Ok my reactionary lackeys and bishop henchmen– Today I order you to go read this entry at the Cleansing Fire blog. It’s about how dissidents that don’t have the stones to publically proclaim their dissent try to operate within the system to destroy it. It has a…wait a minute…why am I giving you an executive summary? You have your orders, now obey! [whip crack!] Do pay attention in particular to this:
Unless a clergyman or parish pledges allegiance to the Magisterium, you have to understand that they may very well be working for “change inside the system”. They have to be cryptic when doing so or they run the risk of being exposed and being faced with the above dilemma. This is why they shy from the light. Our bishop knows the game – he knows exactly how far he can go w/out explicitly endorsing views contrary to the Catholic Faith. Articles like his “All are beloved children of God” make it pretty clear where he stands.
This game that he describes is what I call Death-to-Sound-Doctrine-by-1,000-Plausibly-Deniable-Cuts. So you will get a priest that loudly speaks about compassion and avoiding descrimination against homosexuals, but never seems to get around to actually saying that homosexual acts are wrong and, as the Catechism puts it, “Under no circumstances can they be approved.” Instead, you will get a parish profile page that features testimonies from Frank and his “spouse” Richard talking about how they have found a wonderful parish home.
So, seeing as the faitful have a right to know if their leaders are authentic witnesses, I present my Three-point Inquisition. Whenever you think someone is playing a game of 3-card monte with Church teaching, ask them to affirm the following:
1. The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord.
2. Abortion, contraception, and homosexual acts are intrinsic and gravely wrong acts.
3. The Church has no authority to ordain women in the Sacrement of Holy Orders.
If you get silence, hemming and hawing, or “How dare you!?”, you can be reasonably certain that you have a candidate for my “enhanced catechesis” training camp. Don’t worry, I have trained my own men with the techniques used at the camp, so you know they must be morally acceptable. (Ok, that last bit was a semi-inside joke.)
That is all…for now. Now march! [cue music]
