe homosexual acts are gravely sinful, much less that homosexuality is objectively disordered in and of itself. That in turn is the attitude which  gives way to the approval of same sex monogamous unions. It's clericalism and corruption at its worst, because it is a lie.

No dispensations possible.

Anyway - I may be wrong, but I'm convinced the McCarrick case reveals not only clerical corruption, but the complete compromise of authentic Catholic moral teaching across the board.  It also demonstrates an institutional loss of the sense of grave sin - mortal sin.  That's the smoke of Satan.  It's not liturgical abuse or reform - traditional EF priests and Novus Ordo priests of a particular inclination all seem able to apply that 'mental reservation' as seen in the double lives of clerical abusers, which permits them to continue in ministry without guilt or shame.  That's the mystery of sin we are all prone to.  Nevertheless the watering down of doctrine and compromising moral theology, aids and abets our propensity to rationalize our behavior.

Since McCarrick's resignation many pundits online are calling for the names of those who enabled and promoted, as well as covered up McCarrick's sexual exploits.  Many want some sort of Mass resignation similar to the Chilean Bishops.  That's probably not going to help matters.  The current Honduran seminary scandal demonstrates that these things keep happening, and most likely will continue to do so.  Unless the Church and her ministers, as well as Catholic laity return to authentic Catholic teaching, nothing will change.
 
That about wraps it up for me.

Talk amongst yourselves.

It's all good.

Moving on...

Once again,

I've decided it doesn't matter what other people do or say, or what kind of accommodations they make with their consciences to make it through this earthly pilgrimage. I can't live their lives, and I can't tell them how to live their lives.

No matter what happens, what is said, what is done - the Church can never change her teachings. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am Christ's and Christ is mine...

"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me." - St. John of the Cross