"The Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth it is this, and Protestantism has ever felt it so; to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." (-John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine).

"Where the bishop is, there let the people gather; just as where ever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church". -St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca 110 AD)a martyr later thrown to the lions, wrote to a church in Asia Minor. Antioch was also where the term "Christian" was first used.

“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

"This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic." -CCC 811

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Vatican Scandals, the Wikileaks and the Iglesia ni Cristo

St. Peter's Square seen on top of St. Peter's Cathedral in Vatican overlooking the eternal City of Rome.
I woke up the other day reading a bad news from Maktoob. As I was reading the article I thought this news would definitely be circulated in anti-Catholic blogs. WikiLeaks’ series of controversial “Classified Cables” posted on its website which were illegally obtained from the US cables targeted the Vatican by exposing an alledged mishandling of its banking system. Two days later after this news came out, an Iglesia ni Cristo cult member was found rejoicing over this story and posted it in a forum which has nothing to do with the topic

Unable to confront the intelligence of Catholic Apologists and Defenders of the Catholic Faith here's at Monk's Hobbit blog an Iglesia ni Cristo member by the pseudonym artsee came up with these Wikileaks scandals as his weapaon attacking the Catholic Church.  All he thought is that by these latest scandals, it would make is Iglesia ni Manalo the real church.
Note: Bro. Quirino Sugon cut short this INC member's feasting (read below) when Bro. Quirino told him that there were worse scandals in the church than that.  One commentator said, these scandals are not new to us, we always admit that we have sinners in the Church as well as saints. That's the reason why Jesus left us with the Sacrament of Reconcilliation because he knew very well that some members would commit sin:

Posted by artsee on December 13, 2010 at 12:06 am
VATICAN CITY – This is no ordinary bank: the ATMs are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.

Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it is under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize 23 million euros ($30 million) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the “Vatican Bank” has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.

…..What’s new? Vatican has always been involved with financial scandals even causing the alleged assassination of one Pope who investigated it. Vatican’s ties to Mafia and Nazi are on record and history. Is this the Church you belong?

Posted by artsee on December 13, 2010 at 11:41 pm
That’s all a blind follower believing in false teachings could say? Answer the above. Now, if you don’t believe there were and still are financial scandals in Vatican, don’t you believe there are lots of sex pervert Priests and Bishops being sued and prosecuted causing payment of millions of dollars to settle the cases? That’s where your donations go.

Posted by artsee on December 14, 2010 at 11:55 am
EVEN NUN ?

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Catholic nun with a reputation for gambling trips to Atlantic City was accused of embezzling more than $850,000 from a college where she oversaw the school’s finances, officials said on Friday.

Sister Marie Thornton, former vice president of finance at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, is charged with sending phony invoices to the school to pay off personal credit card bills and expenses, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

The thefts occurred between 1999 and 2009, when Thornton resigned from the Catholic college, court documents said. She entered a plea of not guilty to a federal embezzlement charge.
…Well, you would say it’s an isolated case and nuns are also human beings. Don’t be surprised if nuns get pregnant and bury the babies at the back of convent.

Posted by checkmatepawn2 on December 14, 2010 at 12:18 pm
To artsee:
The biggest difference between INC cult and us is we admit our mistakes, if there is one.
Money laundering is an activity in which persons involve can be very powerful even the authority of Italy can’t handle alone.

The bank may also involve in harboring money from WWII Jewish victims. Whatever the reason nor the cause of this evil act is not yet proven or have a full disclosure.

To all INC if there is one here, which of course they pretend to be not when cornered.

Since INC operated are the only ones that are to be “saved.” I dare you to post a comment here that all Muslims will go to hell. Before you do that do you know that at the back of your mother ship there is a large community of Muslims? If you’re not going to write it then it is not true that Felix Manalo has a Godly authority or prophetic role or an angel (can be proven false by anyone). If you write then, well there can be a fatal consequences.

Since it is known around the world that it is not a normal practice for INC members to follow standard protocol in basic journalism, let me provide you a link of the news involving the Vatican Bank of alleged money laundering to the rejoicing of anti-Catholic cult Iglesia ni Manalo. 

Now, read below Bro. Quirino Sugon's response to this INC member. He cut-short artsee's rejoicing when he confronted his comments with a series of scandals which involved Popes and other Church nobilities.  He nailed it right on its head! Link to this ongoing forum is found HERE! Two thumbs up Bro. Quirino!

Posted by Quirino M. Sugon Jr on December 14, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Artsee,

In the 2000 years of Catholic History, nothing is new. We have seen the worst popes:

“The Borgias or Borjas were a Valencian (Spanish)-Italian noble family who became prominent during the Renaissance. They are remembered today for their corrupt rule when one of them was Pope. The Borgias have been accused of many different crimes, generally on considerable evidence, including adultery, simony, theft, rape, bribery, incest, and murder (especially murder by arsenic poisoning[1]).

“Rodrigo, a cunning intriguer, was elected Pope in 1492, taking the name Alexander VI. He had several acknowledged children, of which Lucrezia and Cesare were best known. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Borgia)

Yes, this is the Catholic Church where I belong (though bad popes are few exceptions to the list of holy popes). If the Catholic Church was invented by man, the Catholic Church could have disintegrated into many sects as what happened to Protestantism. But the Catholic Church remains. Whenever there is a crisis in the Church, God always send saints to repair it. During the reign of three popes, God sent St. Catherine of Siena. When the Popes became too worldly and obsessed with wealth and honor, God sent the humble St. Francis. When Europe was split with Albigensian heresy, God sent St. Dominic. When Protestantism was gripping Europe, God sent St. Ignatius. And when the ancient world was torn by Arianism (the predecessor of INC), God sent St. Ignatius of Antioch. Their heroic life of virtues, the holiness of their writings, and the miracles they performed all point to one source: God.

The Catholic Church was not invented by man. Christ the Son of God founded it on Peter the Rock. And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

Anti-Catholics like the Iglesia ni Manalo cult in the Philippines maybe rejoicing over these alleged improprieties involving the Vatican and some religious nuns however those scandals will not make the Catholic Church less genuine and certainly these and many more scandals to come will not even make the Iglesia ni Cristo's claim to be the real one. 

One of the finest Catholic Converts Fr.Taylor Marshall (which I posted earlier in my blog) said in his book "The Crucified Rabbi":

"I came to believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the People of God. In the Old Testament, the People of Israel were not free to create a “new Israel” or to form a new denomination of “Protestant Israelites.” [emphasis mine] No matter how corrupt the priests, the high priests, and the kings of Judah became, the covenant of God remained in effect. As I reflected on this, I perceived that the Protestant Reformation rejected the scriptural belief in a united, visible Church—a nation taken for granted in the Book of Acts and the epistles of Saint Paul.

My wife and I entered into full communion with the Catholic Church on may 23, 2006, along with our four children. I became a Catholic Christian because I realized that the Catholic Church alone could trace her doctrine, liturgy, customs, and morality back to those Jewish beginnings when a rabbi named Jesus roamed the Holy Land with a band of Jewish disciples. As a Catholic Christian, I am linked not only to the early Church, but also to the ancient tradition of the Old Testament. I can now say with the Apostle Paul (who was a Rabbi Saul): I share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all. – Romans 4:16"
Let me rephrase again what Fr. Taylor had said: That even how stubborn the Israelites were, even how King David's greatness crumbled down through his lust (and thus having the wisest of all Kings of Israel - King Solomon), GOD NEVER ABANDONED ISRAEL nor did HE FOUND ANOTHER ISRAEL. God remained faithful even his people were not. In the same way, Jesus will never abandon HIS CHURCH (as he promised in Mt. 16:16-18) never the powers of Hell could prevail.

5 comments:

  1. One thing i see here is that you sited the thing about the Israelite's who were corrupt but the Israelite people never believed or preached that they are infallible. isn't the gift of infallibility "free from errors regarding faith and morals" if i'm wrong then ok but if im right your not in a good position here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Plaridel, please don't shame your Iglesia by deliberately ignoring the more obvious.

    I thought you're studying to be a future "teacher"? You should be meticulous enough to sense the real subject being talked about here.

    So what am I talking in this article? It's GOD'S FAITHFULNESS amidst our own imperfections and sinfulness. The reason why I quoted Fr. Taylor is because there's a great pattern here about Jesus and the Church in the New Testament.

    God is not distracted with our own sinfulness nor he disowned his own people just because they're hard headed people. God in his Faithfulness NEVER found another nation as a replacement of Israel's stubbornness. Rather he kept them and cared for them, and showed them that he is their God-- a loving God, a FAITHFUL GOD.

    How about the New Testament. Jesus, the God who made his dwelling with us (Phil. 2:2:13), established his New Covenant with his Disciples. He called each by his name see my earlier post here. He gave the tasks to Simon and changed his name to Peter signifying that Peter's role in the Church will be very important.

    From its earliest community, Jesus is not surprised with scandals and sinfulness. Judas Iscariot was one. During his lifetime, Jesus witnessed his own people rejecting him, doubted him, cursed him, dispised him. And soon after he was taken up to heaven, his own people, his and those early Christian community had their own share of guilt, shame, scandal, etc.

    For more than 2,000 years history of this same Church Christ founded through Peter, these scandals (and many many more to come) will not surprise us. That's the very reason why he authorized Peter "whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whose sins you retain, they will be retained" both in Matthew 16 and John 21 after the resurrection.

    So you want to rejoice over these scandals involving the Vatican City? Come on, even it's true, this will never make your Iglesia the true church. That's because Jesus NEVER EVER ABANDONED his OWN CHURCH.

    God is always faithful. Jesus is Faithful (Phil 1:6), he will not abandon nor forsake the Church, his New People. And he promised Simon whom he changed name (Peter) that HELL WILL NEVER EVER PREVAIL against HIS CHURCH. (not Manalo's founded Iglesia ni Cristo).

    Gusto niyo pang palabasin na ang Dios ay katulad ni Felix Manalo na papalit-palit ang isip.

    Therefore, no matter how many scandals we had in our 2,000+ history, God is a faithful God, he will always bring out his saints to correct his people. That's because THIS CHURCH is HIS... and your's is MANALO's

    So where will Felix Manalo's hallucinations of re-establishing the Church of Christ be? NONE, NOTHING, NADA, MAFI!!!

    Dream on Mr. Plaridel!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ufana
    You should read and learn history first especially about your Catholic church. Too bad Philippines is still under the rule of Friars even though it declared indepedence from Spain. The Philippines is still isn't free, and the Filipino people still are not free from these disguised oppressive rule of Friars. The fact that majority of Filipinos are Catholics, but if it is suppose to be good for the country, then why is it that fetuses are found on your so-called catedrals? Why is it that prostitutes attend masses and then come out to continue prostituting? Why is it that your politicians mostly Roman Catholics attend masses yet blatantly rob the Filipino people. Why is it that Catholic schools here charged so much for tuition and expenses yet their students are habitually drunkards and drug users. To give you an example: Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA that is front of the Santa Clara Police Station and Caltrain Station. Go to this place every morning and you will see students sleeping on the on the roof the house and lawn next to their vomits and bottles of whiskey, vodka, and other alcoholic drinks from, of course partying. Residents are disgusted with such acts of Catholic students. You can even ask the Police Department if you like. Here is the address 601 El Camino Real, Santa Clara and the phone number is (408) 615-4700. By the way have you ever heard about the scandals. Please Read, especially History. Also read your history, Philippine history, about the Holocaust, Spanish Civil War, and other books. Has Vatican helped your country or any other impoverished country where majority of the people are Catholic and devout, and Vatican is so rich? Why then Vatican is not doing anything to help its poor members Come study at Santa Clara University, they will teach you about your religion, and you will be surprised about your Catholic Church. Let me just clarify that they will lecture you about your religion and the they are contradictory to what you guys are being taught. Reports say that priest control government officials and even involved in scandals and corruption. Well, its has been happening long time ago sex abuses and other you name it. Have you heard of the catedral in Italy that supposed to be renovated, but they were stunned when they found remains of burnt babies of nuns and priests. Even in your Vatican, people just see it as a tourist attraction and yes Catholics like you as well. If your revolutionary heroes were alive today, they will be heartbroken knowing that the country they fought for is still under disguised, oppressive, errounous,and heartless Friars who kept them as slave to ignorance so that they can protect their interests.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your comment will be visible after approval. Be fair dude. List every comment posted unless you are offended by the facts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So how about you, what have you done when you were yet a Catholic seeing all these evils in a predominantly Catholic Philippines?

    Nothing! So before you come here and lecture us of history, ask yourself what contribution have you done to make the Philippines a better country for Catholics?

    Let me cut your story short. Yes, I am a Catholic. And no matter how many corrupt Gloria Arroy, Ferdinand Marcos etc will be there, I will make sure that I can make a difference.

    Unlike you a coward, I will stand no matter if I am the only Catholic standing!

    For God is a faithful God and I will remain faithful!

    ReplyDelete

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