Wednesday, January 29, 2020

The Simony of the German Bishops

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

January 29, 2020
@RorateCaeli

“How I would like a poor Church for the poor” exclaimed Pope Francis (L’Osservatore Romano, March 17, 2013). The antithesis of his ideal however, is embodied precisely by the church closest to him – the German one. The German Episcopal Conference, which sponsored ideologically and economically last October’s Synod on the Amazon, is in fact the wealthiest and most privileged enterprise in all of Germany. This wealth comes from the Kirchensteuer, a tax that the State devolves to the Church, by retaining a figure amounting to 8-9% of the overall tax burden of German Catholics. The taxation though is obligatory, unlike other countries, where Churches are financed through the generosity of the faithful, freely choosing to pay out a part of their income.

In Germany, those who want to be exempt from the Kirchensteuer must sign a statement showing their abandonment of the Church (Kirchenaustritt), which, as a result, deprives them of the Sacraments. On September 20, 2012, the German Bishops decreed that those who asked no longer to be registered in order to avoid paying the ecclesiastical tax, can no longer confess, receive Communion or Confirmation and, at their death, cannot have a Catholic funeral; they will not even be able to do voluntary work in a Catholic association, let alone work in a Church institution, such as a school or hospital.

In an interview published in Schwäbische Zeitung of July 17, 2016, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, denounced this glaring contradiction in these terms: “How does the Catholic Church in Germany react with those who don’t pay the Church tax? With automatic exclusion from the ecclesial community, which means excommunication. This is excessive – incomprehensible. Dogmas can be questioned and no one is thrown out. Is perhaps the non-payment of the Kirchensteuer a graver infraction than the transgressions against the truths of the Faith? The impression is, that, as long as what’s at stake is the Faith, it isn’t so tragic, but when money comes into play, then it is not to be trifled with”.

If the slogan of the American Colonies in the 18th century was “No taxation without representation”, the slogan of the German Bishops today is “No Sacraments without taxation”. If you pay you receive the Sacraments, if you don’t pay you are deprived of them. The wealth of the German Church is founded, in a word, on simony.

Simony is a sin that has accompanied the history of the Church throughout the centuries, being associated frequently with the so-called “Nicolaism”, the concubinage of priests. The first synods of Gregory VII (1073-1085), the great reformer Pope of the Middle-Ages, were precisely dedicated to the fight against the simoniacal German Bishops, transgressors of ecclesiastical celibacy. A much graver plague than the selling of indulgences, which offered the pretext for Luther’s Revolution.

The term simony comes from Simon Magus, who, it is written “offers money to the Apostles” (Acts, 8.18) to acquire spiritual power. St. Thomas Aquinas, who dedicates an entire question in his Summa Theologica to simony (q.100, II-II), explains that simoniacs are both those who buy or sell spiritual things: “Those who sell spiritual things are like Simon Magus in intentions, whereas those who buy them are like him in actions” (q. 100, a. 1). According to St. Thomas “to receive money for the spiritual grace of the Sacraments is a sin of simony which cannot be excused by any custom: since “custom does not prevail over the natural or Divine Law” (q. 100, art. 2, resp.). “Wherefore the custom, if such there be, of demanding anything as the price of a spiritual thing, with the intention of buying or selling it, is manifestly simoniacal, especially when the demand is made of a person unwilling to pay” (art. 2, ad 4).

Given that the Kirchensteuer extorts against the will of the taxpayer, the statement of abandonment of the German Church (Kirchenaustritt) signed by those who want to avoid payment, is devoid of value in the eyes of the Church. The Pontifical Council for the Holy See’s legislative texts, in a document dated March 13, 2006, explained that the abandoning the Catholic Church, for it to be validly configured as a true actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia, must be concretized in the following elements: a) an inner decision to leave the Catholic Church; b) the outer actuation and manifestation of this decision; c) direct reception of such a decision on the part of the competent ecclesiastical authority.” *

Every act that does not come from an inner motivation, but is obligatory, cannot be considered a free inner decision to leave the Catholic Church and is invalid. Furthermore, the parish priest should establish if there truly is the will to leave the Church, which never happens in Germany. The German Catholic who signs the Kirchenaustritt must not then fear being schismatic, if he does not have a real intention of abandoning the Church, but wants only to separate himself from the perverse financial system which ties him to the Episcopal Conference, for that matter, directed by Bishops who are not only simoniacs but also heretics and schismatics. The synodal path initiated in Germany by Cardinal Marx aims in fact at turning the sexual morality of the Church upside down and of subverting its hierarchal structure. It is a process of self-dissolution, which Catholics, in conscience, cannot collaborate with.

Many German Catholics criticize the Kirchensteuer, but state that they cannot help but pay it in order not to be deprived of the Sacraments. But with this they become accomplices in the simony of the Bishops. St. Thomas explains, for example, that “ since nowise ought one to sin, if the priest be unwilling to baptize without being paid, one must act as though there were no priest available for the baptism. Hence the person who is in charge of the child can, in such a case, lawfully baptize it, or cause it to be baptized by someone else [..]And if he is unable to have recourse to another, he must by no means pay a price for Baptism, and should rather die without being baptized, because for him the baptism of desire would supply the lack of the sacrament.”

Will it be really impossible though, in and outside Germany, to find priests and bishops willing to administer the Sacraments to the conscientious objectors of the Kirchensteueur? We do not believe it; as nothing is impossible for those seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Justice (Mat.6, 33).

The French writer Ernst Hello (1828-1885) states that renunciation is the devil’s word. “God never renounces. The devil always renounces, even when he appears to act. He is the one who renounces. The man who renounces cannot do much and impedes everyone. The man who does not renounce lifts mountains” (L’uomo, [Man]Edizioni Paoline, 1958, p. 287).

What I fear the most today are the resigned and defeatist Catholics. Who are the defeatist Catholics? Those who are convinced that there is a disproportion of forces between us and our adversaries (which is true) and that we can do nothing more than accept the de facto situation (which is not true). The defeatist Catholics criticize the Kirchensteuer in private, but think it useless to criticize it publically, because they think nothing will change.

On January 20, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, said this in his homily for the Feast of St. Agnes: “with the blood of her young life, St. Agnes witnessed Christ, Son of God and only Savior of the world. And so she encourages also us here in Rome and Europe, to profess our Catholic faith publically, without fearing men.”

In Germany those who criticize the German Episcopal Conference publically and refuse thus to pay the Kirchensteuer, do not risk death, like St. Agnes, but risk being deprived of the Sacraments and in particular, of being censured socially. It is a hard trial certainly, but perhaps we ought to take example from those Catholics in England at the time of Elizabeth I, or in France, under the French Revolution, who were deprived of the Sacraments and persecuted, but stayed faithful to the Catholic faith. Secularized Europe needs heroism, not defeatism.

Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana

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We will recognize them by their fruits.

Prayer to St. Michael

Please protect us, St. Michael the Archangel, against violence, murder, and robbery. In your goodness preserve us today from all the malice of sinful and wicked persons. In your sleepless vigilance watch over the safety and welfare of our homes, and keep guard over our possessions. Ever hold in your special care, most triumphant St. Michael, the forces of public order against the crimes of evil people, and defend all honest citizens in time of peril. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Novena Prayer to St. Michael

(Pray for nine consecutive days)
Saint Michael the Archangel, loyal champion of God and His Catholic people, I turn to thee with confidence and seek thy powerful intercession. For the love of God, Who hast made thee so glorious in grace and power, and for the love of the Mother of Jesus, the Queen of the Angels, be pleased to hear my prayer.
Thou knowest the value of my soul in the eyes of God. May no stain of evil ever disfigure its beauty. Help me to conquer the evil spirit who tempts me. I desire to imitate thy loyalty to God and Holy Mother Church and thy great love for God and men. And since thou art God’s messenger for the care of His people, I entrust to thee this special request: (here mention your request).
Saint Michael, since thou art, by the will of the Creator, the powerful intercessor of Christians, I have great confidence in thy prayers. I earnestly trust that if it is God’s holy will, my petition will be granted.
Pray for me, Saint Michael, and also for those I love. Protect us in all dangers of body and soul. Help us in our daily needs. Through thy powerful intercession, may we live a holy life, die a happy death and reach Heaven where we may praise and love God with thee forever. Amen.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
St. Michael, Guardian of souls, Vanquisher of rebel spirits, Pray for us.

St John Chrysostom

Our Lord having reproached the Jews with blindness, they might have said, We are not blind, but we avoid you as a deceiver. Our Lord therefore gives the marks which distinguish a robber and deceiver from a true shepherd. First come those of the deceiver and robber: Verily, verily, I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is an allusion here to Antichrist, and to certain false Christs who had been, and were to be. The Scriptures He calls the door. They admit us to the knowledge of God, they protect the sheep, they shut out the wolves, they bar the entrance to heretics. He that uses not the Scriptures, but climbs up some other way, i.e. some self-chosen, some unlawful way, is a thief. Climbs up, He says, not, enters, as if it were a thief getting over a wall, and running all risks. Some other way, may refer too to the commandments and traditions of men which the Scribes taught, to the neglect of the Law. When our Lord further on calls Himself the Door, we need not be surprised. According to the office which He bears, He is in one place the Shepherd, in another the Sheep. In that He introduces us to the Father, He is the Door, in that He takes care of us, He is the Shepherd. (Catena Aurea)

LIBERTAS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE NATURE OF HUMAN LIBERTY
35. And as to tolerance, it is surprising how far removed from the equity and prudence of the Church are those who profess what is called liberalism. For, in allowing that boundless license of which We have spoken, they exceed all limits, and end at last by making no apparent distinction between truth and error, honesty and dishonesty. And because the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, and the unerring teacher of morals, is forced utterly to reprobate and condemn tolerance of such an abandoned and criminal character, they calumniate her as being wanting in patience and gentleness, and thus fail to see that, in so doing, they impute to her as a fault what is in reality a matter for commendation. But, in spite of all this show of tolerance, it very often happens that, while they profess themselves ready to lavish liberty on all in the greatest profusion, they are utterly intolerant toward the Catholic Church, by refusing to allow her the liberty of being herself free.

“If you want to be certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not one of the many. And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few; that is to say, do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” -Saint Anselm, Father and Doctor of the Church

PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH, THE PROTECTOR OF CHRISTIAN FAMILIES Great Saint Joseph, who wast chosen of God to be the head of the holiest and most august of families, deign to cast thy eyes upon us, and take us this day under thy special protection. Holy Patriarch, model of the holiest faith, and of the most perfect virtues, obtain for all the members of this family grace to withstand the dangers and seductions of the world, and to remain stedfastly attached to the LORD. Obtain for us that, always united by the bonds of the most tender charity, and encouraging one another mutually in good works, we may taste under thy auspices the sweetness of that peace which JESUS has promised to His true disciples. But above all, when our last hour shall come, obtain for us that we may find grace before the Sovereign Judge, so that, reunited in heaven at the foot of Thy Throne, we may celebrate everlastingly the glory of GOD and thy praise. Amen.

St. Vincent Ferrer -- Sermon on the Last Judgment: In the same way, in the time of Antichrist, the Sun of justice will be obscured by the interposition of temporal goods and the wealth which Antichrist will bestow on the world, inasmuch as the brightness of faith in Jesus Christ and the glow of good lives will no longer shine among Christians. For, lest they should lose their dominion, temporal rulers, kings and princes will range themselves on the side of Antichrist. In like manner, prelates for fear of losing their dignities, and religious and priests to gain honors and riches, will forsake the Faith of Christ and adhere to Antichrist.

Neither living nor lifeless faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves one article of faith. The reason of this is that the species of every habit depends on the formal aspect of the object, without which the species of the habit cannot remain. Now the formal object of faith is the First Truth, as manifested in Holy Writ and the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth. Consequently whoever does not adhere, as to an infallible and Divine rule, to the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth manifested in Holy Writ, has not the habit of faith, but holds that which is of faith otherwise than by faith. Even so, it is evident that a man whose mind holds a conclusion without knowing how it is proved, has not scientific knowledge, but merely an opinion about it. Now it is manifest that he who adheres to the teaching of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teaching of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will. Hence it is evident that a heretic who obstinately disbelieves one article of faith, is not prepared to follow the teaching of the Church in all things; but if he is not obstinate, he is no longer in heresy but only in error. Therefore it is clear that such a heretic with regard to one article has no faith in the other articles, but only a kind of opinion in accordance with his own will. (Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 5, a. 3)