Canada's Confused Catholic Bishops Pitch Deadly Deception On Islam

Over at Rorate Caeli we have further evidence of the betrayal and destructive behaviour of Canada's Catholic Bishops. In an article entitled Catholics and Islam by John R. T. Lamont, the charge is made that for much of the West, Catholic Bishops have "misled the faithful on the nature of Islam and the relationship between terrorist extremism and the main tenets of the Muslim religion."

Lamont cites the example of the Canadian Bishops who recently issued a pamphlet whose stated purpose is to 'help Canadian Catholics better understand their Muslim neighbours.' Signed by none other than Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, the pamphlet gives

Catholics a false conception of the nature and teachings of Islam. This is done more by omitting facts than by making false statements about Muslim belief, although such falsehoods are to be found in the pamphlet. 

Lamont then goes on to list the principal omissions, which are eye opening to say the least. He summarizes by saying

Omission of the above facts about Islam gives Catholic[s] an incorrect and dangerous conception of the nature of Muslim religion. 

Thanks to Lamont,

This exposure of the deceptions of the CCCB document enables us to identify the main features of Islam that are a deadly threat to Catholics. They are the ambition to destroy and replace Christianity, the understanding of sharia law as divinely revealed, and the belief that Mohammed was sinless and a perfect exemplar of Muslim behaviour. 

With the proper perspective now being supplied, we can truly provide an answer on how to 'help Canadian Catholics better understand their Muslim neighbours.'

Having examined the real character of Islam, we can give a correct answer to the question of how Canadian and other Catholics should understand and relate to their Muslim neighbours. The only way in which Catholics can promote the ‘harmonious relationship’ with Muslims that Archbishop Durocher calls for is by convincing them that the dangerous features of Islam mentioned above are not in fact true and should not be acted upon.

Lamont wants to know how and why the CCCB can practice such a deception:

How is it that this document can offer a careful falsification of the nature of Islam, a falsification that seems to have been designed to leave Catholics in ignorance of the threat that traditional Islam poses, and in consequence to disarm them in the face of that threat?

He posits an answer tied to the modernist beliefs of Archbishop Durocher:

The answer to this question lies in the outlook held by Archbishop Durocher. When he was speaking at a press conference at the recent session of the Synod on the Family, he was asked if the question of giving communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics concerned doctrine or discipline. He replied ‘If you want doctrine, go read Denzinger’. Such a remark could only be made by someone who holds the content of Catholic doctrine, and the very notion of Catholic doctrine itself, in contempt. This neomodernist outlook on the Catholic faith is not restricted to Archbishop Durocher; it is the dominant culture within the leadership of the Catholic Church in Canada, and is the basis of the interfaith and ecumenical activities of the CCCB. For example, Fr. Damian Macpherson S.A., a member of the National Christian Muslim Liaison Committee of the CCCB, has stated that ‘The Roman Catholic Church does not proselytize, that is, actively seek the conversion of others. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, is committed to active evangelization and those who respond are welcomed as members of the Catholic Church’.

The true significance of this document produced by corrupt* Catholic Bishops is to highlight the continued and effective betrayal of Canada's Catholic faithful.

As has been shown, the CCCB document carefully conceals those aspects of Islam that pose a real danger to Catholics. This deception betrays those very numerous Christians who are now suffering and dying at the hands of Islamic persecutors, and it facilitates the further persecution of Christians by concealing the nature of the threat that they face. In doing this, neomodernism lets its mask slip for anyone with knowledge of Islam, and shows its malice and its origin. 

Read it all. Get your eyes opened a little wider.

*corrupt: make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones; lacking in integrity; imperfect, not perfect; defective or inadequate

Letters To Bishops: Turn Your Hearts Towards Christ

Another letter from a Catholic concerned for the souls of straying Bishops and those who are lead astray by them. Once again, I reprint it with permission and with very minor changes for the sake of readability.

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Date: October 2, 2015

To: His Eminence, Cardinal Thomas Collins, Your Graces, Archbishop Prendergast, Archbishop Durocher, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi

Subject: YOUR FLOCK CALLS UPON YOU! A LACK OF RESPONSE WE WILL ASSUME INDICATES THIS LETTER WAS DELETED AND THAT YOU LACK CHARITY AND CONCERN TOWARDS YOUR FAITHFUL

Dear Fathers,

It is with heavy hearts that we yet again write to you. We implore you to deeply contemplate our concerns, most of which we have already addressed on several previous occasions, with no response, no acknowledgement (which is very [un]Christ-like I may add) on your parts.

The faithful—and I stress the faithful—as we are surrounded by many unfaithful lay and clergy alike, are disheartened, discouraged and frankly fed up with your lack of shepherding.

Dear Cardinal I echo your recent words "...we should be disturbed and ashamed...at the images we have seen."  You are correct you should be disturbed and ashamed and so should every 'Catholic' who has not seen, stood up for and defended the refugees right under their noses. How about the aborted child?  Where do you get off telling people to be ashamed and disturbed; where was your public statement when the horrific Planned Parenthood practices were exposed? Planned Parenthood is listed as one of the resources for the sex-ed curriculum which you, dear Cardinal, endorsed and to which your clergy in the Archdiocese of Toronto capitulated. 

Where is your shame?  Your flock has been knocking on your door since February after your gracious acceptance of an illicit, immoral, sexually indoctrinating piece of garbage called the Updated 2015 Health and Physical Education curriculum. You ask your flock now for money for your 'Faith Campaign', and for the migrant crisis. Where were you when your flock needed you; where were you when your flock asked for your help?

You did not need to accept this illicit garbage and what is worse you have sold it off as morally acceptable through a 'Catholic Lens'.  ICE is not qualified to teach anything moral and true to Church Teaching.  They have proven this time and again.  Your Fully Alive program, particularly theme three, contradicts all Church teaching on Human Sexuality, by the simple fact that it introduces before the age of puberty unnecessary sexual information. It is immoral before puberty [to do so].  Yet, under the parent resource, under the guidance of bishops, in grade 3 (age 7-8) parents are encouraged if they have not done so already, to explain in detail the act of sexual intercourse. What is on the mind of Bishops today?  What in heaven's name are we to say to this?

Where is your faith dear Fathers?  The bishops in Canada do not promote Faith but are rather responsible for killing it:  Irreverence, false mercy, calling evil good and good evil, acceptance of open homosexuals into the seminaries, scandal after scandal.  You have no faith therefore you cannot promote a faith campaign.  Communion on the hand was implemented falsely, with lies; yes we do know about it. And yes it is irreverent, no matter what you or any other cafeteria Catholic states. Particles of our Lord's precious Body and Blood wiped, washed away with disregard; YOU are responsible for allowing this, YOU are responsible for promoting disregard, irreverence, mockery, and sacrilege of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s precious Body and Blood.  It is because you don't believe in the Real Presence!  You are called Fathers for a reason; the flock are yours whom  YOU are to lead to Jesus Christ. Yet you mock Our Lord at every chance you get; our loving Lord who waits for you, who loves you regardless of your actions. You mock your vocation, YOU are consecrated souls and are to lead TRUTHFULLY, but you lead falsely; falsely to 'attract' more people to even out your bottom line. 

Where are our patens dear bishops, where are our Tabernacles in the centre of our Churches?  Christ is the center of every church, why is He shunned to the sidelines? Why are our Catholic Churches not Christ centered? They are world centered. THIS IS FALSE, THIS IS NOT THE CHURCH CHRIST INTENDED.

Where are your exhortations calling Catholics of your Archdiocese to stand up for their Faith in the face of ongoing attacks?  Where are your pastoral letters calling people to repentance and confession?  Where are your catechists from the Archdiocese telling people it is a mortal sin to miss THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF MASS ON Sundays? Do you know how many people attend Mass when it is convenient for them and yet receive Holy Communion? Is this a way for you to clear your conscience before God: “If my faithful don't know it is a mortal sin then it isn't.” Is this what you call pastoral care?  God have mercy on you ! It should be imbedded in the hearts of every Catholic to seek their Maker, to have an intimate relationship with their Redeemer; they would flock to Holy Mass.  But it needs to be taught; this needs to be shouted from each and every pulpit by FAITHFUL clergy!

Where dear Bishops is your defence of human life from conception—of human life in the womb?  Do you think a five minute speech at the pro-life rally in Ottawa is enough? The bishops could not even bring themselves in their PATHETIC election guide to call the unborn a human, no, instead a fetus: do you think Jesus would call a child in a womb a fetus?  Was Jesus, when in the womb of His holy Mother Mary, just a fetus according to you? 

Your words were so correct that we should be ashamed and disturbed: so ashamed and DEEPLY disturbed at the lack of preaching by our Bishops and clergy.  YOU should be ashamed that you do not have enough faith in Christ to openly say: do not vote for the party that forces its members to be pro-abortion, [thus] you solicit what is evil! What good is social and economic justice if there is no justice for the most vulnerable of our society?  That applies to only the unborn because the elderly, although vulnerable and in need of protection, were [at least] given a chance to live, so there is no comparison to the child killed before they had the chance to see the light of day. 

Dear Bishops you are seeing the rotten fruits of the horrid and erroneous Winnipeg Statement of 1968, which was formed in open defiance of the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ: decline in vocations, decline in Mass attendance, people outright leaving the Faith.  "…a healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit...ANY TREE THAT DOES NOT BEAR GOOD FRUIT IS CUT DOWN AND THROWN IN THE FIRE..." Math.7:17-20

How can the President of the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops [bother to] state ‘How Catholics can better understand Islam’?  Do you Bishops even believe in God?  I ask because you seem to have NO FEAR OF GOD! Do we have to better understand Islam? By that very statement Bishop you are acknowledging a heretic, blasphemous 'religion'. Two waves of attacks by the Muslims in our history threatened to wipe out Christianity.  Thanks again to brave, faithful laity, willing to die for their Faith, willing to die for Christ, by the Grace of God, we were saved.

Here is an idea: why don't you write a pastoral letter telling Catholics how they can better understand Catholicism, from the lives of the Saints and from Holy Scripture?  Better yet, just focus on the life of Jesus Christ, 'ECCE HOMO…' BEHOLD THE MAN WHO IS OUR GREATEST EXAMPLE.' Is He not THE EPITOMY OF WHAT EVERY MAN AND WOMAN, EVERY CATHOLIC SHOULD BE?  Wait, that would make you unpopular, would it?  "...if the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first." John.15:18-27  Who then are you followers of? Surely it is not Christ and His Teaching!

With regards to your appeal for the 'refugee crisis', where was your appeal to stop the massacres in Nigeria, where in one day 2000 Christians were butchered? Where was your distress? What about the people in distress in your own Archdiocese? We have a need to take care of the people under our noses first. Where is your care for the homeless and poor in your Archdiocese Cardinal? Oh I know you have soup kitchens, and I know every Church holds Christmas campaigns, which is all good and holy, but what about the rest of the year?  These people do not hibernate all year and all of a sudden wake up each Christmas, they need help throughout the year.  How much money is collected in the 'poor box' at the back of every Church?  

How many priests implore their parishioners, hundreds in some parishes, thousands in others, to put a measly quarter into the poor box, at the end of each Mass? One quarter, do you know what that would mean multiplied by hundreds, by thousands?  Selfishness, greed, pride, lack of concern for others: it is never addressed in our parishes. Are priests worried about backlash if they asked people to give up ONE Tim Hortons coffee per week and offer it to the 'poor box' as a sacrifice?  

Of course they are, and why?  Because of YOU dear Bishops. Because at the whim of one greedy, proud, rich and affluent parishioner who would disagree or be OFFENDED by a priest’s TRUE shepherding; you would suspend such a priest or threaten him to the point that all he will speak of is GARBAGE, NONSENSE AND 'FALSE CHARITY' from his pulpit. 

  

What price are our souls to you dear Bishops: the price of public funding for our 'not so Catholic' schools?  What price? 

All we hear from the pulpits are ‘We need money for this, we need money for that’! It is true we must support our Church financially, yes, for the needs of their maintenance and care. However, you speak of money; you speak of 'false mercy', 'false charity', and ‘welcoming all’: all this to gain more goats to milk their pockets FOR YOUR NEEDS, not those of the Church!

Are we really to welcome all: such as St. Joseph's parish in Ottawa…welcoming homosexuals openly and proudly living a homosexual lifestyle? Really?  Can you find for me—perhaps I am in grave error—where our Lord said, “Welcome sinner, come and sin some more!”  Clearly you will not find that. We are [instead] to welcome sinners (which we all are) to REPENTANCE ! We do not, out of ‘false mercy and charity,’ endorse or encourage, illicit, immoral, depraved lifestyles. A lector at St. Joseph’s parish is a married lesbian. ONE OF THE CHURCH'S MINISTRIES IS A GSA, IN A CHURCH!! THE ST. JOE'S COMMUNITY MARCHES IN AN IMMORAL, SEXUALLY EXPLICIT, BLASPHEMOUS PRIDE PARADE where just this year a homosexual was dressed up as a gay Jesus.  THIS IS YOUR WAY TO EVANGELIZE??? How utterly sad and pathetic! 

Would you dear Archbishop Prendergast allow a woman to come to the pulpit and openly announce "I am a devout Catholic and regular parishioner, living with my boyfriend in an unholy union. I am pregnant and with joy I will abort my 7 month baby tomorrow." Would you allow anyone to make such a statement from the pulpit?  Well, we know you would, since you allow a practicing homosexual, living in an unholy, depraved-of-love, depraved-of-any-sense-of-the-creation-of-God (man and woman), who attends HOLY MASS with her lesbian" wife”. You are not only allowing the same, but endorsing it and encouraging it! Where is your defence of God's creation, the union of man and woman? 

MAYBE WE SHOULD FOLLOW THE LEAD OF DEAR FATHER ROSICA, WHO RECENTLY CALLED REGULAR MASS ATTENDEES AND FOLLOWERS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ‘MODERN DAY PHARISEES’! WHO ALSO STATED THAT DEFENCE OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN A MAN AND WOMAN IS NOT THE VIEW OF THE CHURCH! HERE [RATHER] IS THE MODERN PHARISEE: "So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be the least in the Kingdom of heaven" Matt.5:17-20.

Charity, Mercy, REPENTANCE: start to preach it as Jesus Christ preached it. Please, for the sake of not only your own souls—consecrated souls who VOWED to bring people to Christ…to CHRIST, not to your wallets!  Please wake up Bishops and we do beg you—this, out of true charity towards you—because we do care about you and about everyone whom YOU are supposed to shepherd!

In union with the suffering and sacrifice of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, we offer you our prayers and sacrifices. We implore the Lord to have mercy on all of you. We implore you to turn your hearts towards Christ and away from the world!

Signed  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

P.S. PLEASE READ AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS THE DUTY OF A BISHOP, ONE WHO WILL

BE ABLE TO ANSWER THE LORD, 'LORD I SERVED YOU FIRST'.

http://www.intothebreach.net/into-the-breach/

"If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that 'every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,' as the scripture says. And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or tax collector." Matt. 18:15-18

Tormented Catholic Writes to Ottawa Archbishop Prendergast

Cardinal Raymond Burke

In a posting entitled  Gay Apostasy Subverts and Paralyzes the Canadian Catholic Church dated July 1, 2015 I republished an article from the 90’s dealing with the treason of Canada’s clerics. The trigger for the posting was a scandal emanating from Archbishop Prendergast’s archdiocese, specifically that of an openly homosexual Ottawa priest, Andre Samson, who had scathing, public criticism for Cardinal Raymond Burke who was visiting Canada and ironically was being hosted by Archbishop Prendergast himself. In a recent post of weighty import I expressed dismay that the Archbishop did not publicly rebuke his own “openly homosexual” priest for his outrageous insults.

A fellow Catholic, also tormented by this incident and others, wrote the following letter to Archbishop Prendergast on June 11, 2015 and I reprint it with that person’s permission and with very minor changes for the sake of readability.

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Subject: Another serpent in the church

RE: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-defends-attack-on-cardinal-burke-says-church-should-welcome-gay-cler

When is the hierarchy of the Church going to step up and take care of clergy who defy Church teaching instituted by God? They defile other clergy for standing firm in Church Teaching; they are like serpents spreading vile and foul poison and trying to brainwash people to accept evil. 

Sodomy can never be accepted; it always was, is and always will be evil; it deserves no compassion, mercy or tolerance.  People who are prone to sodomy need therapy first to deal with their evil behaviour, and then they need to repent. 

Why is the church spreading false mercy?  The faithful are getting sick and tired of what is happening. We have a wishy-washy version of Truth being spread everywhere in the name of a false 'mercy and compassion.'  When will this stop and when will the Church leaders finally start leading? We are crying out to God for help every day at the lack of true compassion, mercy from our clergy.  Does no one fear God anymore?

How dare this 'Father' insult in a disgusting way, Cardinal Burke, who stands firm for God, for the Church and Her Teaching?  Thank God for Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Cordileone; if it was not for clergy like them, many people would be leaving the church.

When will the hierarchy start hearing their people?  We are abandoned by our shepherds, why are you all wearing blindfolds and earplugs???

We are crying out to God every day to intervene; our churches are full of dissident Catholics who in the wink of an eye will turn on us. The Holy Eucharist is exposed to blasphemy and sacrilege at almost every Mass.  What is wrong with you people, do you even believe in God or is this just a job for you?

We the faithful Catholics INSIST that Fr. Samson be defrocked and every clergy like him.   How is it even possible for a priest to have a sexual orientation; do you no longer take a vow of celibacy?  If so, then there is no orientation except celibacy!!! 

The Church is crumbling from within and unless our clergy step up to their vocations we will see a disaster. Thank God we have our Lord's eternal words to sustain us and give us strength, "the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church." If we did not have these words we would have all given up as we see hell within our churches already.

Signed   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paris Attacks Linked To Contraception And Child Murder

Outrageous claim? Not at all. Michael Voris makes the obvious case.

...immigration policies cannot be discounted as a precipitating factor. And the immigration policies were put in place because the Pill had become accepted. In the rush to have no restrictions on sexual license and no consequence for unintended pregnancies, Western societies forgot that there are consequences for unbridled sexual liaisons, particularly on such a huge scale as the cultures accepted and practiced it. A wise old seminary professor once said…"God is forgiving, but nature isn't." 

Archbishop Prendergast Resign: Part 3 But He's A Good Bishop!

Consecration of Ottawa Bishop Christian Riesbeck
by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast

In the matter of the ongoing scandal involving “Catholic” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I have insisted that Archbishop Prendergast step aside to make room for a worthy, obedient Bishop for Ottawa. At all costs the devil's stranglehold on Canada's "Catholic" Prime Ministers must be broken.

My detailed argument is made in digestible portions:

Part 1:  Archbishop Prendergast Now the Tip of God’s Spear in Canada

Part 2: Archbishop Prendergast Resign: Part 2 The Catholic Voting Bloc

Part 3: Archbishop Prendergast Resign: Part 3 But He's A Good Bishop!

Part 4: Archbishop Prendergast Resign: Part 4 Why Torture Canon 915?

What follows is part 3 of my argument.

But He’s a Good Bishop

What of those concerned Catholics who insist that the Archbishop is one of the good guys and some who say he’s arguably the best Bishop in Canada? Fair enough, I intend to explore some elements of that claim and put it to the Catholic test. But first a few more observations are in order.

If I believed Archbishop Prendergast was worthy of the mantle of Christ I would not have called for his resignation. Instead I maintain that he has been judged unworthy, not by man but by the Bride of Christ. It was Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who said of His Bride, “whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” I believe the facts will show that the Archbishop lacks the courage and/or will to cooperate with his Master in the fulfillment of this promise. His responsibility is to bind in accordance with Divine law and the law of the Church; Christ Himself will see to the binding in Heaven.

The evil that has been let loose on Canada by Justin Trudeau over the past ten years or so needed to be bound and contained. It did not happen. Now the mushroom cloud is in view. The Catholic Bishops failed in their duty to bind the demons empowering Trudeau. Perhaps the Archbishop believes the above promise from His Saviour to His Church; perhaps he doesn’t. I don’t know. But it is on record that Archbishop Prendergast wishes to consult with Archbishop Lepine of Montreal on the matter of discipline for Justin Trudeau. Perhaps after that consult he will want to meet up with Archbishop Durocher. Why not look instead to the directives of Christ and his Holy Catholic Church? You already have the answer, your Grace, if you truly wish to please Christ.  It's already been decided for you. Furthermore, you, as well as other Canadian Bishops, have already made reference on several occasions to Canon 915 and its application to pro-abortion Catholics such as Justin Trudeau. So why now the reluctance?

“The Canon Law of the Catholic Church is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church” (Manual of Canon Law, pg. 3.) Canon 915 protects against sacrilege and scandal and if this law of the Church does not apply to Mr. Trudeau it applies to no one.

Crucial to a proper understanding of canon 915 is, first, the fact that it binds the ministers who admit persons to sacraments, not the recipients who approach the sacraments. Second, it both authorizes and requires [emphasis mine] Communion to be withheld from the faithful who approach under certain conditions, specifically “those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.” To read canon 915 as if it were a mere suggestion or exhortation instead of a command is to disregard the plain text of the law.

…

Like canon 916, canon 915 works in part to prevent sacrilege, but it is oriented primarily to preventing scandal. In the Catholic moral tradition, scandal is not behavior that once known will embarrass or compromise the actor, but “an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil,” as the ‘Catechism’ puts it.

In a religious society animated by ‘communio’ and possessed of few mechanisms for the external enforcement of discipline, the personal conduct of every individual affects the ability of every other individual to act for good or for evil. Bad examples in the Church have even more effect when ecclesiastical authority appears to be complicit with them by failing to impose any consequences. 

I will dedicate one of my next postings to a much fuller consideration of the application of Canon 915 but it should be obvious to the reader that I strongly maintain that Divine law, as well as Church law from the earliest times, mandated that the Minister of Holy Communion MUST withhold the Sacrament from those who meet the conditions of the Canon. It is therefore not optional in any way and it certainly is not a matter of the prudential judgment of a Bishop. The Archbishop has gone on record saying many things about Canon 915 and denial of Holy Communion that simply mislead and obfuscate and provide him with wiggle room.

I am not advocating that any Bishop rush to judgment on the matter of appropriate discipline for wayward Catholic politicians. However as I have outlined in Part 1 this national tragedy has been unfolding for more than 10 years. The Archbishop’s reticence reminds me of the Bible story in Matthew 8 when one of Jesus’ followers asked for permission to go bury his father. Those verses illustrate the  cost of following Jesus,

20_"The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."21_Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." 22_But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead."

Apparently Archbishop Prendergast is not ready to lay down everything to obey his Master but wants others to first come on side, prop him up and provide some backup. He condemned himself in striking fashion recently when he said, “I don’t think you can make a judgment about someone’s faith position simply by what is said in the public.” For heaven’s sake, how long has Trudeau been in Canada and in Ottawa area? Again, as I explained in Part 1, he was elected an MP in 2008 and began to live in Ottawa In June 2013, two months after Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal Party. He has been causing increasing scandal throughout Canada since 2002 when he delivered a speech for the papal World Youth Day promo, saying "Church isn't about rules. It's about guidance." He urged the youth present to reject "old men with old ideas."

Wasn’t that long enough to discover his position on abortion, sodomy, same sex “marriage”, gender ideology, euthanasia? His statements were all a matter of public record. Wasn’t it long enough to know that he regularly claims to be a practicing Catholic who receives Holy Communion?  Wasn’t it long enough to arrange a sit down with him and discuss his conformity to Catholic teaching and the danger to his soul while he denies and misrepresents his faith? After all, the risk of serious scandal has been intensifying since 2002 because he was an increasingly powerful figure with high public profile. Let’s not imagine the son of Pierre Elliot Trudeau was escaping the notice of every Canadian Bishop for more than the last 12 or so years. What topics do the Bishops include in their Conferences and the Plenary Meetings if not serious matters like this? If Archbishop Prendergast wasn’t responsible for Justin Trudeau in the years preceding his ascension to Ottawa, some other Bishop—most likely Archbishop Lepine—was responsible and clearly that Bishop failed likewise.

By delaying action he has sent a message to Canadians that Trudeau is good to go; not such a bad Catholic really, certainly no great sinner. It might even be OK to vote for him. By not acting sooner it preempted any effort at fine tuning the CCCB election guide on the Ottawa archdiocesan website. As long as Justin Trudeau calls himself a practicing Catholic and as long as he participates in the Source And Summit of Christian Living, his communion with the Catholic Church—and with its leaders—will not be seriously challenged. Is not the Eucharist the preeminent sign of Catholic unity? This testifies to the spectacular and breathtaking scope of the scandal posed to the public. 

One is left to imagine that basically Archbishop Prendergast has been twiddling his fingers, saying his prayers and hoping it wouldn't come to this. I warned about the dangers of the Bishops not taking seriously the spiritual welfare of Trudeau, the renegade politician. This entire affair is all too much like déjà vu: remember Archbishop Gervais, Prendergast’s predecessor, and his support of former PM Paul Martin? Archbishop Prendergast take note: Canada deserves more than we got from Archbishop Gervais in regard to the treatment of renegade pseudo-catholic politicians who favour the destruction of preborn human life.

So let’s focus now on the subject of this posting: What of those concerned Catholics who insist that the Archbishop is one of the good guys? Some have criticized me for such a bold call to the Archbishop, accusing me of doing more harm than good.

“He’s one of our more orthodox bishops.”

This argument sounds impressive on the surface, implying I’m attacking the wrong side. However there is a problem today in Catholicism with labels. “More orthodox” can—and usually does—mean no more than the label “conservative.” But the fact is a Catholic is either “orthodox”, i.e. fully faithful, or not. One either lives up to the law of the Church and the demands of the faith or one falls short. If one persists in a condition of disobedience on any grave matter—especially a dogma—one is not orthodox; one may well be flirting with heresy. Our Lord Jesus gave us a powerful metaphor for this truth that is also a sober warning: a little leaven leavens the whole loaf. Yes, you may very well be “more orthodox” than the other guy but still short of “orthodox” and actually under the judgment of God.

To determine whether a Bishop might indeed be “orthodox” look to the example of a Bishop whose words and practice are consistently in harmony with Sacred Scripture and Tradition (age-old Church teaching). In our day and age, most Catholic Bishops in the West have succumbed to the poison of dissent and heresy in at least one truth of Tradition and that is the teaching on contraception. My recent posting “The Litmus Test of Today's Catholic Bishop?” expands on that theme and, being very relevant to the examination of Archbishop Prendergast’s record, is highly recommended. The takeaway quote is this:

If a Catholic Bishop wishes to save his flock from the snares of Satan and ensure they escape the culture of death, he must enshrine the truth and practice of Humanae Vitae in his diocese. Until he does every faithful Catholic has a duty to treat him not only suspiciously but as an unfaithful steward, perhaps a hireling, or worse still a wolf. To withhold judgment or criticism and especially to hold him up as an example—pro-life or otherwise—is to invite further scandal and to confirm that Bishop in his obstinacy and disobedience.

In addition, I pointed out in Part 1 a suspicious indicator of the Archbishop’s weakness in not following through on his stated convictions regarding Humanae Vitae. More detail can also be found in this posting from January 2014 where I expressed my dismay and disappointment in this way:

It’s very sad indeed that after all the early huff and puff of this episcopate our hearts are now down in our boots. What appeared to be a zealous and courageous Bishop-teacher, even a fearless enforcer of Catholic orthodoxy (God knows how badly we need one), turns out to be powerless to stop the most basic kind of dissent and heresy in his own parishes.

Another equally controversial challenge to Tradition in our day pertains to the application of Canon 915 which has been lightly touched upon earlier in this post. Almost daily we see the festering outrage of the Catholic faithful. A number of faithful, “orthodox” Bishops in the West have weighed in over the past 20 years or so in order to address the extreme scandal and destruction to the common good triggered by pro-abortion and other renegade “Catholic” politicians like Justin Trudeau. These Bishops provide us with not only a trustworthy example of Tradition in action but also scholarly works detailing the historical and theological foundations. I have featured many of these types of examples over the years on this blog but one in particular in 2014 was dedicated to the urgent need to help Justin Trudeau save his soul and it referenced this very valuable document by Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, DD., Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi, Texas.

No Catholic should therefore be automatically impressed with Bishops who are said to be “very orthodox” or “more orthodox” because it generally would be more accurate to call them “almost orthodox” i.e. “almost Catholic” which should make one want to run in the other direction.

“You're crazy. He's arguably the best bishop in Canada.” 

The crazy part I will let God sort out. True, he may very well be the “best” Bishop in Canada. Archbishop Prendergast is a highly educated and accomplished Jesuit. Latin Mass enthusiasts are grateful that he supports the FSSP parish located in Ottawa and at times publicly celebrates the Traditional Latin Tridentine Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962. Former Anglicans tout him as one of their strongest supporters of the Ordinariate enterprise. Both of these groups emphasize very reverent and traditional liturgies as well as traditional Catholic teaching. In an effort to return to the true and historic purpose of Catholic funeral rites, the Archbishop cracked down on eulogies at Catholic funerals and he also circulated a letter recently asking that everyone kneel for the entire Eucharistic prayer. He strongly supports pro-life activities and the March for Life and is credited with bringing other Bishops alongside at that annual March. Regarding this year’s Truth and Reconciliation report the Archbishop took an uncommon position and defended the Church and residential schools which seems to me to be the response you ought to expect from a Bishop. He often makes public statements which emphasize adherence to Catholic teaching and the importance of tradition.

However, I was appalled by his silence in June past of this year as an openly homosexual Catholic priest in Ottawa harshly and rudely slandered Cardinal Burke, all without public rebuke by Archbishop Prendergast. I’m also amazed at the continual stream of reports of renegade “Catholic” actions by the Ottawa Catholic School Board to which I have previously referred. These are not congruent with a reputation calling for adherence to Catholic teaching. Something is definitely amiss in this picture.

The Archbishop certainly deserves credit for all good things he has done to promote and defend the Church and her teaching but this is precisely his job. It’s what all Catholic Bishops signed up for. Also, good actions do not cancel out bad actions and the bad always yield its own fruit—today, tomorrow or far into the future. Serious failures by Bishops scandalize great numbers of people and cause people to stumble and fall and to leave the faith. They can also pave the way for charges of hypocrisy, bring discredit to the name of Christ and bring ruin to our nation. The position of Successor of the Apostles is a weighty position indeed. Their serious failures, like serious sins in the life of the ordinary Catholic, likewise require confession and must be Humble, Complete and Accompanied by Firm Purpose of Amendment. As Catholics every one of us is always being called back to obedience to Christ and to His teachings—as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Tradition.

Others who insist that the Archbishop is one of the good guys are framing their criticisms like this:

No man is perfect. Everyone has their weaknesses so what's the big deal?

The big deal is that thanks to the Archbishop's ineptitude and hesitation (to put it mildly) there has arisen in the highest chambers of power in Canada a powerful voice of the enemy of the Church, an enemy of the family and a terror to the unborn child. Is that a big enough deal? And this renegade “Catholic” can now continue the destruction of the common good that has characterized his fellow pseudo-catholic Prime Ministers since the 1960’s.

The Archbishop is a victim himself.

“There's not much he can do at this advanced stage of societal sickness and Church corruption.  He had nothing to do with Winnipeg Statement. He wasn't a part of it. He's against it. It's too much to expect him to start turning back the clock. Nobody wants to go back in time anyway. He realizes things aren't going to change overnight. He's making incremental changes to bring everything up to snuff, developing good liturgy and trying to encourage some measure of discipline in the liturgy, emphasizing catechetics and knowing your faith. Eventually the old guard will be gone and he can move more aggressively at a later date. For now he's limited.”

Ah, yes, incremental changes, like our pro-life movement sometimes claims…and still 100,000+ perish yearly. Head in the sand anyone? The problem is Trudeau the younger is not the old guard. He's young and upcoming just like millions of more Catholics in Canada who fancy him.  They have souls that need saving. Some Bishop has to serve up the cold hard truth at some time in their lives; the earlier the better while time is on their side. After all, the Supreme Law of the Church is the salvation of souls...everyday.

Leave the Archbishop alone. He knows what he's doing and oftentimes Bishops have to work behind the scenes.

I’m not accusing the Archbishop of not knowing what he is doing and I’m certainly not questioning his right to make his own prudent decisions. I’m saying that he is going against the laws and Tradition of the Church in not dealing specifically with scandal, heresy and in general with the fullness of Church teaching.

You'll get little or no support from traditional minded Catholics in this campaign.

“There are lots of other Bishops in Canada who are far more liberal minded than Ottawa’s Archbishop and who are destroying the faith with their liturgical abuse, activist positions on woman's ordination, etc., etc. Why don't you pick on them and leave Prendergast alone?”

It seems to me that Catholics using the various arguments listed may well be admitting that they are not up to a battle. They have no heart to fight for their faith. That is in fact why their faith is being taken from them. They simply want an easy life and they'd prefer if their children would do their fighting for them—and maybe also pay for their thriving lifestyle as well. They’ll (unwittingly, let’s hope) pass everything off to the next generation. This is also called lukewarmness and God has something to say about that.

We are losing our faith. Secular society is pressing us more and more into a corner as the leaven of wickedness spreads throughout our nation. Do we want a healthy and strong Church to pass on to our children? In order to accomplish this we must be vigilant and oppose every cleric whose modus operandi is not in full agreement with the Magisterium of the Church. Honestly, that’s all we’ve got to guide us and our children through these troubled waters and attain unto our eternal salvation. Any compromise could well be fatal.

Since the Synod we've heard calls for war. "We must fight. No longer will we just go along."  "We must question everything, demand the true teachings of the Church, and press the hierarchy—many of whom are corrupt and incompetent." But at the first sign of a skirmish some tough-sounding Catholics are ready to accept any excuse to back away from a fight. Apparently there are a lot of paper tigers on the net. How do I know: very few links to this series of postings, hardly any retweets, etc. Where’d all our fighters go?

The last point I will offer to those arguing for hands-off-Archbishop-Prendergast is by way of the following analogy.

Imagine a man who does a good job every day at work. All those that work with him express respect for him and the job that he does. This man also does his share of volunteer work at the food bank and at the soup kitchen as well as serving on a few Church committees. But because he doesn’t believe in putting locks on his doors strangers come into his home and abuse his wife and children, sometimes even when he is there. Since he can’t bring himself to offer any resistance to these strangers he is of little help to his family, some of whom suffer daily from the abuse. Furthermore these tyrants spend time in the basement doing things that undermine the foundations of his house. He takes no action only to make occasional criticisms. Perhaps he thinks the house will survive for many years yet and no action is yet required. Perhaps he thinks his family will survive the ordeal even though there’s much pain. Besides, it’s hardly worth a fight, he thinks, and if there were a fight he may get hurt or other members of his family.

What are we to think of such a man? Will we focus only on the good that he does and ignore his failings? Will we give him a free pass? I say no. Some failings are so egregious as to be defining actions of a man's character and reputation. This man has the means and he has the law on his side. If he refuses to protect his innocent family would you not accuse him of being not only negligent but in some sense materially complicit? Authorities might in fact pronounce him an unfit father and take his children from him, along with his wife and place them in a safe house somewhere. Was he being a good father to his children? Would you rate him “one of the best” fathers because of all the other good things he does?

Some may say this is a misplaced comparison with the Archbishop’s behaviour but I say it is a near perfect fit. The Archbishop does in fact have a duty to protect his family, his children, his flock. He MUST shut out the abuser and the renegade so they can no longer rob, defile and abuse his family and undermine the foundations of the Catholic faith. No doubt he would face a firestorm of sorts from various parties, the greatest challenge being perhaps to summon the courage to break from his brother Bishops at the liberal and corrupt CCCB. I can only imagine the straitjacket they’ve put him in; and perhaps not only on this matter but also if he goes public with a major campaign in support of Humanae Vitae. After all, a big part of the reason Bishops find it hard to crack down on Trudeau must be the moral incoherence involved. Arguments in favour of conscience from the Winnipeg Statement go far to explain the failure to discipline regarding contraception and the attendant failure to address the sacrilege of Catholics who dissent from Humanae Vitae. And those realities resemble closely the challenge of imposing biting sanctions on our new Prime Minister.

But I would remind the Archbishop that when he stands before Christ on that day, the CCCB will not be alongside, nor his fellow Bishops, nor his most respected advisors. Archbishop Prendergast, will you do what Christ requires of you in this grave matter affecting many lives? If not, resign and make way for a worthy Bishop.

Archbishop Prendergast Resign: Part 2 The Catholic Voting Bloc

In the matter of the ongoing scandal involving “Catholic” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I have insisted that Archbishop Prendergast step aside to make room for a worthy, obedient Bishop for Ottawa. At all costs the devil's stranglehold on Canada's "Catholic" Prime Ministers must be broken.

Part 1 can be found here. What follows is part 2 of my argument.

Part 2 The Catholic Voting Bloc

How many Catholics voted for Trudeau in this past election because the Archbishop failed to act decisively and to send the strongest possible signal under Roman Catholic law to all Canadians that Justin Trudeau was a renegade Catholic in danger of losing his soul and that no faithful Catholic could possibly cast a vote for such a politician and still remain in Communion with Holy Mother Church? The enforcement of Canon 915 is intended to do precisely that (and more) and is the “medicine” (Archbishop Prendergast’s own words) that such Catholic politicians need.

An old and wise saying reminds us that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. However the Bishops of Canada, including Archbishop Prendergast, do not seem to believe that. Look at Justin Trudeau today, as PM of Canada. Would you say that he is more or less manageable by his religious leaders today than a month ago when he was simply one of 338 Canadian MP’s? In this matter, all Canadians witnessed an act of gross negligence by the Catholic Bishops of Canada and, in terms of the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, an act of malfeasance.

Catholics in Canada certainly represent what can be described as a swing vote when it comes to weighty matters of Canadian politics, as this article from 2008 illustrates. In a very recent LifeSiteNews article entitled How the Catholic Church helped Canada elect its most pro-abortion prime minister in history Lianne Laurence says:

And on October 2015, it seems, traditional Liberal voters returned to this Liberal Party in droves.

While election demographics aren’t yet available, Fonseca suspects that Catholics went back to the Liberals “more so than any group,” citing an Angus Reid poll released late in the campaign in which 55 percent self-identified “practicing Christians” said they intended to vote against the Conservatives.

Fonseca bases his assertion on several factors, one being the “powerful” Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA), which lobbied hard via its influence and “aggressive robo-calling, to encourage its 45,000-plus teacher members in vote-rich Ontario to vote against the Conservatives.”

He also points to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “disastrous Federal Election Guide that largely reads like the campaign platform for the Liberals and NDP,” and “assiduously avoided saying the word ‘abortion’.”

Archbishop Prendergast was part and parcel of that disaster, as I described in my August 22 blog posting entitled Canada's Favorite "ProLife" Bishops Endorse Failed CCCB Election Guide:

Other prolife and faithful Catholics have also weighed in on that subject with valuable insight, exposing just how seriously deficient the CCCB Guide really is and pointing out the most egregious omission: cogent voting advice to ensure pro-abortion politicians do not gain power. The peculiar thing is that even those Bishops who are the honoured “champions” of the prolife movement seem to be quite content with promoting the CCCB Election Guide without further commentary or supplementary resources.

My intention was to expose the fact that even “prolife” Cardinal Collins of Toronto and “prolife” Archbishop Prendergast of Ottawa, as well as “prolife” Bishop Henry of Calgary, were each featuring prominent links on their diocesan websites to the CCCB Election Guide, without urgently needed qualification and supplementation. Of all the parties in Canada who should be pulling out all the stops to prevent a rabid pro-abortion politician from gaining access to the most powerful political office in Canada, the Catholic Bishops ought to be wearing themselves out doing just that. Instead, they can’t muster a basic and effective document that guides 44% of Canadians who identify as Catholics to actually vote Catholic at the voting station. This abysmal record extends back in time for decades and indirectly results annually in the deaths of at least 100,000 preborn children.

Any such voting guide or programs to educate Catholics on voting according to the Common Good, as espoused by the Roman Catholic Church, don’t have to mention any political parties or politicians’ names, or advocate for one party or the other. However they will very effectively assist Catholics in avoiding a vote for a politician—yes, including any so-called “Catholic” politician—whose position is contrary to the Catholic faith and/or the common good.  

In a re-posting of an Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada issued in 2007 I stated,

There is perhaps no greater example of the dereliction of duty of too many Bishops to halt the killing of Unborns in Canada than the failure to mobilize the Catholic voting bloc in Canada. Legal protection for unborn children necessitates a political, legislative solution, a fact evident to even the least politically savvy of Canadians. Roman Catholic Bishops in Canada exercise moral authority over a formidable voting bloc of nearly 10 million Catholics and yet after nearly forty years of "legalized" child killing in Canada there is no indication whatever that Catholics have been guided by the Bishops to effect this political change in Canada through even the simplest of voting strategies, one solidly founded on basic moral principles yet not centred in partisan politics.

Why must such a campaign—mobilizing the Christians of Canada to vote effectively on behalf of securing legal rights for the Unborn—fall to some marginalized pro-life entity? Surely, if the Bishops had a will to stop the child killing in Canada, a focused and comprehensive Canada wide, diocesan wide, strategy to engage every Catholic to cast a vote for legal protection of the Unborn would have yielded long ago a complete halt to the killing. In the rare case where Bishops have been found to do anything in this regard it has amounted to a poorly organized, last minute, ineffective scramble. God have mercy on those Bishops for their failure in this most practical of all ways to end the holocaust of the Unborn. Their inaction for decades makes them substantially culpable in the deaths of millions of unborn children.

Nothing has changed in 2015 and now we have another “Catholic” Prime Minister at the helm in Canada, one who is arguably the fiercest, most emboldened, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-same sex “marriage” politician to arise on the national stage, and yet one who has managed to avoid the censure of Catholic Bishops for all the anti-Catholic positions named. His only official public censure by a Catholic prelate has been in relation to a political statement he made that restricts the conscience rights of his party members.

A democracy has only one means at its disposal to assure a just and peaceful future for itself and for future generations. That means is none other than voting in general elections for candidates who are best qualified to pursue the common good of the nation. How tragic and disgraceful that Catholic Bishops are willing to risk our future and that of our children by avoiding the hard choices of their office through dissent of official teachings and in more practical ways through withholding vital information from the national interest. Of all bodies in the service of the public, Catholic Bishops, through the vast resources of Mother Church, possess the very counsel of God and the most compelling two thousand year array of philosophy and doctrine upon which to build the foundations of a just and peaceful society. Yet our Bishops have squandered their authority and their trust in this regard in their handling of dissident and rebellious Catholic politician Justin Trudeau. God’s judgment upon them for such calamitous failures must surely be severe.

The Archbishop of Ottawa, the Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, SJ, has not yet distinguished himself from that group of weak, cowardly and dissident prelates that rule over Canada and keep her on the downward march to oblivion. The evidence for this assertion is plainly before our eyes: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to tout his Catholic bona fides and to partake of the Sacred Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ without restraint, interdict or penalty. 

Part 3 to follow: Archbishop Prendergast Resign: Part 3 But He's A Good Bishop!