German Bishops “Trendsetters” in Protestantising Catholic Church…
From One Peter Five…
Cardinal Müller’s words…
“One group of German bishops, with their president [i.e., of the German Bishops’ Conference] in the lead, see themselves as trendsetters of the Catholic Church on the march into modernity. They consider the secularization and de-Christianization of Europe as an irreversible development. For this reason the New Evangelization—the program of John Paul II and Benedict XVI—is in their view a battle against the objective course of history, resembling Don Quixote’s battle against the windmills. They are seeking for the Church a niche where it can survive in peace. Therefore all the doctrines of the faith that are opposed to the “mainstream,” the societal consensus, must be reformed.
One consequence of this is the demand for Holy Communion even for people without the Catholic faith and also for those Catholics who are not in a state of sanctifying grace. Also on the agenda are: a blessing for homosexual couples, intercommunion with Protestants, relativizing the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, the introduction of viri probati and with it the abolition of priestly celibacy, approval for sexual relations before and outside of marriage. These are their goals, and to reach them they are willing to accept even the division of the bishops’ conference.
The faithful who take Catholic doctrine seriously are branded as conservative and pushed out of the Church, and exposed to the defamation campaign of the liberal and anti-Catholic media.
To many bishops, the truth of revelation and of the Catholic profession of faith is just one more variable in intra-ecclesial power politics. Some of them cite individual agreements with Pope Francis and think that his statements in interviews with journalists and public figures who are far from Catholic offer justification even for “watering down” defined, infallible truths of the faith (= dogmas). All told, we are dealing with a blatant process of Protestantising.
Ecumenism, in contrast, has as its goal the full unity of all Christians, which is already sacramentally realized in the Catholic Church. The worldliness of the episcopate and clergy in the 16th century was the cause of the division of Christianity, which is diametrically opposed to the will of Christ, the founder of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The disease of that era is now supposedly the medicine with which the division is to be overcome. The ignorance of the Catholic faith at that time was catastrophic, especially among the bishops and popes, who devoted themselves more to politics and power than to witnessing to the truth of Christ.
Today, for many people, being accepted by the media is more important than the truth, for which we must also suffer. Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom for Christ in Rome, the center of power in their day. They were not celebrated by the rulers of this world as heroes, but rather mocked like Christ on the Cross. We must never forget the martyrological dimension of the Petrine ministry and of the episcopal office.” Read entire report here
Comment
Is the Church in Germany really much different from the rest of the world? Isn’t the attitude of the German Bishops, as outlined by Cardinal Müller above, exactly what we are witnessing everywhere else, to a greater or lesser extent?
Comments (27)
In a word – “Yes”. What the German bishops are doing is just what is going on here and in other parts of the world, just more open.
Yes, I agree. The Germans are probably more honest.
I agree, too. Our UK bishops speak with forked tongues, trying to appear orthodox but doing the liberal thing anyway. It really is so dishonest.
I disagree that the “New Evangelization” resists the objective course of history, but I think the rest of this article is spot on…and quite surprising for a prelate with such a heterodox history (as has been pointed out many times on this blog).
The New Evangelization, in actual practice, is just another term for false ecumenism, i.e. the “big tent” indifferentist notion that all religions are pretty much the same and can all co-exist, join hands, and sing Kum-Bah-Yah. It is actually a surrender to the world, not a battle with it.
Kum-Bah-Humbug! If all religions are the same, then why did Our Lord appear on earth to establish His? No, the real goal of this is to bury doctrine and truth under a mountain of feel-good gibberish and blather, in order to lay the foundation for a new world religion…which, coincidentally, has neither doctrine nor truth, nor anything sacred about it.
Speaking of gibberish and blather, what, pray tell, is the “objective course of history”? Sounds like Karl Marx to me.
But, to step down off my soapbox, I think Editor is right, along with Margaret Mary and Petrus. The Germans just want to make official what is going on most everywhere else. I do think there is another motive at work here, though, and that is the taxpayer subsidy received by the German Church. The more people pretending to be Catholic they can stuff into the pews, the more money they get!
RCA Victor
I completely agree that the comment from Cardinal Muller is “quite surprising for a prelate with such a heterodox history (as has been pointed out many times on this blog).”
When even the liberals are rebelling against the liberals, that’s quite something, and gives us hope, LOL!
Margaret Mary,
Cardinal Muller is a puzzle. I think we can put his recent outspokenness down to divine Intervention as humanly speaking, His Eminence is hardly an orthodox defender of the Faith.
Perhaps he is experiencing the same thing as Cardinal Ratzinger, who was a liberal turned conservative. Ratzinger realised the reforms of the Council had unleashed a liberalism he never expected and he tried to rein it in. Perhaps the same can be said for Cardinal Muller.
RCA Victor,
“Kum-Bah-Humbug! If all religions are the same, then why did Our Lord appear on earth to establish His?”
I completely agree – that sums up the situation perfectly. Everyone has to be in the religion established by Our Lord, no question about it! You are so right, that’s so clearly put!
Here’s something I’m very curious about, reading that comment from Cardinal Muller.
We know there’s a crisis in the Church, but is it a coincidence that almost ALL the bishops are as bad as each other, and allowed themselves and their people to be Protestantised, or is there some kind of explanation?
I just think that if suddenly all the managers and senior personnel in major companies started speaking out to attack their products and to praise their rival companies. people would be dumbstruck. Surely more than one manager would keep his sanity, LOL!
Seriously, how could this come to be?
Fidelis,
I’d like to know the answer to your question myself. I hope someone can provide the answer. My first thought was “diabolical disorientation” – but then I thought “What, all at the very same time?”!
Well, yes, I think that really is the explanation, that when they started setting up their in-service courses for priests and teachers after the Council, listening to so-called “experts” in theology and catechesis, that’s when the rot set in. I remember hearing a talk by Daphne McLeod on this where she said Corpus Christi college in London was the big centre for spreading dissenting theories among teachers and priests. That’s how the diabolical disorientation took hold, IMHO. I can’t think of any other possible explanation, frankly.
Let’s not lose sight of these Mens First choice and that is the Good Life . Let them wallow in their own Garbage which is the Will of the EU and more Money for them . Maybe even a new Christian Religion will rise out of this with Mary McCallese the High Priestess and Zappone as her Spirit Cooker . Let the games begin. For one thing these people most certainly are not and that is Catholics.
Fidelis,
I think the answer has something to do with who the bishops are, i.e. which group they belong to:
1. The enemy within, i.e. those who are seeking to destroy the Church by “updating” her.
2. The useful idiots, who think that updating = improvement.
3. The careerists, who go along with whoever makes the most noise and has the most power/influence, in order to protect and/or promote their careers.
4. The faithful bishops who are silent because they are afraid of the consequences should they speak out and resist the revolution.
I believe that leaves only a handful….as for “attacking their product,” group 1 disguises their attack by calling it “reform,” (implying improvement, more mercy, compassion, and enlightenment, etc.) and group 2, the useful idiots, actually think they are improving the Church through human respect – i.e. they claim they are making the product better! As for group 3, they have sacrificed their faith on the altar of personal advancement, so they will publicly think whatever they are told to think.
RCA Victor,
As always, your post makes sense and answers my query. They’re in various categories which dictates their response to issues. I’m inclined to think that no very many are in category 1, but the other three, yes, definitely.
They just implement Vatican II.
Wondering if Germany was ever exorcised after Alois Schickelgruber, (real name of Adolf Hitler, with which he might not have been able to be elected) Seems like it might be a helpful thing to do.
A reader has emailed me this link from Gloria TV – Official Apostasy: First German Diocese Introduces Protestant Communion
https://gloria.tv/article/uKuuit8dV8ua1p9EWRXh6cDkq
I would argue that the German Bishops made their schism apparent when they openly said they would not “wait for Rome” – they were not a “subsidiary” of Rome (I think that’s all verbatim but correct me if I’m wrong – that’s my memory of it and certainly their sentiments are schismatic.)
Editor,
You are dead right with how you recollect the statement of Cardinal Marx, that the German Church is “not a subsidiary of Rome”.
He also said the Germans must “preach the Gospel in their own original way” – which boils down to doing whatever it takes to both protect church tax and damage the faith.
It clear that have no concept of, or respect for, the idea of the ‘Universal Church’. If everyone is doing their own thing “in their own original way” then where is the universality and how is this not just protestantism?
Gabriel Syme,
Next to “I completely agree with you”, “Editor, you are dead right” are my absolutely favourite words!
These German bishops have no concept of the universal Church – they are blind to the truth. And they are, in fact, loud and clear, schismatics.
Editor,
You forgot “Editor, you make a good point…”
RCA Victor,
Oops! So, I did…
https://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20110321/cartoons_15.jpg
Speaking of apostasy, check out this new CFN article on the Third Secret and sexual abuse: https://www.catholicfamilynews.org/blog/2018/7/2/sexual-abuse-and-the-third-secret-a-timely-reminder
RCA Victor,
I remember that report at the time, but I don’t interpret it as Pope Benedict saying or implying that Our Lady mentioned child abuse – simply that this aspect of the culture of sin within the Church, sins of too many clergy, are, in fact, manifestations of the crisis foretold in the Third Secret.
Am I wrong? (tread carefully…) 😀
Editor,
As a very wise person once said, “You make a good point!” (Esp. now that your pencil is sharpened…..)
I think in novus ordo world, the choice is between open heterodoxy and concealed heterodoxy. Orthodoxy doesn’t get a look in.
A good example from recently was the ruckus over communion for unrepentant adulterers. Cardinal Eijk criticised the direction in which Francis and his German favourites were moving things.
This was seen as a defence of Orthodoxy, but if you read his statement he was really just calling for a return to the system where annulments are given out like sweeties to allow a veneer of orthodox catholicism to be presented. And so he was really calling for a return to a system of pretence, not to return to faithful Catholicism.
And so I agree with Petrus and others, that there is not much difference between the Germans and others, its just that the Germans are comfortable / arrogant enough to be open about the fact they ignore doctrine, whereas others want to pretend doctrine is important to them, while being equally unfaithful as the Germans.
Gabriel Syme,
What you say is making a lot of sense to me and the example of Cardinal Eijk is crystal clear. “Orthodoxy doesn’t get a look in” you say – I totally agree. The biblical prophecy is coming true before our very eyes, that a time will come when evil will be made to look like good, and good, evil. That time HAS come, IMHO.
Here’s a very interesting development in Germany: priests resisting their heretical bishops!
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priests-correct-german-archdiocese-for-opening-up-intercommunion-with-prote
In Germany, the Bishop of Wurzburg has invited all protestant spouses of Catholics to receive communion.
https://twitter.com/EdwardPentin/status/1014897775354564609
As canon law does not allow for this, the Bishop has clearly set himself up as a supreme authority regarding doctrine and is thus undeniably schismatic.
He clearly has no faith in the real presence whatsoever.
Comments are closed.