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.
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.
In proclaiming the faith and in administering the sacraments every priest speaks on behalf of Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ.
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.
Evil too, will always be part of the mystery of the Church. And when we see what men, what the clergy have done in the Church, then that is nothing short of proof that he [Christ] founded and upholds the Church. If she were dependent on men, she would long since have perished.
I ran out of tags for Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke's tremendously lucid address at the Franciscan University of Steubenville on the Instrumentum Laboris and attempts to reform the annulment process. This was delivered, whether intentionally or co-incidentally, ont he same day that Pope Francis decided to attack marriage through his Motu Proprios regarding changes to the annulment process.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar