My Response

An anonymous poster copied and pasted a portion of Tim's post and asked my opinion on it.  His/her comment can be found here.  Tim's entire post, however, is found in his blog, which you can read here.  Instead of addressing the poster's copied and paste portion, I will address most of Tim's blog.  The ones in blue are quotes from Tim Rohr.  The red are quotes from articles, and the black are mine: 

Nowhere in this world or the next does an "I'm sorry" suffice. There is always the requirement to "make it up to you," whether it be returning a stolen item, imposed community service, jail time, or purgatory. In short, "I'm sorry" does NOT wipe away "temporal punishment due to sin." The reason for this is that our God is NOT only "all-Merciful" and "all-Loving," He is also ALL-JUST.

When our first parents sinned against God, God did not ask Adam and Eve if they were sorry. Of course they were sorry, but they were deported from the Garden and sentenced to a life of hard labor and death anyway. And even with that, God's justice was not satisfied. The infinite God had been infinitely offended, and the only possibility of restoring (reparation) all to its original state was for God to die for God: infinite Justice.

There are some sins that can be repaired and some sins that CANNOT be repaired.  This is why we have Purgatory.  Purgatory is also for unpaid debts as well as for the purging of sins.  When a man steals an item from another, the man can apologize and return the item.  Thus, the damage has been repaired. But when a man kills another human being, this kind of sin cannot be repaired. You cannot bring back the life that was stolen.  

Adam and Eve never made up for their sin, simply because they could not. Tim Rohr stated: "And even with that, God's justice was not satisfied. The infinite God had been infinitely offended, and the only possibility of restoring (reparation) all to its original state was for God to die for God: infinite Justice."  

This is INCORRECT teaching. Christ did not die on the cross because of infinite justice or because He was infinitely offended.  He died because of infinite Love and mercy.  Christ gave His life because of LOVE, not because of human Justice.  He died to save Adam and Eve and the rest of humanity.  Tim Rohr thinks in terms of human justice, which is contrary to God's justice. 

Our earthly laws mirror God's, because, whether someone believes in God or not, we are created in his image and his law (natural law) is etched into our being. Thus those calling for war reparations did not have to quote the bible, they only needed to call on natural law: "justice."   

Our earthly laws do NOT mirror God's laws at all.  Our laws always demand man's justice, which is different than God's justice.  Man's justice means to give the person what he deserves.  If the person deserves to be paid $200, then he should receive $200.  If the person deserves the death penalty, then the death penalty will be given him.  This is man's justice.  This is very different from God's justice. 

According to Thomas Aquinas: "God acts mercifully, not indeed by going against His justice, but by doing something more than justice; thus a man who pays another two hundred pieces of money, though owing him only one hundred, does nothing against justice, but acts liberally or mercifully." According to Catholic Answers:

The case is the same with one who pardons an offense committed against him, for in remitting it he may be said to bestow a gift. Hence the apostle [Paul] calls remission a forgiving: "Forgive one another, as Christ has forgiven you" (Eph 4:32). Hence it is clear that mercy does not destroy justice, but in a sense is the fullness thereof. Thus it is said, "Mercy exalts itself above judgment" (Jas 2:13). (Summa Theologiae I:21:3)

After my last two posts on the matter of "forgiveness," I received several comments indicating that many people are confused about this. In responding to one critic saying that I should forgive Apuron if he apologized. I replied cryptically, "We don't need his apology." My answer was intended to set up this post on "reparation," but it was taken (as expected) to appear that I was just on some personal vendetta to destroy Apuron and that I was letting my anger "fester." LOL.

The accusation reminded me of my meeting with Archbishop Hon in January 2015 when I was called before the Visitators. 

The meeting went cordially enough at first, but then Hon, aware that it was my blog which had been the genesis of the unrest which had resulted in his being sent to Guam and my sitting before him at that moment, began to delve into my motivations for my laborious and persistent effort to expose Apuron. 

I freely shared a story about how the actions of our pastor when I was growing up, and the inaction of his bishop, had led to my father's loss of faith and the destruction of my family, including my brother's death. 

It is very easy to blame our sins on someone or on something rather than on ourselves.  We often hear phrases like:  "It's not my fault" or "It's his fault."  Even Adam blamed his sin on his wife and Eve blamed her sin on the devil.  But God reminded Adam and Eve that it was "their" sin when He stated, "What have YOU done" (Genesis 3:11 and 13).  By stating YOU, God emphasized to both Adam and Eve that it was them who made the choice to sin.  We have free will to choose to listen to God or to listen to Satan.  

In the same way, it was not the Bishop who caused Tim's father to lose faith.  It was not the bishop who caused the death of Tim's brother or the destruction of his family.  Tim is simply making an excuse.  It was easier to blame a bishop rather than face the reality that his family was weak in their faith.  

I also shared a story about the torture, murder, and extortion of Catholic high school kids in a school where I was a teacher in the Caribbean. This terror occurred and was allowed to persist because the bishop did not want to know the truth about the principal of the school who was the personal friend of the bishop as well as the town alcoholic, a gay prostitute, and a hebephile, and who was blackmailed into permitting a deadly drug ring to operate in the school through one of the teachers. (Cardinal O'Malley will know about this. He was appointed to succeed the bishop I helped to oust.)

I have no idea what Tim Rohr is saying here. He claimed to oust a bishop, but no bishop was ousted. Bishop Sean O'Malley became the Bishop of the Caribbean after Bishop Edward John Harper.  There were no controversies surrounding Bishop Harper.  Harper retired on October 16, 1985, and was given the title of Bishop Emeritus of Saint Thomas.  He later died in 1990.  See the weblink here.

Archbishop Hon thought he had hit on the source of my "anger" after I shared these stories because on the surface it appeared that I had been personally wounded and was just getting "even" with these past experiences by taking out my "anger" on Apuron. (Archbishop Krebs and Fr. Ted were also at this meeting - just to let you know that I'm not making this up.)

As soon as Hon tried to make this point - that all of this was just "personal," I put my hand in his face and stopped him. And with controlled volcanic rage I said this: 

NO! I AM THE FATHER OF ELEVEN CHILDREN WHO IS TRYING TO GET THEIR SOULS INTO HEAVEN, AND I AM HAVING TO FIGHT AGAINST BISHOPS LIKE YOU TO DO IT. 

Tim Rohr is now claiming to be a savior.  He is not a savior and cannot save his own 11 children.  ONLY Christ is the savior, and ONLY Christ can save us.  Only Christ can get his 11 children into Heaven.  Salvation is found only through God. Salvation is not found through Tim Rohr.    

Let me translate that for you. My, or our, "anger" is NOT personal. His victims aside, very few of us have been "personally offended" by Apuron. Thus, no apology from him will suffice because no apology is needed. What Apuron and his ilk have done (as well as many of the world's bishops) is NOT personally offend us, rather they have damaged our Church for our children and our children's children.

And to REPAIR it, Apuron (whenever I say Apuron, that also includes Pius, David, Adrian et al), must not only be ousted, they must be made an example of as a sign to abusive bishops and clerics everywhere who for decades, because of the public trust invested in them by virtue of their appointments and sacred orders, have destroyed families, parishes, dioceses, and now, under the guise of "an itinerary of faith formation," have institutionalized their program of destruction. 

The anger appears to be more personal and motivated by hate than anything else.