Recent statements made by bishops have highlighted an increasingly serious problem in the Church - namely, overly "pastoral" actions of prelates. With this modern "sensitive" approach, it appears that the "most deadly sin" Church leaders fear committing is offending someone (not everyone mind you - it is well known that tradition-minded Catholics may be offended with impunity). Today's Church leaders don't want to offend Jews or Protestants or Muslims or adulterers or any other type of sinner, regardless of the precarious state of their soul.
Thankfully, such timidity was unknown to the Early Church Fathers whose writings bubble over with statements that would be condemned as "not pastoral" (possibly even "unChristian"!) by today's prelates. Never mind that many of these Church Fathers are canonized saints, and some were popes. They lived in an age of great faith - even if they were the persecuted minority - and feared not to speak openly concerning truths even if their actions might cost them their own lives under the most horrible torture imaginable.
We see clearly that Holy Scripture - even the New Testament - is also not brimming over with "pastoral sensitivity". For example, consider these passages...
"You brood of vipers!" (Jesus Christ, Mt. 3:7, Mt. 12:34, Lk. 3:7)
"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?" (Jesus Christ, Mt. 23:33)
"[Jesus] turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.'" (Mt. 16:23)
"You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father's desires." (Jesus Christ, Jn. 8:44 )
"O stupid Galatians!" (St. Paul, Gal. 3:1)
"...you are filled with bitter gall and are in the bonds of iniquity." (St. Peter, Acts 8:23)
"But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, 'You son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, full of every sort of deceit and fraud." (Acts 13:9-10)
"After a first and second warning, break off contact with a heretic, realizing that such a person is perverted and sinful and stands self-condemned." (St. Paul, Ti. 3:10-11)
"Whoever sins belongs to the devil" (St. John, 1 Jn. 3:8)
"Would that those who are upsetting you might also castrate themselves!" (St. Paul, Gal. 5:12)
"If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards." (St. Paul, Heb. 12:8)
So why do today's successors to the Apostles - who are filled with the Holy Spirit - feel they must "sugar coat" truths and almost apologize if that have to say anything even remotely "harsh"? Why do they feel they must bend over backwards to accommodate sinners rather than convert them? Should they not take a lesson from Holy Scripture, from the Church Fathers, and from the popes, bishops & saints of the past? It’s souls - not feelings - that really count.
We must consider honestly that harsh correction is often medicine. What would one think of a doctor who refused to prescribe lifesaving medicine because it tasted bitter? Would he not be derelict in his duty and a causer of death? As St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, says concerning weak fathers:
"And so it is just as if the father of a poor cold-blooded child (already, more delicate than it ought to be), should, although it is so feeble, give it cake and cold (drink) and whatever only pleases the child, and take no account of what might do it good; and then, being reproved by the physicians, should excuse himself by saying, 'What can I do? I cannot bear to see the child crying.' Thou poor, wretched creature, thou betrayer! for I cannot, call such a one a father: how much better were it for thee, by paining him for a short time, to restore him to health forever, than to make this short-lived pleasure the foundation of a lasting sorrow?"
In addition, such childish concern for feelings harms souls and plays to our pride-prone nature - both for those parties who don't want to do the offending ("I don't want to tell them that, they might not like me") and those they don't want to offend ("considering their mild comments, my actions can't be all that bad").
Likewise, we must always remember that we're part of the Church Militant, that we're engaged in a REAL, SERIOUS, and continual spiritual battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and that our entire eternity depends on how we do in this conflict. Even on the secular level, an army could not function well if its leaders were more concerned with soldiers' feelings than with the warfare they were supposed to be engaged in. How much chance do you think solders would stand against the enemies if their leaders failed to give them lifesaving instruction for fear of "hurting their feelings"? Similarly, how can we survive our spiritual warfare if our leaders fail to give us this necessary guidance?
Please, who cares about our overly sensitive feelings! The salvation of our souls is at stake. What good does it do us if our feelings are preserved "unharmed" but our souls are lost for all eternity?
Furthermore, in the modern "caricature" of true Christianity, sinners frequently remind us that we're not supposed to "judge" others (see Mt. 7:1), but they conveniently omit any reference to biblical instructions such as...
"admonish one another" (St. Paul, Col. 3:16, Rom. 15:14)
"admonish them sharply" (St. Paul, Ti. 1:13)
"admonishing everyone" (St. Paul, Col. 1:28)
"If your brother sins, rebuke him" (Jesus Christ, Lk. 17:3)
"Reprimand publicly those who do sin, so that the rest also will be afraid." (St. Paul, 1 Tm. 5:20)
"I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters; for you would then have to leave the world. But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person. For why should I be judging outsiders? Is it not your business to judge those within? God will judge those outside. 'Purge the evil person from your midst.'" (St. Paul, 1 Cor. 5:9-13)
While we're certainly not to judge hearts, we are necessarily called to judge actions. This is our duty as Christians. We must do so in order to survive. Even in the secular world, anarchy would reign if there were no judges, no juries, if everything were "left up to the individual".
Although prelates try to convince us we're enjoying a "Second Pentecost"+ since the Second Vatican Council, it is clear that the first Pentecost resulted in the Church leaders shedding their fear and standing firmly & unwaveringly for truth. In fact, St. Peter's first action at Pentecost was to call the Jews (who days previously had been in the true religion) to convert. Those who didn't listen to him did so at their peril (see Acts 2). At Pentecost, St. Peter was not silent. Our leaders today should not be silent either. We need to hear important truths for our own good, even if they are unpleasant.
Finally, if we are going to truly follow Christ, we must expect persecution and suffering, not a false peace. As Christ says...
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's enemies will be those of his household.'" (Jesus Christ, Mt. 10:34-36)
"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (Jesus Christ, Jn. 15:18-20)
"Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." (Jesus Christ, Lk. 12:51-53)
Please, dear bishops, if you really love us, get off the "comfy couch of pastoral sensitivity" and remind us continually of hard truths such as...
"Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (St. Peter, 1 Pt. 5:8)
"Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned." (Jesus Christ, Jn. 15:6)
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." (Jesus Christ, Mt. 7:13-15)
"The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." (Jesus Christ, Mt. 13:41-42)
"I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did. And do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.' Let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day. Let us not test Christ as some of them did, and suffered death by serpents. Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall." (St. Paul, 1 Cor. 10:1-12)
Our souls are at stake.
+ This term "Second Pentecost" seems offensive enough on its face (Why would we need a "new" Pentecost? Is someone implying the Holy Spirit left the Church at some point? Does anyone dare assert that the destruction that the Church has suffered over the last 4 decades - unmistakably proven statistically by numerous indicators - was the work of the Holy Spirit? ), but it's made even more offensive by the actions (and non actions) of many prelates who claim we're in the midst of such an event yet act entirely contrary to how Scripture says the Church leaders behaved upon receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Was this topic is of interest? If so, you might also be interested in the following:
* Tough love in the New Testament
* Summary of Changes Since Vatican II: A Revolution in the Church?
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