With the recent state visit by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, what media had threatened would be a great roar from secularists, atheists and forces generally opposed to the Catholic Church turned out to be a squeak. The anti-catholic BBC and media in general, got it seriously wrong - and support for the Pope was overwhelming.
The British Hierarchy notorious for it kowtowing to the extreme liberal agenda of the Tablet, was a given clear and emphatic lead as to the direction the church should be taking in the U.K. It is time that the Tablet was either shut down or reconstituted and brought into line with the teachings and thought of Catholic Church - and prised out of the hands of the liberal elite.
But the Tablet is a respectable journal I hear you say! It, like so many other things that where once good, is living on the capital of it's past. During the 1980s the Tablet increasingly became the darling of Roman Catholic liberal elite, it's position became firmer in this role in the 1990s. It's current incarnation sees it occupy not only the position of the leading voice of catholic liberal (heterodox) thought in Britain but arguably in the English speaking world.
The Tablet and the liberal elite in general seem to be having great difficulty coming to terms with the fact that their time is at an end. The projects, experiments and changes for which they fought and on which they laboured for half a century have been a colossal failure - one which they refuse to recognise or own, prefering to justify all with the mantra of possessing "a different models of church" to you.
Sadly the end game is at play and we are fast approaching a sink or swim situation. Ageing liberals often local curial officials with the diocesan ordinary under their spell, continue to squander diocesan funds on projects which have already failed elsewhere. The saddest if not ironic thing of all is their complete failure to read the signs of the times, which have now clearly turned against them both in secular and religious terms.
The term "different models of church" is code for what is inexplicable... Whilst hailing the most abohorent liturgical practices and robbing the liturgy of it's sacral character, if confronted or challenged the all encompassing response was "it's obvious that you have different model of church" - meaning that you are:
1. Ignorant of their model of church and therefore out of touch.
2. Not going in the same direction as the church.
3. Entitled to your view - but keep it to youself.
4. An obstruction - just go away and let us get on with it
5. an individual with a vision of church different to ours - so lets just agree to differ.
The failure of Religious life - Ageing religious in institutions which have embraced the liberal agenda have utterly failed to attract vocations. Their religious observance and dress, when compared with those in late 1960s is unrecognisable. "A different model of church" gives a vision of hope, to those who might otherwise have despaired at least on a human level, that this is all part of the divine plan - and that their order has run the course of it's natural life, but that's it's contribution will never be forgotten - and indeed in these latter days of the order it is their mission to make sure that no one does. But seriously how can a house that in 1964 boasted 140 religious and is now closed, not have requested or desired some internal review or honest self appraisal, things essential to good management let alone common sense.
As regards the priesthood - the story is similar. Candidates suspected of being "conservative" or orthodox are treated with suspicion even turned a way for spurious reasons (and by reason of lack of transparency can never be questioned), whilst others who are clearly unsuitable are favoured because their lack of conservatism/orthodoxy makes them desirable. Needless to say few candidates if any are sustained. An immediate solution recently come upon by failing dioceses who refuse to give up the liberal agenda is to import seminarians from poorer countries, educate them badly, and after a few years of service, send them back to where they came from, in the hope that their liberal formation will prosper else where. The funds, particularly the capital of the past, has however almost dried up - conveniently ways are being found to introduce the laity to a "different models of church" emphasising the role of the laity in every aspect of parish life to an extent where a priest is supernumerary in everything but the administration of the sacraments.
Again, it is an ageing congregation mostly, who are expected to answer the call, this because of the complete failure of the liberal agenda to inspire, challenge or even capture the imagination of youth with the the truths of the Catholic religion, but rather prefering watering it down where ever possible, removing from it it's supernatural and transcendant truths in favour of a social gospel.
Like the chosen people who would not recognise the Messiah in Christs coming, so too have these liberals hardened their hearts against Christ in his church. This blindness seems almost incurable, and it is perhaps understandable, when to many despair is the only other option. I am minded of the dwarves in the "Last Battle" of C.S. Lewis, who refused to see the truth, goodness and beauty placed before them.
Ever mindful of the guarantees which Christ gave to his Church, an important fact which itself undermines all "different models of church" is the action of Christ himself in his Church re-iterating his own model. The Tablet and the liberal elite are well aware that the phoenix of Traditional Catholicism is rising... and rapidly. Logic dictates their position must be one (we can but judge their actions) of obstruction where ever possible.
This however will fail as it must. The Church "soul by soul and silently" by the power Christ drawing all to him, cannot fail. Even as we speak the new renaissance is underway - even against the odds, can we doubt that this is of divine origin.
Laudetur Jesus Christus!
Footnote: WHAT TO LOOK FOR NEXT;
1. Clarifications regarding aspects of Summorum Pontificum - is due very soon. I am informed by a reliable source that these will be quite extensive and put many current injustices to rest.
2. The commencement of the Ordinariate: for Anglicans coming into communion with Rome - I have on a reliable source that it will be up and running by Pentecost next year.
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