Wednesday, January 16, 2013

What is Going On?


I won't be posting on this topic again, but I am truly concerned about Father Z and his fascination with guns.  I am getting an increasingly uneasy feeling that makes me wonder what has happened to this man.  Posting the outline of a human form riddled with bullet holes is not something I expect to see on a blog whose motto is "Save the liturgy, save the world."

About a year or so before his fall, I began to have some uneasiness about another priest who was in the same ordination class as Father Z.  Do not think I am implying that a preoccupation with firearms and the Second Amendment in any way approaches that which the other priest is alleged to have done.  I'm simply saying that my gut tells me Father is in need of prayers, and prayers he shall get.

Kudos to those who posted comments on his blog expressing their sadness and disappointment.  I can't imagine that a priest would post not a word of sorrow or lament for the victims of Sandy Hook but instead has dug in his heels about the right to bear arms.

Saint Padre Pio is pictured here with his weapon.   

St. Bernadette of Lourdes revealed that during her apparitions in the grotto, the Blessed Virgin Mary carried a Rosary that she prayed with Bernadette.  Based on Bernadette's recollection of that image, Our Lady of Lourdes is often depicted with a Rosary draped over her arm.

At Fatima, Our Lady beckoned the children to pray her Rosary for world peace.

Get that Father?  Not a machine-gun belt, or, to humor you further, a sword - but a Rosary.

Prayers for Father Z.  

That's all.

5 comments:

  1. Honestly, I do think that Father Z. is doing some good in some of his posts. I admit, it is oddly off topic for him, but he is doing something to clarify a lot of misconceptions about firearms, misconceptions that are very common right now when everyone is panicking and insisting that we must do something so fervently that we aren't even thinking straight about what this "something" will be. It is important that we be informed on such issues.

    Do I think he went too far showing the picture of that target? Yes. It is one thing to advocate for the second amendment, it is another to post that. It has led to some scandal, and unless he was somehow ignorant of that possibility he should have been more cautious. However, is it totally wrong for a priest to use firearms? I don't know. Canon law once forbade it, but on the other hand we recently had For Greater Glory in which one of the main characters was a priest wearing two bullet belts over his cassock, and he was hardly the only priest fighting for the Cristeros. Not to mention, there were the many warrior-priests who fought for the Church in the Middle Ages (sometimes justly, sometimes not). They may have used swords rather than guns, but the principle is the same. Some of the chivalric orders to which they belonged exist to this day within the Church. Some of these priests are even canonized. St. John of Capistrano, a Franciscan, led men into battle against the Turks.

    Also, I can't say that I really disagree with the second amendment. Possession of weapons can be misused, but it can be used for good. Certainly one is not morally obligated to fight in self defense (many martyrs did not), but nor is one in the wrong for doing so.

    Perhaps Father Z. is going astray with writing about firearms as much as he recently has, but I don't think it necessarily wrong for him to write about them at all. It is an important issue in our country, Fr. Z writes primarily to an American audience, and so he discusses this issue.

    Joyce, since you seem to have been scandalized by Fr. Z's actions, I do hope that a seminarian writing a semi-defense of them doesn't cause additional scandal.

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    1. Daniel I appreciate your comments. I am not scandalized so much as I am saddened. There are plenty of Americans who can speak articulately in favor of the Second Amendment that I don't think it's necessary or advisable not to mention an appropriate use of a priest's time. There may be nothing immoral about the Second Amendment, but there is something grossly wrong with how out of control things have gotten with guns in America that thousands of people lose their lives to them every year. That a priest who has something to say about everything that happens said absolutely nothing about the Sandy Hook tragedy except to mock those who are appalled at gun violence and want to see something done about it is an indication to me that of where his priorities lie. Joyce

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  2. I also have an uneasy feeling - I know I post silly things about him and his personality quirks, but his latest posts are the strangest yet. I'm happy people are voicing their objections but some of the replies have been condescending, if not arrogant.

    God bless you for showing St. Pio's only weapon, the rosary.

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    1. It is what I have come to expect from people of a certain political stripe, which I have referenced in an earlier post. The ridicule and arrogance goes along with it. There is a big difference between being emotional and trusting your gut. My gut tells me that we cannot allow innocents to continue to be mowed down by the kinds of weapons of mass destruction that were used to kill first-graders and their brave teachers. Thanks Terry. Joyce

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    2. And Terry, the one comment I would post on his site if I were going to reply directly would be this: Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.

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Comments which reflect true Christian charity are always welcome. Comments which attack the Pope, the Church, priests or other bloggers will go in the dustbin, especially if they are anonymous. Thank you and God Bless you!