&
the mentor of Thomas Rosica
Cardinal Martini was more than just a
modernist, he
opened the door to church-sanctioned euthanasia,
supported homosexual relationships in a book (
Believe and Know) he wrote, and
was a Freemason. He also, thought modern day Talmudic Judaism essential to Christianity,
"Without a sincere feeling for the Jewish world, and a direct experience of it, one cannot fully understand Christianity," he wrote in the book "Christianity and Judaism: A Historical and Theological Overview."
In his
New York Times obituary one reads of his support for married priests and condoning the usage of condoms,
"In 2005, for instance, the Catholic News Service described him
as having expressed “openness to the possibility of allowing married
Latin-rite priests under certain circumstances,” as well as to the
ordination of women as deacons."
"...He also expressed notably liberal views on issues relating to health and
the human body. In 2006, in a dialogue published in the Italian
newsmagazine L’Espresso between Cardinal Martini and the Italian
bioethicist Ignazio Marino, the cardinal challenged official church
policy by arguing that condom use was justified in some cases to prevent
the spread of AIDS."
"The church is 200 years out of date. Why don't we rouse ourselves? Are we afraid?"
The
Reuters New Agency in the article,
In final interview, Cardinal says Church "200 years out of date", wrote of Martini,
The former
archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini
said the Catholic Church was "200 years out of date" in his final
interview before his death, published on Saturday.
Martini, once favored by
Vatican progressives to succeed Pope John Paul II and a prominent voice
in the church until his death at the age of 85 on Friday, gave a
scathing portrayal of a pompous and bureaucratic church failing to move
with the times.
"Our culture has
aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises
up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous," Martini said in the
interview published in Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
"The
Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting
from the pope and the bishops. The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take
a journey of transformation," he said in the interview.
In
the last decade the Church has been accused of failing to fully address
a series of child abuse scandals which have undermined its status as a
moral arbiter, though it has paid many millions in compensation
settlements worldwide.
Martini,
famous for comments that the use of condoms could be acceptable in some
cases, told interviewers the Church should open up to new kinds of
families or risk losing its flock.
"A
woman is abandoned by her husband and finds a new companion to look
after her and her children. A second love succeeds. If this family is
discriminated against, not just the mother will be cut off but also her
children."
In this way "the Church
loses the future generation", Martini said in the interview, made a
fortnight before he died. The Vatican opposes divorce and forbids
contraception in favor of fidelity within marriage and abstinence
without.
“We, at the ends of the world, received from him a
great contribution to biblical knowledge, but also because of his
spirituality and life of faith, were nourished by the Word of God.”
Which brings us to Fr. Thomas Rosica, who has recently made the news on various blogs and websites by threatening to sue a Canadian blogger, Mr. David Domet, of the
Vox Cantoris blog.
Click here to read the letter he had his lawyers send Mr. Domet. What was the crime Domet was acussed of? Only pointing out on his blog
un-Catholic statements Fr. Rosica had said or tweeted!
According to Rosica, the Holy Family is irregular!
The conclusion of the NY Times article Fr. Rosica linked to:
Does that sound Catholic to you?
Pro-Life = Taliban Catholicism
This man isn't joking either!
Who is Rosica? He is the English language assistant to the
Holy See's Press Office and is CEO of the Canadian
Salt + Light
TV. Why are we bringing up Rosica? In a
eulogy for Cardinal Martini,
Rosica said,
"Cardinal Martini was for me a mentor, teacher, model Scripture scholar
and friend. He has influenced my life, teaching, pastoral ministry in a
very significant way over the past 30 years. When many colleagues,
students and friends have asked me these past years how I maintained my
faith and hope in the world of scripture scholarship and teaching, I
often told them: “I had three Martinis a day.” I think I have read
everything that Cardinal Martini wrote, or that appeared under his name.
I first met Cardinal Martini in Milan in 1981. He had already begun the
Lectio Divina sessions with young people in Milan’s Duomo. I was amazed
then and continued to be captivated by his method of preaching,
teaching and praying the Scriptures."
Italian Vatican reporter, Sandro Magister has written about how
Francis has inherited legacy of Martini and is implementing it. John Vennari of
CFNews has written an article,
Special Report: The Martini Pope, in which he list many of Martini's un-Catholic quotes that sound as if they had come out of the mouth of Francis. One example being, "You can’t make God a Catholic God." At the end of the day, neither Magister nor Vennari get to the heart of the matter.
Where do these anti-Catholic ideas come from?
Have no fear Fr. Rosica is here with an answer.
In an address to the bishops of the United States of America, Rosica said,
Relations with Judaism
Because of some wonderful relationships and
friendships with rabbis in Buenos Aires, Francis has brought personal
relationships into his pastoral ministry in Rome. I am convinced that if
get the relationships right, everything else will follow. It’s all
about relationships. Is this not the real legacy of Nostra Aetate? Pope
Francis never met the great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. But the more I
see Francis in action, I cannot help but think that Heschel’s influence
is hidden in Francis’ heart and mind. Rabbi Abraham Skorka of
Argentina, one of Pope Francis’ closest friends is convinced of this
fact. Rabbi Skorka accompanied Francis to the Holy Land in May, and in
2010 they co-authored a book, On Heaven and Earth.
God’s Continuous Search for Us
Pope Francis sounded very much like Rabbi Heschel
in the interview with Jesuit journals last year. “God is in every
person’s life,” he said repeatedly. “You can, you must try to seek God
in every human life.” Francis also shares Rabbi Heschel’s criticism of
religion when it “speaks only in the name of authority rather than with
the voice of compassion.” The pope has repeatedly warned against
clericalism, for example. “The risk that we must avoid is priests and
bishops falling into clericalism, which is a distortion of religion,” he
explained in his dialogue with Rabbi Skorka. “When a priest leads a
diocese or a parish, he has to listen to his community, to make mature
decisions and lead the community accordingly. In contrast, when the
priest imposes himself, when in some way he says, ‘I am the boss here,’
he falls into clericalism.” Francis’ warning to newly appointed bishops
in September 2013, that careerism is “a form of cancer,” echoed Rabbi
Heschel’s remark in a now famous address to the American Medical
Association years ago: “According to my own medical theory, more people
die of success than of cancer.”
It's those Hasidic ideas once again!
Heschel wanted to attack Christians' souls.
What about Cardinal Martini, Fr. Rosica, and Francis?
Let's recap before we get to Fr. Rosica's talk on Cardinal Martini:
- Cardinal Martini influenced & was thought of highly by Francis and Fr. Rosica
- Martini, Rosica, and Francis all have made un-Catholic statements with regularity
- Rosica and Francis come down hard on neo-pelagians & Taliban Catholics
- Francis, Rosica, and Martini all espouse Hasidic ideas
They are each one head of the Talmudic hydra known as modernism.
“prophetic”
“man of discernment and peace”
“a father for the whole Church”
Without further ado....
Fr. Rosica on Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J.
For those who cannot stomach listening to the video a transcript has been kindly provided below by
Salt and Light TV.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J. – 1927-2012
On Friday August 31, 2012, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J., entered eternal life following his long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 85 years old. The world renowned Scripture scholar, teacher, archbishop emeritus of Milan – the world’s largest Archdiocese with more than 5 million inhabitants – distinguished himself as an internationally respected Church leader.
Appointed archbishop by Pope John Paul II to the See of St. Ambrose and St. Charles Borromeo, at the age of 52, Martini was a towering giant of the College of Cardinals. The Italian Church looked to him for direction, wisdom and inspiration for more than three decades. It was no surprise that in the three days that his body lay in state in Milan’s Duomo, over two hundred thousand people passed quietly before his mortal remains to pay their respects and give thanks to God for their beloved shepherd.
Martini’s funeral on September 3, Feast of St. Gregory the Great, was nothing short of a state funeral, televised throughout Italy and in many countries of the world, including in Canada through the Salt and Light Catholic Television Network. Through the moving funeral mass in the Ambrosian Rite, gathering together over 20,000 people from every walk and level of life in Italy and far beyond, Cardinal Martini continued to unite and teach even in death.
Carlo Maria Martini was born in Orbassano, near Turin, Italy, on February 15, 1927. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1944 and studied philosophy and theology at two theological centres in northern Italy. He was ordained a priest at the age of 25 in July 1952.
In 1958, Carlo Maria Martini was awarded a doctorate (summa cum laude) at the Gregorian University for a dissertation on historical aspects of the resurrection of Jesus. After teaching for several years at Chieri, he was awarded a second doctorate (summa cum laude) at the Pontifical Biblical Institute for a thesis treating questions about the text of Luke’s Gospel in the light of the Codex Vaticanus and the Bodmer Papyrus XIV. Martini took his final vows as a Jesuit in 1962.
From 1962, he held a chair in the very difficult area of textual criticism at the Biblicum. From the 1960s, he was the only Catholic in an elite group of scholars headed by Professor Kurt Aland at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research at Munster, in Germany. They produced their first edition of The Greek New Testament in 1966, and he was still on the team when the fourth edition appeared in 1993. Every version of the Greek New Testament contains the name of Carlo Maria Martini.
Martini became rector of the prestigious Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome (1967-1978). As rector of the Biblicum, he created a program under which Catholic students go to Israel to study Judaism, biblical archaeology and Hebrew. As a result of his work in Jerusalem, Cardinal Martini became deeply attached to the city. I, for one benefited in a great way from Martini’s efforts in establishing this program in Jerusalem and owe my love of Jerusalem and of the Holy Land to Carlo Maria Martini.
In July 1978, Martini was named rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University. Then in late 1979, Martini’s life was radically changed when he was named by the new Pope to head the Ambrosian Diocese. A biblical scholar, he never held a parish post. Cardinal Martini became the first Jesuit in 35 years to head an Italian archdiocese when he was named archbishop of Milan.
Pope John Paul II ordained Martini archbishop January 6, 1980, in St. Peter’s Basilica. Named to the College of Cardinals in 1983, he was immediately appointed to four different Vatican bodies instead of the one or two on which most new cardinals serve. For twenty-two years, Carlo Maria Martini governed, taught, and sanctified the people of Milan and the people of the world. Already known throughout the entire world because of his teaching, retreat preaching and writings, Martini traveled widely and spoke French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and modern Greek in addition to his native Italian and the ancient languages of Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
Some of Martini’s positions in relation to remarried divorcees, the recognition of same-sex unions and the subject of bioethics, have sparked a great deal of debate in recent years. Some thought that Martini’s questioning might be too open for Catholic moral doctrine. They missed the boat in what he was saying. They also didn’t pay attention to his other clear declarations in defense of marriage, life and against abortion; his stance in favour of equality in education and his proposals for a careful and intelligent integration of Muslims into Milanese society. All of these important issues and many more were at the core of Martini’s pastoral ministry and teaching.
Those who wish to label him “the liberal archbishop” or the “anti-Pope”; or to set him against either Pope John Paul II or Benedict XVI are wrong in their immature and uninformed judgment. Martini’s Christianity was profoundly rooted in the Word of God, in the Sacraments and in the Church. He was an intelligent, loyal servant of the Church.
The Final Lessons
Following his retirement in 2002, his interests focused on biblical studies, Catholic-Jewish dialogue and praying for peace in the Middle East. What struck so many of us these past years, even more than Martini’s “Lecture series for non believers” and “School of the Word” and any of his numerous books – which he confessed he never wrote as they were almost always transcriptions of his speeches – was the way in which he dealt with his illness. Though his body was riddled with Parkinson’s disease, Martini continued to publish books, offer spiritual reflections and answer readers’ questions in a monthly column he wrote – until only a few months ago – for the Sunday edition of Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s most important newspapers. He lived out his suffering in the public eye, bonding and connecting with those living and suffering with Parkinsons.
In his final book, entitled Il Vescovo (The Bishop), published by Rosenberg & Sellier, in March of this year, Martini considers the delicate subject of authority within the church. Cardinal Martini presents readers with two intriguing portraits representing the two opposite faces of authority: a rigid one that is incapable of listening and one that is inspired by the Word of God, taking into consideration the human person.
A bishop is a pastor of men and of souls. He has a big responsibility because he is the heir of the apostolic tradition; he is the spiritual guide of the church, the diocese that unites parishes and communities of Christian faithful. If his role is limited to that of authority, neglecting his pastoral task of educating and testifying the Gospel as a humble servant of the Lord’s church, his real role ceases as it becomes a role of ecclesiastical authority that is neither prophetic nor linked to a genuine evangelical dimension.
If these defects – authoritarianism and rigidity – grow out of proportion, they can cause serious detrimental effects on the bishop’s service. Martini states that authoritarian bishops are those who under no circumstances accept dialogue or listen to their advisors, but act rashly without heeding advice he may even have asked for. Such bishops break the ties that had been forged with their successors and no longer feel like bishops but like fathers and kings of their dioceses. If said bishops also have a cantankerous temperament, then no one is spared from his animosity.
Cardinal Martini refused to have a nasogastric tube inserted into him to feed him. He had not been able to swallow for fifteen days and was only being kept alive through parenteral hydration. Martini had reiterated his position in his last book entitled “Credere e conoscere” (“Believing and knowing”), published by Einaudi last March. In the book, he appeals to reason, even on the subject of euthanasia: “The new technologies which make increasingly efficient operations on the human body possible, require a dose of wisdom, to prevent prolonging treatments when they no longer benefit the patient.”
Remembering Cardinal Martini
Cardinal Martini was for me a mentor, teacher, model Scripture scholar and friend. He has influenced my life, teaching, pastoral ministry in a very significant way over the past 30 years. When many colleagues, students and friends have asked me these past years how I maintained my faith and hope in the world of scripture scholarship and teaching, I often told them: “I had three Martinis a day.” I think I have read everything that Cardinal Martini wrote, or that appeared under his name. I first met Cardinal Martini in Milan in 1981. He had already begun the Lectio Divina sessions with young people in Milan’s Duomo. I was amazed then and continued to be captivated by his method of preaching, teaching and praying the Scriptures.
When my Superiors assigned me to Scripture studies in Rome, and then Jerusalem, I began to appreciate Martini’s immense contribution to the biblical world. It was always a thrill when he would come to visit us at the Biblicum, celebrate mass with the students and then give an afternoon lecture in the Aula Magna. He walked in wearing a simple black cassock and small pectoral cross. With no notes in hand and only a Greek New Testament, he taught us one year how to lead Lectio Divina sessions with young people, and the next year he lectured us on the importance of Textual Criticism, one of the deadliest topics in Scripture Studies. From that point on he made the topic not only interesting but necessary.
We exchanged numerous letters over the years, and I remember asking Cardinal Martini for some advice as I prepared World Youth Day 2002 in Canada. Two moments, however, remain engraved in my memory and heart. Following the adventure of World Youth Day 2002, I asked permission to spend a month in the Holy Land to pray and rest. I wanted to spend some days at the Franciscan Retreat House on Mount Tabor. When I arrived, the lovely Italian sister greeted me and said: “You’ll be very happy to know that there is hardly anyone here these days. There is only one other guest. You will meet him this afternoon at tea.” After prayers, I walked into the dining room only to find Cardinal Martini sitting at the table. I blurted out: “Eminenza, how good it is to be here!” He said: “Should we not build three tents?” We had a good laugh and a wonderful visit.
A year later, as I presented the documentary of St. Gianna Beretta Molla on the eve of her canonization in Rome, the Cardinal thanked me for telling the true story of that great laywoman saint of his diocese. Martini loved St. Gianna Beretta Molla, calling her at her beatification ten years earlier: “Marvelous woman, lover of life, wife, mother, exemplary doctor, she offered her life so that she would not violate the mystery of the dignity of life.”
I sincerely hope and pray that the life and teaching of Cardinal Martini will penetrate deeply the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in Rome. Martini clearly showed us how to evangelize. He lived out his episcopal ministry as a bishop of the Second Vatican Council, one who was honest, just, fair and unafraid. He constantly called forth goodness in other people. This great man was able to communicate not just with the faithful but also with people who were far from the faith, bringing the message of the Gospel to everyone. He taught us not to be afraid to dialogue and to reach out. He reminded us that under the smoldering ashes of a Church that is at times tired and discouraged, burdened with history and traditions, there are still embers waiting to be fanned into flame.
May this brilliant pastor and teacher continue to bless us and teach us from the heavenly Jerusalem. I conclude with this prayer written by Cardinal Martini, which appears in his book “Due Pellegrini per la Giustizia” (Centro Ambrosiano: Edizioni Piemme, 1992). The English translation is my own.
Lord Our God,
We Praise you and we bless you for Jerusalem,
Because you have given this city to us
As the symbol of the story of God and the story of humanity;
The sign of your love for us and of your forgiveness for our sins;
The symbol of our earthly pilgrimage toward you,
A pilgrimage that involves so many difficulties and so many conflicts.
We pray for Jerusalem and for all of our Jewish
And Arab brothers and sisters.
We give you thanks, Lord,Because you have called us to serve Christ
And to carry his cross today in the Church,
The Church that has its center in Rome;
Since you have called us to be one with your Son,
You teach us to give a name to our oneness with him,
In the words of Ignatius of Loyola,
The true bride of Christ our Lord, who is our Holy Mother Church
We thank you for the Church and for Rome
That is the image of unity
And the pilgrimage toward this unity,
And for the trials that we must undergo to achieve this unity.
We ask you that we may be faithful to Jerusalem and to Rome,
To your Son and to the Church,
In this common journey of humanity
Toward the heart of the Trinity,
Toward the contemplation of your face
Of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.,
CEO, Salt and Light Catholic Television Network, Canada
President, Assumption University – Windsor, Canada
