Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
(In Defense of the Holy Father and Orthodoxy)
P.O. Box 109, Petersburg, IL. 62675
ph: 217-632-5920 fax: 217-632-7054
For immediate release.
Contact person: Stephen Brady, 217-632-5920
As RCF moves into the Los
Angeles Archdiocese
Fr. Malachi Martin speaks out
Sunday, August 10, 1997, Roman Catholic
Faithful (RCF), an orthodox Catholic group based in Illinois, held a
public meeting at the Holiday Inn in Goleta, CA, to launch their "Los
Angeles Project."
According to Stephen Brady, President of RCF, "after
receiving many letters and phone calls from Catholics concerned about
Cardinal Mahony's Pastoral Letter on the Liturgy and other abuses within
the archdiocese, the RCF has decided to confront the Cardinal".
The first week of July a letter was sent by RCF,
along with an announcement of the Goleta meeting to 1400 priests living
within the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The letter stated in part:
"Father, we need your help. We need the
information that you have regarding heretical teaching, abuse of power,
homosexual activity being endorsed or promoted, and so on. We will never
use your name or give it out without your permission. With the information
you provide we can launch our own investigation.
.......We have found that the life of any diocese is often a reflection of
its bishop's life. If the diocese is morally bankrupt then prudence would
dictate a close scrutiny of the diocesan bishops and administration.
Father, if you provide the information RCF needs, by the grace of
God, we can bring about change, and we can make a difference for the good
of Christ's Roman Catholic Church. We have found that litigation and
public exposure can help rid the Church of scandal and corruption".
One week after the letter was sent out, RCF
received offers of help from several priests of the Los Angeles
archdiocese. "I didn't know you were out there" said one priest.
Brady started the four hour Goleta meeting by
explaining to the 300 Catholics present how the abuses within the
Springfield diocese in Illinois led to the forming of Roman Catholic
Faithful, Inc.
Next, James Bendell, a Washington state trial
attorney and board member of RCF, started his presentation by reading a
statement from Fr. Malachi Martin:
"Blessings on your endeavors. I will be
praying for you all. These days and months of 1997, there seems to be a
long and slow but steady sunset all over the Roman Catholic Church
organization of Pope John Paul II. And no matter what he does, no matter
how large the crowds at his "mega-Masses", no matter how many prayers are
offered day and night by the Saints in the Church: no matter how many
authenticated appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary are granted us (often
with manifest miracles): no matter how many seers and visionaries---stigmatists
among them---bring us warning messages from beyond the created cosmos of
man; nothing, but nothing seemingly arrests the oncoming darkness of a
night feared by every believing Christian alive today.
We would have to be blind not to see that our
human day as Roman Catholics is declining inexorably into that
ever-encroaching darkness. Nor is this anything like the welcoming
darkness of night beckoning us to enter into a well-earned sleep in
preparation for a glorious and still more strenuous tomorrow. Far from it.
Rather, all the reliable signs tell us--and
Christ Himself advised us in no uncertain terms to be diligent in reading
the "signs of the times"--that this is the sepulchral darkness which will
entomb a spent age and its dessicated institutions and organizations.
These are the shades of the charnel-house now awaiting us at the end of
our Catholic times. It all fits. So dreadfully. So sadly.
Even though we are sure we always will have a
Pope of Rome until the end of all human time, it is still a sad scene. And
especially so when we realize the horrible nature of that darkness. It is
not a question of mere heresy--false teaching--nor of schism as a revolt
against authority. This, my friends and fellow Catholics, is the darkness
of apostasy: the systematic evacuation of basic Roman Catholic dogmas by
those in charge of teaching the Faithful.
On the testimony of competent observers from
all over North and South America as well as from Europe and from official
Rome itself, the regime of His Eminence, Cardinal Mahony, has been marked
by a steady de-Romanization and de-Catholicization of the once flourishing
Los Angeles archdiocese.
Many priests, nuns, bishops--under His
Eminence's jurisdiction--are not espousing the teaching of the Church.
They follow another agenda. Under the guise of the "Spirit of Vatican II"
as a catch-all for any whim and capric, there occur unauthorized
liturgical innovations (for example: standing during the Consecration,
omission of parts of the Mass, "liturgical" dancing, invalid bread used
for Holy Communion, etc.etc.). There are rampant spiritual and canonical
abuses (general absolution in place of individual confession, the use of
an invalid formula for absolution, First Communion before First
Reconciliation for children as the norm, sex education for children that
is designed to rob them of their innocence, the pouring of Consecrated
Wine down the waste faucets of bathrooms, etc.etc.). Church buildings are
renovated on the basis of "Environment and Art in Catholic Worship"
But this document was never approved by the National Conferences of
Catholic Bishops, and it reflects the personal ideas of certain
individuals about whose faith one can have very legitimate doubts.
What observers remark is that an overall plan
for radical change is being implemented-- but in small increments, without
the overall goal being frankly and candidly stated. Many of these
observers will aver that the not so obvious aim of all this change is the
establishment of another non-Roman Catholic form of our Faith.
It is, then, a lugubrious fact that, bit by
bit, without their knowing it, or realizing it, great sections of the
Church in North America headed by their clergy are being led by the nose
out of Catholicism and into the darkness of a very comfortable apostasy.
One of the most important statements of the
Second Vatican Council emphasizes the new role that the Roman Catholic
laity are called upon to play in the life of the Church. We know that more
than once in the 2,000 year history of the Church, the laity have been
used, as the Council teaches, by the Holy Spirit in order to protect,
nourish and preserve the Church.
Lo! and behold! In our day, and
precisely when it was most needed, the Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
(RCF) organization has sprung up in Illinois. When it began in 1996,
somebody referred to it as "a little pebble" on the mountain-side of a
huge Church. But, let me tell you, this little pebble rolling down that
mountain-side is producing an avalanche of faithful Catholics who will no
longer tolerate this apostasy from our Roman Catholic Faith. The RCF has
members in all 50 states and abroad in half-a-dozen countries. RCF is
dedicated to the defense of Orthodoxy and the Holy Father. It is engaged
in activities from New York to California, from Illinois to Florida.
The ever-swelling number of members in the
RCF will now make sure that His Eminence Cardinal Mahony as well as other
bishops, will be reminded by voices from 100,000 throats:
--that he is only one of over 4,000 bishops
in the Church, all of whom--like him-- are subject to the infallible
teaching of the papacy, past and present;
--that, while by papal permission, he has
jurisdiction over the Los Angeles archdiocese, he has no personal
jurisdiction over the Church Universal and its dogmas;
--that he, like all us sinners, will have to
render to Our Lord Jesus a strict accounting of his Los Angeles
stewardship;
--that his chief obligation is to preserve
and foment the Faith in that diocese; and any deliberate neglect or
infringement of that obligation is punishable with Hellfire.
Let no Catholic shrink from admonishing
priests, bishops, or Cardinals, if they act in ways that are
irreconcilable with the Faith of our Fathers. This is Papal teaching, this
is the teaching of the Church Councils, this is the teaching of St. Thomas
Aquinas: We have an obligation to do so. The simple but painful fact is
that even higher members of the Church's hierarchy are quite capable of
treason.
Let us, in our generation, do our duty by
Holy Mother Church, so that those who come after us in the generation of
the Faithful, will say about us: They were giants in Faith, and they
fought the good fight."
After reading Martin's statement, Bendell discussed Cardinal Mahony's
Pastoral on the Liturgy and went on to explain the need for Catholics to
help those who have been affected by the abuses and negligence of their
bishops. He said:
"In our Church today, we have many wounded
laying by the wayside. And, as in our Lord's parable of the Good
Samaritan, many clergy (Bishops) just walk on by. In fact, in some cases
the Bishops have done the wounding."
For a copy of RCF's Plan of Action for the Los
Angeles Archdiocese and audio tapes of the Goleta, CA meeting, contact :
Roman Catholic Faithful, P.O. Box 109, Petersburg, IL. 62675
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