Surviving the Postconciliar Madness

Whilst there are many opinions on how to deal with the ongoing crisis in the Church, this pretty well sums up my position.

From FishEaters

Pope Francis calls cohabitation "real marriage."¹

He refers to Italy's most prolific abortion supporter as "one of the forgotten greats."²

He bows down before a statue of Pachamama, an Amazonian demon-godess.³

He refers as "a man" a woman who had sexual reassignment surgery.⁴

He talks about love and mercy, but treats orthodox Catholics like dirt.⁵

He kowtows to China's Communists, selling out faithful Chinese Catholics in the process.⁶

He constantly pushes for the mass immigration of Muslims into Europe,⁷ and belittles the martyrdom of Christian victims of jihad when he co-signs, with a Grand Imam, a statement that says that the “pluralism and diversity” of religions is “willed by God.”⁸

 A list of the problems the faithful are suffering under Pope Francis could go on for a long, long time. And in response, confusion, anger, despair, and infighting abound. Some think the Pope is a heretic and is, therefore, no longer the Pope. Some think that may be true, but they don't have the authority to proclaim it. Some think he was not rightfully elected in the first place, and that Benedict is the Pope. Some go back and forth, and in the meanwhile, post walls of text from everything from Canon Law to St. Robert Bellarmine to support their thesis-du-jour. Some think they not only have it all figured out, but have the authority to "excommunicate" or call "schismatic" those who disagree with their conclusions. Some fear that "the Church" is no longer the Church, and leave in despair. Some are just confused and don't know what to think.

But we don't have to have it all figured out. If Francis had not been rightfully elected, or if he's lost the papacy due to heresy, it's not up to us laypeople to figure out. That's not our job. That's up to a future Pope to handle. And we Catholics need to remain calm and carry on as Catholics always had, no matter who the Pope is or isn't or might be or could be, no matter if Francis is the last Pope or a Pope to be followed by 277 more Popes or not a Pope at all.

Look, St. Peter, our first Pope, denied Christ three times, and St. Paul "withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed" (Galatians 2:11).  Pope Honorius I was proclaimed a heretic by the third Constantinople Council. We had 67 years of "the Avignon papacy," or the great Western Schism, which began with friends of France's King Philip IV beating Pope Boniface VIII, and was followed by: their being absolved by his successor, Pope Benedict XI; a friend of the King becoming Pope Clement V; the curia moving from Rome to Poitiers and, later, Avignon; and years of Pope and anti-Popes -- during which people who were later canonized argued against each other about which man was the true Pope. We endured the "Borgia Popes" with their mistresses and embrace of usury. 

The point: as Pope Leo the Great said, "the dignity of Peter suffers no diminution even in an unworthy successor" (cujus dignitas etiam in indigno haerede non deficit). None of the above, and none of Francis's doings make the papacy less what Christ made it. And certainly none of it means that "the Church" has gone off the rails. If you're dazed and confused and, especially, if you're prone to despair over all this, you simply must come to have a deeper sense of history -- and to know precisely what papal infallibility is and isn't.

You have to keep in mind always that we've been promised that the gates of Hell will never prevail against Christ's Church. But that doesn't mean that we've been promised a leisurely walk in a rose garden. Quite the contrary: we've been told that, toward the end of time, the Church will follow Christ in His Passion and Resurrection. We will have much to suffer. Whether that "end of time" is now, I can't say. But we don't have to worry about that either; each individual, no matter in what historical period he lives, has his own "end of time" to endure. Each of us will die. And that -- not Church politics -- is what we are here to concern ourselves with.

If the horrors of Francis's papacy derange you and negatively affect your faith, stop reading about him, and keep in mind the hundreds and hundreds of years of Church history in which the typical Catholic knew nothing about what was going on in Rome. Minding the 24/7 news cycle that repeats papal blatherings uttered on a plane is not typical of how Catholicism was lived for its first 1,950 years.

Build up in your mind a concept of the Church as what She truly is: the spotless Bride of Christ, made pure by grace. She is like a Platonic Idea, greater in Her Form than Her earthly manifestation lets on with its sinners and rogues, many in clerical robes. She is not just the Church Militant, but the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant. No matter how badly those aforementioned sinners and rogues dirty Her temporal garments, She, Herself, is spotless, and outside of Her, there is no salvation.

Focus on your soul and the salvation of those you love, especially those you have a duty toward. Stay close to Christ. Develop a deep prayer life. Receive the Sacraments. Find particular devotions that suit you. Will to grow in virtue. Embrace Tradition. Attend only the traditional Mass if it's at all possible. Study the Faith to know what is true and what is not, and hand that Faith down to your children. Focus on the domestic church, your home, and make it a place of joy and peace. Live deeply the liturgical year and its seasons. Form communities with like-minded Catholics. Starve the Novus Ordo and the USCCB and similar Bishops' conferences, supporting only traditional priests, religious, and apostolates. And don't let fools with mitres and Roman collars take you away from Christ and His Church; they only have that power if you give it to them.

Finally, when you're tempted to despair, think of what Christ said to His disciples when they were on a boat in a raging, stormy sea, and pray for faith if you lack it:

Mark 4:35-40
And He saith to them that day, when evening was come: Let us pass over to the other side. And sending away the multitude, they take Him even as He was in the ship: and there were other ships with Him. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled.
And He was in the hinder part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow; and they awake Him, and say to Him: Master, doth it not concern Thee that we perish?
And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Peace, be still. And the wind ceased: and there was made a great calm. And He said to them: Why are you fearful? have you not faith yet?

Footnotes:

¹  Pope Francis: Most Catholic marriages are null, some ‘cohabitations’ are ‘real marriage’
²  Pope calls Italy’s foremost abortion promoter one of nation’s ‘forgotten greats’
³  Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Pachamama was worshiped at Vatican and it wasn’t harmless
⁴  Pope Francis calls woman with sex-change operation a ‘man’ and calls partners ‘married’
⁵  Pope’s rhetoric against ‘fundamentalist’ Catholics could help pave way for active persecution
⁶  Cardinal Zen: Pope Francis is ‘encouraging a schism’ by ‘legitimizing’ China’s Communist-run church
⁷  Pope Francis’s advocacy for Islam could destroy Europe
⁸ Martyrs who resisted Islam were once celebrated. Has Pope Francis rejected their supreme sacrifice?