The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

"L'habit ne fait pas le moine"

August 16th, 2006

The sedes are back again !!!! What is this... a site for sedes to beat up on or what ???? The general interest of late seems to be frustrated sedes unwilling to accept that Josef Ratzinger was elected (and accepted that election) Pope, Bishop of Rome , Successor of Saint Peter etc. etc. The latest e-mail - a link to this photograph:

So the current Pope once wore a suit with his brother - big deal !!! Beyond the photograph we have no way of knowing if he was already elected. Here's a picture of me cutting the grass - where's my cassock ?

After Mass yesterday evening (for the Feast of the Assumption) one of our girls told me the story that a few days ago she was passing our church in the school bus and told her friend: "That's my church, and that's my bishop weed-whacking around my church." I assure you I WASN'T WEARING A CASSOCK !

As the French say: "L'habit ne fait pas le moine" - the "habit doesn't make the monk", which is the direct translation of the English proverb: "Don't judge a book by its cover". Unfortunately "Fr" Joe has already been judged by the sedes but a young lady from our Church rightly understands that a bishop in lay clothes is still a bishop, whatever he wears ! And a fortiori - A Pope is still a POPE whatever he wears. Was Fr Miguel Pro any less a priest when he wore lay-clothes during the Mexican persecutions of the Catholic Church in the early 20th century ?

Fr Miguel Pro just before his execution

St Miguel Pro, priest and martyr, offering his life for the cause of his King: "Viva Christo Rey !" - "Long live Christ the King !" (His last words before they shot him.)

Just as the current Pope is targeted because he wore a suit, so his predecessor was targeted because he didn't wear one by people with a very curious attitude. Remember this photo ?

Remember the ridiculous claims made in the Italian media when they surfaced in 1979 ? Try comparing the picture above with what they cropped out below:

The Camera never lies or does it ? By the way the picture was taken in 1972 - 6 years before his election to the Papacy !

+TF