Behind the Smoke and Mirrors is a Coverup

From Father Charles Dahlby comes this scathing commentary on the crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States.



From Catholic Citizens:



"How is it possible that men who claim to stand 'in persona Christi' could be so evil and perverted, especially given what Jesus said about the judgment of those who harm 'His little ones'?



There is only one reasonable answer. They were trained to be Pharisees! They are 'churchmen', not Christians. They are religious but not holy! They put on a fine show but their concern is to appear religious before the world, not holy before God. Like all Pharisees they are beautiful, but 'empty tombs filled with corruption.' They control bishop's conferences and chancery offices and their main concerns are money and appearances.



Committees and programs cannot change this tragic state, only when God raises up saints and prophets will the faith truly be renewed. Until then every Roman Catholic must learn the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on true and false obedience and the lessons of history where we find that an entire national conference of bishops left the Church at one time. (With one exception, the martyr St. John Fisher!).



We must accept the fact that we cannot always trust our leadership. Many have proven unworthy of that trust and while they have every right to expect our love, they have no right to demand our trust. Trust must be earned! We have consolation and encouragement in the statements of Vatican II on the primacy of a properly formed conscience, and what properly forms that conscience is the teaching of Jesus Christ and the traditional faith known and taught for centuries! To trust anything else is to risk our eternal salvation on the dubious opinions of dissident theologians and television talk show hosts. All Catholics and especially priests must clearly understand that we 'work' for Jesus Christ and not a bishop.



The leadership of the Church seems to lack the humility to repent, but this sad situation gives the true Catholic an opportunity to purify his faith and renew his allegiance to "Christ and Him crucified". This is not the first time in history Catholics have had to choose between Christ and church leadership, but never between Christ and His true Church! The true Church is always pure and holy! But it has not always been well served by those who claim to speak in its name.