Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: Calling All Cardinals (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 10/7/26

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LTACL: Calling All Cardinals (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 10/7/26 · The Catholic Current

• 0:00
  Did you ever have to yell this? What were you thinking?
• 0:04
  Well, if you did, what was the response?
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  Odds are you just got a blank stare because they
• 0:13
  weren't thinking. Now, you may be dealing with a kid who's
• 0:17
  acting on impulse, or a teen who's acting on hormones,
• 0:20
  and if you've had to yell, what were you thinking? You probably shouldn't
• 0:25
  expect very much in reply. They're Kids who are growing,
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  their brains haven't finished baking yet. They haven't fully come online.
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  But what if the people you want to yell at, what were
• 0:36
  you thinking, were in fact Cardinals of the
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  Catholic Church? What then? Stay with me, I've got a
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  story to tell. Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTeague, your host here every day at
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  The Catholic Current, coming to you from the Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network.
• 0:51
  Let's take a closer look. Glad you're here.
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  Recently, senior Catholic cadres of the People Who Should Really Know
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  Better Club, people who were in fact Cardinals, made some statements that made
• 1:03
  me cry out from the bottom of my heart, what were you thinking?
• 1:07
  Now, a basic principle of management is that you praise in
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  public and you correct in private. Now, what I'm hoping
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  is that some other Cardinals will see this video, hear this podcast,
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  read between the lines and sit down with their brothers in a
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  spirit of fraternal charity.
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  Let me give you the first case. A cardinal said that advocacy
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  for immigrants is, in its truest sense,
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  an act of divine worship.
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  Now, English is my first language.
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  I'm a native speaker. I recognize the words as English.
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  I recognize the grammar as English, but as someone
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  with more than a passing familiarity with philosophy, theology,
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  and scripture, I don't see those words
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  ever really making sense.
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  And that's a problem. Another case to consider.
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  Recently, a cardinal was talking about the Second Vatican Council
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  and its relation to tradition. And in fact, on his
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  view, the council is tradition.
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  It is so much a reaching back to the very essence of tradition
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  that now becomes tradition by which all
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  tradition is judged. And by golly, there's a
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  whole lot of continuity. And at the very
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  same time, this cardinal says that
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  traditional spirituality has been based on the image of Christ the
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  King, whereas Vatican II presents and promotes
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  Christ the servant. And these 2 are irreconcilable.
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  Now, that may be a spirit of Vatican II
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  reading rather than text of Vatican II.
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  Excuse me. Lumen Gentium 36.
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  I'm sorry, something got caught in my throat for a moment. I'm fine
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  now. But here is what he's doing. He's saying,
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  Vatican II is traditional. It's the reaching back
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  to tradition. It is the tradition by which everything else must
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  be judged. It is continuous. And we have an absolute
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  irreconcilable paradigm shift from Christ the King to Christ
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  the servant. Now, logically speaking,
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  that's irrational.
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  It violates the principle of non-contradiction. In the distance,
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  I can see the ghost of Aristotle wagging his finger at at his
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  eminence. Well, what are we to do? What's going on here?
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  Well, we might turn first of all to G.K.
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  Chesterton, who said what is commonly called modern thought
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  might more correctly be called modern thoughtlessness. And this is
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  what I think is happening with these 2 cardinals, a form
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  of modern thoughtlessness, uh, poorly assisted
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  by bad ghostwriters. See, they're talking about emotionally
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  laden narratives, migrants in one case,
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  the Second Vatican Council in the other. And as soon as you begin
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  speaking on behalf of the narrative, which is
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  so emotionally laden, reason,
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  rationality, texts begin to
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  recede to a very harmful degree.
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  Well, what are we supposed to do about that? Well, we might
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  nod and smile and say,
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  yes, Your Eminence, while silently praying for immediate
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  and dramatic divine intervention. But here I want to turn instead
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  to C.S. Lewis, who said, and I, at any rate,
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  don't propose to die with polite insincerities in
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  my mouth. I believe that.
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  And at the same time, I don't have the standing to correct a
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  cardinal. Odds are most of you listening to me don't either,
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  but surely other cardinals have the standing to correct
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  a cardinal, to sit down with their brothers in a spirit of fraternal
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  charity and offer some corrective advice.
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  I ask the cardinals of the world to sit down with their brothers and say,
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  please get better ghostwriters. Please think
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  before you speak because you're causing confusion among
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  the naive and scandal among those who
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  are not naive. And what about the rest of us?
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  Let's just get on with it and live our lives and conform
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  to Christ. Meanwhile, think on these things today, take them
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  to prayer, and talk about it with those you love. Go in peace, and please
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  do pray for me, for I am a sinner.