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Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LETTERS
April 2003
BONPANE CONTRADICTS JESUS
I wish to answer Blase Bonpane's rejection of the "dualism" of naturalism and supernaturalism in your February number [see "What We Must Never Forget"].
The answer to Father Bonpane is that Jesus does not permit Bonpane to eliminate the distinction between the supernatural order and the natural order. Jesus introduced the supernatural into religion by His answer to a question asked by Nicodemus: "what do we need in order to participate in the Kingdom of God?"
Jesus answered, "in truth I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again from above."
Then Nicodemus asked, "how can one who is already old, be born?" To this Jesus replied, firstly, that to enter the Kingdom we must "be born through water and the Spirit." Receive baptism. Secondly, he replied, "what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit." So he is drawing a distinction between the two births.
The difference between the birth according to human nature, according to the flesh, and the birth by baptism, by the Spirit, is this: the first makes us children of Adam of Eve and the second makes us children of God. Thus our birth from the womb is important because it makes candidates for the birth by baptism.
There is a second distinction to be drawn in any commentary on this gospel passage. It is that the new life, the life given to us in baptism, is already "eternal life." All the good that constitutes eternal life is already present. Today we often hear it said that eternal life is something in the future, a prize to be won after we die. But it should be stressed that, in the Gospel, eternal life begins with baptism and is something in the here and now, already begun the moment we are given the grace to become children of God.
In Father Blase Bonpane's open letter to the pope [found in his book, Guerillas of Peace -- Ed.], he praises Ernesto Cardenal, the erstwhile Sandinista minister of culture. I have several sermons Father Cardenal delivered in that position. Though Father Cardenal presents himself as a Catholic, one sermon, called, "Of Parents and Nightingales," is a hodgepodge of things which do not pertain to Christ's religion.
Now when he encountered Father Ernesto Cardenal, Pope John Paul II, as teacher of true Christianity, was obliged to warn him against his confusing representation of the Catholic faith. The pope made a point of doing so. Then Blase Bonpane wrote his open letter of condemnation, furiously rebuking the pope, who was just dutifully fulfilling his office of defending the true faith against Father Cardenal. John Paul would not accept Cardenal's secular, natural religion, which says that the only ones sure of getting to heaven were Sandinista troops killed in battle.
In his sermon, Ernesto Cardenal puts Liberation Theology down as the source of peace and friendship in Central America. From my experience at the same time as his in El Salvador, I found it provocative of violence, especially in its recruitment of guerrilleros. The story of San Sebastián began during a soccer game, where there were 6,000 in attendance. Father Rodriguez, a priest commander of the FMLM, led busloads of heavily armed revolutionaries in an attack at the football stadium to secure recruits for his army. He captured one hundred and fifty youths, including the soccer players of both teams. He took them on a very long march to the guerrilla camp to demand that they join the revolution. During the long night march, quite a few of the hostages dropped off the trail and escaped to return home. I interviewed several of these escapees in San Sebastián, while the other hostages were still in the guerrilla camp. In our conversation, they told me that they had no wish to join the guerrilla's war.
The San Sebastián episode ended with the parents getting back their children. Apparently, Father Rodriguez's over-zealous recruiting had created a poor image of Liberation Theology, so that they released all the hostages. Visiting me here, several months later, the bishop of San Vicente told me that, during a special prayer visitation service he made to San Sebastián for the freeing of the captives about twelve days after I left El Salvador, the FMLM guerrillas released to their parents all of the hostages that they were still holding.
Father Bonpane affirms that one cannot practice his kind of justice and at the same time be a good believing Catholic, for Bonpane seems to select what he likes in Christ's teaching in the Bible and to ignore what he does not.
Father Philip Conneally, S.J.,
Jesuit Community, Loyola High School, Los Angeles
PROTESTORS NOT IMMIGRANTS, JUST IGNORANT
I am writing to you regarding the article that was printed in the Mission in the January issue ["We Aren't Going Away"]. I was not only upset but also extremely repulsed by this article. You really need to get your facts straight and ask the real parishioners that have been part of Our Lady of Guadalupe for many years, like myself and family.
Father Tom Baker is the most amazing pastor Our Lady of Guadalupe has ever had. He has never bad-mouthed anyone in our community. Father Tom has never disclosed what happened between Father Lara and himself, and I really feel that it is no one's business but the archdiocese's and the priests. What kind of a belief does Father Lara have? He is dividing the community up. People that have never attended any of our Masses are protesting against Father Tom.
We are an immigrant family, and we do not seem to have any problem with the way Father Tom preaches. In the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we have never had such a large group of youth that look forward to attending Mass. What does that tell you? Father Tom uses ways to connect with everyone, including our youth. I have a 14-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter that can understand the Sunday Gospels, and that is because Father Tom has a way of allowing us to understand the reading through everyday experiences.
Father Tom has been in many marathons and always dedicates his marathon to more vocations. It is obvious you are getting your facts from ignorant people, not immigrants. I, my six brothers and sisters, my mom and dad, husband and kids are immigrants, and we do not find his preaching alienating; and, believe me, my parents come from true tradition. Anyone that can cause some harm to Father Tom and divide a community is not a traditional religious Latino. They are just plain ignorant!
Catalina Serrano
received via e-mail
TARNISHED KNIGHT
The March 2003 article, titled "The Wrong Thing to Celebrate," should have been titled, "The Wrong Knight to Decorate." What a disgrace to the Knights of Columbus, champions of the pro-life cause, to have their name smeared by the membership of a knight in support of baby killing. How is it possible that assembly member Rudy Bermudez still holds such a prestigious rank, even after having signed a resolution that celebrates abortion? I propose that a follow-up story get to the bottom of this. It could well be the cause for the ousting of Bermudez from this mighty militia that lives for the protection of the unborn, not for their slaughter.
Diana Bennett-Gutierrez,
received via e-mail
THE CHURCH IS SINKING
According to the Catholic Education Association, 93 Catholic schools closed last year, and total enrollment declined by 31,000 students. The Catholic Church is sinking like the Titanic. Vatican II sliced open the Catholic Church like the iceberg sliced open the Titanic. The world is strewn with closed churches, schools, convents, seminaries, hospitals and orphanages. Before Vatican II, the Catholic Church led all of the moral crusades. Now, it is the fundamentalist Protestant churches that lead the moral crusades. The abortion slaughter is promoted by Catholic politicians, lawyers, judges, doctors, priests, nuns, and lay people. Catholic bishops denounce the death penalty more vehemently than the murderers sitting on death row.
The tax-exempt foundations allow the rich legally to evade paying income taxes. Instead of attacking the unjust tax laws, the bishops accept grants from tax-exempt foundations. The bishops take this blood money and call it "Catholic charities." In San Francisco, Bishop Levada pays his Catholic Charities workers more than $200,000 per year. This is more than Mayor Willy Brown makes and more than Governor Gray Davis makes.
Mass attendance all over the world has fallen below ten percent. Most parishes survive by running bingo games, selling raffle tickets and selling lottery tickets. In Mexico City in January 1999, the pope admitted that most of the 500 million Catholics in the New World are Catholics in name only. The bishops claim that the exodus of priests, nuns, and laity from the Catholic Church is the work of the Holy Spirit. Wrong. The exodus is caused by the Great Apostasy of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The bishops have accepted the wiles of Satan instead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Robert A. Obergfell,
Bellflower
THIS IS THE GREAT CHASTISEMENT
It is my belief that, during the Vatican Council II, the unthinkable happened. A group of pirates, heretics, hijacked the legal structure of the Roman Catholic Church, took it with them, left the Church behind and created a new false church, creating the illusion of still being the true church, and taking most of the faithful with them. I further believe that this the great chastisement Our Lady warned us about. Remember Pope Leo XIII had a vision that Satan asked God for time to destroy the Church and God granted it to him. Now we know that the gates of Hell will not prevail, but that the Church will be occluded or dimmed.
Look at the fruit of Vatican II. The priesthood has become devastated and scandal-ridden. There is confusion everywhere and people do not know where to turn. Who sowed confusion? Always Satan, never God or the Holy Spirit. So many in the priesthood and hierarchy are like rapacious wolves destroying and devouring the Faith wherever they find it. The churches have been stripped, and now even historical churches and shrines are due for "renovation," which, in this case, means virtual destruction. This is the fruit of a very bad tree, Vatican II.
Does the Church still exist today? Yes. Both underground among Catholics trying desperately to keep the Faith, and also among many people still in the concilliar, (false) church, not understanding what has happened to them and how they are betrayed. The true Mass is still being said, not only in so-called indult chapels, but by priests that have been kicked out of their dioceses for being too Catholic, or who became totally disgusted with not being able to be Catholic. They are saying the old Mass in private homes, rented stores or rooms and occasionally buying old Protestant churches and converting them into old-fashioned Catholic Churches. I reached the point of total disgust a few years ago and walked away from my old parish and found a traditional priest, and I've not looked back since. I got so tired of leaving Mass angry when I saw the constant abuses of the Blessed Sacrament. Not being able to kneel in adoration, being told that I shouldn't say the Rosary as much, etc., etc.
I'm no saint, but I want to be, and I know it's almost impossible in the conciliar church. You can't even find a good, humble spiritual advisor, or they are extremely rare. You want to restore the Church to its former glory? Then go after your priests and bishops, tell them to restore the true sacraments to the Church, punish and suspend the bad priests. And, laity, pray and sacrifice for the restoration of the Church. Say Your Rosaries daily. Oh, and tell your priests and bishops that there will be no financial support until this is all done. If you want the comfort of the true sacraments, find a priest who still says them, and know the comfort of the true Church.
Alfred F. Lee,
Brother Francis Mary, T.O.P.,
Garden Grove
Editor's reply: The previous two writers accurately point out many of the evils that have assailed the Church over the past forty years. It is arguable that the Church has been undergoing the greatest crisis in her history; but it is important to point out, that, in many ways, evils of our time are nothing new. In the Arian crisis, nearly all the bishops of the world embraced heresy. The Church has undergone periods when Catholics, both cleric and lay, were so morally corrupt that it seemed God had abandoned the Church. And popes themselves have been among the worst examples of vice. Nor should one forget that liturgical abuses are nothing new, nor is widespread heresy.
Though ever awash in a sea of evils, the Church has remained the ark of salvation. And here I do not mean some underground Church, but the visible Church of popes and bishops, no matter how personally corrupt. Likewise, the visible Church remains today, dispensing -- despite evil clerics and laymen -- the sacraments of salvation. A true pope still teaches in Rome and remains the principle of unity for the faithful. Vatican II has been used for heterodox purposes, but the problem has not been Vatican II (though, at times, its language could be more clear) but how modernists have used it. It is a-historical to say this modernism is the fruit of the council; it did not spring from it like Athena from the head of Zeus. Rather, it is the fruit of our skeptical and pusillanimous age where men have forgotten both their God and their place in the universe.