Subreption at best, and Opportunism at worst.
Geoffrey K. Mondello, Ph.D 24
Nov 02
Every bishop therefore is divested of all authority, moral
and ecclesiastical, and effectively becomes a "titular" bishop. This
seems to be the vision of the emerging "American Catholic Church",
once it sheds its skin as the VOTF.
Even a cursory examination of the
"Voice of the Faithful's" website is extremely disconcerting. There
are deep and extremely oblique agenda subtending their benign presentation.
Enough of the right words are used, words immediately consonant with Catholic
conscience, and invite a reflexive response of assent to the casual reader who
is likely to seize upon highly emotionally charged issues --- that are given
great prominence --- at the cost of a more subtle agendum involving the
"mere mechanics" of the institutional Church ... which the VOTF
clearly wishes to arrogate to itself. It appears to me that an occasion has
arisen sufficiently broad in nature and deep in emotion that the VOTF has
seized upon to its own ends, ends that anteceded the sad events that have come
to light in the Archdiocese of Boston within the past year. It is, in a word, subreption at best, and opportunism at worst. It appears to
me to be both. The presentation is very sophisticated and sufficiently nuanced
to allow VOTF:
* the
latitude of unequivocally stating positions of great magnitude
which resonate with Catholics conscience at large. This is clearly,
and shamefully, the bait.
* equivocating upon, demurring or
simply refraining from, declarations of positions on other issues of equal magnitude and much
broader in scope ("human sexuality" --- and every
issue upon which it is presumably tangent, from abortion to
homosexuality", "women's rights", "democratic process"
--- even science and history --- issues with which it is clearly and overtly
interested according to their own declaration of purpose on their web site,
http://www.votf.org/Who_We_Are/faq.html#nine !) Equivocation through
lack of perspicacity is pardonable. Malicious equivocation is not. It is
malicious because it is opportunistic in the most painful of situations,
seizing upon the suffering of many as the instrument to promoting an
agendum that is infrastructural in nature, presuming to shift the locus of
"power" from the hierarchical Church to the "democratic masses"
... embodied, they incorrectly presume, in VOTF.
·
to be called "faithful Catholics" in complete accord
with the mind of Holy Mother Church --- even (depsite their subreptive
protestations to the contrary) as they attempt to dismantle it and usher in yet
"another" reformation, in Capite, sed non in membris, resulting in yet
"another" "church" which, unlike its Roman counterpart of
2000 years, is indefeasibly democratic in nature and instantiating, in their
own words, "Our right to exist. Our right to be heard. Our right to free speech
as American Catholics" (ibid.). In other words, apparently, an
"American Catholic Church" as opposed to the "Roman Catholic
Church".
·
VOTF's
insistence that "The laity must continually review and monitor the
performance of the bishops" with a "Bishop Monitoring System"
(voltage not specified). It is, in effect, a transvaluation of authority and
accountability from the bishops to the enlightened masses whose BMS will
apparently rate a bishop in terms of his compliance with the agenda of the
VOTF. Every bishop therefore is divested of all authority, moral and
ecclesiastical, and effectively becomes a "titular" bishop. This
seems to be the vision of the emerging "American Catholic Church",
once it sheds its skin as the VOTF.
It is important to understand that this church is determined to metamorphose
from a coalescence of parish "cells" (rather reminiscent of another
and more secular revolution much farther east of Boston) or
"chapters" as they are referred to, which VOTF is adamant in bringing
to each and every parish in every diocese.(ibid) From these cells, or
"chapters", in its own words, "...members will become Voice
of the Faithful emissaries for future development. Their efforts will help
Voice to evolve from a "virtual" organization to a permanent,
influential entity." (ibid.) Chilling stuff! . The
stuff of schism. The odor of intoxicating power. The acrimonious smell of
sulphur. This sheep smells like a wolf. I dare say its had its sad historical
antecedents ..."Sub sole nihil novi est" ... there is
nothing new under the sun, thus saith the Preacher,
Ecclesiates. Israel had her false prophets. We have ours. As to the
suppressed, the latent, and ultimately the real agenda espoused by
VOTF, truly faithful Catholics will, I believe, hear the voice of the
True Shepherd, and distinguishing him from the hireling, recoil from the wolf.
"Vox fidei?" Not my voice. And probably not yours. Voice of the
Faithful is ultimately, and deeply "Vox contra fide"
Date: Mon
Nov 25 08:18:45 2002
To: <Geof@FaithfulVoice.com>
Subject: BRAVO!!!!
God Love you and please, the grace to
aways remain with Him.
This
is a beautiful analysis of the goals of votf.
They are the voice of dissent and the
voice of spiritual malpractice. The leadlers of this group will be and are
responsible for souls losing their discipleship.
Yes, they do want power indeed which is
leading them into schism, if in acutallity they are not already in schism as is
the so-called American Church.