Bishop Athanasius Schneider: ‘We are in the fourth great crisis of the Church’

[Michie]

During a trip to England the Soviet-born bishop says the Church today is experiencing ‘tremendous confusion’

By SARAH ATKINSON

Liberals, collaborating with the “new paganism”, are driving the Catholic Church towards a split, according to Bishop Athanasius Schneider, the liturgical specialist who is carrying on a rearguard fight against “abuses” in the Church.

So serious are the problems, Bishop Schneider said in an interview last week, that this is the fourth great crisis in the history of the Church, comparable to the fourth-century Arian heresy in which a large part of the Church hierarchy was implicated.

If you have not heard of the Soviet-born bishop, you will. The sincere, scholarly clergyman is auxiliary bishop of the distant Archdiocese of St Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan. But this month he has received a rock star welcome from congregations across the country on his tour of England and he has embraced cyberspace to put over a trenchant, traditional defence of the Church. “Thanks be to God, the internet exists,” he said.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/feat...of-the-church/

 

[Fantine]

I think that the Church becomes too anthroprocentric when people and hierarchy cease to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Change is not always bad, nor is it always good, and it is sometimes necessary so that the Spirit's voice can be discerned in a rapidly changing world.

Change requires courage.

This bishop's standing in the way of change is part of a mechanism to keep change from running amuck, and that's OK.

But is he right?

 

[Mary's Bhoy]

But is he right?

Of course he is. Because the change you wish to see is not for the better, the change you wish to see is a perversion of the Catholic faith, the relegation of the true Church of Christ to nothing more than a charitable NGO that engages in social services, in accordance with a morality dictated by the pagan minds of modern society.

This good bishop is absolutely right to stand up against the normalization of immoral sexual conduct, he is entirely right to stand up in defence of Holy Matrimony and he is absolutely right and pastoral to care after the souls of those living in sin whom so many would lead to eternal perdition by giving them Holy Communion even though they are in no state to receive. He is absolutely right in his crusade to defend the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. He is absolutely right in his campaign against those that make a mockery of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This bishop is a saint, he is a holy man, and God be praised that such a wonderful shepherd was appointed to His Church.

And my fiancee is reading this over my shoulder and she wanted me to post this emoticon because it was awesome.

Yours in Jesus and Mary,
SCIM.

 

[StevenMerten]

Bishop Athanasius Schneider

Although he says talk of change is mainly coming from “the anti-Christian media”, he sees clergy and lay Catholics “collaborating” with what he calls the new paganism. Bishop Schneider is particularly critical of the idea that these changes should be made so as to be merciful to those currently barred from receiving the Sacraments. “[This is] a kind of sophism,” he said. “This is not mercy, this is cruel.”

He suggested this was “a false concept of mercy”, saying: “It is comparable to a doctor who gives a [diabetic] patient sugar, although he knows it will kill him.”

Bishop Athanasius Schneider sounds great! I really have to agree with him on the giving the Eucharist to the defiant who refuse to obey Jesus and repent from divorce and remarriage. Every time they have sex it is mortal sin in adultery. Jesus has made this clear. To allow them the Eucharist while they are in a state of defiance to Jesus is not 'mercy' but deceiving them into eternal damnation.

There were many converts who heard Jesus talk and witnessed His great miracles. Later they did not repent. Jesus does not promise them mercy at judgement. Jesus tells them that He will be harder on them at Judgement day than those of Sodom. For the Church to allow divorced and remarried the Eucharist, in their state of defiant, unrepentant sin against Jesus, would be giving them that which will kill them to eternal death.

NAB MAR 10:17

"Good Teacher, what must I do to share in everlasting life? Jesus answered, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery;'"

NAB LUK 16:17

"The law and the prophets were in force until John. From his time on, the good news of God's kingdom has been proclaimed, and people of every sort are forcing their way in. It is easier for the heavens and the earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a letter of the law to pass. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. The man who marries a woman divorced from her husband likewise commits adultery."

NAB MAT 11:21

"It will go ill with you, Chorazin! And just as ill with you, Bethsaida! If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago. I assure you, it will go easier for Tyre and Sidon than for you on the day of judgment. As for you, Capernaum, 'Are you to be exalted to the skies? You shall go down to the realm of death! If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Sodom, it would be standing today. I assure you, it will go easier for Sodom than for you on the day of judgment."​

 

[Fantine]

Well, then, I'll include the two of you trying to hold the line to keep change from running amuck, then.

I agree that this bishop's comments are needed as part of God's plan to achieve balance.

And when the balance goes too far in their direction, God corrects it by inspinrg the Cardinals to elect Pope Francis.

Yes, maybe that's an abrupt way to correct the balance, but things had gone too rapidly in the other direction so something radical needed to happen.

I hope the two of you recognize that, just as you consider this bishop's fringe positions to be necessary, there are people on the fringe in the other direction whose positions are just as necessary.

 

[StevenMerten]

Well, then, I'll include the two of you trying to hold the line to keep change from running amuck, then.

I agree that this bishop's comments are needed as part of God's plan to achieve balance.

And when the balance goes too far in their direction, God corrects it by inspinrg the Cardinals to elect Pope Francis.

Yes, maybe that's an abrupt way to correct the balance, but things had gone too rapidly in the other direction so something radical needed to happen.

I hope the two of you recognize that, just as you consider this bishop's fringe positions to be necessary, there are people on the fringe in the other direction whose positions are just as necessary.

Hello Fantine,

Jesus says, "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. The man who marries a woman divorced from her husband likewise commits adultery." Is this ever going to change? It cannot change. Popes can try to water it down so that people do not worry about it anymore. But this puts these people's spiritual lives at stake in being deceived that divorce and remarriage is not adultery. Jesus says, "If you wish to enter into life, obey the commandments". Well committing on going adultery in divorce and remarriage is not the path Jesus teaches us to take to enter into eternal life.

Jesus says, will He find faith on earth when He returns? We know that as we approach apocalyptic times, the world will become very evil. When we approach these evil times we will still have Pope's and Bishops preaching. What will they be preaching in these evil times? Well one thing I think, for one thing, we can all agree on is that they will probably be telling Christ's flock that it is really not all that bad to be divorced and remarried. As we approach apocalyptic times, Popes and Bishops are probably not going to pushing God's commandments as Jesus did. They will probably be pushing a 'man centered' focus on religion as the Bishop indicates. They will be pushing teachings which comfort mankind as mankind continues on, deeper and deeper, into massive sinfulness. I think the Bishop is right in telling us that this is what is happening. I do think that we are at the end of our chain in the sinfulness that God will allow.

I know how God is going to turn it around. It will not be pretty for the defiant, unrepentant wicked.

I Love You, God!

 

[concretecamper]

His positions are not fringe....they are Catholic.

 

[Arcangl86]

Are they Catholic if they are against the consensus of the College of Bishops?

 

[concretecamper]

Are they Catholic if they are against the consensus of the College of Bishops?

The College of Bishops do not define what is Catholic. The Holy Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, and Magisterial teaching does the defining.

 

[Arcangl86]

The College of Bishops do not define what is Catholic. The Holy Scriptures and Sacred Tradition does the defining.

And who exactly is the guardian of that Tradition? My understanding was that it was the College of Bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome.

 

[Erose]

And who exactly is the guardian of that Tradition? My understanding was that it was the College of Bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome.

Correct, but the bishops function when it comes to Doctrine is not to make doctrine, but to safeguard it, to protect it. The whole purpose of Papal and Concillar Infallibility is to protect what Christ gave us.

 

[Erose]

I understand this bishop's point that we need to reverence our Lord in the Eucharist more, and we cannot go overboard in our adoration of the Eucharist. But as someone who receives the Eucharist on the tongue, I see nothing wrong with receiving the Eucharist in the hand if it is done reverently.

 

[mark46]

What an idea!

You mean that we shouldn't have our own personal interpretation of Scripture and follow a priest or bishop who agrees with us?

And who exactly is the guardian of that Tradition? My understanding was that it was the College of Bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome.