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| Archbishop Fulton Sheen |
According to ++Sheen, there would, inevitably be one or two priests in the audience
who would become agitated whenever the crucifixion or Christ's sacrifice for man or the issue of transubstantiation, (belief in the changing of the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Our Lord at the Consecration during Holy Mass) was mentioned. Often, the priest(s) concerned would start to heckle and agitate and (so the Archbishop predicted) would leave the retreat, and the Church within a few hours.Belief in transubstantiation is critical but how many priests and Bishops believe today?
Is this (if I am correct in my hypothesis) one of the main reasons for the falling away of holiness in the Church today? Does the overwhelming desire to make the liturgical experience and sacramental life as banal and as trivial as possible arise from the loss of belief in the Sacred Species?
It would be interesting to test this out. I believe that a rough poll count was taken in the early 80s and showed only 52% of parish priests believed. I cannot verify this, it is lost in antiquity but I have witnessed many post Vatican II priests who carry all the hallmarks of unbelief. By this I mean that they have a poor grasp of theological issues, appear slovenly and untidy in their dress and in the manner of carrying out their priestly duties, do not appear to actually work at anything other than celebrating two Masses on a Sunday and, in short, behave as if they were secular laymen rather than 'other Christs'.
Is this the reason why objections to the re-establishement of the EF Mass are so strong? Does this account for the lack of spine in our Bishops in standing up for the faith? We only have to look at a few of the issues facing the British Catholic Church in the past 12 months to find an answer. Adoption by homosexuals, homosexual Masses at Warwick Street, Sex education in Catholic Schools, celibacy of the clergy, women priests - the list goes on.
You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of Bishops who have stepped up to the mark on these and many other issues.
I am not claiming anything other than influence of the demonic but that is serious enough. The 'Judas' factor of one in twelve is perhaps not too far from the truth.
ADDENDUM: Further evidence has come, today from Fr Longenecker's blog Standing on my head
And even more from Stella Maris who carries a damning report on our Bishop!
I am sure you are right, though I have no idea of the number of priests involved. In England when I lived there, Transubstantiation had often become "our Lord is present in a very special way". In Southwark, we did not pray for the dead in November, but remembered them "in a very special way".
ReplyDeleteI think the purveyors of theological fog call it 'nuancing'.
I call it damnable. Sorry if I offend.
I think our priests and bishops obviously believe there has been a real change and I am puzzled why you would infer otherwise. You have a tendency to spread malicious information that I find demonic.
ReplyDeleteHow can it be that a priest can't believe in the Real Presence? What are they doing in the Catholic Church? They can choose another church more to their liking. If they don't believe it and stay they are worse than the other people that don't believe. Hypocrites.But yes, I start to believe that there are priests like that, priests of the demon, not of God. If they believed they would never do such things we now know some did.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is the demon in action.
PS: I think it would be better if comments here were moderated. You have the right to choose the comments you want to have in YOUR blog.
Sorry if I have caused offence Paul, but I certainly have no intention of spreading malicious information. Everything I stated here I have heard from a Priest's own mouth.
ReplyDeleteLet's remember that ++Nichols of Westminster spoke of the idea of mortal sin as "an unsuccessful attempt to motivate the faithful". Did he mean that there is in reality no mortal sin? If he was correctly reported (by Damian Thompson and others) and meant what he said, I would hold him responsible for the souls of those who take him at his word and as Luther said, sin strongly.
Left-Footer you do not offend, far from it. Not sure that Paul isn't talking about me however. Never thought of either of us as demonic, what does that make ++ Sheen?
ReplyDelete.said - I try hard not to moderate comments as long as they are not blasphemous or libelous. I feel that all criticism needs to be taken on board, even if it is unpalatable.
ReplyDeleteLeft-footer, One thing for sure my comment did not refer to you (far from it) I have been reading this blog for a while and I am not convinced that ".said" is what I think is a real person but some kind of false voice made up by someone.
ReplyDeleteI simply love to follow discussions like this one.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been following and enjoying your blog for a while now and would like to invite you to visit and perhaps follow me back. Sorry I took so long for the invitation.