Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The Truth Is.....

There are many misconceptions in Tim Rohr's latest post "Apuron on the brain".  The words of Tim Rohr are written in red. Quotes taken from other sources are in blue.  Mine are in black. According to Tim Rohr:
It appears to me that Pope Francis has "Apuron on the brain." The letter is addressed to bishops and right now there is only one bishop who is at the center of the Catholic world's attention in matters related to the sex abuse of children, there is only one bishop who is on trial in the Vatican, and there is only one bishop who the pope has asked twice now to resign and still he refuses. That's Apuron.
This is false.  According to the Bishop Accountability website: 
The following list includes 84 bishops worldwide who have been accused publicly of sexual wrongdoing – 57 (names in red) allegedly abused minors, and 27 (names in black) are publicly accused of sexual abuse/sexual misconduct with adults only. To date, a mere 4 accused bishops have been laicized: Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez of Paraguay (2008), Raymond J. Lahey of Canada (2012), Gabino Miranda Melgarejo of Peru (2013), and Jósef Wesołowski of Poland (2014).
Pope Francis is fully aware of these figures; therefore, he did not have Apuron in his brain.  Archbishop Apuron is not the only bishop who is at the center of the Catholic world's attention.  In fact, even Cardinal Pell of Australia was accused of sexual allegations.  Tim Rohr further states: 
While I welcome the pope's call (again) for zero tolerance, he is appealing for help from the very people who are most responsible for the scandal. While most of the abuse was committed by "priests gone wild," we now know what an integral and secret role the bishops themselves have played in permitting, covering for, and perhaps even cultivating the abuse.

Apuron's refusal to resign in the face of the pope's twice request is an example of just how powerless the pope really is when it comes to exercising administrative authority over bishops. Thus the power to hold bishops to account falls to the people, the laity, the parents whose children and grandchildren were ravaged and wounded by by the very men they entrusted them to. 
First of all, the pope is NOT powerless in exercising administrative authority over bishops.  Pope Francis does not need the people's help in getting rid of Archbishop Apuron.  He is, after all, the Pope, and he is fully aware that he is the only authority to laicize Archbishop Apuron.  The laity never had the authority or the power to defrock the bishop.   

It was only three years ago that Pope Francis laicized Josef Wesolowski of Poland.  Yes, indeed....It was Pope Francis who laicized Joseph Wesolowski in 2014 and Gabino Melgaejo in 2013; yet, Rohr wants to deceive people in thinking that the Pope is powerless.  If it is true that the pope is powerless, how then was it possible for four bishops to be defrocked by the pope?  The laity does not have the authority to defrock a bishop.  However, they do have the responsibility to correct their bishops and priests with love.  They also have a responsibility to notify Rome and the civil authorities if their bishops and priests have committed a crime.  

Secondly, Pope Francis mentioned "zero tolerance."  The pope believes in this; yet, Archbishop Apuron is allowed to leave Rome and even attend a Bishop's conference.  Does this sound like "zero tolerance"?  No.  It sounds like Pope Francis is giving Archbishop Apuron the benefit of the doubt.  It sounds like he is not judging Archbishop Apuron and will wait for the results of the canonical trial.      

The fact is.....Pope Francis never asked Archbishop Apuron to resign.  It was Archbishop Hon who asked Archbishop Apuron to resign.  And it was Archbishop Hon who flew to Rome to convince the Pope to remove Archbishop Apuron.  

You see......even Archbishop Hon knew very well that ONLY the pope had the authority to remove Apuron, which is the reason why he went to Rome to convince the pope to remove him and appoint another bishop in his place.  Instead, Pope Francis allowed Archbishop Apuron to keep his title as Archbishop of Agana and appoint a coadjutor Bishop to take his place until the results of the canonical trial are in.  If he is found guilty, Archbishop Byrnes will automatically become the Archbishop of Agana and Apuron will lose his title.  On the other hand, if he is found not guilty, Archbishop Apuron will resume his position and authority over the Archdiocese of Agana, and Byrnes will remain the next of kin until Archbishop Apuron retires.       

21 comments:

  1. And if he is found guilty, you and your friends are going to look very silly indeed, if not actually complicit and involved in the whole sordid affair!

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    1. Dear Anonymous at 1:13 pm,

      On the contrary, I will not look silly at all. Do you know why? Because I have always said that Archbishop Apuron is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That is how our democratic system works. It is actually YOU who and the protesters who will look silly if the judges in the canonical trial find him not guilty.

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    2. You said Tim made a false statement when he said:

      "there is only one bishop who is at the center of the Catholic world's attention in matters related to the sex abuse of children, there is only one bishop who is on trial in the Vatican, and there is only one bishop who the pope has asked twice now to resign and still he refuses"

      So which part is false exactly? You showed some historical numbers and names in your response to this, but are you saying that there is another bishop on canonical trial at the moment? Are you saying there is another bishop that was asked to resign twice and didn't? Is there another bishop at the moment that is the center of matters related to child sexual abuse?

      Please explain.

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    3. Dear Anonymous at 1:35 pm,

      He made a false statement when he claimed that Pope Francis had Archbishop Apuron in his brain regarding his letter to the bishops. It only takes common sense to know that Tim Rohr cannot read anyone's mind and heart. Only God can do that.

      He also made a false statement when he claimed that Pope Francis is powerless when it comes to exercising administrative authority over bishops.

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    4. What would happen if one of the so-called victims said that it was all a lie and a conspiracy against Bishop Apuron by Tim Rohr, what could happen to Tim ?

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    5. Dear Diana, please do not be blind to the face of JW. It is an anti-Vatican, anti-Pope site. The reason they attacked Archbishops Apuron and Hon and now Archbishop Byrnes is that they want to damage Vaticani officials. In particular, they want to get Cardinal Filoni, the right hand of Pope Francis. Their true target is the Pope. The Sunday picketers would be astonished to realize that they are used to stir emotions against Cardinal Filoni and Pope Francis!

      JW is not very smart in disguising their intention. The so called modernist-traditionalist controversy is a fake one! The problem is not modernism, but secularism! JW uses a hundred years old terminology to identify themselves. They routinely refer to anti-Pope web-sites trying to ridicule Pope Francis!

      Diana, do you know what is remnantnewspaper.com? Have you heard about the Amoris Laetitia controversy and the 4 "Dubia" cardinals? Very bad stuff! Just have a look and expose it. It is worth a new post at your blog!

      Rohr's ideology is to destroy the local parishes and chase away parishioners until only a "remnant" remains. This is outright destructive! They want to get rid of the Pope's authority. Of course, they think they are the "remnants". They dream very dangerous dreams that was inspired by the devil.

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    6. I truly thank Chuck White for proving my point by his latest post on Junglewatch. Great job Chuck, you helped me a lot! Lol. As everyone can see now, the attacks on Pope Francis by the JW circles and CCOG are on!

      Chuck is quoting an extremely biased article of pure distortion about our Pope Francis from the secular The Week Magazine, "A CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL IS COMING FOR POPE FRANCIS". Chuck presents this uncomely article loaded with half-truth and lies as sensational news! What other proof is needed that JW and CCOG is nothing but a bunch anti-Pope freaks?

      Of course, the wild accusations against the Roman Curia and Pope Francis by the enemies of Vatican, as always, are cheered and applauded by Rohr, as well.

      TimJanuary 4, 2017 at 5:32 PM

      Thus my constant admonition: DO NOT LOOK TO ROME!

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    7. Have the Church ever sued the so-called victims for false accusation. all you is priests molesting kids, what about innocent priests, never heard victims getting sued for lying. one lie can do a lot of damage. This ''Tim rohr'' doing a lot of Damage with the Church.

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    8. Dear Anonymous at 7:00 pm,

      Actually, I did publish a post in my blog about Father Joseph Jiang. He is a Chinese priest who was accused of sexual allegations. He sued his accusers for defamation and won the lawsuit.

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    9. Closeted Pope-haters and Vatican-destroyers keep coming out at JW. These people are convinced that Pope Francis is led by an evil force. Hello, have you guys gone completely nuts?! I love Pope Francis and under any circumstances I will always love him and choose him as my guide! He is the vicar of the living Christ on earth!

      It is amazing! The same people are out to attack and accuse out new bishop as well! Ab Byrnes has not even arrived yet permanently, these lunatics are already all out against him. I trust Ab Byrnes as long as he is with us, supporting and nourishing our faith! Going against him blindly is extremely misguided! What these people do is a shame, I tell you Diana, it is a big shame!

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    10. Dear anon you stated "Rohr's ideology is to destroy the local parishes and chase away parishioners until only a "remnant" remains."

      I think you misrepresent what he said. He did not say to chase away anyone. He said many people in the pews have the wrong idea about being Catholic because of the lax practices at local parishes. These people think they are Catholic because their priests say so. But they are not! They are like cotton fill-ins they only have volume but no weight!

      What I read about the remnants is coming from the Bible the book of Isaiah. "On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth." (Isaiah 10:20-23) Those people in the pews will disappear once they realize they are not part of the One Holy Catholic Church. Only a fragment remains, this is the remnant. We who follow the true Catholic teaching are the remnants of God and not them.

      This is what the Remnant Newspaper is about. It is not against the Pope but against the excesses of Vatican officials who do not follow the church magisterium. If Pope Francis omits to consult the magisterium before he makes announcemenot the remnant because nt he will also get criticism. It is natural. This you see in the case of Amoris Laetitia which aims to relax the divorce in Catholic families. Very counter intuitive! Vatican punched himself in the stomach.

      Neos are also not the remnants. You guys reinterpret the Bible very un-Catholic. The magisterium is like a super body of Catholic faith. It is all encompassing! If you don't feel in your heart by instinct the mighty teaching of the holy magisterium then you are not Catholic. You have to follow the magisterium word by word the word of God! It is the word of Christ for his church to follow.

      Neos do not follow because they think about it. When you think, you also ask question and challenge. The word of Christ is not to challenge. You do not think and do not ask question you just accept by faith and follow by word. If you are unable then you are not in the remnant of God's people. You are a fallout the refuse of the wheat.

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    11. We don't attack Byrnes. It is not even true. We only ask him out. He said he was reporting to the red hat Cardinal Filoni. Filoni is a bad guy in Vatican, the red pope, just ask anyone who has a clue about Vatican insider politics! Filoni sent here Hon to mess up Guam. We protested and sent him back home. Lol. We won! "Hon who???" "No money to Filoni." "Hon go home!" Do you still remember the picket line?

      Because Archbishop Byrnes is like a puppet of Filoni, we have to say it looks like a full load of baloney. This is how we feel and it is on Byrnes to prove otherwise. We'll say clear words "Byrnes who???" "No money to Filoni." "Byrnes go home." We'll be waiting for him. He has to respond.

      Either he is for the One Holy Catholic Mother Church or he is against us. St. Michael, defend us in battle!

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    12. At 3:42 PM AND WHO ARE YOU TO SAY??? NOT GOD"S PEOPLE!!

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    13. No, I think this is not true. The Magisterium of the Catholic Church is not a "super body". It is a collection of well defined documents and solemn declarations of a unified body of the pope and all the bishops.

      "By the Magisterium we mean the teaching office of the Church. It consists of the Pope and Bishops. Christ promised to protect the teaching of the Church : "He who hears you, hears me; he who rejects you rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me" (Luke 10. 16). Now of course the promise of Christ cannot fail: hence when the Church presents some doctrine as definitive or final, it comes under this protection, it cannot be in error; in other words, it is infallible. This is true even if the Church does not use the solemn ceremony of definition. The day to day teaching of the Church throughout the world, when the Bishops are in union with each other and with the Pope, and present something as definitive, this is infallible."

      https://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/chura4.htm

      The Magisterium is not the word of God. There is a distinction. The Word of God is the Bible! Sop the two are not the same, but also not in conflict! You can follow both the Magisterium and the Bible at the same time! Most of the faithful do.

      The "remnants" are not those who follow the Magisterium "word by word". All Catholics are under the true teaching of the Magisterium. The "remnants" are an exclusive traditionalist, elitist group who claim to be the only true followers of God's instructions. But again, the Magisterium is not God's instruction! They are not the same, but distinct from each other. This is why this "remnant" ideology is false. Those who claim to be in the "remnant" separate themselves from the whole Catholic church.

      We only have one Pope, who is Pope Francis, the visible head of the Magisterium. You cannot deny Pope Francis and the same time claim to be faithful to the Magisterium!

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  2. Dear Diana, I don't understand this. Why are certain Guam Catholics against the Pope?! Pope Francis is the official face of Catholic faith all around the globe. He is like a symbol of our religion. How can any Catholic believer go against his leadership? I am greatly puzzled. Could you explain, please, what could go on in the minds of these Guam Catholics?

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    1. You cannot hate the Pope and claim to be Catholic the same time. You cannot hate Archbishop Apuron, accuse him of covering child abuse without any proof and say you only want to clean the local church on island. Clean from what? You cannot hate Pope Francis, accuse him of covering child abuse without any proof and say you only want to clean the global church. Clean from what?

      These people say they only "clean" but what they are really doing is messing up!

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    2. They want to clean the church from Jesus Christ! ;(

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  3. There is only one Holy Father and his name is Jesus Christ.

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  4. Has anybody noticed that Tim Rohr is unable to see the truth? He is like a document hoarder! Yeah. He compulsively collects every kind of documents, but he is unable to understand what is actually written in those documents. His problem is not the facts, his problem is interpreting the facts correctly!

    He lost his ability to correctly interpret, because he has a preconception filling his mind that he is unable to overcome. We should tell him, Tim, courage! The facts are there, you only have to interpret them correctly! Please, abandon your preconceptions that only block your understanding. You don't see the truth because you don't want to!

    We have to tell him, Tim, courage, your facts are one thing, but what you say is another! The facts show evidence for something else, for something totally different from what you say! What you say is detached from reality. The evidence is proving the truth. But you cannot see it, because you cannot interpret the facts. This is your problem, Tim! This is why truth remains hidden from you.

    When you accuse Archbishop Byrnes with being a "puppet" of Vatican, you cite the "evidence" what he said that he reports to Cardinal Filoni. But this is NOT EVIDENCE that he is a "puppet". Quite to the contrary! It is only your interpretation that is based on your bias and preconception. Please, abandon your preconception! The truth is that Archbishop Byrnes reports to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in the Roman Curia because Guam is a Catholic mission area.

    When you accuse Pope Francis with hiding pedophile priests and bishops, you refer to articles as evidence. Bit those articles are NO EVIDENCE for what you say! Those articles are evidence only for the bias of the press against Pope Francis. The truth is not what you want. The truth is what is coming out by Christ!

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    1. Dear Anonymous at 10:45 am,

      I believe that Tim Rohr knows exactly what he is doing. He is already setting up the stage in the event that Archbishop Apuron is found not guilty by criticizing the Pope and the Vatican. He is trying to convince people that the NCW is deeply rooted inside the Vatican and therefore should not trust the Vatican. He cites and misinterpreted the quote of Fulton Sheen to deceive people into believing that the authority lies in the people rather than the Holy See.

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    2. Yes, he wants to bend the truth to his preconception, rather than discarding his preconception and facing reality! This is exactly his problem!

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