A large part of the young clergy of the Archdiocese of Barcelona, Spain,
is characterised by its courage and fidelity to the Church, writes La
Cigüeña De La Torre (InfoVaticana.com, 23 January).
For that
reason these priests suffer all kinds of harassment and pressure from
Cardinal Juan José Omella, 78, an old man stuck in the ideology of the
1960s.
La Cigüeña quotes a veteran priest from Barcelona who has
been cured of this old, infantile progressivism and has returned to
reality:
"For us old clerics, these priests are a comfort. We see
how they are gradually repopulating the parishes with their zeal. The
number of children in catechesis is growing and there are admirable
conversions of young people coming from [anti-Catholic Catalan]
separatism and the left".
The priest confirms that this is
happening against all odds, "because these priests are sent to the
'peripheries', to poor and marginalised neighbourhoods, and to places
that are considered a 'punishment'".
But they are not stopped:
"The more difficulties, the more apostolate". They are motivated by zeal
for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
The veteran
priest, who requested anonymity so as not to fall victim to the
Archbishop's "mercy", says that Omella is seriously mistaken if he
thinks that by persecuting his priests he will put an end to this
renewal: "On the contrary, it strengthens it".
He recognises
"that we have been mistaken for decades; we have fallen in love with the
supposed 'spring' of the Council, and we have been protagonists and
witnesses of a very hard winter".
Now the young priests are showing those stuck in 'progressivist' ideology that there is a way forward.
The
priest added: "A colleague of mine, a veteran like me, has one of these
priests as his curate. And he goes out of his way to praise him. He
too, like me, had a 'progressive' past. And now he sees his until
recently dying parish slowly recovering. And that his young assistant
has shown him sincere affection and support".
"I am not," he
concluded, "one of those who say 'I would rather die than become a
practising Catholic'. I want to spend the rest of my life helping others
to abandon the wrong path I have taken."
Picture: Juan José Omella © wikipedia CC BY-SA, #newsKolwwxmazj