Feria IV Cinerum (Ash Wednesday) - Introitus (Misereris omnium Domine)

Ave Regina Caelorum

ARCHBISHOP JAN PAWEL LENGA: DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

His Grace, Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga 

When time has permitted, I have been listening to interviews, lectures, and sermons by Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga, the former Archbishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. His Grace now resides in Poland. It is very refreshing to listen to a churchman from outside the "Anglo-Saxon" world, who devoted his entire pastoral life in Kazakhstan, and as such was not exposed to the seductive lure of liberalism that has infected virtually every Prelate in western Europe and North America. 

So integrally Catholic is the Archbishop, that he suffers no illusions as to what is happening in the Church and world. Whilst we in the decadent "West" regard the Catholic Church as strong in Poland, Archbishop Lenga has publicly stated that "my heart breaks when I see the state of the Church in Poland". Unlike westernized Prelates, the Archbishop is not afraid to speak on any issue. His Grace reminds me of my father's Faith (who if alive, would be now 96): the Faith of once Catholic Poland. It was the pure Catholic Faith held by Poles uncorrupted by the so-called "modern" world. It was the Faith of Blessed Pius IX and St. Pius X.  

His Grace speaking about the dangers facing the Faith 

For those of you who speak Polish, I urge you to seek out this man's apostolic work, so as to fortify yourself against the grave dangers that are in our midst. More to come on this great man, but I shall end by stating that he has opened my eyes to perhaps the dagger in the heart of the Church that has led to this explosion of evil within the Church. It is the implicit rejection of the dogma: "outside the Church there is no salvation".  From this rejection comes forth   every other imaginal evil. The modern world is built upon the rejection of this dogma: the rejection of Jesus Christ as God, who is mystically united to His one, only Church. The denial, obfuscation, implicit rejection of this dogma denies the very words of Christ: 

"Jesus said to him, I am the way; I am truth and life; nobody can come to the Father, except through me". 

John 14:6

And St. Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit: 

"Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be save". 

Acts 4:12 

CORRECTION:The Pope speaks on economic issues: wealth is not "rightly distributed and equitably made available..."

Pope Pius XI the "Communist"

NOTE: When this post was originally published on February 6, 2020, comments were sent to the combox denouncing Pope Pius XI as a "communist". I have had this experience on a previous occasion when as with this post, a photo of Pope Francis and his name was accidentally published with the original post. The comments out of Christian charity were not published. 

The uncharitable view would be to presume they wrote out of hatred for Pope Francis. I will take the charitable view, that they wrote out of ignorance of Catholic doctrine. This brings us full circle: many (the the majority?) of "Catholics" who are denouncing Pope Francis as a "heretic" etc., are themselves very likely guilty of material heresy. It is frightening to think that there are Catholics out there denouncing Francis who themselves are hard core heretics. To read the following words by Pius XI and conclude it is "communist" is mind boggling! It reveals not only the ignorance of Catholic doctrine, but the depth of liberalism that has turned most Catholics ' minds to mush. Some may even attend Latin Masses, perhaps even rattle off Rosaries... but they are immersed in liberalism. This is an example of why we are in this mess today:  Catholics in the 30s, 40s, and 50s had already lost the Faith. They did NOT know doctrine, and they were already seduced into the fantasy world of liberalism. The Japanese Catholics did not have Mass for hundreds of years; but they had persecution, and they had the Faith. 

This cannot be said of our apostate generation that has turned religion into dirty politics. 

HERE IS THE POST.

The Popes over the past 100 plus years, have from time to time addressed economic issues. From Leo XIII to the present, Popes have commented on economic issues that may have moral implications and therefore on the spiritual welfare of peoples.

The other day Pope Francis addressed the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, speaking on issues of the common good, social justice, the huge inequality between the poor and extremely wealthy. Here we quote from [original post had "Francis"] Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (No.58-61) 

To each, therefore, must be given his own share of goods, and the distribution of created goods, which, as every discerning person knows, is laboring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered propertyless, must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice. 

...certainly the condition of the workers has been improved and made more equitable especially in the more civilized and wealthy countries where the workers can no longer be considered universally overwhelmed with misery and lacking the necessities of life....Added to them is the huge army of rural wage workers, pushed to the lowest level of existence and deprived of all hope of ever acquiring "some property in land", and, therefore, permanently bound to the status of non-owning worker unless suitable and effective remedies are applied. 

Yet while it is true that the status of non owning worker is to be carefully distinguished from pauperism, nevertheless the immense multitude of the non-owning workers on the one hand and the enormous riches of certain very wealthy men on the other establish an unanswerable argument that the riches which are so abundantly produced in our age of "industrialism," as it is called, are not rightly distributed and equitably made available to the various classes of the people. 

Therefore, with all our strength and effort we must strive that at least in the future the abundant fruits of production will accrue equitably to those who are rich and will be distributed in ample sufficiency among the workers - not that these may become remiss in work, for man is born to labor as the bird to fly - but that they may increase their property by thrift, that they may bear, by wise management of this increase in property, the burdens of family life with greater ease and security, and that, emerging from the insecure lot in life in whose uncertainties non-owning workers are cast, they may be able not only to endure the vicissitudes of earthly existence but have also assurance that when their lives are ended they will provide in some measure for those they leave after them.

"A Public Catholicism"

Last Sunday, I heard something at Mass which I have been chewing on for most of the week.

The Gospel was that of the two miracles immediately following the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel - the healing of the leper and the healing of the Roman centurion's servant. During his own sermon, Father expanded on how both the leper and the centurion made public acts of faith - with our Lord telling the leper to go and show himself to the priests, and Our Lord commending the centurion for his public profession of belief. Father then when on to say that even though there are many aspects of our spiritual life that we should keep private, "our faith is public, so we must make our Catholicism public for the sake of others." In other words, we must let people know we are Catholic, for our faith is not something we are to keep hidden.

Father's words were fortuitous. That very same day, I had been grappling with sentiments of shame and embarrassment for being outspoken about many things of a Catholic nature, from certain aspects of my spiritual life that I really should have kept private, to my opinions about a certain man sitting on the papal throne. I was also thinking about whether or not I should clam up altogether and withdraw my voice from the public sphere, for I was becoming frustrated with what I saw as the endless purity spiralling and posturing amongst many Catholics online.

Father's soft-spoken words calmed me, gave me something to ponder, and in time, has come to start renewing my resolve.

Readers of our sister blog Vox Cantoris may recall a foray I made on there in 2017, where I detailed my reversion to the Old Faith. It is much too long to detail now, but I remember how I slowly came to realize that the Old Faith was what I am meant to follow, and how I came to that conclusion with a determined resolve as a result of that ponderment.

The intervening years have admittedly shaken that resolve up quite a bit, but here I have remained, with a few new conclusions in my belt from that same process of ponderment. While my world has turned, the Cross has remained firm. Focusing on Him in spite of it all - be it via the crucifix or the words of those I trust - has been my saving grace when my emotions run high and my thoughts get jumbled. In spite of all that I have done against Him, He continues to call me toward Him and gently requests I do what I must not just for His sake, but also so that others know I follow Him.

He did not die so that I may be ashamed and embarrassed of looking out for His Bride, however that may be manifested.

Nay, He asked through His actions that I may be public in my belief in Him, while avoiding extremes on both end of the spectrum.

A public Catholicism, in other words.