Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

When We Idolize Priests: Father Corapi

DISCLAIMER: This is not an update on Father Corapi. This is my own personal views on things that I have observed over the last few months.

When I am muddling through my site stats to see how people are accessing the blog and where they are coming from and what they are searching for, what stands out the most, is generally, Father Corapi in some form or another. They usually view my two posts on him (one being my questioning where he disappeared to and another being a potential siting) and then they leave. I wish they’d view other posts, but I suppose if you want to know about Father Corapi and my blog only has two pages on him…well, there isn’t much draw elsewhere. Anyways…

I still get a few comments here and there on those posts and I want to address something, because I’m unsure why I am getting accused of this (or at least feels like it). Just about every comment that comes through is on how we shouldn’t be judging Father Corapi. I have never implied that we should, in fact, I have encouraged constant prayer for his return to the Church. Nothing judgmental about that. If anything that is the charitable and Christian thing to do.

However, I would like to comment on the people who think that Father Corapi is above the critical line. That is, untouchable to public scrutiny.

We have every right to say that because he has publicly left the priesthood and publicly disobeyed his vows to SOLT and appears to be unrepentant for his sins, that he is in danger of Hell. To ignore these cases, and to then go on to tell others “not to judge” as if everything was a-okay is a travesty. We should pray for Father Corapi on a daily basis. He is not a-okay, he is in danger of Hell because of his actions (and his unrepentant attitude).

Priests are sinners just like you and I. It is far more damaging to the faith when their sin is made public. Its a double-edged sword because we expect them to be perfect, yet, they are not. However, what we know of priests is that they have promised to be faithful to the Church and have given up many things in life. Thus, when they break this vow, it is heart-wrenching.

Let’s be clear on this. We can not say that he is going to Hell. We can say though, that with his attitude and actions that he is on his way to Hell (assuming that he dies and is not in the state of grace, and is unrepentant for these sins). This is Catholic teaching. The charitable thing to do, is to pray, pray, and did I mention pray? The other charitable thing to do is to point out his sin, and to tell him of it.

Now, I really enjoyed listening to Father Corapi preach. His talks were inspiring. With what we know now, his talks were probably inspiring because he knew how bad Satan is and how bad sin is. When we have experience with something, we can talk about it more personally. I want to also point out how much good he did do for the Church before his sin was made public. Even though he may have been in mortal sin when he gave his talks this does not negate the truthfulness of those talks.

Pray for Father Corapi. Father Corapi, we miss you and want to see you return home.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Jeff June 19, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

The Unforgivable Sin

Jesus Christ tells us that there is only one sin that you can commit that God can not forgive. That sin, would be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But, don’t take my word for it, take Jesus’:

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Matthew 12:30-32.

And…

“Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” Mark 3:28-29.

I know what you’re thinking, Jesus came to:

Here’s where it gets interesting. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when we choose not to ask for forgiveness. Simple, that’s the unforgivable sin, not being sorry for our sins.

Jesus did come to forgive all sins, but, you have to want to be forgiven, you have to ask Jesus to forgive you.  You have to say you are sorry. You need to go to confession! That is why Jesus instituted it in John 21:22-23.

What if you aren’t sorry? Has there been a time where you have committed a sin that you aren’t sorry for? I’d imagine the answer is yes, as we all sometimes do something we aren’t sorry for. But, are you sorry for not being sorry? This can be forgiven. You would confess that you 1. Did X, 2. Are not sorry for it and want to be sorry, and wah lah. Forgiven!

A common theme of mine is confession, in case you haven’t noticed. That is because it is an important aspect of the Catholic faith. You need confession if you want to make it to Heaven. We are obligated as Catholics to go at minimum once a year. Confess all of your sins. If you haven’t gone in a while, tell Father, and he will walk you through it. On top of that, Father can’t tell anybody your sins. Its called the “Seal of the Confessional”. Even if the police come knocking on Father’s door after you have left, he can not say a word, otherwise, he is stripped of his priestly functions. Its kind of a big deal.

I want everyone to have the ability to make it to Heaven, and only Jesus Christ can allow you entrance. Ideally, I also want you to choose to go to Heaven as it is a choice to go there. Hopefully you want to go to Heaven and are constantly challenging yourself to become a better person.

Jesus instituted the Catholic Church upon Saint Peter. Jesus tells us that there is no way to the Father but through Him. Either Jesus is a liar, Jesus is loony, or Jesus is telling us the truth. Since the first two options make no sense, than the third option is the most plausible.

Pray for all of your friends, family, co-workers and well, everybody that you know. On top of that, preach the Gospel to them.

Jeff June 13, 2013 5 Comments Permalink

Denial of Communion Part Two

Well, I received a response from Father on denying me communion for kneeling.

I was pleasantly surprised that it came in, I honestly wasn’t expecting a response so quickly. In fact, I was expecting to go the two months that I gave him and would have to just let his Bishop know what was going on.

Unfortunately, his response will lead me to write his Bishop. Even though Father was very polite and thoughtful, he disagreed with me on my main point, and I am now contemplating my next steps.

I’ve decided not to post the response that he gave me, mostly due to privacy and in trusting that Father did not think that I would post this on the internet for many people to complain about. If at some point in the future, publishing the letter is necessary, then I will post it at that time.

A few points that he did make that I have some qualm over and I will address them here:

1. He mentioned that he does not deny communion to those kneeling, but rather, invites them to stand and informs them. This did not occur to me. What he said to me when I knelt was “No. You have to stand.” This is not an “invitation” to stand, this is a command. Also, the “no” that he gave me was an explicit denial. I did not feel that it was polite, but, out of charity’s sake, I will give Father the benefit of the doubt that he was having a bad day (it was after all Palm Sunday and he may have been stressed out).

2. He explicitly called the Mass “the Mass of Paul VI”. This bothers me as I’ve never heard the Novus Ordo Mass called this. Again, this seems like poor implementation of Vatican II. It makes it sound like its “this specific Pope’s Mass” and not that of the Church. The Novus Ordo is the Catholic Church’s Mass just as much as the Latin Mass is that of the Church.

3. The main point I was making, that he should not have denied, was to some extent largely ignored, I felt. I might have been too charitable in my letter to him as I did say “you requested that I stand” and he took this as he was asking. Regardless, if you look at the points I made, we are able to kneel and the documents imply that kneeling is the optimal position (since they explicitly make a big deal on how communion in the hand needs to be done with scrutiny and if suspicion occurs to not do by hand, what does this imply?)

4. He mentions the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) and mentions that he is in complete compliance with this document. Based on the wording of this document, he is, depending on your interpretation, however, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s letter Redemptoris Sacramentum, is not mentioned in Father’s response, and on top of that, the Pope’s letter has more authority than what a country’s bishops have decided what the “norm” is.

I’m pretty certain that I will be writing his Bishop, and I will be posting that letter on here. I just thought I’d let you all know that I did hear from Father. Please if you can, out of charity, pray for him as well as his Bishop.

Jeff June 9, 2013 1 Comment Permalink