Father George Rutler Mocks Pope Francis

I once held Father George Rutler in very high regard. When I came back to the Church after 38 years, I made a deliberate decision to make my confession to him. He also convalidated my marriage. I use to attend Our Savior's Church in Manhattan from time to time just to hear him talk.

I attended Rutler's Good Friday services for several years. Each year he speaks from 12:00 to 3:00 on the seven last words, and it is always standing room only.

When I attended, his talks often contained discussions of politics, and he did not hesitate to take jabs at liberal politicians, However, although it was always done in a very subtle way, Rutler also mocked Church hierarchy with whom he disagreed.

This was back in my days as a radical traditionalist, and I never had a problem with any of Rutler's positions until one year when his sarcasm just did not sit right with me. I felt he was way too political and right wing and far too dismissive of his ecclesiastical superiors. I have not returned to Rutler's parish since then.

Rutler has never tried to hide his allegiance to the right wing traditionalists or his disdain for Pope Francis.

Fr Z: But This Kind Does Not Go Out Except by P̶r̶a̶y̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶F̶a̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ Money

Father John Zuhlsdorf

From the blog of John Zuhlsdorf, Catholic priest [emphasis Zuhlsdorf]:

As I have commented before, a great deal of the clean up of The Present Crisis will be (must be) driven by lay people, who have, above all, numbers, and who have, ultimately, the money.

This will be a two-edged sword.

The sword, I think, has been drawn.

Yes, believe it or not, Father John Zuhlsdorf thinks the answer to the crisis in the Church is numbers, i,e., power, and money. Specifically, Zuhlsdorf is suggesting that the laity use their power to withhold money from the Church until the hierarchy does what they, the laity, want, and of course, Zuhlsdorf's readership wants only what he, Zuhlsdorf, tells them they want.

There is another name for this: blackmail.

Daily Adoration and Weekly Confession: The Key to Holy Priests and Bishops

We are in the midst of one of the most horrific crises in Catholic Church history.  The sexual abuse crisis is tearing the Church apart internally and destroying her credibility in the eyes of the world.  Sexual abuse and sexual immorality is like an epidemic tearing through the Church's clergy.  Every day we hear of it somewhere in the world.

As I write this today, September 17, Crux has two more reports of sexual abuse and cover up in the Church.  One report is from the Netherlands: "Over half of Dutch bishops shielded priest-abusers, according to report:

A sensational new report on sexual abuse in the Netherlands claims over half of the bishops in the country from 1945-2010 were involved in either covering up abuse or abusing children themselves.

. . .

The NRC Handelsblad report claims 20 of 39 bishops during the period are implicated in at least covering up abuse, with four auxiliary bishops suspected of abusing minors themselves.

Crux also reports "Chilean hero expelled from priesthood over sex abuse charges."  This is on top of the abuse scandal among the Chilean bishops.

A priest [Father Cristián Precht Bañado] who was once a national hero in Chile, and who now finds himself another casualty of that country’s massive clerical sexual abuse crisis, has been expelled from the priesthood by Pope Francis after being found guilty of abusing minors and vulnerable adults.

Precht is an extremely high profile priest with an impressive resume.  It turns out he has been an abuser for years, even abusing teenagers in confession.

Something has gone seriously wrong with the priesthood in the Catholic Church. We cannot go on with business as usual.  We need to take a long hard look at priests and bishops to try to understand why they have so flagrantly violated the vows and promises they made before man and God.  Why did/do they feel so empowered to sin against the laity and ultimately, against the Holy Spirit?