For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living, but existing.
One can readily admit that the Magisterium's manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church's teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.
Assuredly, the word of truth can be painful and uncomfortable. But it is the way to holiness, to peace, and to inner freedom. A pastoral approach which truly wants to help the people concerned must always be grounded in the truth. In the end, only the truth can be pastoral.
Certainly, it is difficult to make the demands of the Gospel understandable to secularized people. But this pastoral difficulty must not lead to compromises with the truth.
A very good article on the apostasy of Catholics en masse, to a sort of freemasonry, comparing modern 'catholics' ignorance of the faith with many Muslims' ignorance of theirs:
"Only 25% of couples are bonded in a traditional form of marriage". I presume this only applies to the U.S. but it is indicative of the dark times in which we live.
In response to yet another in the daily barrage of Bergoglian scandal, the best I can do is to quote Mundabor:
At this point, words fail. New ones at least. So it is fitting to repeat the old ones:
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar