He speaks from personal experience and has great courage going up against the present Pope.
None of the other Cardinals dare do so publicly. They are cowards.
He is a very great human being with an incredible message for the world.
He is another Solzhenitsyn.
He
does not only recommend withdrawing children from public institutions.
He has other recommendations which can be carried out by parents of all
religious persuasions in their own way.
One does not have to be a Roman Catholic to understand his message.
WATCH: Bishop Schneider’s
12 steps to surviving as a Catholic family in a heretical wasteland
ANALYSIS
ROME, May
27, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)
– As the battle for the very soul of the family and all its members intensifies
around the world with the push for sexual anarchy veiled as “education,” the
undermining of what is truly masculine and feminine in the name of “gender
rights,” and the destruction of marriage masquerading as “equality,” a
spiritual leader who has suffered under the terror of a communist regime has laid
out a survival plan for Catholic parents who find themselves in a secular,
relativistic, and hostile environment but who simply want to raise their
children to become future citizens of heaven.
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview
earlier this month that Catholic parents must take seriously their “first duty”
of raising their children in the faith if their children are to overcome the
negative and even hostile influences that are pressing in from all sides and
seeking to destroy.
In a
wide-ranging interview that covered his experience as a Catholic boy growing up
under communism, his thoughts on what it means to be a Catholic family today,
his thoughts on education, bad parishes and dioceses run by agenda-driven
priests and bishops, as well as his views on how faithful laity should address
concerns about Pope Francis, the bishop laid out twelve steps that he said
Catholic parents must take to safeguard their families and their
children.
Bishop Schneider said that to
survive in a heretical wasteland, Catholic parents must:
- See persecution as a grace from God for becoming purified and strengthened, not simply as something negative.
- Become rooted yourself in the Catholic faith through study of the Catechism.
- Protect your family’s integrity above all else.
- Catechize your children as your first duty.
- Pray with your children daily, such as litanies and the Rosary.
- Turn your home into a domestic church.
- In the absence of a priest and Sunday Mass, make spiritual communion.
- Withdraw your family from a parish spreading error and attend a faithful parish, even if you have to travel far.
- Withdraw your children from school if they are encountering immoral danger in sex-ed.
- If you cannot withdraw your children, establish a coalition of parents to fight for that right.
- Fight for parental rights using available democratic tools.
- Be prepared for persecution in protecting your children (see first point).
The bishop said that being a
Catholic “family” in the truest sense of the word is the key to survival.
“From my
experience of the time of the persecution, the vital importance is the family,
the integrity of the family, and that both parents are deeply rooted in the
faith. This is then transmitted to the children. I would like to say that the
children have to receive the faith with the milk of the mother. And then the
first task of the parents is to transmit to the children the purity, the
beauty, the integrity of the Catholic faith in a simple manner.”
He said
that parents need to rise up to the responsibility of creating an environment
within the home where children can flourish spiritually.
“I think
this is today the main task for families: To establish a culture of domestic churches,”
he said.
If
children are being poisoned outside the home, such as in school, through
hedonistic and nihilistic sex-education programs, then parents have the
“obligation” to withdraw their children.
“You
cannot expose your children to an immoral danger. It is impossible. Catholic
parents, in defending their children from this immorality, have to be even
ready to suffer, yes, to suffer consequences,” Bishop Schneider said. If a
country’s laws make it impossible for withdrawal, he added, then parents should
band together and fight for the right using whatever democratic means are
available.
If
children are being poisoned from the pulpit, the same logic applies and parents
must find a faithful parish, he said, calling unfaithful priests and bishops
“traitors of the faith.”
“When
pastors or members of the hierarchy contradict the teaching of Christ, the
teaching of the perpetual Magisterium of the Church, of the Catechism, you have
to withdraw your children from these churches, and not to go to them, even if
you have to travel 100 km [to a faithful church].”
Bishop
Schneider recounted how his parents were overjoyed to move to a location in the
Soviet Union where there was a Catholic Church within 100 kilometers.
“I think
that in the Western world, in the United States, you will find a Church maybe
closer than 100 kilometers where there may be a good priest. So, avoid these
churches [where error is preached]. [Such places] are destroying the faith of
the people. These churches are destroying. We have to avoid them. [Such people]
are traitors of the faith, even when they have the title of priest or bishop,”
he said.
The
bishop went on to give advice regarding how faithful Catholics, who love the
Pope and do not wish to harm the papacy, might express themselves in raising
concerns about Pope Francis.
The
Church is not run like a “dictatorship” where no one can “contradict the
dictator,” he said, adding that the Holy Father is “our father” and Catholics
must not be afraid to voice their cares and concerns to him over his governance
of the Church.
He ended
the interview offering LifeSiteNews and its supporters his blessing. “God bless
you and continue your holy and very precious work for family and marriage and
for the Gospel and the Church,” he said.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s interview with
LifeSiteNews
LifeSiteNews:
Catholic families today are experiencing a type of persecution. How did your
family deal with persecution while living under a communist regime?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: I would say that I had the privilege to live in a time of
persecution of the faith and of the Church, because such persecution gives you
a foundation for all your life. It is a grace. And therefore, in some way, I
would not characterize the time of persecution always negatively. God uses
these circumstances of persecution in several degrees for our [good], to purify
our faith, to strengthen our faith. So, in this way, I would see the
persecution [coming] from the modern society — as you [mentioned], against the
family — also as a chance to be purified, to be strengthened.
From my
experience of the time of the persecution, the vital importance is the family,
the integrity of the family, and that both parents are deeply rooted in the
faith. This is then transmitted to the children. I would like to say that the
children have to receive the faith with the milk of the mother. And then the
first task of the parents is to transmit to the children the purity, the
beauty, the integrity of the Catholic faith in a simple manner.
First, I
think that it is important that the mother or father themselves give the
children in the family, in the house, the first catechism; not in the school or
in the parish, but in the family. This does not exclude that there is still —
in an additional way — the catechism in the parish, of course. But, first in
the family. Secondly, that parents have to pray in their family with their
children, daily. This was my experience. We prayed daily together. In the
morning, and in the evening, but not so much, but at least we prayed together.
LifeSiteNews:
How old were you when this happened?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: I was about 12. It is very fresh in my memory. For
example, when on Sundays, when there were no priests — we had sometimes some
years when there were no priests because the priests were in the prisons — they
came to us very secretly. I remember these secret visits of the priests. It was
such a feast. But we had to be very quiet because it was all controlled by
secret services. Therefore our parents said to us, ‘Be quiet, don't laugh,
don't cry, don't shout.’
It was a
very reverent situation when the priest came. First he made confession
available to the people, all [of them], even sometimes all [throughout] the
night. And then there was the Holy Mass so reverently [said]. It was really
unforgettable. I remember these moments.
We lived
in a society where atheism, under the Communist regime, was spread in the
public life, in the schools. But thanks to [the fact] that we were rooted in
the family, in prayer and in the Faith, this did not infect us. We even had a
lesson in the school, for example, with the title, ‘Scientific atheism.’ Our
parents, as we were children, said it to us, ‘You hear these words in one ear
and it should go out the other ear. Don't be attentive to this.’ And so, we
obeyed our parents. Sometimes we had to be prudent not to make a provocation,
to be prudent.
I think
this is today the main task for families: To establish a culture of domestic
churches.
The other
aspect that my parents taught us children [is that outside the home, people]
would know that we are Christians. [My parents would say,] ‘They know. And
therefore, you have to behave yourself better than those who are unbelievers.’
Today we have to educate our children and the young people with this aspect.
LifeSiteNews:
How did your family deal with not being able to attend Sunday mass?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: On Sundays, we gathered in the room, we knelt down —
parents and we four children — and we prayed simple prayers such as the Rosary,
litanies, and we made spiritual communion. And I am sure Our Lord visited our
souls with the graces of Holy Communion.
LifeSiteNews:
You mentioned the role of parents in educating their children. This is an
important issue for parents in the West due to the onslaught of sex education
in schools which is imposed upon children, whether parents like it or not. How
should parents respond?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: Of course, [education] is the first duty of parents. When
their children are taught in the school in an immoral way, they have to
withdraw the children. This is their obligation. You cannot expose your
children to an immoral danger. It is impossible. Catholic parents, in defending
their children from this immorality, have to be even ready to suffer, yes, to
suffer consequences.
LifeSiteNews:
What should parents do in countries where it is illegal for them to withdraw
their children from school?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: This is a very delicate issue, but in this case the
Catholic parents have to form a kind of league, an association — nationwide —
[so that they can] be strong. [They must] have lawyers and defend themselves
with the means of a democracy. I think it important to establish a coalition of
parents in this specific aspect of sexual education to [secure] the right to
withdraw their children.
LifeSiteNews:
What should Catholic parents do when they encounter a priest in a parish, or
even a bishop, with an agenda to advance teaching contrary to the faith?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: The parents have to know very well their Catholic faith.
They have to study very well the catechism, because the catechism is
unchangeable – that is, the truths [found within the catechism]. [They have to]
study the catechism of their parents and grandparents, which is very simple and
clear. This is the voice of Christ and of the Church of all times. [They must
do this] to be rooted very firmly in the Catholic faith. Then, when pastors or
members of the hierarchy contradict the teaching of Christ, the teaching of the
perpetual Magisterium of the Church, of the Catechism, you have to withdraw
your children from these churches, and not to go to them, even if you have to
travel 100 km [to a faithful church].
When we lived
in the Soviet Union — thanks be to God in another place, in Estonia — there we
had a Catholic Church and a priest 100 km [away]. And our parents said, ‘Oh, we
are so lucky. It is so close to us. In 100 km, a church! We lived in [our town]
many years without a priest and without mass. Now we have [to go only] 100 km.
What a happiness.’
I think
that in the Western world, in the United States, you will find a Church maybe
closer than 100 km where there may be a good priest. So, avoid these churches
[where error is preached]. [Such places] are destroying the faith of the
people. These churches are destroying. We have to avoid them. [Such people] are
traitors of the faith, even when they have the title of priest or bishop.
LifeSiteNews:
Should faithful Catholics, who love the pope and do not wish to harm the
papacy, express themselves regarding concerns over statements made by Pope
Francis that do not seem to line up with Catholic teaching. Or, would it be
better for them to remain silent?
Bishop
Athanasius Schneider: In the Church, we are not living in a dictatorship. In a
dictatorship, we do not have the courage to contradict the dictator. But when,
in the Church, we arrive at a situation where faithful priests and bishops are
fearful to say anything, like in a dictatorship, this is not Church. This is
not the Church of dialogue, of collegiality, of family. No. In a family, there
has to be the possibility of exchange your [views].
And
sometimes, good parents even allow their children, when they are growing,
express themselves. Why not? A good father will accept when his elder son says,
‘Father, this is not so correct.’ Sometimes it happens.
And so,
the Holy Father is our father. And when he says to these groups, ‘You must not
speak all the time about these [things]’ you can say with all reverence, ‘Holy
Father, this is an unjust accusation to us. We are unjustly accused. It is not
the case that we speak every time, and all the time, about this. We don't speak
on this all the time. We speak on the Gospel, we speak about family life, we
speak about prayer. So, your judgment, it is unjust to us. Your accusation is
unjust. And permit us, in some way, to defend ourselves, and hear our voice.’
No comments:
Post a Comment