Tag Archives: Fraternal Correction

News

Ukranians lead the way

2 Comments

By Br. Alexis Bugnolo

Look at the Featured Image above: it is the official photograph of the Ukranian Catholic Episcopal Conference. The Catholic Church in the Ukraine originated in the conversion of the Rus a thousand years ago, and by the preaching of Saint Jehoshaphat, tens of thousands were brought back from schism at the end of the 15th century.

Here are Bishops who dress like Bishops and men of God. Here is a Church which has not lost a sense of the sacred in its liturgical dress.

And here is an Episcopal Conference that has some divine life in it, because it issued a Fraternal Correction to the Episcopal Conference of  Germany, warning them to hold fast to the eternal Faith.

Here is an Episcopal Conference which still has a proper sense of the proper authority of each local Synod of Bishops, acting independently and without fear of what others might say of them.

Palpable proof that how your worship forms how you believe and how your act on your faith.

Here is the official English translation of the news report:

https://www.eng.pch24.pl/fraternal-correction-of-the-synodal-path–ukrainian-bishops-call-for-fidelity-to-tradition,73894,i.html

You can read the report from Info Catholica, here in Spanish:

http://www.infocatolica.com/?t=noticia&cod=36920

And an Italian translation, here from Chiesa e Post Concilio:

http://chiesaepostconcilio.blogspot.com/2020/02/i-vescovi-ucraini-esortano-quelli.html

The original report seems to be in Polish, here:

https://wpolityce.pl/kosciol/485900-braterskie-upomnienie-do-niemieckich-biskupow

 

 

 

 

Faith

I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail…

In the Gospel of St. Luke 22:31-32, it is written:  And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.

Xp-PeterOur Lord and Master’s words are transgressed in many ways: often bloggers forget the ones about fraternal correction; there is a way Our Lord wants us to follow, and it is often a mortal sin to act differently because it harms or destroys the chances of our fallen brother’s conversion and repentance. Egging a man on, who is prone to let his mouth run, by correcting and insulting him in public, is not going to achieve his conversion. It is more likely to only make matters worse, to the great displeasure of Our Lord and God, who prefers the salvation of all, especially the more outstanding sinners.

Even the great saints who had to correct their highest earthly superior, did it with discretion, followed our Lord’s rules (first in private, then in private with another, then with the Church). St. Bernard and a council of Burgundian Bishops went to far as to threaten the Pope of their day with excommunication if he did not change his pastoral policy on the injustice of lay investiture … imagine, and that was not even primarily a question of heresy, just the Church’s liberty…

I think that many a blogger’s manner of contentiously pushing the issues from the get go of the present Papacy, helped the blossoming of the present crisis. [Proof:   The use by main stream news outlets of quotes found on Bloggers pages attacking Pope Francis. — For charity sake, I won’t name the blogs here.] It is easy to say things that ought not be said in public, when one uses a moniker, but that won’t excuse us before the Throne of Judgement.

A lot of Catholics at Rome are saying, in private and on the phone the same things, but the Italians have a great sensibility to the kind of proper discretion to be used in cases like this…

Comunque, as we say in Italian, let us pray doubly for the Pope, amend our own failings, and even do some fasting, joining ourselves with Christ in His own prayer, “I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail….”!