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| St. Francis Xavier deals with Paganism in a Catholic way Chiesa del Gesù, Rome |
It is always good to be reminded of how we are seen by many (most?) priests.
Bangkok (Agenzia Fides) – "Rejuvenate the world", relaunch hope, be a "prophetic and merciful" voice: those are the expectations that Asia holds regarding the new Pontiff. Thus tells Agenzia Fides Fr. Nithiya Sagayam, OFM Cap, Executive Secretary of the Office for Human Development of the "Federation of Asian Bishops's Conferences" (FABC). In a note sent to Fides, the Franciscan mentions the main expectations that the vast Asian continent, in its immense plurality of peoples and religions, has towards the Pope that will be elected.
... The appeal is the one contained in Gaudium et Spes: "The cry of the Pope should be the cry of the world: the Church is often identified as worried about contraception, homosexual matrimony, ordination of women, the Latin Mass. The amount of energy wasted in such questions is excessive considering that spent on the pressing problems of the world: violence, war, weapon production, discrimination, exploitation of the poor and the marginalized."
How can Fides, an official Church news agency, shamelessly spread this insult against the Traditional Mass? The "Church" does not really "waste" any "energy" on these matters: two have been irrevocably resolved (cf. Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae, and Evangelium Vitae for the first one; and Ordinatio sacerdotalis for the third one), one is absurd (the second one), and the fourth is neither a sin (first, second, and third), nor an impossibility (second and third). And if any energy is wasted it is because the media wishes the Church to change her own being and become a mere Non-Governmental Organization - as Fr. Sagayam, OFM Cap, does as well: instead of eternal salvation, Fr. Sagayam speaks only of secular concerns. It is his ilk that exploits the poor and marginalized, wasting resources given by millions of poor Catholics for divine worship, priestly maintenance, and evangelization (i.e. the conversion of non-Catholics) to promote a secular, materialistic, and outdated worldview.
The bloody Communist dictatorships of East Asia have raised more the merely material status of the poor in the past 30 years than all Conferences of Bishops combined. But there are things that neither Communist tyrannies nor representative democracies can do: offer the Mass and Sacraments, preach conversion, repentance, and the charitable practice of works of mercy ("in conformity with the demands of the Church’s teaching"), baptize pagans and teach them the way to heaven, and away from damnation. What the Church needs, in Asia and elsewhere, is fewer Fr. Sagayams, glorified social workers, and many more Xaviers: eternal life, that is the world's "pressing problem".
[You may contact Fr. Sagayam directly and tell him your opinion of his declarations on the Latin Mass: visit the page of the Office of Human Development of the Asian Bishops's Conferences here. You may also contact the Fides news agency here.]
[You may contact Fr. Sagayam directly and tell him your opinion of his declarations on the Latin Mass: visit the page of the Office of Human Development of the Asian Bishops's Conferences here. You may also contact the Fides news agency here.]
