Children of God, Nude Priests &
No to CCHD

Hello,

I was having a conversation with a liberal Catholic and he stated that all humans are children of God. I pointed out that through baptism we become adopted children of God, as the Bible and the Catholic Church teaches.

However, recently I was reading the Bible and read: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.…" (Ephesians 4:5,6).

This seems to indicate that God is Father of all so we are ALL children of God.

Is it that being a "child of God" has two senses: one, that we are inheritors of his kingdom if we die in his Church and in a state of grace, we are his children; and one, in that he created us all and are his children? Or is it merely that St. Paul was addressing himself to the Ephesian Christians and was referring only to them all as children of God?

Can you help shed some light on this?

     Thanks,

     J.S.


TIA responds:

Hello J.S.,

We believe that you are right. There are two meanings of children of God here: one is a broader meaning – every created man is a child of God. Another is a specific meaning – only those who follow the narrow path inside the Catholic Church are children of God properly speaking.

You should be cautious not to make concessions to false ecumenism, as your progressivist friend did and wants you to do.

Perhaps the following observations by Fr. Cornelius a Lapide, S.J., could bring some assistance to you. Commenting on these verses of the Epistle of the Ephesians, he affirms (our free translation from Latin):

Regarding the baptism – Just as there is one true faith, so also there is only one true baptism, that is, the one given to the Catholic Church by Christ, which has the proper matter, water; proper formula of the words instituted by Christ, and the ablution of the body with the words: Ego te baptizo in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti [I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost]. When baptizing, all sins are cleansed from the soul.

“Therefore, whoever gives another baptism, using another matter or formula, prevents the person from receiving the true baptism, and leads him to a false and mendacious baptism.”

Regarding God as Father of all who is over all and through all and in all of us – “God is ‘over all’ by His majesty, power, divine empire and transcendence; He is ‘through all’ because His power, wise government, operation and efficacy reach all and are exerted through all; He is ‘in all’ by supporting all in their essence, and He is in all those who have a close union with Him and who observe His laws; He is in ‘all of us’ who are Catholics and upright by grace and sanctity.”

You see that in a very broad sense all those whom God created and maintains in life are under His power and government and can also be called children of God, although the proper sense applies to those Catholics who follow His Commandments, are in state of grace and on the road to sanctity.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

Dear TIA,

Perhaps you have not heard yet about this news report on the corruption in the Italian clergy.

We don’t know where this abyss of clerical corruption will end. May God have pity on His Church and intervene soon.

      In Jesus through Mary,

      E.J.


October 27, 2014 - NewNowNext Staff - Pope Francis has ordered a special envoy to investigate a scandal-plagued diocese in northern Italy, where priests have reportedly been posting nude photos on gay websites, keeping girlfriends and raiding the church treasury.

The Vatican confirmed that an “apostolic administrator” is heading to Albenga-Imperia, to look into accusations of wrongdoing by so-called “playboy priests.” An apostolic nuncio, or ambassador, already conducted a preliminary investigation.

Bishop Mario Oliveri, who has overseen the diocese at Albenga-Imperia for almost 25 years, is expected to step down soon in favor of an auxiliary bishop.

Oliveri, 70, hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, but has been criticized for recruiting “black sheep” priests with checkered pasts — some of whom were expelled from the seminary. One priest was found guilty of organizing an under-age prostitution ring, another was forced to take naked pictures off his Facebook page.

 

Bishop Mario Oliveri is covering up for a large priest network of corruption

According to The Telegraph, other accusations include:

• Raiding church coffers and stealing communion money;
• Sexually harassing parishioners and courting the “prettiest” faithful;
• A priest accused of having courted married woman during a procession;
• Living in secret with gay partners;
• Getting tattooed;
• Moon-lighting as barmen and sleeping with co-workers;
• Several priests convicted or investigated for child abuse.

Father Luciano Massaferro, a parish priest, was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing an altar girl. He was strenuously defended by Bishop Oliveri.

At least one priest in the diocese is furious with what’s been allowed to go on: Father Filippo Bardini says the scandal “sickens” him. “The Bishop has consistently denied everything and rather than deal with complaints, which have been numerous, he has ignored misbehavior, covered it up, and even defended and promoted those who should have been unfrocked.”

Bardini surmises that more than half of the 175 priests in the diocese are “bad apples,” with a number involved in outright criminal activities.

TIA,

If you could disseminate the warning below to your readers, you would be serving a good cause.

Gary Morella



November 11, 2014 – Most Catholic dioceses around the country will take up the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) collection later this month. CCHD professes to assist the poor, not by direct charity, but by developing projects that enable the poor to help themselves. While CCHD uses development grants to promote the collection, the bulk of donations go to community organizing groups that agitate for a leftist agenda in direct conflict with Catholic teachings.

Over the years, controversy about CCHD has continued unabated because of this reality and the bishops' failure to institute change. Many Catholics will remember the millions of dollars funneled to ACORN before its scandalous activities leading to the mortgage and bank collapse were exposed. Several times, CCHD has pledged to reform, but, despite short-term improvement, its direction remains unchanged. Abuses continue and, according to Stephanie Block, an expert on Alinskyian organizing, CCHD, under the guise of "charity," channels money solicited from the faithful into groups that promote abortion, contraception, homosexual activism, socialist economic policies, etc.

In a recent report Block wrote:

“In fact, 50% of the 2013-2014 CCHD grants have been given to Alinskyian organizations! This doesn’t include an additional award of $300,000 to one of the Alinskyian networks at its national level, nor $500,000 to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to restructure its approach to include community organizing and political advocacy, and $500,000 to the California Catholic Conference which has been forced to battle U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandates that would force Catholic institutions to purchase health insurance that covers abortion. This latter would be a positive development if it weren’t for all the millions of dollars CCHD poured into California Alinskyian organizations to “advocate” for universal health care legislation regardless of any “reproductive justice” components.”

Block reaches this conclusion:

“For forty-four years the CCHD has shamelessly pushed aside any corrective reform efforts, expanding its Alinskyian networks into more cities and exporting the twisted theology of Alinskyian organizing into other countries.”

So, no, the CCHD hasn’t reformed, not even a little… and it doesn’t intend to reform.

Catholic Media Coalition and its individual member groups urge Catholics in the pew to "Just say NO!" to the CCHD collection this month. Give your hard-earned money to groups that really serve the poor.

For more see here, here, & here.