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Interfering with personal mail is both sinful and criminal. It can be profoundly disturbing to be a victim of such a crime. This is especially so at times of difficulty or crisis. Anyone who has suffered such a thing would likely have a good deal of sympathy for Pope Benedict XVI. Having asked the Church to pray that he would not flee for fear of the wolves, this private, sensitive and shy academic must have felt terribly undermined when it came to light that his mail, including even his personal letters, had been interfered with.
Perhaps we should never be too surprised when people, who suggest overthrowing - or skirting, which amounts to the same thing - the Divine and Natural Law, begin to display other sinful tendencies. After all, stealing, as well as adultery, transgresses the objective moral law. Those who reject one or more parts of the Decalogue are likely to reject other parts too. The real shock should be that such persons have been allowed, even facilitated, to reach such high levels of leadership in the Church. That is part of the ongoing battle for the Faith which has intensified during the last five decades.Â
When I was coming to the end of my time at the uber-Liberal Ushaw Seminary, my parents wrote to me every single day. Knowing how much the sacrilegious irreverence, radical dissent from the Magisterium and even bullying, were impacting on my health, they wanted to make sure that I received some encouragement in the form of a letter, postcard or holy-card from home each morning. I will never forget the love that they demonstrated in doing this for me. I also reflect that it must also have cost them a bomb in stamps!Â
I remember too, how gutted I felt on the day when I discovered that even this life-line from home had been interfered with. Somebody had taken one of my letters out from my personal mail and had scrawled a derogatory message about me, and about my regular reception of mail, across the envelope. The waning of orthodoxy and the loss of charity are not unconnected.Â
I was thinking about these various issues yesterday, in light of the surfacing of allegations which suggest that Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the lead organizer of the troublesome Synod on the Family, had intervened to 'block' the distribution of the orthodox book Remaining in the Truth of Christ - Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.Â
This renowned text gathers essays that have been authored by leading prelates, including one by Cardinal Raymond Burke, to defend and articulate the Magisterium's constant teaching in relation to marriage, divorce and Holy Communion. The importance of this book has been summed up succinctly by the American Fr. Zuhlsdorf, who notes that it blows the 'Kasper Thesis' out of the water.Â
Clearly someone was scared by this book.Â
Edward Pentin, the respected Vaticanist who exposed Cardinal Walter Kasper's disturbing remarks about African prelates during the 'revolutionary' October Synod, has written in NewsMax that, ''reliable and high-level sources'' have acknowledged that the orthodox Cardinals' book had been ''intercepted'' on the orders of a ''furious'' Cardinal Baldisseri. The suggested grounds for this meddling, were that the distribution of the book would ''interfere with the Synod.'' Pentin also claims that his sources suggest that the intercepted copies of the book have been destroyed. It will be remembered that Cardinal Baldisseri is the man who was criticized during the Synod by the bishops themselves, who felt that the synodal proceedings were being manipulated. He is also the prelate who orthodox lay-groups, such as Voice of the Family, recently complained about for 'correcting' those who defended the true teachings of the Church, pushing the Modernistic notion that doctrine could 'evolve' and allowing dissenters from the Church's moral teaching to speak without correction. Â
During recent months, we have spoken largely in terms of the spiritual battle taking place in these times. Let us for a moment consider some of the issues from the merely natural level.
Edward Pentin's sources claim that these 'intercepted' books were removed and seized, even though they had been posted through the Vatican City State postal service. Now, it is important to understand that this postal service is a member of the Universal Postal Union. This body, in connection to the United Nations, regulates the postal service practice of all member states. Edward Pentin's sources claim that the books had been posted through the service and therefore constitute legally protected material. Such allegations thus invite and require a thorough - even criminal - investigation. The veracity of the story needs to be discovered either way in the public interest. Those accused need to be either exonerated or disciplined.
Yesterday, Laurence England wrote an article on his blog That the Bones You Have Crushed May Revive. He noted that the clear manipulations at the 2014 Synod and now 'Remaining in the Truth of Christ -gate' have seriously undermined the Synod process.
We put a comment on there, stating that the cardinals and bishops need to demand an official investigation into the removal of these books. They also need to demand that Pope Francis issues an affirmation of the constant teaching of the Magisterium as a matter of urgency. And finally, in the interests of transparency, new men - with a proven track record of orthodoxy and honesty - need to be chosen for the official administration and publicity of the Synod.
Earlier this week, we read somewhere that people are beginning to doubt the truth of the Church in light of these kinds of manipulations and 'nastiness' towards orthodox Catholics. It is worth recalling that those acting in this way are actually promoting something other than orthodox Catholicism. In a sense then, their actions support the truths of the Faith. As we said above, charity and true orthodoxy are connected. Â
It is also important to rememember that the Church is Holy in Her Head and in Her essence as the Mystical Body of Christ. Many of Her members have been holy. This is clearly the case in the saints and blesseds throughout Church history. Many of us have also known Catholics who had become holy - or were becoming so - through the life of the Church.
However, the Catholic Church also takes to her bosom sinners. Indeed, all of us who seek holiness are only too aware of our own sins, failings and limitations. The problems we are witnessing are ultimately the result of the world, the flesh and the devil and those who co-operate with these. We all do this in varying degrees when we choose to sin, resist grace, neglect prayer or fail to do good. Lent gives us a key opportunity to examine our own hearts and repent of our sins. The latest scandal should be a wake-up call to all who are trying to manipulate the Church and the Church's teachings for their own ends. Now is the time to repent and take the right path.Â
We saw a bumper-sticker in America years ago. It stated simply: ''Do not leave Jesus because of Judas!''
Dear readers, do not be discouraged. Let us ask Jesus to give us His grace to become Holy and to Keep the Faith! And let us never forget that the waning of orthodoxy and the loss of charity are not unconnected.  Â
