He is warning about the machinations at the synod which will provoke a schism. The article is from my friend’s – Jose Sarto – excellent Spanish blog. My translation is quite hasty, but it is readable and comprehensible. The article was published yesterday on his blog, Página Católica.
Bishop Rogelio Livieres:
“At the opening Mass of the extraordinary Synod on the family Pope Francisco called for bishops to collaborate with God’s plan and thus form a holy people. I offer these reflections with the desire to serve the Pope in the best way that I can.
“The Church, founded on the rock of Peter, expects from the Synod the promotion of the Christian family. But what the Bible calls “the world” has a very different expectation: the media scream every day for the Church to be brought “up to date”- a euphemism for demanding that she bless, and not condemn the everyday more and more frequent moral deviations – due to, among other reasons, the systematic encouragement from the press and the entertainment industry.
“The Church was, however, not established to sanction what the world seeks, but to teach us what God wants from us and to accompany us on the path of Holiness. Because it is in the will of God, who knows all, and cannot be deceived nor deceive us, where we find true peace and happiness. Neither the doctrine of the faith nor pastoral practice — consequence of this doctrine — are the result of a consensus of priests, whether Cardinals or bishops.
“Since the earliest times of Christianity the Apostles and their successors were pressured by powerful religious and political elites to forsake the truth and the Evangelical mission they had received from Christ. But instead of bowing to other gods they left us a testimony of unconditional fidelity to the truth by the pouring out of their blood. Because “we must obey God rather than men” (acts 5:29). These days it comforts me think of the example of St. Athanasius. He was expelled from his diocese not once but five times, due to the machinations of his Arian brother bishops with whom he was not “in communion”, precisely because he wanted to promote “the Catholic and Apostolic faith”, as it says in the Eucharistic prayer I, or Roman Canon.
“To bless and accept “what everyone wants is neither mercy nor pastoral love. Rather, it is laziness and convenience, because we would be renouncing evangelization and education. And human respect, because we would be more mindful of what is said of us, then to speak out prophetically in obedience to God. Now St. Benedict, during another era which was also marked by much confusion, summed up obedience as the principle of eternal life: “My word is now directed to you, whoever you are, so you give up your own will and take up the illustrious and powerful weapons of obedience…”, “… so you will by obedience return to Him from whom you had wandered off through the apathy of disobedience” (The Rule, Prologue).
“Within the Church, and lately from some of its more upper echelons, “new winds blow” that are not of the Holy Spirit. The very same Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, among others, has criticized the utopian pretensions of making fundamental changes in pastoral practice without therefore affecting the Catholic doctrine on the family. Without judging intentions, which I presume to be of the best, and with the sadness of having to mention them by name, since they are public knowledge, Cardinal Kasper and the Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica are active promoters who lead this confusion. What was once prohibited as a serious disobedience against God’s law, now could be blessed in the name of His mercy. They justify the unjustifiable through subtle interpretations of texts and historical facts. But those who are really knowledgeable on these matters have reduced to dust those sophistries. Let us not forget what our Lord said: “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
“Let us take the extraordinary opportunity that the Synod offers us to reaffirm in a positive manner what the Church always and everywhere has believed about the family and has implemented through her discipline. This requires us, at the same time, to defend the truth before those that are dividing and confusing the people of God. The situation is very serious and I am not the first to warn that unfortunately we are facing the danger of a great schism. Exactly what the Lord and his blessed Mother have warned us about in apparitions recognized and approved by the authority of the Church.
“Confronting those who are trying to “draw” a consensus and to manipulate statistics, as if God’s people were asking for what in reality they wish to engrave by the force of an abusive authority, let us remember that the Church does not live or is defined by the opinions of men and the changes of the times, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. The story of how it ended by imposing on an entire Catholic people the schism of the Church of England, along with the martyrdom testament of St. John Fischer and St. Thomas More, is a lesson that today is very much worth pondering.
“Let us pray for the Pope, the Cardinals and bishops, so that we are all disposed to even the spilling of blood in the defense and promotion of the family against the storms of the deception and the idolatry of the sexual freedom of man before God. Let us not deceive or set aside the faith and moral practice that Jesus Christ taught us. We know that the world hated our Lord. The servant cannot be greater than his master. The world will persecute us, even by falsely invoking the name of God. And the clergy who speak as the world wants them to, will be applauded and will be loved by it, “because they are [the world’s]”, not God’s.”
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As is commonly known, Bishop Livieres pertains to Opus Dei. It is rather despicable that the Prelature has stabbed him in the back with this notice:
“This Office [Opus Dei Information] makes it clear that the words – very unfortunate – by Bishop Rogelio Livieres published on his blog, about the Synod of the family are his sole and exclusive responsibility.
” The attitude in the Prelature of Opus Dei is and will be always of total union with the Holy Father, in the communion of the whole Church.”
Rome, 11 October 2014
