Milwaukee has been afflicted with lots of horrible clerics in the recent past, and this weekend will not be an exception to the afflictions. We had Cdl. Rabbit-Hole here the other night, followed by Austin Ivereigh. Yes I know that Ivereigh's not a cleric, but the conjunction was interesting, no?
Anyhow.
Ivereigh's task is to spray enough perfumed whitewash into the air so that what is foul smells sweet and what is black is white. Yes, that's what Nietzsche talked about: the transvaluation of all values.
Here
he describes FrancisGoodness, or something.
As Francis put it just last week to some French priests in Rome: we
are in “a context in which the barque of the Church faces violent
headwinds as result of the serious failings of some of its members”. But
he went on to urge the priests to be pastors in the way of Jesus:
wounded, killed and risen, “called to witness to the strength of the
Resurrection in the wounds of this world.” Do not fear, he told them, to
look on the wounds of our Church, not in order to lament them but to be
led to where Christ is.
This is not easy to accept, because it involves a renunciation of our
own power in favor of the power of God’s mercy, precisely at the moment
when the fear of turmoil leads us to demand actions -- crusades and
investigation – as an outlet for our indignation and shame. Allowing
conversion to happen means being willing to suffer as a body, as Pope
Francis urged in his remarkable letter to the People of God the week
before the Dublin visit. This has been a difficult message to hear,
especially for people of wealth and power who are calling for a
“cleansing” led by self-proclaimed “faithful Catholics” who speak as if
the pope’s path of reform either didn’t exist, or needs replacing with
punitive, purgative methods. Theirs is the way of accusation of others.
Francis’s way, based on ancient spiritual wisdom, is the way of
self-accusation. The first blames and divides, and by undermining unity
of purpose, slows reform; the second creates the unity of purpose and
humility required for authentic reform.
Well, then. Apparently, we are to be 'converted' by blaming ourselves (and suffering, too!!) especially if we are wealthy and powerful, so that the "cleansing" will take place without any primitive purgation-stuff. (The non-wealthy and non-powerful can sit out this round, I guess.)
One suspects that Ivereigh wants us to recall the 'mote and beam' story of the Gospel.
Fine.
I'm a sinner.
Now that that's over with, let's get around to exactly how the 'way of mercy' will keep predatory priests and prelates from satiating their lust with teenaged boys or other homosexuals. (Remember, please, that these crimes and gross sins are very often 'habitual,' as opposed to 'one-off.') While you're at it, Austin, please demonstrate exactly how the 'way of mercy' will remedy the abuse of power utilized to promote Light-Loafered Fellows to influential positions--positions
so influential that money just seems to be available for multiple houses, servants, "cooks," and better-than-ordinary quarters in Rome.
We're waiting, Austin.
Hmmmm????
Later in his furious paint-and-perfume spraying, we read this:
...But [Francis] is also willing to fall silent, to allow the truth to emerge,
and in the course of it, to expose the spirits involved. This is not
passivity, or evasion, but the wisdom of one who has faith in God’s
methods of change, not ours. ...
It's been more than two YEARS of silence from Pp. Francis regarding the serious questions raised about Amoris Laetitia. In Germany and Sicily, the 'involved spirits' now allow sacramental communion for adulterous Catholics. Somehow, I don't think that's "God's method of change," but then, your mileage may vary, eh wot??
Ivereigh is also good with establishing the False Dichotomy. Surprised??
...how is the Holy Spirit asking us to change that we might evangelize in
this new context? Instead of seeing the spiritual forces at work in our
time, we have blamed secularization for our failure to evangelize.
Rather than offer the person of Jesus Christ, we have focussed on ethics
and ideas, and so end up offering truth at the expense of charity, or
charity at the expense of truth. Rather than a body of joyful believers
offering the transforming experience of Jesus’s relationship with the
Father of Love and Mercy, we become defensive dogmatists, or peddlers of
banalities. Rather than God’s holy faithful people, we become an
arrogant, often abusive, institution, or one that looks like a
benevolent charity rather than the source of truth. ...
Back in Philosophy 101 we learned that 'charity' and 'truth' are identical; there is never a division between them; thus,
being truthful (that is, relaying dogma)
is precisely being charitable.
This raises the question: to which church does Ivereigh belong?
There's plenty more at the link, folks. All easy pickin's. Have at it!!
