“See what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary” (Ps 73:3)…
Belgian “Bishop” Approves of Dog Funeral, Defends “Priest”
You may want to put on your surprise face if you still have one left at this point. On April 25, 2015, we reported on a scandalous prayer event in a Catholic Church in Belgium: A Novus Ordo presbyter had given a funeral-like service to a dog, a chihuahua, to “accompany” the people in their “grief” and extend “compassion” to them. He specifically pointed out that he was doing this as part of a response to “Pope” Francis’ call for reaching out to the “peripheries” of society. You can read our full report, with photos and video, here:
At the time, a number of naive conservative Novus Ordos must have thought to themselves, “Just wait until the bishop steps in and straightens out this wayward prelate!” Ah well, the diocesan “bishop”, Mr. Remy Vancottem, has now “stepped in” and … (drumroll) … defended the dog ceremony! The so-called Catholic Herald reports as follows:
A Belgian bishop has defended a priest who held a prayer service for the grieving owners of a pet dog.
Bishop Rémy Vancottem of Namur insisted the ceremony was not a Catholic funeral, but apologised to those who were troubled by the event.
Bishop Vancottem said the priest had simply wanted “to be close to people who were sad to have lost a pet to which they were emotionally attached”.
Fr Francis Lallemand presided at the ceremony in the church of St-Victor d’Auvelais in Sambreville, a Walloon area south of Brussels.
The body of Miss Chiwa, an 11-year-old chihuahua, rested on a bier before the altar of the church.
A video of the event showed Fr Lallemand speaking to a packed congregation, many of whom carried their own pet dogs.
“We are not here to celebrate a funeral but to show our support during the loss of a loved one,” Fr Lallemand said, according to La Vie. “We want to share our sympathy and compassion with [owners] Sylvana and Josse.”
Miss Chiwa and her owners made numerous television appearances in Belgium and helped to raise funds for the animal charity Gamelles du Coeur.
(“Belgian bishop defends priest over ‘dog funeral’”, Catholic Herald, May 7, 2015; italics added.)
Don’t blame this on Francis, by the way: Vancottem was first made a “bishop” under John Paul II (1982) and appointed to his current post by Benedict XVI (2010), as the Catholic Hierarchy web site notes.
The actual statement of “Bp.” Vancottem, in the original French, can be read here. In typical ambiguous Vatican II language, the mock bishop “clarifies” that the Rev. Lallemand, who presided over the canine farce, “wanted to be close to the people”, who were “sad to have lost a pet, to which they were emotionally attached”, adding that it is “always possible to pray with and for those who are grieving”, yet also warning that “ambiguity” must be “avoided” that could cause such an event to be “confused” with a real “Christian funeral”. He furthermore assures his flock that in the future he will “clarify” what sort of things are permitted in this regard and what things aren’t. Of course, he also apologizes in his statement to “those who were troubled by this celebration”, whose concern he “understands”. Translation: “What happened here is a good thing, because it serves man, but I’m sorry if some people were offended. We’ll talk more about it later.”
Once again we see that in the Novus Ordo Sect, everything centers on man, on humanity, never on God, who is simply relegated to the sidelines as a nice chap whose job is to serve man by hearing our prayers and solving our problems. In the real Catholic Church, if a real Catholic priest were confronted with a situation in which people come to him because they are in terrible grief over the loss of a dog, he would have used that opportunity to instruct the people on the necessity of detaching ourselves from earthly things, on the foolishness of clinging to anything that must of necessity pass away, and on the wonderful and noble purpose of our human existence, which infinitely surpasses that of the animals, as we — unlike brutes — were created for the Beatific Vision, to behold and be with and enjoy the Most Holy Trinity forever and ever. A real Catholic priest would have clarified that animals do not have rational souls and were not created for eternity (sorry, you can’t take Baxter with you!). He would then have admonished the people to make an examination of conscience and a good confession.
What happens in the Novus Ordo religion instead? There is a prayer service to comfort the people who have “lost something to which they were emotionally attached”. Well then, expect funeral-like prayer services soon for broken laptops, wrecked cars, and malfunctioning xboxes, since it is “always possible to pray with and for those who are grieving”. This will never happen, you say? Oh really — didn’t you say the same thing 10 years ago about “dog funerals”?
If such an abominable event, in which a “Liturgy of the Word” is celebrated for a dog that has died, with the dead animal displayed before the sanctuary and people coming up to “pay their respects”, had happened in a Catholic Church before Vatican II, the local bishop would have immediately stepped in and placed the church under interdict, excommunicated or at least suspended the priest and ordered him to spend the rest of his life in penance at a monastery, away from the world. The parish church would then have needed to be rededicated after having suffered such terrible defilement.
Not, of course, in the new man-centered religion of “mercy” and “luv,” where condemnation is only reserved for those who seek to practice the authentic Catholic religion.
The day of the service, the dog-funeral “priest” Rev. Lallemand had already stated he was not afraid of the reaction of his “bishop.” He obviously knew him well.
Image source: diocesedenamur.be
License: fair use
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