ARCHBISHOP VIGANÒ: TEMPUS ADEST! THE TIME HAS COME!
Dear Archbishop Viganò:
I, as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. write this
letter to you during the season of Advent, this time of waiting, of expectation,
this time of violet that asks us to ponder the meaning of the coming of Jesus
Christ into this world of sin and death, to ponder these things in the darkest
part of the year when the darkness seems to overwhelm the light. This is the liturgical season in which John
the Baptist assumes so powerfully his role as the forerunner of Christ. It is John the Baptist who prepares himself
for this role by going into the silence and wilderness of the desert to prepare
himself in that silence in which God dwells and then comes blazing out of the
desert with his words demanding repentance and a return to the Lord and finally
an identification of who this Lord is in the person of Jesus Christ.
I write this letter to you to ask you to end your self
imposed exile and to come out of the desert of silence and speak directly to
those who willfully ignore the reality of corruption in the Church and to
expose their profane use of silence that cynically mimics Christ’s silence
before Pontius Pilate. The reaction of Rome has been to ignore your letters or to attack you personally and finally to adopt a response of silence. Their silence has
been deafening, and their bluff of silence has succeeded in blocking all
discussion of not only your three letters but also any discussion of the terrible malaise within the Church herself. The emasculating order of silence imposed on
the bishops of the United States at their recent meeting in Baltimore had the
desired effect. The bishops could not
even agree on sending an innocuous request to the Pope to make available the material
Rome has regarding the McCarrick scandal.
Debolezza triste, mancanza di coraggio.
What can we hope for as the outcome of the February meeting
in Rome called to discuss sexual abuse of children by priests and the cover-ups that
ensued? Perhaps they will offer
McCarrick as the sacrificial lamb and hope that that will satisfy those who
shout that something must be done about the perceived moral corruption in the
Church. But as you have stated several times, the horrendous crimes of
pedophilia by clergy are deeply linked to the homosexual subculture that not
only enabled these crimes but also did its best to cover them up. The secular press has led the charge against
McCarrick and all that he stands for.
They have also led the charge against the pedophile priests and those
who protected them. And at least in the
United States, it is the secular government that is initiating investigation of
many diocese as to whether crimes were committed not only against children--
the overwhelming majority were boys-- but also by those who protected
these priests, which is also a crime.
God used the enemies of Israel to chastise his Chosen People many times
in the Old Testament. Perhaps he is using
the secular powers of this world that despise the Church in so many ways to
chastise and purify the Bride of Christ whose very heart and soul is founded in
the Blood of the Lamb.
But the secular press is not interested in homosexual orgies
in Vatican apartments, or even bishops who sleep with seminarians. Because they believe that there is nothing
wrong with two consenting males having sex with each other. So the secular world will never be an
instrument in the exposure of and the elimination of the sexual corruption
within the Church at all levels including Rome.
This is why you, Archbishop Viganò, must come out of your desert and
confront those you accuse of covering up the poison that keeps the Church from
fulfilling her sacred mission to the world of evangelizing all nations and
people and letting them know about the love of God in Jesus Christ for all men
and women and that he is the only hope for salvation and eternal life in
God. Be not afraid of your own
imperfections. They will not stand in
the way of truth. The stonewalling under
the faccia tosta and impious silence
of the Roman hierarchy must be broken. Whatever the truth may be, only you can
further the process that you have begun in your letters by which the truth will
come to light about the scandals and corruption in the Church that deny her
God-given mission to the world. Leave
your self-imposed desert, and like St. John the Baptist come out to witness to
the truth, that truth that is not an idea nor a concept, that Truth that is a
person, whose name is Jesus Christ.
Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla
