Sunday Night Live - From the Mailbox - Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR w Fr. John Lynch - 09-05-2010

welcome to Sunday night night live and we're delighted to have you with this evening we're going to have another one of our recorded question-and-answer programs with father John Lynch and again I encourage you to support the church with the media barrage against the church and if your local newspapers or the big newspapers or magazines attacking the church please write them a letter it doesn't happen very often on television but it can can happen and don't be afraid to speak up for the church or for the Christian faith or religion in general because some of our listeners are not Catholics but we're happy to have your support now we have a number of very good questions I just went over them with father John Lynch pastor up in Ellenville New York who you all knows than working with us for years what's our questions on the job Carol is asking this since the year of the priests has come to an end what can parishioners learn from it to help them support and encourage their parish priests in the years to come I know there are a limited number of priests and so many of us in the pews I want to be aware of my responsibilities to them well it's a very very good question we never thought about this year of the priest nobody ever discussed it the Pope himself got kind of an inspiration and it wasn't terribly well prepared for wasn't announced long before and so it was surprising for all of us and it turned out to be very providential because during this past year there have been scandals and attacks on the Catholic Church and especially on the clergy on priests during this past year I'm almost 80 years old 77 and I have never in my life seen the attack on the church and on the priesthood as we have seen in the last couple of years and I've been very gratified by Protestant and Jewish writers and Protestant and Jewish magazines coming to the defense of the Catholic Church quite beautifully now unfortunately there have been scandals sometimes these are sexual scandals some are simply people leaving the priesthood or even leaving the bishop office in Europe and this is heartbreaking - especially Catholics especially to me I I grew up all my life I was an altar boy when I was in the fourth grade I knew I was going to be a priest when I was in the second grade for clear as that and I was ordained a priest as young as I possibly could be I was a friar when I was 17 and this beard has been going since I was 17 now in such a situation where does the scandal come from the actual fact is that there is a moral decline throughout Western civilization and you would have to be terribly naive to think that only the Catholics have the scandals but they're the ones that you put in the paper and the only others that seem to get or Orthodox Jews they also get attacked the very respected protestant seminary in the in california i gave talks to their in the past at find seminary they published that study they had done that 10 percent of ministers who had graduated had been involved in some accusation of scandal with youngsters the number of Catholic priests accused are less than two percent it's about 1.7 percent I'm not happy about that what they tell me of them the protestant seminary and I don't happy to hear this about Catholic priests either but it has to be in perspective friends of mine who are teacher of school teachers tell me that the American educational association says that one out of every seven girls in grammar school in high school has been in some way or another bothered or violated that's one out of seven that's an immense an immense figure and that's not a criticism on public school it's because the morale of this country has declined and why first of all is the media the media in this country is disgraceful it constantly shows sexuality and in a way with no respect or honor for the human body for marriage for human relationships so let's say where the problem is coming from now Catholics and especially Catholic priests are deeply deeply distressed and embarrassed myself but I must say hardly ever does anyone say to me an insult or something like that and it would be so rare and I'm walking around New York City dressed like this it's so rare that I realize that very few people are simply being unfair they they they may have discouragement or displeased they are displeased aren't we all but that's what's going on now what the question was what can we do for priests number one pray pray the lord of the harvest will send his laborers into the harvest these are the words of jesus himself about those who work in the harvest of the lord the clergy and other laypeople who work for the harvest of the souls we must pray for them and pray that they will do well and among them I would ask you to pray for Catholic priests religious order priests and diocesan priests in my life I have as a high school boy grammar school boy I knew superb priests and they were all diocesan priests I really did not know religious order priests well until I became a friar and the priests that I grew up with in New Jersey were superb priests and dedicated and wonderful examples my oldest friend Monsignor Thomas McCarthy we went to kindergarten together and he is desperate every retired as a pastor in New Jersey and we go back that far so let's do the best we can encouraging priests and telling priests who are working hard working quite hard right now that you appreciate what they're doing because there's a very small ratio of priests and people right now we are we need twice as many priests we need right now to cover everything well and interestingly enough our little community only 21 years old now has a hundred and thirty friars many of them priests was seminarians and we've been getting big groups but now the groups are a little smaller because other religious communities there were a bit out in the woods lost the way of it are now getting better I'm so happy to say that many religious orders right now are taking things much more seriously than they were I did not think in the 80s and 90s or seriously taking the preaching of the gospel and the giving of the example of the Christian life that they needed to do but things are in improving and in every one of those communities were superb priests and going on sometime in discouraging situations jim is concerned how can we increase catholic awareness with all these secular distractions going on around us for example the National Day of Prayer has been called unconstitutional we cannot pray in school we cannot show a crucifix in government offices anything related to God must be removed from government property the list goes on what can we do well first of all there is a constitutional misunderstanding it is true the United States was the first secular country in the Western civilization probably in a whole world it was the first church government that did not have an established church a legally established church a number of the states what had established churches up into the 19th century and which meant that the ministers were paid by the state and Indonesia and New Jersey the Presbyterian Church was an established church and the churches were built and gradually that fell away I don't think there were any states where the Catholic Church was established Maryland was a very much a Catholic state but I don't think it was legally established now this is a country with many religions and consequently we should have to be careful not to use the words and signs of a particular religion including our own so I would never approve of a crucifix in a car in a courtroom in Canada and the province of Quebec the 98% Catholic I do this day they may still have a crucifix in the court in the courtroom I would like to see one in the United States and but what about can you have religion practically every president of the United States spoke about God the day of his inauguration the suarez hand on the Bible and almost all the presidents in recent decades have said a prayer in public for their inauguration and they usually sworn in often by a religious leader I believe President Kennedy was sworn in by the Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Cushing now I know Cushing said the prayers that day because the best podium caught fire and Cushing had this great sonorous voice and we're all watching it on television and the smoke is coming up around the microphone and I said my lord it's the end of the world he's gonna judge us all and in fact it had caught on fire so what we do need it to have public acceptance of belief and the number of people in the United States who are actually a theist or would hardly be more than two or three percent and a number a couple more on that that meant our agnostics people who don't know but the recent Pew studies I think about two years ago that 93 or 94 American percent of Americans believe in a personal God so you have to recognize that in your country we have a break right now so I'll be back in a minute well we're now on continuing on with Sunday night what have we got next Trish has this to say at mass a priest during the homily said that when Jesus was baptized he knew suddenly he was the Messiah as he heard his father's words my point is that Jesus always knew he was a divine person on one occasion the lawyers had a PBS show on religion he interviewed a scholar named Houston Smith mr. Smith said that when Jesus said to the Apostles but who do you say that I am Jesus was actually saying help me out here that Jesus did not know I was astonished what would you say to people who claim that Jesus did not know who he was I'm you were astonished I am extremely saddened I can't speak for dr. Smith I met him once or twice in my life very good man but he's been it seems to me influenced by rationalism and skepticism not completely but I think his question there about Christ is fall far short of the traditional belief on Jesus Christ the priest I hope I don't meet him I'll be very happy not to meet him and I don't know whether he said exactly what he said but if he did say those things I don't think that he is representing the Catholic Church and that's what a priest should do or any preacher at Mass on Sunday morning we are not there to give our private opinions we are there to give the belief of the Catholic Church now what about Christ in the very early days of the church for 300 years they were mostly on persecution sometimes the persecutions gave up for a while and they could build churches and then they'd be knocked down again 325 constant well 311 there was the Edict of toleration of the Christian Church the Catholic Christian Church and by 325 it was Catholic Christianity was the religion of the Empire it replaced paganism now this word Catholic is important it is in this group it's an adjective the church that is everywhere because they were individual here and they're little religious movements Christian movements but they not every place they used the word Catholic meaning everywhere and it was related under the jurisdiction or at least the honoring of the Bishop of Rome successor of st. Peter and wherever you went that was the church st. Agustin says if you went to some village or some town and you said to someone where is the church they would send you to the Catholic Church Santa Gustin says this in the fourth century now what did they teach about Jesus Christ because it was a battle going on some called the Aryans taught that Christ was God but he was a lesser God and that puts them into polytheists they had two gods the big one and the little one and this was condemned against the priests areas the priest theologian of Alexandria and at the Council of Nicaea 325 and the council's immediately after it we have what we call than I see in Creede which we say at Mass on Sunday and this was written in that council and the other councils immediately after the Jesus Christ is God from God light from light true God from True God begotten not made one in union with the father and and completely in union with the father his together the same nature he is equal to the father and later on very shortly after the council a new council and 370 put in the Holy Spirit they already believed it but they put it in that he is the Lord and liver of giver of life so you have the Trinity now how in Jesus Christ can be called God from God light from light true God from True God begotten not me in this 19th century a group of rationalist scholars in those days called Protestant scholars they were not particularly Protestant they came into the ideas that Jesus kind of grew into being divine do you draw into being divine you are divine and I would say that any real historical honest Orthodox Christianity says did Jesus Christ is the son of God who takes upon himself a true human body and a true human soul it says in the definition of the in the council of ephesus 431 that the eternal son of quotes the eternal son of God equal to the Father and all things came into this world in time and took upon himself a human body and a human soul from the glorious and Immaculate Virgin Mary Mother of God that's the Council of Ephesus it's unfortunate that many Protestants don't know that definition and I understand as my Protestant good friends are taking a somewhat new look at Mary because he's not the Mary of mother of Jesus she's the mother of Christ and in the early church the mother of God Theotokos mother of God and if you think of it that question and the words that are quoted of that priest I say fall far short of what Christ is Christ learning who he is God Christ is eternal truth now how did that little baby in the swaddling clothes that little child in Nazareth how did that child know who he was I haven't the slightest idea and I will never listen to anybody will tell me because it she completely it shouted by mystery how in the world can you start to tell someone who is God in a human body and soul it's mystery upon mystery and when you deny the basic mysteries of Christianity you have become a rationalist what a cheapo I think rationalism is irrational and skepticism is I am skeptical about it it's belief and this is the belief of the ancient church it is the belief of the Catholic Church the Orthodox churches and to the Evangelical Protestant churches and I hope everybody else is getting aboard Warren says how can one tell the difference between a time of spiritual desolation when God is working with us and the work of the evil one when depression sluggishness and a loss of the fruits of the spirit are seen in our lives it's a very good question and the answer is you can tell one person can go into a time of depression it may be caused psychologically it may be old fashioned regular depression neurotic depression it may even be caused by physiological changes neurological changes people who have a fluctuation of elation and depression sometimes bipolar how can you confuse is differentiate that between spiritual darkness something totally different spiritual darkness is any darkness that we accept and try to live through as part of our vocation as Christians and believers whether it comes from a physiological or a spiritual cause and it's not terribly important I knew that my very dear friend who I greatly admire and who I now profoundly rivairy their mother Teresa lived in desolation for 35 years her depress her letters written to her the spiritual director will eventually became the Archbishop of Calcutta a Jesuit priest her letters show desolation but she went on I thought that long it had to be a spiritual darkness why this holy woman would be tried with this I don't know she asked a question herself to her in his letter why would God put me through this I'm not important enough to treat me and in this way what difference does it make but I am all along I am Lauren oh she said I experienced neither faith nor hope nor love and yet her life shows exactly the opposite and then at the end astonishingly I've mentioned this before the darkness lifted and I went to see her the day before she went back to India to die I went with father Andrew a different person she was laughing I never saw her laugh before she was filled with joy from that time to her death and talking about all the wonderful work that the sisters had done she never talked about and somehow or other that spiritual darkness had been listed but there must have been some reason that divine providence had put this holy and loving person since such darkness so that she could become who she was and you know many people say that Mother Teresa was a saint yes she was but she was more than that mother Teresa a title that she should have in the church she's a prophetess there were a few other women in the church women Saints st. Teresa of ávila Saint Catherine of Siena Saint Catherine of Genoa they were not just Saints they were prophetess they brought into the church a powerful insight and I think that we were very blessed in this time to know a prophetess and I'm very humbled that I had the opportunity to know this great person we're going to be getting to our last part of our program and I hope that you have found it helpful I want to thank for the John before we get right to the end of the next part and remember please send us some questions nicely typed not too long don't give me your autobiography and get me I collect collections of so you should be able to some of you recognize these questions I'll be back in a couple of minutes and what's our next question father John Tracy has this question Nancy Pelosi John Kerry and others in public office say they are Catholic and yet are very vocal about supporting abortion and the freedom of choice Act they also visited the Pope that are known to receive Communion I don't understand why they are not excommunicated from the church well there's a number of good reasons first of all if the church was in to intrude into public life there would be a tremendous negative reaction from not only Catholics but all Americans it is not the job of the church to intrude into the life of a country unless it's extreme with the rise of Nazism pope pius xi wrote an encyclical in german against the Hitler Hitler it's called mitt mitt Brennan does all gay with burning concern and he wrote one against Mussolini non abbiamo be signaled we have no intention these are their first words of the encyclical nothing in the United States is that so serious at present die now bishops have the responsibility of taking public figures not to receive Holy Communion if they are seriously this this following about not following the moral teaching of the church and several bishops have those have done this they have told politicians not to go to communion in their parish and quite honestly and the people you mentioned if they came up to Communion and I was giving our community I would not give the communion I'd be sad to do that I'd give them a blessing but I would not give them communion because it's public scandal now why do they why did they have to meet the Pope because everybody hates the Pope the Pope is not only the spiritual head of the church he's the representative of a very large very influential world organization I was talking to one of the executives executives of the United Nation and he pointed out to me not a Catholic that the influence of the Holy See of the Pope throughout the world for good things is greater than any country in the United Nations for things of the care of the poor and immigrants exit people that are exiled so the Holy See although it is not a member of the UN it is the most famous best known observer the Holy See did not wish to be a member of the United Nations it wanted to be neutral so it is observe an observer and anti Catholic writers misunderstand or at least miss straight state the position of the Holy See now when you have the Pope is also the equivalent of a head of state actually the Vatican is a sovereign state it is separate from the city of Rome the laws of Italy do not bind in the Vatican nor the laws of the Vatican bind on Rome and all sorts of people go to see the pope Nikita Kruschev went to see the pulp the great communists who was responsible for persecuting Christians and a lot of other people coach F and it couldn't hurt Fidel Castro went to see the Pope it's supposed to be a Catholic boy but the Catholic school and I'd be very happy to see as the Castro do penance for his disloyalty to the church but all sorts of people atheists can go to see the Pope and so it doesn't mean when someone needs to hope that that is an approval of what they're doing the the different Arab states maintain diplomatic relationships with the Vatican do you know that 120 countries that have relationships diploma diplomatic relationships would the Holy See if you walk through around Rome you'll see out in front the delegation of Iraq to the Holy See or Saudi Arabia I don't know whether they're there but and most countries are very happy and honored to be received as a delegation to the Holy See because people recognize not that it's the true church but that it is the largest international organization that is not a political organization that helps people and and in that respect people should go to meet the Pope now this is poloz Kerry I'm very sorry I sorry and a number of these others I don't want to quote particular ones that they personally are opposed to abortion but publicly politically accepted that's worse I don't really digs your hole because you realize how wrong it is and it's an appalling phenomena abortion the killing of a defensible defensible in the little child is it beyond my imagination I I know people who have had abortions and deeply deeply regretted that they ever did it and that they do penance they're very noticeably doing good works for years and years and years because that little child is on their mind and all I can say is I hope those little kids were given by God's mercy into the kingdom of heaven and that they are there praying it's an awful deception of Satan manesis says that Satan is the liar the chief of liars and the deceptor and people accepting abortion are deceived by a terrible lie Suzanne is concerned my 15 year old granddaughter has a girlfriend who is a self-proclaimed Wiccan my granddaughter has had some emotional problems due to early emotional trauma and is under the care of a psychologist my daughter doesn't want to make an issue of this in fear that it would become more forbidden and attractive to her she has explained to her that it is wrong and dangerous but that she is safe because she was baptized when she was a baby I am concerned about what impact this relationship can have upon my granddaughter well you're right and having that concern however I would have to be inclined to agree with your daughter that it's the best way to go about it to calmly explain to her what about this witchcraft and all this other stuff and get hold a couple of books on the subject telling the serious problem of the whole thing but to try to force the girl is to move her in the wrong direction Minh Thuy with teenagers the dragon in the opposite direction and they will go that way the now the poor girl was involved with witchcraft we should think of this poor girl too she's been deceived how far she's into it what she has experienced there and apparently I am told by people that were once involved in it that there are very bizarre strange things happen very unusual things that you don't expect and it would be very wise for them to step back now you the grandmother will be the letter you start fasting and abstinent and doing penance as we do in Lent not eating between meals and Jesus says that this is driven out by prayer and fasting and so prayer and fasting would be very helpful if you're you know any choice turn on convent of nuts Carmelites Poor Clares Dominicans there are other orders of cloistered sisters what do they do they pray for people and I would find practically every state there is least one convent of cloistered sisters and ask any priest should be able to tell you where they are and many states have a number of cloistered condoms there are then in the metropolitan area there are five or six get the cloistered sisters to specifically praying for your granddaughter and her friend well let me tell you it if I can say it in a kind of interesting symbolic way you want to scare the devil back to hell get the cloistered break for the ability to know they're in for lots of trouble Harry needs clarification why is marriage so often discussed as sacrifice rather than a loving giving and mutually happy relationship well first of all it's a sacrifice right off the bat because the person gives up their independence and that right off the bat and if it's a very happy marriage as you described wonderful but most marriages have some troubles they may simply be illness the care of an illness an ill spouse it may be the troubles of children it may be excuse me it may be economic different difficulties there are lots of things can cause upon a person for sacrifice now your letter that you have written to me reminds me one time I said years and years ago to my spiritual director when I was a seminarian I don't have any cross everybody's got a cross I don't have a cross and he said wait wait and they came with a great big truck and they were all different colors and sizes and they were all for me so just wait let me tell you he will sacrifice and sacrifice is the way that sharpens our love and makes it possible for to express it Jesus says greater love than this no man has and just lay down his life for his friends Dan needs advice I often hear people using our Lord's name in vain as a swear or curse word I try as much as I can to correct people when I hear that because I know it is wrong I always think of the passage at the name of Jesus every knee should Bend and so this disrespect really bothers me because I don't want to deny our Lord however I'm 22 and I am a lot younger than most of the people I hear saying this and while I have confidence to correct other people my own age how can I tell people much older than me or that I don't have a close relationship with not to use his name like that I just need the confidence to tell them but what's the best way to approach it well first of all I would start with the 10 commandments not to use the name of the Lord in vain that's one of the commandments so that's had these stuff and then obviously the as st. Paul says and others the name of Jesus every knee should Bend the heavens and under the earth and under the earth and it's an act not only of respect but loving devotion a person who is using the name of Jesus and not doing it thinking Li if you reminded them you know do you believe in Jesus do you believe that our Savior do you believe that he died for us and we'll say yes well then why don't we honor him now why do people do the name of Jesus because it's powerful it's why they use the name of God can you imagine somebody stuck in traffic and the cop is calling all the cars this way but holding up all the other ones just letting a few and when you get up to the dozen light and you're going by open the window and yell at the policeman Napoleon Bonaparte you know you know George Washington Milan your faith it's the name of Jesus that is powerful and that's why people should do it now years ago we had the custom of Catholics whenever you said the name of Jesus you buried bowed your head we would train that by the sister the holy name of Jesus you bow your head I still could not possibly say the name of Jesus without bowing my head and if you see somebody using the name one of the things that you see you bow of a name what are you bowing your ever because of the holy name of Jesus and the person is usually not maliciously they're just not so as we say and the Bronx there's two large they're stupid we've only got a couple of minutes longer do you have a last question that's well this is from Tom my question concerns the Divine Mercy revelation I understand the church has approved this devotion does this mean that the church has affirmed that the revelations as noted in sister Faustina's diary were really received from Christ or is the church saying that there is nothing in the diary that is contrary to the faith and that the revelations may have been either received from Christ or produced from vows Tina's mind the second part and the church wented approves of a private revelation it says that it doesn't have error in it you should read my book a still small voice published by Ignatius Pass and press on the teaching of the church on private revelations and that's very helpful and all the way through over the centuries a Sacred Heart Our Lady of Fatima our Lady of Lourdes none of these are teaching of the faith a person does not have to go along with them but these are given to us not error we close up thank you for the John thank you all of you let's have a little prayer Oh Lord be with each one of us watching this program and all those whom we know and love I have need and we ask you to bless each and every one in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen and as always keep us going keep the the machines turned that we have the all of the cameras and everything else and going and even our staff and EWTN has to eat they many of the people work there especially and serious positions high person made very substantial sacrifices of their income to work at EWTN is interesting few to know that god bless you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 9,760

Rating: 4.661972 out of 5

Keywords: Sunday, Night, Live, Mailbox, Fr., Benedict, Groeschel, John, Lynch, Catholic

Id: S3gQahoGXYc

Length: 52min 40sec (3160 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2010