BISHOP BARRON: FIGHT FOR THE CHURCH! # 2 OF 2

BISHOP BARRON: FIGHT FOR THE CHURCH!  # 2 OF 2

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONEBLOGSPOT.COM - FRI. SEP. 21/18

REF. CATHOLIC - ESP. 9, 2018 - This month's column is transcribed from a video chat with Bishop Barron, available at You tube bonfire.com. Why Remain Catholic (With So Much Scandal)

  
  "You know, keep in mind everybody, we are not Catholic because of the moral excellence of our leaders. I mean, God help us if we were. We want our leaders - indeed, we expect our leaders - to be morally excellent. But we are not Catholic because of that moral excellence.

  

     We're Catholics because of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. We're Catholics because of the Trinitarian love of God. We're Catholic because of the Mystical Body of Christ. We're Catholic because of the Sacraments. We're Catholic especially because of the Eucharist. We're Catholic because of the Blessed Mother. We're Catholic because of the Saints.

  
  Even as leaders in the Church fail morally, the Catholic Church remains the Mystical Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ. And she's worth fighting for.

  

    Keep this in mind too everybody: every baptized person is priest, prophet and kingly office. Can I talk now about the prophetic office?

  
  When Israel got off the rails- read the Old Testament. it happened on a regular basis: this community was meant to reflect the will of God into the world, Israel the chosen people of God, but frequently it leaders failed into sin, frequently it fell away from the Torah and the temple ...

   
 You're a prophet. Everyone of you listening to me right now who is baptized into Jesus Christ is a prophet. Raise your voice! Prophets didn't cut and run when Israel was in trouble; the prophets spoke out. THAT'S ALL OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY. all of us who bear the prophetic chrism.

    
You know, perhaps a last thought here. I said a couple of days ago, I'll say it again. Whom are we fighting for?  Were not fighting primarily to save our institutions. See, I'm with my old mentor Cardinal George of happy memory. In his last talk he ever gave to to all the priests of Chicago, he said, "Remember, at the beginning of the Church, there were no parishes. There were no schools, hospitals, institutions. There were evangelists," he reminded us. There were proclaimers of the word."  But the point was the Church does not depend ultimately on institutions. We are fighting primarily for that aspect of the Church's life.

+++  We are fighting for the victims o these terrible crimes. We're fighting for the people that were sexually  assaulted, sexual abused. If we cut and run precisely at this challenging time, who will be the prophetic voice on behalf of the victims. +++

   
 So that's my little cir DE coerce, everybody - my cry from the heart. I get it. I get the frustration people feel. I share it. But that is not the moment to abandon the Church. This is the moment to fight for the Church.  May God bless you all.

George H. Kubeck

"And they raised their voices - sometimes, yes, in very angry protest - about these corruptions within Israel." (Within the U.S.A. Catholic Church, the Vatican and other countries)