Sunday, March 20, 2016

Kasper isn't credible


Cardinal Kasper speaking of the document Pope Francis will sign following the Extraordinary and Ordinary Synod on the Family said, “This will be the first step of a reform that will make the Church turn a page after 1700 years.”

I find this terribly troubling. If I took him seriously I would be starting to pack, I simply do not recognise what Kasper implies as being consistent with the Catholic faith; it stinks of  Protestant rupture rather than Catholic continuity.

I don't take this seriously because even in a Church that seems increasingly dominated by careerist clergy and spin doctors and media manipulation, to say nothing of the influence of wealthy and powerful lobyists, a notorious racist liar like Kasper is simply not a credible witness.

The unfortunate thing is that his incredulity poisons the credibility of the Church.

18 comments:

On the side of the angels said...

It's the Babel project...
They want to fracture and fragment the Church
To strike the earthen vessel so hard that it doesn't merely shatter into a million shards - but so much of it will turn to dust in the process - and thus be irreparable and unable to re-unify.
They want absolute independence and autonomy in autocephalous 'Churches' severed from Rome...
Already Pope Francis said as much in Evangelii Gaudium - to decentralise and delegate doctrinal authority as well as pastoral...
This 'pastoral' internal forum of discretionary arbitrary deliberations in regard to whom can receive Holy Communion and what extramarital sexual relationships can be recognised/excused is merely a diversionary tactic...they don't merely want this power...they want ALL power!!

Only God can resolve this - we need miracles we certainly neither deserve nor have earned.
...our job now is simply to get clever, get holy and pray unceasingly.
Storm clouds are gathering...

Pelerin said...

'I find this terribly troubling.'

You are not alone Father.

Simple Simon said...

Fr.Ray, the most incredible thing of all is that the considerable number of Cardinals and Bishops who believe that Pope Francis himself is not credible remain silent. Will it require the very stones of St.Peter's to cry out before things are brought to a head? Where are the men of sound doctrine and courageous hearts, willing to take on Francis face to face. In Britain, for example, which Bishops will have the courage to resign from the Bishops Conference, explaining in simple language why this step was necessary? The Church has been reduced to being a 'post code lottery' Church. Depending on which diocese you live in, you will be presented with a version of Catholicism which equates to the personal preferences of your Bishop, for better or worse. Rather than pack your bags, Fr. Ray resolve to go up with Him to Jerusalem and die.

Anil Wang said...

It's pretty obvious what Cardinal Kasper means. The First Council of Nicaea was 1700 years ago when all the bishops first spoke with one voice, so Cardinal Kasper is implying the Pope Francis will devolve the issue of who can and can't access to the communion to the bishops. This "solution" has been rejected by the Synod, so if Cardinal Kasper isn't just speculating, he at minimum sees enough ambiguity in Pope Francis' encyclical to spin his position.

Be prepared. This isn't a time to pack one's bags. It's the time to pay the price of upholding the truth of the Catholic faith, no matter the cost.

Joao said...

In a "La Reppublica" Alberto Melloni is saying pretty much the same thing as Kasper (see http://www.antoniosocci.com/papa-vuole-mettersi-al-posto-dio/#more-4325).

The Pope is going to replace a clear "NO" with an ambiguous "MAYBE" by giving individual bishops the power to let unrepentant adulterers receive the Eucharist.

Nicolas Bellord said...

Stuff Cardinal Kasper. He is an irrelevance from a Church that is in the final throws of decay. The must read is Benedict XVI:

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-benedict-xvis-recent-rare-and-lengthy-interview-26142/

Aged parent said...

Reverend Father:

Like so many others I understand the torture that plagues your soul over this chaos. We share that grief with you.

I am not a "pollyanna"; I am not one of those who thinks all is well. It isn't. But I do always try to keep in mind the words of Hilaire Belloc who wrote a reply to a woman who was troubled - even then! - over the decay of Church and state. I keep this quote at the header of my own blog, and it brings me solace every time I read it:

"Do not, I beg you, be troubled by forces already dissolved. You have mistaken the hour of the night. It is already morning."

Liam Ronan said...

The Cardinal may be full of hot air, Father, but that hot air is getting a lot of pre-release media coverage and (whether he is correct or not) his is the interpretation out first.

There is a quote attributed to the American author Mark Twain:

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Cardinal Kasper is already running laps.

John Fisher said...

I read somewhere the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made over 30 amendments to the doc. If the document approved by Francis is flawed heaven help him! Kaspar is such a puffed up individual. Who is he to imply he has some special cosy relationship with Francis. Was he one of the Daneels mafia who manipulated the process to get Francis elected? Don't resign father... Pope don't live for ever!

Deacon Augustine said...

If he turns out to be correct, Fr., it is not the likes of you who should be getting ready to pack. Rather we should be doing something to ensure that it is the likes of Kasper and his "Benefactor" who are doing the packing.

Anonymous said...

Father, no matter what happens, you cannot pack your bags...you have a duty to your flock, even if bishops and the Holy Father don't recognize their duty.

Here is an excerpt from an open letter (which was once closed), by Fr. Conrad Saldhana, Archdiocese of Bombay, India, regarding the Washing of the Feet on Holy Thursday. Given this letter, he may not be there for long, and may be sent "packing"...he is now included in my daily prayers.
Full link below the excerpt:

"The Pope as head of the Church has every right to change the rubric of the Church. Thus the head of the Congregation for liturgy could be a sitting duck or a mere onlooker if the Pope seeks to over throw every genuine tradition handed down to us through the liturgy.

But in the washing of the feet ritual on Maundy Thursday no man born of a woman has the right to change what Christ has decreed to his holy apostles, in a Canonical Scripture text, not even a self-styled super Pope; even if made super by playing to the galleries under a full media glare.

It is not mere rubrics, which has been changed, as some tend to argue, but a Canonical scripture whose interpretation is now up for grabs, more so in our times when it needs to be upheld, especially by every man in the red skull cap and the white one, who are supposed to Lord and Teach in a humble spirit. The ones in the red are even called to martyrdom in upholding the faith of Christ, as proved by the many who received the mandate before them.

The Pope, on the other hand, seems to be scoring a brownie point with the aid of the media, communicating an indiscriminate idea of service to the world. The secular world has lapped it all up.

Let’s understand the mind of Jesus concerning this noble service:"

Read the rest here:

https://frconrad.wordpress.com/

Jacobi said...

“Kasperism” is a heresy. It denies, explicitly or implicitly does not matter, an established Teaching of the Magisterium. Catholics after all did not make up the rules. Christ, through His Mystical Body on this Earth, the Catholic Church did. Kasper and those who follow him have their choice. No one has to be a Catholic after all.

What is interesting is the extraordinary similarity between the demands of the present heterodox reformers and those heterodox ideas that emerged, most to be forgotten, during the period which subsequently came t be known as the Protestant Reformation.

And that applies to the confusion in the liturgy also.

Sadie Vacantist said...

I sense that there is a sea change in secular politics emerging from Scandinavia, Russia, Greece and also in the former states of the Austro-Hungarian empire. There is ‘something in the air’ within the USA of which Trump is the prime exhibit but Cruz and Saunders also represent something different.

Predictably, the Church has not adjusted to these changes. Kasper is from a country which is still occupied by the Allies to the tune of 50,000 troops. It has been reluctantly forced to implement economic sanctions against Russia. The nightmare scenario for the American establishment (against which Trump is also battling) remains rapprochement between Putin and Merkel. Kasper’s country has made itself a laughing stock over the refugee issue but his eminence continues to discuss yesterday’s news.

Pope Francis? He is out of his depth but so was B16 and JP2. It’s just that the latter is remembered for being on the right side of history at a particular point in time and for that reason was indulged by the West. I listened to John McLaughlin of the flagship current affairs show “The McLaughlin Group” assessing 2015 at the year’s end. He cited Francis in a Fiat driving around Washington as a seminal moment. What McLaughlin was really doing was pleading to the America media to call off their watchdogs. And the response? Academy awards to a Catholic bashing film at this year’s Oscars.

When will Kasper, old timers like McLaughlin and the rest of them wake up to the fact that we have no friends and on our own? This interminable establishment butt kissing is getting us nowhere. When revolution is brewing against the very same establishment posteriors we are so keen to embrace, why do we continue to makes fools of ourselves in public?

polycarped said...

Thank you, Father, for expressing the deep frustration that so many of us feel. I'm with Deacon Augustine. Isn't it just staggering when you take a few steps back... not long ago, Kasper would, at best, have been told to pack his bags and go his own way. Going back even further, blunter solutions would no doubt have been deployed. Why on earth should we (and do we) sit by and put up with him abusing Holy Mother Church like this. He's an utter buffoon. At what point do we move from blogs/comments on blog posts to protests in St Peters Square and other forms of action to rid ourselves of this man and those in the hierarchy who, by their silence or by their active endorsement, support his dissent and heresy?

Fr Ray Blake said...

Sadie, yes Kasper et al are not reading the signs of times either in the world or even in the Church, they are old guard. Francis' predecessors were certainly out of the depth but they admitted it and turned to the Lord, it is concerning if one turns, as the German bishops would want, that a Pontiff turns to zeit geist.

Deacon Augustine said...

Unfortunately, modernists like Kasper and Marx believe that the Zeitgeist is a vehicle of divine revelation which carries as much weight as Scripture and Tradition - more if one considers that they believe Scripture and Tradition should be interpreted through the lens of Zeitgeist. This arises from Kasper's heretical notion that God IS history:

“The God who is enthroned over the world and history as a changeless being is an offence to man. One must deny him for man’s sake, because he claims for himself the dignity and honour that belong by right to man…. We must resist this God, however, not only for man’s sake, but also for God’s sake. He is not the true God at all, but rather a wretched idol. For a God who is only alongside of and above history, who is not himself history, is a finite God. If we call such a being God, then for the sake of the Absolute we must become absolute atheists. Such a God springs from a rigid worldview; he is the guarantor of the status quo and the enemy of the new.”

Kasper, W, “Gott in der Geschichte”, Gott heute: 15 Beiträge zur Gottesfrage, (Mainz, 1967)

If Francis has fallen for this bull, then we have a (another) major problem on our hands. As he claims that Kasper is one of his favourite theologians, then it is quite likely that Kasper has had a hand in the writing of the Apostolic Exhortation. And as Francis has form for not reading what he appends his signature to, it is quite possible that Kasper has a better idea of what is in the A.E. than Francis does.

Be prepared for the stench of sulphur when this comes out.

Anonymous said...

As a convert from Lutheranism, it actually helps me to realize that the culture of Catholicism {I can't say "the Church" per se, because there are still a few who hold to the truth} is, simply liberal Lutheran.

Real Presence is at best understood in a Lutheran way by most all Catholics. Catholics support "gay marriage". Catholics support divorce. Even the Divorce of the Church, as the Pope has made clear by his announcement to meet the liberal/heretic/schismatic Swedish lesbian-ordaining Lutheran "Church" in Lund this fall. There doesn't seem to be a lick of difference between the culture of the Catholic Church and liberal ELCA Lutheranism in the USA. Attrition will continue to thin the ranks of the culturally Catholic. Eventually, their checking in at Mass every now and then when the fish aren't biting will reveal to them that their local parish church has plywood nailed over the windows and if they waited a little too long, they will find a mineret where the statue of St Mary used to stand. Which won't bother most of them, since let's face it, all religions are the same. In fact, some are "samer" than others, with the samest being the {genuflect at the words, please...} Religion of Peace of the Prophet Muhammed.

All I can say is that I thank god for the FSSP where I live, that the drive of 1 1/2 hours isn't too long and I'll continue to pray that the good priests stuck in Novusordoland rise up and make a stand so that Martin Luther wouldn't be proud of them.

There's no use waiting for the 12-year-old girls we have that are otherwise know as Bishops to clean this up. It must come from whip-wielding members of the clergy and laity who must follow Christ.

Proclaim the Gospel. Point to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ without whom there is no salvation. Clearly teach the fullness of Catholic truth. Let the Lord Jesus find you enduring till the end.

God bless you father. another good piece.

Anonymous said...

The worrisome aspect is that a not-credible person has been given free rein under this pontificate.

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