Three Dissenters: Kung, O’Toole, Trudeau
On April 6th, at the age of 93, Father Hans Kung went to meet his God, along with the Christ he didn’t seem to believe was God – he’s in for a surprise on that one. Kung was a contemporary, and sometime friend and colleague, of Father Josef Ratzinger (who turned 94 on April 16th). Kung was a controversial figure. Ordained in the 1950’s, he soon adopted the progressive, reforming stance that was so influential in those pre-conciliar years. As Father Raymond de Souza points out, young Father Ratzinger – both he and Kung were in their thirties during those heady Conciliar years, oh, to be young was very bliss! – was also a reformer, but one who stayed within the Church’s Tradition. Kung, on the other hand, drifted, dissenting on just about every issue of Catholic doctrine, from the divine consubstantiality of the Son (see above), to reserving priestly ordination to men, to just about every tenet of sexual ethics. Kung had his licence to teach theology revoked by the authority of Pope John Paul II in 1978, just after his election, for his denial, of all things, of the doctrine of papal infallibility. Still, Father Kung – for he was and is a priest forever – still taught, wrote, and spoke right up to the eve of his eternal judgement. I hope he sought the mercy of the God whose truth he so distorted, but perhaps, just maybe, that truth became clearer in those last moments, and, like Dysmas, sought the mercy of that same God, whose only limit is our own refusal to receive it.
And while on dissenters, Erin O’Toole, erstwhile leader of the ‘Conservative’ Party of Canada, has announced he will vote against the ban on sex-selective abortion – the practice of murdering an unborn child just because he, or most often she, is of the wrong ‘sex’, or, as people incorrectly put it nowadays, ‘gender’. Certain, ahem, cultures see babies of the fairer sex as a disposable burden, and not a blessing. O’Toole is maintaining this death sentence because, in his own words, he is ‘pro-choice’. Well, well…What is one to say?
Mr. O’Toole would do well to peruse the same Pope Saint John Paul II makes clear in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, on the sanctity of human life:
The legal toleration of abortion or of euthanasia can in no way claim to be based on respect for the conscience of others, precisely because society has the right and the duty to protect itself against the abuses which can occur in the name of conscience and under the pretext of freedom. (E.V., 71)
As the Holy Father continues:
In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to “take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for it“. (72) Even more, there is an obligation, and a grave one at that, to oppose such laws (73).
So the ‘Conservative’ party continues its decline into desuetude and irrelevance, as Liberal-lite. O’Toole’s pro-abortion stance is a disgrace to his noble Irish lineage, and to the name he shares with a great saint, Lawrence O’Toole, the former bishop of Dublin in the 12th century, who stood firmly against state intrusion into the Church and morality. There is a church named after Saint Lawrence in the town in which I live, and I will make a point to pray for his distant relative as I pass by.
And we will have more to say on the Great Dissenter, our benighted Prime Minister, Trudeau, as he and his ‘Liberals’ (what’s with all these false titles?) continue to ram evil laws down our gullets. His insouciant grin is taking on a rather sinister quality of late.
Three dissenters have done and are doing much damage to Christ’s Church, along with the society which depends on the Church’s truth and doctrine (whether said society is aware of this or not). Might our bishops, stewards of the ‘pillar and bulwark of truth’, begin to act more forcefully, as befits good shepherds, to bring these Catholics to toe the line at least of basic orthodoxy, orthopraxy, or just common, moral sense? Well, Kung has had his opportunity, but the other two still have time to ‘see the truth’, before they meet the Christ they so misunderstand, and misconstrue. They should take to heart the warning of Pope John Paul towards the end of his encyclical, that the rejection of human life, in whatever form that rejection takes, is really a rejection of Christ.
We can only pray, with the same Christ, that they know not what they do. For Christ’s warning that those who refuse to know and confess Him and His truth, He Himself will deny. I know you not. And after that, there is no more time, nor opportunity, for mercy.
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→