Is This Really Happening?

I was flipping through open windows on my tablet to close them out, when I happened upon an open Google Docs screen and it’s pristine black page [colors are inverted for my eye issues], begging to have something written on it. So I write what’s on my heart this evening...

That heart breaks and hurts for the Church of GOD. The Bride of Christ is bruised and battered, bleeding and broken. Not from ravagers without the Church, which would be expected, but from the beloved within, from those entrusted to Her keeping by the Groom - Jesus Christ.

Satan is always looking for a way to seperate us from GOD; always feeling along the edges of our lives to find purchase in our souls; constantly seeking to find that ever so tiny crack that he can exploit - not unlike hoarfrost that invades fissures in rock to split it wide open, the devil unwaveringly seeks to cause such division between us and GOD.

Of late, he has succeeded.

We as Lutherans understand all faithful believers - regardless of denomination - to be a part of the Invisible Church[1]. So it is for our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Catholic Church that I weep today. Satan has found his foothold, he has wormed his way into the Catholic Church and has pushed aside the very Word of GOD. His clandestine and deceitful ways have been at work for decades and are beginning to show their polluted and rotten fruit in the Mother Church.

I speak of the rampant homosexuality of a  segment [size unknown] of the priesthood in the Catholic Church. What once was thought to be the sin of sexual immorality has become acceptable, and increasingly more in vogue.

The story of Fr. Paul Kalchik [see https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/persecution-father-paul-kalchik-white-martyr/ ] is unfathomable fifty years ago, but today? Today a story regarding a priest who is more or less defrocked for taking a stand against homosexuality in the Church, seems to fit quite nicely on the front page next to stories about bakers being sued and major retailers opening up women’s restrooms to men self-identifying as women.

And Satan smiles and laughs at this twist of events within the Church. He continues to coax and prod at the Church teasing out this heresy, much like the affectionate Uncle Screwtape would advise. Only this is not fiction - it’s reality - and it would seem that it’s not some isolated parish or diocese, but a fast growing cancer throughout the Church, reaching to its highest levels. It is this fact that sees faithful parish priests ostracized for speaking the truth and sent packing to far-flung parishes in places like Brazil, Indiana, or sent to the theological equivalent of gulags like the St. Luke Institute for “reconditioning therapy.”

So where do we go from here? We pray. Yes, even us Lutherans need to pray for the Catholic Church, Her laity and clergy. We pray for these heterodoxical ways to be obliterated and stricken from the face of the earth. We beg for the safe return of the Bride. We beg forgiveness for allowing this to happen, for turning a blind eye toward these sins, for covering up this abomination for decades allowing the rape and molestation of the youth of our parishes. We pray for the return to the priesthood of Levi, a true, genuine and faithful priesthood that worships and reverently speaks the Name of the LORD of hosts [Malachi 2], forsaking our evil ways.

However, it takes more than prayer. It takes the faithful priesthood to take action. To preach, as brave and courageous Fr. Kalchik has done, even if it means martyrdom - white or red. The good and faithful priests must use their pulpits, their Bible studies, their newsletters and writings, and whatever tool is in their arsenal to bring this abomination to the surface, for all to see.

It also takes a faithful laity. One that supports the faithful priests in all of their endeavors to shine the Light of Heaven upon this black, slimy concoction of poison the Devil has sold the Church as Eucharistic wine. The laity must not back down at the shouting and pomposity of these false teachers we call bishops and cardinals [Cardinal Cupich], who will undoubtedly wave their holy orders about and try to intimidate both laity and priesthood into hellish and dastardly submission to this abominable sin.

For the Church, the Bride of Christ Herself, is at stake - and we must do everything possible to save Her from these ravenous wolves, these lions prowling around St. Peter's Basilica, and elsewhere in Christendom, seeking the Bride to devour.

[1] Question 169 of Luther’s Small Catechism.