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| Fr. Eduard Perrone during Benediction at the outdoor Grotto |
The conference for the 13th Call to Holiness has ended. Photos will be processed and up soon. Today, there is an orchestra Mass (Solemn High EF Mass) at 9:30am at Assumption Grotto for Pentecost. There will be a tour at the Detroit Institute of Arts led by Johnette Benkovic after the Mass and there may be openings yet.
In his June 12, 2011 pastor's column, Fr. Perrone talks about truth, and dissent, referring to a Scriptural passage that captures it better than any commentary can.
PENTECOST is often said to be the birthday of the Church. It marked the day when the Holy Spirit was first received, having been sent by the Father and by Christ at the Father’s right. Our Lord had promised the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church as the One who assures that the Church remain in truth. The Church–the Catholic Church– has this guarantee of infallibility so that its authoritative decisions cannot err in faith or in moral truth. It is this very reliability, this certainty that the Church has–that its teachings are entirely without error–which gives us the confidence to put our wholehearted trust in them. And so, it is not because the Church’s doctrines seem ‘right’ or merely only ‘best’ that we adhere to them, but because they have the confirmation of divine authority behind them.
How utterly ironic it is then that there are those allegedly within the Church who invoke the Holy Spirit, petitioning Him to reverse what He had formerly reve[a]led in the Catholic Church, as if He had erred in the past or possibly that He had made provisional teachings He meant to change in time. In either, there’s a clear case of blasphemy. If God can’t be trusted with telling unerring and permanent truth, then truth itself is–truth to tell–a lie. The contradiction is inescapable.
By the time you get this the 2011 Call to Holiness (CTH) Conference will have ended. The purpose of CTH from its inception has been to propagate the truth of Christ as the Church has received it: faithfully and entire. This initiative was necessitated by the organized efforts of said Catholics who wanted the Church to depart from truth and make it adopt beliefs and practices that are secular, sinful, and agreeable to the baser tendencies of fallen human nature. In short, the dissenters from Catholic truth (such as the American Catholic Council, Call to Action) want falsehood to be declared as if true. Can a more perverse proposal be made? Recall that original sin began with a deception and that Christ named Satan The Father of Lies. Such reflection however seems never to have been made by objectors to the Catholic faith, they who would prefer truth to conform to their wish and will. I’d like to offer some lines from Saint Peter’s Second Epistle (chapter 2) for meditation by anyone who may ever have harbored doubts about the veracity of Catholic teaching. I myself would never be so bold as to ascribe the following passage directly to our contemporary dissenters from Catholic teaching were it not God’s own word:
False teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies...bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their lewdness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled...They will exploit you with false words. Those who indulge in lust and despise authority, bold and wilful, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct... t he y wi l l be destroyed... They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation... They have eyes for adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. Accursed children!... For them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved. Uttering loud boasts of foolishness, they entice with lewd passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. If, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become for them worse than the first. It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the commandment given to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb: The dog returns to his vomit, and the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire.
Dissent from the Catholic faith has almost always involved the ‘below the belt’ issues, seeking the freedom to divorce, to use contraception, to have abortion, to engage in any and all sexual practices, to receive Communion without any conditions, to abolish priestly celibacy. It is to these specific ends (cf. the lewd things in Saint Peter’s Epistle above) that they want changes in Church structure and hierarchy. It’s not a power struggle against ecclesiastical authority pure and simple but wanting the controls so as to declare that what isn’t true be true. The Apostle foresees a terrible future for people who hold such opinions and who persuade others to adopt them.
Our Pentecost prayer would be adroitly aimed for the enlightenment of those who have been deceived and for the conversion of those who have wittingly disabused them.
Fr. Perrone
On June 9th, the Archdiocese of Detroit had another press release about the dissent-fest taking place at Cobo Hall this weekend. The American Catholic Council is an umbrella group for some 30 groups who openly dissent from Catholic teaching.
It’s important to again clarify the significance of who the American Catholic Council (ACC) is— what they espouse and the purpose of their conference. Last fall, the Detroit archdiocese posted a point-by-point advisory to the clergy and faithful on its website. It notes "...all of the invited keynote speakers have manifested dissent from Catholic teachings or support for dissenters." In fact, some of those presenting have publicly— sometimes angrily— left the church or have been dismissed because of their actions.Father Z, visiting Detroit, decided to drop in to the American Catholic Council event for a few minutes to get z scoop.
Certainly, the Roman Catholic faithful have legitimate concerns and aspirations for renewal while remaining grounded in the faith the church professes and united with their pastors. The church and Archbishop Vigneron stand ready to support all authentic efforts for renewal in the church. Regrettably, the ACC conference is not one of them.
The ACC portrays itself as something other than what it is. In effect, it advocates for what it calls "change" by putting Catholic sacraments, church teachings, and even the sanctity of life up to a vote. That's not even close to liberal or left-leaning thinking; it's beyond a bridge too far. And, it is why the archbishop felt it necessary to issue a warning about attending the conference and its scheduled liturgy.
Ned McGrath
Director of Communications
Archdiocese of Detroit
June 9, 2011
For the position paper from the Archdiocese of Detroit on the American Catholic Council go to www.AODonline.org/ACC.
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
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