1. to cease to sleep.
2. to be brought into a state of awareness or alertness.
3. to keep watch or guard.
4. to remain awake.
5. a visible track of turbulence.
6. the aftermath of an event;
and, finally,
7. to keep vigil over a corpse.
Which one of these applies to the saddenning and necessary resignation of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law?
All of them!
And in the wake of his resignation, we must apply each of these meanings to not only those who are cohorts in his coverup, but to those who have stolen our Church from us.
It is not enough to say that this only applies to the scandal currently raging. The scandal is only symptomatic of a greater evil within: the lack of spirituality in the hirearchy of the Church. It is time for those who block the faithful to be removed from their positions -- no matter how high they think they are.
This goes beyond the words "obedience," "faithful" and "respect." They must first be obedient to Jesus in the Eucharist and His Tabernacle, placing Him right in the middle of the Altar where He belongs. There must be a hirearchy that is faithful to the Church's 2,000-year-old liturgy and dogmas. And there must be total respect for the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role as the Mother of the Church. The Church has said "no" too many times to Mary's requests: first, at Fatima; second, as Our Lady of America, and third, in regard to the final Marian dogma.
While many report that Cardinal Law held the orthodox Truths of the Church in his heart, in practice, when it came time for decisions, he compromised, and forgot Who he really served. With forgiveness in our hearts and prayers on our lips for God's Divine Mercy upon him, it cannot be tolerated any longer. There are other candidates in our Church who are much worse off than Cardinal Law in what they have done and what they have failed to do. It is time for their public mea culpa as well.
And until those words are met in their fullness, (and there are plenty of individuals who meet the criteria), one need not be obedient, faithful and respectful to those who have stolen our Church from us. Better quality than quantity, and if our leaders cannot spend our dollars on quality, then let them be removed from their pedastals of leadership.
We beg, plead and implore our Holy Mother to direct John Paul not to just wait for the resignation paper to be placed in front of him, but to take firm and unwavering action against those who have misused our trust. As the crown to his incredibly spiritual pontificate, one must ask him, with all due respect, if he could excommunicate Archbishop Lefebvre for disobedience to the Holy See, how can he not excommunicate those in lesser positions for crimes against God, the Church, the faithful, and children?
The scandal that rocked the Institute for Religious Works still hangs its deadly head over our Church two decades later and the players still remain in positions of authority.
It is time, while the fire is still hot, to cease to be asleep; to keep up our state of awareness; to keep watch over our Church and not let our guard down; to remain awake in the turbulence; and, in the aftermath of the event, to keep vigil before the enemies of the Church try to stage a wake for a corpse.
And that means we must cut off the branches that are dead and
THROW THE BUMS OUT!
Copyright 2002 Agnus Dei Presents!