And yet another Irish priest has been disciplined for heresy, this time he has been sacked from teaching at the Dominican Biblical Institute in Limerick but this time it appears to by the Dominicans themselves. Fr Thomas Father Brodie has questioned the existence of Jesus since the Seventies but has only made his views public in a recent book.
I have been wondering what was actually happening about the renewal of the Irish Church promised in the Pope 2010 letter, the process is much slower than might have been hoped. There doesn't appear to be any radical amalgamation of dioceses, just the appointment of a new Nuncio and a slow appointing of orthodox bishops. There is supposed be a "Mission" to the Irish clergy - the bishops, priests and religious. I am sure this will happen but there seems little point if there is an "anti-Church" within the Church arguing against Orthodoxy and undermining all that might be done. Before anything else there must be a purification, a clear proclamation of Catholic Truth.
Any Renewal, or even Evangelisation, is impossible if there is a lack of clarity about what the essential message of the Church of Christ is actually proclaiming. The ambiguity of post-Vatican II Catholicism's "religious freedom" has done incredible damage, to the point of treating heresy as partner in dialogue rather than a serious violence to the Faith of the Church, revealed down the Ages by the Holy Spirit. I quite understand why Abp Lefebvre was concened about religious liberty, though I wonder if his followers through opposition to Peter are falling into it. Their arguements for dissidence are beginning to sound like those of the Irish dissident ACP!
Heresy is an attack on Truth,
I am convinced that heresy is the sin against the Holy Spirit that cannot be forgiven. It is after all the Holy Spirit who leads us into Truth. It is Holy Spirit that co-authors scripture, that keeps the Chuch free from error and validates Her sacraments. He underwrites the Church's teaching authority. He both draws men to Christ and opens their hearts to him. Heresy is a denial of all the Holy Spirit does. Tolleration of heresy leaves us orphans who are incapable of crying out "Abba, Father". It strikes at the very heart of Christian unity. It undermines Faith obviously, but it also undermines Hope and Charity because it obscures the person of Christ.
No wonder the Holy Father said to our Bishops, "It is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate."
Heresy and heretics are the enemies of Christ and we really must pray for the Grace to recognise them for what they are and to learn to hate them for the terrible damage they do to the Church's ability to make Christ knowable. They are our enemy and the enemies of the Church. We can be tolerant of any sin because with the truth of Christ we can recognise it but heresy tends to make truth obscure to the point where good becomes evil and evil becomes good.
Mary scourge of heretics, pray for us.
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