Yes, and the good priest of Newmarket also said "we feed the fear by silence." That is very true; and yet even with the noise of the lawful hue and cry, the media fed us with still more fear - by being silent on the good, the peace, and the convivium of the innumerable protesters and supporters. And on all this the bishops were almost silent - except for the Quebec bishops writing a tortuous defence of their complicity .. as if it was in the interest of a greater good.
A priest friend expressed concerns for fast-escalating persecution in Canada. I replied that we can largely thank our bishops for that: "As Trudoskyites crush the freedom convoy they will see all its 'remnants' as needing worse than vilification, and that includes anyone who was organizing prayer gatherings, or even those attending if they can be identified.
Most sad of all will be the record of complicity in parts of the Church. Some churches closed their doors on the protesters who might have benefitted from historic sanctuary, believing as pastors did that violent threats including bombs were any more credible than the Ptomkin show of guns conveniently 'found' by police with no evidence of them searching for them.
In total subservience to the state, all the bishops in Quebec (including the primate of Canada) and a number outside Quebec had excommunicated the unvaxxed or the un-passported before the freedom convoy arrived, and are still holding the harsh line as their territories relax passport mandates at shops, ski loppets and medical clinics.
What was a 'quiet revolution' is now a revolution of very loud silence. These bishops will be unable to recover moral authority, making the Church no haven in Quebec or many other places for those of conscience. Indeed they have thrown conscience itself under the bus."
Your letter to the bishops, here addressed to one bishop of Quebec, makes the main points excellently well. It does fail to add that what is in the balance is the freedom of conscience from coercion, which the Church above all else must defend. You may be interested in a letter to similar effect that I sent to the archbishop of Gatineau. I'll forward it to you if you wish (you have my email address).
This is a great essay. Thank you. I attended both the Ottawa and Toronto protests on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 respectively and have supported the group. I pray for their success.
Douglas Farrow reads the situation entirely correctly. He stands fully on the teaching of Scripture and on the teaching of the whole Church through the ages that has been faithful to Scripture. The last two years have seen a coup in which governments and the worldly powers have exceeded their mandate to do us good and have started to rage out of control. Once we concede that their lawlessness is somehow legitimate, there is no natural stopping place, and these powers will really dismantle the rule of law and erect a cult in which they are the god they want us to worship. They know only power. We cannot acknowledge the validity of their power-without-authority and so cannot give them the obedience they demand. We can only recognise the authority and power of God, and tell them about the judgment of God on those who do evil.
What comes next certainly demands courage patience and suffering, but in baptism we took up the cross, and now must bear it very publicly for the sake of our society. We must remind our society that all its liberties and rule of law come from the gospel, not only once historically but now and every day. I have admired Douglas Farrow for a long time. At this moment he is doing exactly what every Christian and citizen must do, for Canada and wider. I thank God for him.
Yes, and the good priest of Newmarket also said "we feed the fear by silence." That is very true; and yet even with the noise of the lawful hue and cry, the media fed us with still more fear - by being silent on the good, the peace, and the convivium of the innumerable protesters and supporters. And on all this the bishops were almost silent - except for the Quebec bishops writing a tortuous defence of their complicity .. as if it was in the interest of a greater good.
A priest friend expressed concerns for fast-escalating persecution in Canada. I replied that we can largely thank our bishops for that: "As Trudoskyites crush the freedom convoy they will see all its 'remnants' as needing worse than vilification, and that includes anyone who was organizing prayer gatherings, or even those attending if they can be identified.
Most sad of all will be the record of complicity in parts of the Church. Some churches closed their doors on the protesters who might have benefitted from historic sanctuary, believing as pastors did that violent threats including bombs were any more credible than the Ptomkin show of guns conveniently 'found' by police with no evidence of them searching for them.
In total subservience to the state, all the bishops in Quebec (including the primate of Canada) and a number outside Quebec had excommunicated the unvaxxed or the un-passported before the freedom convoy arrived, and are still holding the harsh line as their territories relax passport mandates at shops, ski loppets and medical clinics.
What was a 'quiet revolution' is now a revolution of very loud silence. These bishops will be unable to recover moral authority, making the Church no haven in Quebec or many other places for those of conscience. Indeed they have thrown conscience itself under the bus."
Thank-you Douglas.
Let us Canadians, religious and secular alike, remember the words of the late Leonard Cohen in these foreboding times:
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is afoot, magic is alive
Alive is afoot, magic never died
God never sickened
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot, God never died
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
The naked magic thrived
Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe
Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always lead
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served
Magic is afoot, God is alive
Alive is afoot
Alive is in command
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boast of solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart would not believe
Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men
Police arrested magic and magic went with them
Mmmmm.... For magic loves the hungry
But magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind
But magic is no instrument
Magic is the end
Many men drove magic
But magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
They only passed through magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret
And though they left Him nourished
They would not tell who healed
Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh within my mind
This I mean my mind to serve
Til' service is but magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself
The magic length of God
Leonard Cohen~Beautiful Losers
Your letter to the bishops, here addressed to one bishop of Quebec, makes the main points excellently well. It does fail to add that what is in the balance is the freedom of conscience from coercion, which the Church above all else must defend. You may be interested in a letter to similar effect that I sent to the archbishop of Gatineau. I'll forward it to you if you wish (you have my email address).
This is a great essay. Thank you. I attended both the Ottawa and Toronto protests on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 respectively and have supported the group. I pray for their success.
Douglas Farrow reads the situation entirely correctly. He stands fully on the teaching of Scripture and on the teaching of the whole Church through the ages that has been faithful to Scripture. The last two years have seen a coup in which governments and the worldly powers have exceeded their mandate to do us good and have started to rage out of control. Once we concede that their lawlessness is somehow legitimate, there is no natural stopping place, and these powers will really dismantle the rule of law and erect a cult in which they are the god they want us to worship. They know only power. We cannot acknowledge the validity of their power-without-authority and so cannot give them the obedience they demand. We can only recognise the authority and power of God, and tell them about the judgment of God on those who do evil.
What comes next certainly demands courage patience and suffering, but in baptism we took up the cross, and now must bear it very publicly for the sake of our society. We must remind our society that all its liberties and rule of law come from the gospel, not only once historically but now and every day. I have admired Douglas Farrow for a long time. At this moment he is doing exactly what every Christian and citizen must do, for Canada and wider. I thank God for him.
DHK: Thanks for these words. Did we imagine we would see such things in our time? Yet many still cling to the notion that it is mere imagination.
Wonderful. God bless. Please enjoy a friend's published piece:
https://www.theepochtimes.com/authoritarianism-and-censorship-in-the-covid-era-part-1-propaganda-and-vaccine-patriotism_3960970.html?utm_campaign=socialshare_email