These Last Days News - July 1, 2024
URGENT: Forward a link to this web page to your clergy, family, friends and relatives.
7-3. Bishop Strickland Urges Catholics to Oppose ‘Blasphemies’ and Corruption from Church Hierarchy...
CARDINALS SELLING THEIR SOULS
"The present leaders of My Church in the city of Rome, in your arrogance you have set up My Church without honor, without holiness! In the name of peace and brotherhood, you have whittled away the foundation. I am the foundation! You must now rebuild My Church, for a church in darkness wears a band of death about it. I say unto you; it is better that there are few with quality than quantity with nothingness.
"The Red Hats have fallen and the Purple Hats are being misled. I say unto you, that satan has entered into the Holy City of Rome.
"You have been warned in the past by the descendants of Peter to guard My Church from humanism, modernism and satanism. When the world and My Church become as one, know that the end is at hand. Many of the descendants of Peter, men of knowledge and piety, gave you the reasons for shunning modernism and liberal attitudes. Many of those wearing the Red Hats have sold their souls to satan to get to the head.”
- The Bayside Prophecies
Jesus, December 31, 1977
CARDINALS LEADING BISHOPS INTO ERROR
“Our cardinals, who lead Our bishops into error, you have been allowed to proceed in error because of your vain satisfaction, seeking of body pleasures, and because you have replaced your God with idols—humanism, idolism, destruction!”
- The Bayside Prophecies
Jesus, August 15, 1971
The above Messages from Our Lady were given to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, New York
LifeSiteNews.com reported on July 1, 2024:
by Emily Mangiaracina
Bishop Joseph Strickland has denounced the Catholic hierarchy’s attempts to “alter basic teachings of the faith,” warning that complacency about this puts us “at risk of eternal damnation.”
In a Saturday X post, Bishop Strickland urged U.S. Catholics to make “critical decisions with immediate urgency,” regarding both support of President Joe Biden and obedience to a heterodox and “corrupt” hierarchy.
The faithful bishop questioned whether Catholics can support a president who is aiming to “codify” abortion up until birth and has “been more a disastrous puppet than president.” “Many denounce the alternative but in the face of Biden corruption and senility IS there really any choice?” he added. Biden has indeed throughout his presidency demanded that Congress pass legislation to codify a “right” to abortion in federal law, which would forbid states from passing any law that not only prohibits abortion but would be “reasonably likely to delay or deter” abortions.
It has also been frequently suggested that Biden is acting as a puppet for hidden governing forces, especially as he has demonstrated increasing cognitive decline.
Retired Col. Douglas Macgregor declared after his disastrous recent debate with Donald Trump, “It is now obvious that the governing power to determine our nation’s destiny lies in unelected hands.”
Bishop Strickland also questioned whether Catholics can “obey a hierarchy that is deeply corrupt” and seeks to change “basic teachings of the faith,” adding, “We cannot be silent sheep in the face of devastating blasphemies against Our Lord and the Truth He Incarnates.”
The bishop has recently been critical of the Vatican for intentionally condoning sinful homosexual relationships through the document Fiducia Supplicans.
Noting that clergy “blessings” for homosexual “couples” given under the “authority” of Fiducia Supplicans have contradicted certain instructions in the document, Bishop Strickland has remarked, “Somebody’s lying.”
“And for the faithful of the Church, for any of us to just roll over and say, ‘Well, they’re saying this but doing that and contradicting themselves,’ we don’t need to stand for it. We need to say, ‘Either your confusing further explanation of this document is not the truth, or this needs to be corrected,’ but it won’t be corrected because this really points out what their intention was: ‘We’ll lull people into a complacency, and then we’ll allow sin to be blessed,’” he told Terry Barber during a May episode of The Bishop Strickland Show.
Bishop Strickland also called out the Vatican for failing to proclaim the Gospel during its encounters with the secular world, such as during a recent Vatican-hosted “Be Human” event. He has gone so far as to accuse such bishops, cardinals, and priests who promote secular issues without insisting on the necessity of the Gospel as “false prophets.”
“It’s being a false prophet to say, ‘The Church is no longer about the salvation of souls,’” said Bishop Strickland during a more recent episode of his show.
The bishop most recently declared that Catholics are not obliged to obey a Vatican-imposed ban on the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). He believes that should a rumored forthcoming Vatican document eliminate any celebration of the Latin Mass, many will be unable to obey it. “I believe it is an unjust law; people have come to a deeper faith in Jesus Christ and His Church through the Traditional Latin Mass.”
He has even advised Catholics not to believe it when told they’re being “schismatic” for being faithful to this ancient liturgy. “The schism, if it comes, is coming from those who are trying to kill the tradition of the Church,” said Bishop Strickland.
In his Saturday X post, he noted, “Few shepherds are willing to speak up regarding the critical situation of Church and state. Can we continue to follow blind guides with no protest?”
He insisted that “We must be faithful to Christ and His Church,” suggesting that the writings and actions of the Church hierarchy and even the Vatican have been at odds with Christ and His true Church.
“To remain complacent leaves us in danger of devastating conflicts around the world. To remain complacent leaves us in grave peril and at risk of eternal damnation,” he continued. “Do we believe in the Catholic faith and allow Her teachings to inform all our decisions or not???”
“A WAR WITHIN MY HOUSE”
"There shall be a war in My House: bishop against bishop and cardinal against cardinal. And why? Because you have allowed satan to play chess with you!
"You shall not be unevenly yoked. What have you in common with the darkness? Are you strong enough, My pastors, to pierce that darkness now? No, I say to you, for many of you have extinguished the light.
"The gates of hell shall not prevail against My House.”
- The Bayside Prophecies
Jesus, May 26, 1976
MANY MITRES WILL FALL INTO HELL
"The judgment of your God is not akin to the judgment of man. The Eternal Father will only judge by the heart. Your rank, your accumulation of worldly goods does not set you up before another. Many have sold their souls within the holy House of God. Better that you strip yourself and remove all worldly interests now while you have the time to make amends to your God, for many mitres will fall into hell."
- The Bayside Prophecies
St. Thomas Aquinas, August 21, 1972
These Last Days News - July 2, 2024
URGENT: Forward a link to this web page to your clergy, family, friends and relatives.
Bishop Strickland: Remember That the Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail against Christ’s Church...
DESTRUCTION OF SOULS AND THE CHURCH
"Do not leave holy Church. Do not fall away from the Church for the sins of man. Only My Rosary holds back the darkness. Your way of life in your country has been planned by satan for the destruction of all souls, with the destruction of the holy Church of My Son and the divinity of My Son. The gates of hell will not prevail against My Son's Church!"
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, September 14, 1970
NO PEACE WITHOUT FAITH
"It will be bishop against bishop and cardinal against cardinal, and satan will set himself in their midst. Like a game of chess, he manipulates for his benefit, not mankind. Like a game of chess, he will play cardinal against cardinal and bishop against bishop.
"In the Council of Rome, Vatican II, man set out to use his own deviations to promote peace. Look about you, My children, and learn what peace has been brought to mankind. Man cries peace, peace, and he goes farther away from peace. There shall be no peace without faith. There shall be no peace without the plan of God in the hearts of man!"
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, May 18, 1977
The above Messages from Our Lord and Our Lady were given to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, New York.
LifeSiteNews.com reported on July 1, 2024:
by Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda. And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, divers kind of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 22:20-25 DRB).
“Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples, that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.” (Matthew 16:16-20 DRB).
“And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, write: These things saith the Holy One and the true one, he that hath the key of David; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth.” (Revelation 3:7 DRB).
The Lord does not interject things into the world abruptly and without warning that are necessary for our salvation. He builds a framework for them to rest upon, and then begins to teach us, step by step, how to enter in and partake of this salvific reality. And what is required in order to accept this reality is something I have written about in a previous letter – supernatural faith. Supernatural faith is of the utmost importance because salvific realities are far beyond human understanding and, therefore, supernatural faith is required to accept them. The “mystery” of the Church is one of these salvific realities which requires supernatural faith to understand and accept, for the Church came from the salvific plan of the Lord and is the “universal sacrament of salvation.”
By calling the Church the “universal sacrament of salvation,” it is not meant that it is the eighth sacrament. Instead, it is the foundation of all the sacraments, as it is through the Church that the other seven sacraments are received. Therefore, it is the Church that brings forth Christ’s saving mission in the world. The Church is both a sign and an instrument that brings forth God’s grace. As Christ was made flesh as the visible image of God on Earth, so too was the Church brought forth as the visible image of God on Earth, for indeed in His Church, His Bride, He is present among us.
Because this IS a great mystery, and because this does not always align with what others think the structure and function of Christ’s Church should be, does this mean that we should then attempt to take the “mystery” out of the divine structure of the Church so that it might be better understood by men? Should we attempt to reduce it to that which is in agreement with what those outside the true faith believe? And should we attempt to make the Church more “synodal” by a fraternal collaboration – in other words, by listening to men and attempting to modify immutable definitions of the Church, the sacraments, and the Papal office according to the various definitions of men? If we seek to do any of these things in an attempt to take away the “mystery” of the Church then there is danger of finding ourselves in a Church that is no longer Catholic – but is instead an “ape” of Christ’s Church.
Regardless of the apparent attempts of some in the Vatican to redesign the Church to make it more appealing to modern ears, the Catholic Church is still the one and only instrument of Christ’s salvation because she is not merely a charitable organization or a fraternal organization; the Church traces her origin to a divine beginning in which the divine Founder, our Lord Jesus Christ, brought her into being for the salvation of souls, and He continues to guide her to this day. Therefore, any efforts made to replace the divine nature of the Church or to change her into a form more acceptable to the world – even if these attempts come about by the hands of the Holy Father himself – will not succeed because the Church IS divine in nature, and therefore its substance and essence cannot be changed by man. In the event that men do try to redesign the Church, then as the prophet Isaiah tells us: “saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.”
This verse is first of all a description of what would be the downfall of Eliacim, also rendered Eliakim. Eliakim would fall because of his sinfulness. However, it is also a warning for those who attempt to change the Church into a church of man’s making – for that man-made peg will be removed even though it may sit in the holy place (Rome). But the Church of divine origin shall never fall, even though it may at some point be relegated to the catacombs for a time. Jesus Himself tells us: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 DRB). It is important to understand that Peter was NOT himself given the task of building the Church – that is Jesus’s role – Peter was given the task of governing the Church which was established by Christ. Because Jesus is the Davidic king, the keys are His to give, and therefore He alone can bestow them as He chooses.
Looking again at the verses from Isaiah, we see the beginning of the foundation for the Papal office as we read about the highest office under the king of Jerusalem – that of the Royal Steward or Prime Minister. The Royal Steward carried the key of David upon his shoulder, and he was “as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” This was a foreshadowing of what was to come about in the Church that Christ would build. We see Christ building upon this foundation in Matthew chapter 16 as He appoints one of His Apostles, Peter, as the Royal Steward, giving him the keys of the kingdom. Jesus gave the other disciples the power to bind and loose, but it was only to Peter that he gave the keys.
It is more critical in this time than ever before that every faithful Catholic in the world should pause and pray with deep reflection on these words from Matthew chapter 16. These words have been cited for many centuries as the Church pointed to this foundational scriptural reference regarding the papacy and the very nature of the Church herself. The first millennium of Christianity understood these words universally, thus in a truly catholic way, as foundational to the Petrine office and to the hierarchical structure of the Church that Jesus Christ established. Since the East/West schism early in the second millennium, and in the rise of Protestantism in the 16th Century, belief that Matthew 16:18-19 refers to the Chair of Peter has been an essential criterion for understanding yourself as a Catholic.
However, in these early years of the third millennium AD, an increasingly large number of faithful Catholics across the world find themselves deeply confused, concerned, and at times appalled by the confusing words and actions of the present occupant of the Chair of Peter, and the newly released study document, “The Bishop of Rome,” only adds to this confusion. I too share in these grave concerns. Even as I write the above sentences, I am well aware that many of my fellow Catholics will find these words unsettling and deeply offensive. As a Catholic baptized in infancy, I agree that simply uttering these words is jarring and troubling to the depths of my soul, but I find that I must speak them. Love of Jesus Christ who is Truth Incarnate, love of the Church He established, love of the Petrine Office which is traced back to St. Peter himself, and love of Pope Francis all compel me to do so.
I must admit that as a sinner, I fall far short of living this compelling love as I should, but I must strive to do so each and every day – and so must we all. The greatest way to love another is to share the wondrous truth of our Catholic faith, and when necessary, to call even the Pope back to this truth. As a removed bishop I find myself in a unique position that calls me and allows me to “speak for the flock” as never before. Many members of the flock express their fears and concerns to me, and I am compelled to speak for them. It is true that a number of other bishops refrain from speaking up because they are concerned that they too might be removed. It is also true that some bishops do not speak up because they are in agreement with those who seek fundamental changes to the Church, including a reinterpretation of Matthew 16:18-19, and they are urging Pope Francis forward in changing what cannot be changed.
At this same time, we also see an attempt from the Vatican to separate the Church from its traditional past. The Mass which uses the 1962 Roman Missal is known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or the Tridentine or Traditional Latin Mass. It is the Mass that has been used for centuries, and it is this mass that was codified after the Council of Trent in the 16th Century. However, after Vatican II a different form of the Mass was created and released which authorized the use of the vernacular (or locally spoken) language over Latin, and many of the prayers were changed or eliminated. Additionally, many other changes took place which moved the Church away from this Mass of the Ages. Although not specifically directed by the Council, following Vatican II, communion in the hand became commonplace and priests began facing the people rather than facing the altar as had been the custom of the Church for well over a millennium. However, despite these numerous changes, the Traditional Latin Mass was at least still permitted.
Various popes have tried to protect this ancient form of the Mass. On July 19, 1570, Pope St. Pius V issued this decree: “By this our decree, to be valid IN PERPETUITY, we determine and order that NEVER shall anything be added to, omitted from, or changed in this Missal … At no time in the future can a priest, whether secular or order priest, ever be forced to use any other way of saying Mass.” However, after 1970, the pre-conciliar 1962 Missal was discouraged and in fact banned in many places. There was some confusion at the time about whether this would completely suppress the “Tridentine” Missal. However, in his motu proprio “Summorum Pontificum” Pope Benedict XVI stated: “this Missal {1962} was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted.“ However, now with Pope Francis’s motu proprio, “Traditionis custodes,” he has embarked on a journey to suppress what other popes have sought to guard, and what Pope St. Pius V said shall be valid in perpetuity. This is deeply concerning.
Acknowledging these deep fissures brings me back to this text from the Gospel of Matthew and necessitates a closer examination. Jesus Christ, Truth incarnate, says, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Clearly, Peter is the rock, “the foundation” of the Church which Christ intends to build, but it is also clear that it is Christ’s Church. Peter serves the Church while Christ retains full possession. Christ then underscores His ownership of the Church by emphasizing that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Christ confirms that He is the power that vanquishes the power of hell, and that He will later send His Holy Spirit as reinforcement to His people and His Church. Nothing is said about a collaboration of men to reimagine a synodal structure for His Church.
In Matthew 16:19, Christ grants the keys and the power of binding and loosing. The image of keys evokes the idea of locking in and locking out. Both are important to the Petrine Office – the Truth which Christ has revealed must be locked securely in the Deposit of Faith. In addition, any false teachings must be locked out of the Deposit of Faith. The keys serve both to secure and protect the precious truth of the Gospel. Finally, only the most precious valuables were under lock and key in the time of Christ; this further emphasizes the profound power and the solemn importance of the papacy.
In light of the constant and unchanging truth upheld by the Church in these verses of Sacred Scripture, it is reasonable to express profound concern regarding Pope Francis’s words and actions during his pontificate. I believe it is a disservice to the Petrine office and to Pope Francis himself to simply say, “He’s the Pope; we must obey.” (Cf. Galatians 2:11-14). This becomes even more important when we acknowledge that Pope Francis’s words and actions often leave us confused and deeply troubled. I find it to be especially disconcerting that this Pontificate apparently seeks to diminish papal authority and a centralized structure in favor of a more synodal way, while at the same time acting autocratically and wielding papal power with great force, as evidenced by the suppression of faithful traditional communities and the Traditional Latin Mass.
I am sure some will accuse me of attacking the Pope, but I can assure you that is not my intention in the least. As a successor of the Apostles, I have the utmost respect for the Church and every one of its divinely-instituted elements, which includes the Papacy. However, now more than ever we need a Supreme Pontiff who is a great bridge builder. What better way to express our hope in these desperate times than to speak honestly to the Holy Father and ask him to guard Christ’s Church.
In 1947, Archbishop Fulton Sheen saw the Church in the future dividing into two groups – “the God Who became man, and the man who makes himself God; brothers in Christ and comrades in anti-Christ.” Bishop Sheen saw the anti-Christ setting up a Church “which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ.”
Sheen said that “in the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality,” the anti-Christ “will have one great secret which he will tell to no one; he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God … ” With this caution in mind, we must remain ever-vigilant in defending the Church from any who would seek to change or corrupt the divinely instituted elements of Christ’s Church.
Be of courage, my brothers and sisters – Christus Vincit! However, the Church is now facing extremely hard times. Seek always to pray, to remain in a state of grace, to grow in your supernatural faith, and to remember that “from now on, the struggle will be … for the souls of men.”
Archbishop Sheen predicted that people would accept this ape of the Church and its promise to unite people in a world brotherhood. And he said, “Only those who live by faith really know what is happening in the world. The great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on.”
It is important for all of us to wake up and look around – for this time is even now upon us. It is at our door.
May Almighty God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for you and point you always to the Sacred Heart of her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
Bishop Emeritus
"There will be an uncanonically elected pope who will cause a great schism, there will be diverse thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders to doubt, yea, even agree with those heretics which will cause my Order to divide, then will there be such universal dissensions and persecutions that if those days were not shortened even the elect would be lost."
- St. Francis of Assisi (The Reign of Antichrist, Fr. R. Gerald Culleton)
DIRECTIONS TWISTED
"Many, because of the mistakes made issuing forth from the good hearts of John XXIII, Pope Paul VI—many have taken the messages and the directions given at the Vatican Council and twisted them to suit themselves, reading in the Bible words of their own, or finding excuses for their sinning, through the Bible."
- The Bayside Prophecies
Jesus, July 1, 1985
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."
- Matt. 10:32-33
ROME SHALL BECOME THE SEAT OF ANTICHRIST
"Your world, mankind, is now developing into a one-world government and a one-world religion that will cast aside My Son. Woe, I say unto you, as I cried before, that unless you pray, unless you act now, 666 shall entrench himself in Rome, the Eternal City of Rome, and then it shall become the seat of the antichrist forces. My children, remove the blindness from your hearts and your eyes. Can you not recognize what is happening?
"I cry bitter tears of sorrow. I ask all My children to save My Son's House, His Church upon earth. And how may this be accomplished? By prayer, My children; by good example; constructive criticism. You cannot give full confidence to satan or his agents. You cannot expect another to take your part in this battle of the spirits. Each and every one of conscionable age must now go forward as a bearer of truth and light. These days, My children, are the days that had been spoken of and written of by the prophets of old."
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, December 7, 1977
These Last Days News - July 18, 2024
URGENT: Forward a link to this web page to your clergy, family, friends and relatives.
Bishop Strickland: ‘Silent Shepherds’ Are Betraying Christ with Their Apathy...
"My Son's Church, His House upon earth, is undergoing a great trial from within. The numbers of Judases are multiplying in Rome, My children. If this continues there will be a bloodbath in the streets of Rome."
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, June 18, 1978
"My children, you will all recognize the faces of evil. Satan has entered into the highest ranks of My Church. Pray now for your priests: your bishops, your cardinals, your clergy. Many prayers are needed, for many are on, now, the road to perdition and taking many others with them."
- The Bayside Prophecies
Jesus, July 15, 1977
"There will be many mitres in hell. Many priests are on the road to damnation; with them they take others. For this, the lowest pit of the abyss will be eternity! Those entrusted in My Son's House will be held accountable for the fall of young souls. Your rank will be no guarantee of your entrance into the Kingdom. You have betrayed My Son. How dare you sell His House! You have sold My Son's House for the profit of your temporary lifetime!"
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, July 25, 1972
bishopjosephstrickland.substack.com reported on July 18, 2024:
by Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
“As he was yet speaking, behold a multitude; and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus, for to kiss him. And Jesus said to him: Judas dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:47-48 DRB)
“And he said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come. But woe to him through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones.” (Luke 17:1-2 DRB)
BETRAYAL!
Betrayal is the coward’s path – it comes from a weakness, a lack of backbone, a desire for an easier path. At its core, betrayal is a selling out – knowingly and willingly exchanging something of greater value for something of lesser value for one’s own personal gain – for example, exchanging the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver. Betrayal is a participation in evil, as it turns one from a selfless love ordered towards the good of others, to a selfish desire which disregards others and elevates the betrayer above all else. Betrayal despises what is good.
In Dante’s Inferno, the author places betrayal at the frozen center of hell. Instead of fire, he envisions betrayal as ice – a place where there is complete lack of fidelity, love, and warmth – with the devil sitting in the very center as the greatest traitor in history.
Judas, likewise, is the ultimate human betrayer. He betrayed Our Lord, and he did so with a kiss. What pain this must have caused Christ Jesus who loved him so much! The overwhelming consensus throughout the past two millennia is that Judas has been, is, and ever will be among the damned because of his betrayal and then his failure to repent of that betrayal prior to taking his own life. Jesus pronounced judgment on him: “But woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed. It were better for him, if that man had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24 DRB).
Judas was one of the twelve – he had an intimate relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ. But that is the essence of his betrayal – he sold out the One who knew him most intimately and who loved him more deeply than any other. Judas rejected the faithful, selfless, and life-giving love of Christ for a meager financial reward. And sadly, this betrayal of Our Lord continues even today. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the betrayal of so many in the hierarchy of Our Lord’s Church.
Over the past century, the Catholic Church has been quietly but methodically infiltrated, and this attack has resulted in decades of weak, compromised, and silent clergy – betrayers. Have you noticed that we are in the time of the silent shepherds – for never a word do they speak. For many, their betrayal is in the form of silent apathy, as it seems there is nothing that they love enough to cause them to act – or nothing that they love enough that will cause them to call out or to attempt to stop the betrayal.
We can clearly see the fingerprints of Satan in the massive betrayal of the Lord and His Church in the sex abuse crisis that has so rocked the Church since at least the early 2000’s. Perhaps nowhere was betrayal in the form of protecting and promoting abusers more evident than in the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. His story is an example of betrayal on an unprecedented scale. Those in positions of power in the hierarchy of the Church were living the high life, abusing seminarians, and paying hush money. It is now evident that the Vatican began receiving reports about McCarrick and his unusual interest in seminarians and his predatory behavior as early as the 1990’s. However, those who could have put a stop to this evil turned a blind eye, and McCarrick continued to abuse more victims while at the same time rising to positions of greater and greater authority in the Church.
Decades have passed and yet little has changed. In fact, we are now living under a papacy in which abusive clerics not only flourish but are often rewarded and even celebrated. In fact, there are many cases of priests who still remain in ministry today even though they have committed gravely immoral acts – priests such as Marko Rupnik, a Jesuit who was expelled from the order after decades of sexual abuse against women religious. Rupnik has been accused of sexually abusing some 30 religious sisters. However, he is currently still an active priest (now incardinated into the Diocese of Koper, Slovenia following his dismissal from the Jesuits), and he is living and working in Rome as the director of art and dean of theology at Centro Aletti.
Some of the horrific and sacrilegious allegations against Rupnik include incidents of sexual abuse which reportedly occurred while he was designing and creating works of art, and yet his works of art still adorn some of the most holy and reverent locations throughout the Church, such as the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at Lourdes, France – a place of healing and faith that should bring honor to our Blessed Mother. This art remains even though at least five women who claim to have been abused by Rupnik, and whose claims the Jesuits ruled were credible, sent letters to Catholic bishops around the world asking that Rupnik’s artwork be removed from these churches and shrines. Instead, the Vatican’s top communications official defended using the images and insisted that they caused no harm to the victims. It is disheartening to know that Rupnik is just one example of many “betrayers” who continue to receive the full protection of the Vatican while many other faithful priests, bishops, and cardinals are silenced, canceled, and removed.
And what about the betrayal of heresy? There is widespread betrayal going on in the Church right now as Catholic teachings and Catholic doctrine are pushed aside to make room for the teachings of the world. One such betrayal is in regard to homosexuality. Homosexuality has become “the elephant in the room” in the Church today. Although we rightly recognize that as faithful Catholics, we must always love our neighbor (which of course includes those with same-sex attraction), the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and are always violations of divine and natural law. Therefore, we must be clear that it is never permissible to participate in these acts, and clergy should never mislead their flocks by condoning such acts or minimizing their grave nature. Instead, we must always call people away from sin and towards Christ, and to the forgiveness that He offers through repentance and conversion. However, we now have a situation where many in high positions in the Church celebrate and even glorify this lifestyle which leads souls away from Christ. The editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, Fr James Martin, an advocate of this perversion, is one of the most prominent spokesmen in the Church today, and he is often solicited as a consultant to the Vatican. The document Fiducia Supplicans greatly added to the confusion by opening the door to potential blessings of homosexual relationships, an outcome unthinkable even 50 years ago. This document has been an open invitation to the devil to go after souls who are confused by a Church in which many clergy no longer remain anchored to the Sacred Deposit of Faith, but who instead seek to modernize teachings to appease modern ears.
And in the midst of this climate of betrayal, the 10th National Eucharistic Congress is beginning in Indianapolis, Indiana, at a cost of about $14 million. As Catholics, we know that the Eucharist is the center of Catholic life because the Eucharist is nothing less than Jesus Christ Himself. Our Lord is present – body and blood, soul and divinity – in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus did not leave the apostles with only a book or some vague assurances of His help – He left them, and us, with Himself! He gathered them together and transformed ordinary bread and ordinary wine into his divine, glorified body and blood, made present in every Holy Mass. His words, “This is my body … This is my blood … Do this in remembrance of me” were His confirmation to them that this was to continue in perpetuity, and He would remain with them always. And so we have His assurance that the Eucharist we celebrate today is the same Jesus who broke bread that night with His apostles, and He is still fully present among us at every Holy Mass. The loss of Eucharistic faith in the Church has been epidemic and indeed devastating to our Catholic faith; therefore, a Eucharistic Congress is a good thing.
But still, I wonder … when priests who are guilty of grievous acts of immorality are still allowed to celebrate Mass and hold the sacred Eucharist in their hands … does Christ say to them …. “Judas dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:47 DRB)
Perhaps what concerns me most in these days of confusion and betrayal is that I fear time is running out, and that we are fast approaching a time when the cord of Mercy may be withdrawn from Heaven, and in its place, the rope of Justice shall swiftly descend. It is imperative that in this time we prepare ourselves with frequent confessions, frequent Mass and reception of Holy Eucharist, and frequent charity to others so we may be found greeting Our Lord Jesus with a kiss of love, not a kiss of betrayal.
“And he said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come. But woe to him through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones.” (Luke 17:1-2 DRB)
May Our Lord continue to bless you and may Our Blessed Mother intercede always for you and lead you always to her Eternal Son.
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
Bishop Emeritus
“Bishops and cardinals in My Son’s Church, you have fallen asleep. You go about with your heads in the clouds, dusty clouds, dark clouds that blind you. Awaken from your slumber while there is time. The time is growing short. How many earth-years do I come to you to warn you? You cannot hide the truth now, My children and My pastors. It is too late. The time of the Apocalypse is upon you; your days are numbered. You must save now your soul and the souls of all under your care. Convert the unbeliever while there is time.”
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, May 30, 1978
"The judgment of your God is not akin to the judgment of man. The Eternal Father will only judge by the heart. Your rank, your accumulation of worldly goods does not set you up before another. Many have sold their souls within the holy House of God. Better that you strip yourself and remove all worldly interests now while you have the time to make amends to your God, for many mitres will fall into hell."
- The Bayside Prophecies
St. Thomas Aquinas, August 21, 1972
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