Powerful Article from William Oddie on the Maltese Bishops

From the Catholic Herald.

The entire fiasco is just deeply depressing. I came into the Church with beloved Pope Benedict. I grew up in the pontificate of St. John Paul the Second. Both of them seemed as solid as a rock. Even before I accepted the truth of the Catholic faith, I approved of St. John Paul the Great's retrenchment of Catholic orthodoxy. The narrative at the dawn of the twenty-first century seemed to be that the John Paul Generation was growing up, new seminarians were more orthodox, traditional religious orders were flourishing, and the madness of the sixties and seventies were a receding memory. The world might go mad, but the Church was a bastion of sanity.

Now that narrative seems over-optimistic.

I have complete faith in our Lord's guarantee to St. Peter-- that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church-- but there is so much left unsaid in that promise. We have no idea how much of a rocky ride the Church is for between now and the end times.

We need to pray fervently for the Holy Father, the cardinals, and the hierarchy every day.