Truth-telling from Peoria

Following are excerpts from the homily of Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois at Mass on April 14.

…The Church survived barbarian invasions. The Church survived wave after wave of Jihads. The Church survived the age of revolution. The Church survived Nazism and Communism.

And in the power of the resurrection, the Church will survive the hatred of Hollywood, the malice of the media, and the mendacious wickedness of the abortion industry. 

The Church will survive the entrenched corruption and sheer incompetence of our Illinois state government, and even the calculated disdain of the President of the United States, his appointed bureaucrats in HHS, and of the current majority of the federal Senate.

May God have mercy on the souls of those politicians who pretend to be Catholic in church, but in their public lives, rather like Judas Iscariot, betray Jesus Christ by how they vote and how they willingly cooperate with intrinsic evil….

Remember that in past history other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only within the confines of their churches like the first disciples locked up in the Upper Room.

In the late 19th century, Bismark waged his “Kultur Kampf,” a Culture War, against the Roman Catholic church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital, convent and monastery in Imperial Germany.

Clemenceau, nicknamed “the priest eater,” tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century.

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care.

In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.

Now things have come to such a pass in America that this is a battle that we could lose, but before the awesome judgement seat of Almighty God this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral.

This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries — only excepting our church buildings – could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the instrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb….

For entire story, Click here.

 

READER COMMENTS

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 5:17 AM By Canisius
I would take one Bishop Jenkv over the entire USCCB…Christus regnat

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 6:05 AM By Dan
Now I wish it weren’t against Church teaching to clone. We need 100 of this magnificent man in bishoprics across the country.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 6:26 AM By Ted
It’s great to witness a leader who takes his role seriously and does his duty as a defender of the faith. The people of the Peoria are blessed to have this man leading them and teaching them by his example.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:00 AM By OSCAR
God bless Bishop Jenky. All Catholics must be sure to be registered, and MUST VOTE. Please see and pass along: – – – “TEST of FIRE: ELECTION 2012 (Official HD Version – Catholic)” video on the internet.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:03 AM By InformedAndFree
This Bishop is a fabulous teacher. Thank you Lord for placing this man in the most opportune place and time in history. I’m definitely going to pass this homily around to my friends who are a bit battle-weary of the fight. They have been on the front lines for a long time. Hopefully it will refresh them. We can never give up.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:10 AM By Larry
Yes. The Church survived. The same cannot be said of the Commonwealth of Rome, Imperial Germany, Nazi Germany, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And what will one day be said about the State of Illinois or the United States of America?

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:11 AM By JMJ
Even the evils of OBAMANISM will not stop the Church, nor will the so-called ‘catholic’ politicians, not even the Gates with all of the money that belongs to God will stop or scare away the Church. The good Bishops tell us to vote using our Catholic consciences, but, seeing how so many of the Catholics have lost what it means to be truly Catholic, this could be another shoo-in (of course, if we do have an election, it will be as fraudulent as in 2008ad), as it was the ‘catholic’ vote that put this man-against God into office. This message of the Bishop should be put into all of the Catholic papers, church bulletins and be the source of all of the homilies this Sunday, instead of the ‘earthday’ pagan nonsense, that is being pushed by the American Catholic Church. We are truly in the Eve of Destruction, as Our Blessed Lady has be telling Estela Ruiz, from Arizona, under the title of Our Lady of Americas (not as Our Lady of America), since the late ’90s and the hate that mankind has toward each other is getting worse. Don’t be surprised to see the Catholic Churches being taken from us in the very near future if God allows the big ‘o’ to stay in the White House. Ain’t this a great time to be alive? +JMJ+

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:23 AM By jim
Really,people are not illerate as they were in the ancient times. People reason today instead of memorizing what the churs espoused in years gone by

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:30 AM By Suzanne
Bishop Daniel Jenky calls all Catholics to vote their consciences. He believes this will result in Obama’s defeat. I hope he is right, but that depends on what some “Catholic’s” consciences tell them. I teach middle school faith formation at my church. A few weeks ago one of the other teachers wore a Obama 2012 t-shirt while teaching. I spoke to the faith formation director asking her if she thought this was appropriate. She said it WAS. I told her I thought it was inappropriate especially given who the t-shirt was promoting especially in light of his administrations recent attack on the Catholic Church. She actually said to me that there was more to the story than the media tell us! That these institutions employ non-Catholics and that they should have access to birth control. I told her it was not just contraceptives, but an abortion issue and that it is a slippery slope. She also seemed surprised when I told her that teachers in schools aren’t allowed to wear that type of propaganda in the classroom (although that doesn’t stop them). I was shocked and upset by her response and her ignorance. How do we educate Catholics with this belief that it is more than contraception and that this mandate is a slippery slope toward silencing the Catholic Church and other Christians in favor of secular state control of everything. This reinforced by belief that there will be a divide in the Church. I hope the side of Christ is victorious.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 8:20 AM By Rick Nevsimal
This isn’t a fight specifically about birth control. It’s more about the place of religion in America. Some Americans hate religion and want to drive it out of the country. If the Court upholds Obamacare people of faith will have precious little time to act. It’s difficult to see waht they can do. I hope the Bishops have a plan because most Americans will back the government against them.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 8:27 AM By MD
I love when our bishops speak the Truth. We are at a time where we have to not complain about our bishops, but stand behind them and most importantly pray for them, offer rosaries, go to adoration, fast, make sacrifices, etc. I think what we are seeing right now in America from the Church is beautiful and the Holy Spirit is moving our bishops to proclaim the Word. God Love You.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 8:32 AM By Catholic Joe
This new attack is different, though. In the past, evil attacked and we were spiritually fortified. This time, evil watered down the liturgy, the catechism and the preachers. Thus, it affected how we believe and how STRONGLY we believe. Then, the attack started coming. A weak enemy makes for an easy victory.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 8:46 AM By grampsc
A rather good follow up to the Gates article. This Bishop has a backbone.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 9:15 AM By Queen Esther
Peoria Bishop Daniel R. Jenky is not the first religious leader to compare US President Barack Obama to Hitler. There is a pastor in Harlem, Dr. James David Manning, who has a YouTube video (7 minutes, 2 seconds long) he produced in June, 2008 that has now had over one million views. It is entitled “Hail Hitler, Hail Obama”. It is on the ATLAHWorldwide YouTube channel. You can access it by a “Google” search on “Hail Hitler, Hail Obama”. Or you can access it directly at: youtube(DOT)com/watch?v=yTp_atr2G9E&skipcontrinter=1 ……..For an eye opener on the similarities of these two demagogues I suggest viewing the video. It is worth seven minutes to view it. Remember Barack Obama’s soaring rhetoric about “Hope” and “Change”? Remember Obama’s now famous logo which was described by its lead designer, Sol Sender as: ………”We were looking at the “o” of his name and had the idea of a rising sun and a new day”. “The sun rising over the horizon evoked a new sense of hope.” “The design expression was so constrained and so bland for so many years in politics,” Sender says. “I think we had a fresh approach because we’d never worked on a campaign before” — and, of course, the power of the logo had a lot to do with “the power of the candidate’s message.” ………. Demagogues like Hitler often turn into power hunger megalomaniac tyrants as we see Obama is now. If you want to experience four more years of Obama’s “Hope” and “Change”, just join his reelection campaign and vote for him and his Democratic Party team members in November. But before you do that, read Bishop Daniel Jenky’s homily and view Dr. James David Manning’s video!

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 9:49 AM By pete
Of course the Church will survive, BUT AT WHAT COST TO SOULS AND BODIES?! Because the Bishops have not taught the evils of contraception, IVF, premarital sex — most know that extramarital sex is seriously wrong– easy divorce AND a watered-down liturgical worship that has allowed a secular mentality to take over perhaps the majority of the parishes AND because the Bishops have IGNORED for 50yrs and as recently as 2006 -just at the time Obama started his campaign for the White House–CREDIBLE WARNING FROM HEAVEN TO AMERICA SPECIFICALLY ( O. L. of America revelation, which Cardinal Burke has recently declared was CANONICALLY APPROVED TWICE) we are likely to see in this country soon what Central and Eastern Europe saw after WWII. Ditto for the Vatican; UNLESS A CONCERTED MASSIVE ROSARY CRUSADE LEADING TO THE BISHOPS’ PUBLICALLY INSTALLING IN THE DC BASILICA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION HER STATUE AS REQUESTED AND CONSCRATING AMERICA TO HER PROTECTION. Iow, SUPERNATURAL MEANS TO DEFEAT THE ENEMY, natural means ALONE will not be able to accomplish the victory, since it is OBVIOUS that we are fighting Principalities and Powers on a GLOBAL scale. Try to convince bishops of this and see how far you’ll get.

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:49 AM By RR
I live in Peoria and this is the Bishop of my Diocese. He is very strong in his faith. He attended and spoke at the rally against the HHS mandate a few weeks back or so in downtown Peoria at the courthouse. Truly a strong and faithful Bishop!

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 11:26 AM By Life Lady
From Jesus’ own lips to our ears: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (the Church). I am not afraid to stand for my One Holy Roman, Catholic and Apostalic Church, and none of us true Catholics should be afraid, either. We have only one life, and the purpose of it is to serve God here, and to be with Him in the next. There is something to say when a bishop speaks out so eloquently, in comfort, to bolster us spiritually, as this bishop has. We ought to all take heart that such a one is deemed a leader, a true shepherd in the Church. That is what they are here for, to help us all see the truth, and to give us hope. It makes no difference that we must continue this fight this century, as others who have gone before us have waged their fight in the past centuries. Our God has guaranteed that our Church, the One True Faith, will prevail against all odds thrown our way. Let us all kneel before Him, who is Our Father, Our King, Our Champion and keep our eyes on the prize of being with Him in the next life. “Be holy, what else is there?” as I have heard said on Catholic Radio of late. We must keep ourselves in the state of grace, ready to take that final walk for the Faith, and even if they shut down every hospital, school, whatever capacity of assistance we have given, the Church will ever stand, and we must stand with Her. What else is there?

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012 11:50 AM By Abeca Christian
I shed tears when I read this article. Tears of joy because I needed to hear hope. This article gave me the courage to endure this culture and to keep going because there is hope. God bless Bishop Daniel Jenky. His message of hope here was what I needed to read today. This message on a personal level, is what I need to read. Now I can go and feel refreshed. Praise BE Jesus Christ. I hope that this website will post more articles of hope and positive ones of our faith, because too much negative and scandalous ones, just drain those of us who try to fight the good fight.