An open letter to the members of the Czech Bishops’ Conference (CBK)

Dear Bishops of the Czech Republic,

we were sent by e-mail Your declaration concerning us and our letters addressed to the Holy Father and to the cardinals and the bishops of the Catholic Church. Metacontents of the sent document contain these data: author: Ladislav Hu?ko; saved: Stepan?ik; operator: Archbishopric of Prague; compilation date: 24th January 2007.

As this declaration compiled by L. Hu?ko unlike all our letters completely lacks concreteness and arguments in spite of the fact that it is a public accusation, we have to state by the words of L. Hu?ko that it contradicts the Christian morals.

The topics of our letters addressed to the Holy Father and to the cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church are extremely significant, and since the text of the declaration compiled by Bishop L. Hu?ko intentionally eludes the substance, it is necessary to return to his particular statements.

Your Excellence, what do You mean by stating that due to improper conduct we were expelled from CR? Towards whom concretely did we  behave improperly? And how?

If by improper conduct You mean the lawless abolishment of the delegature of pontifical right and moreover the concealment of this fact from those whom it concerned then it is really not only improper but even amoral conduct. However, it was You who committed it. Similarly – it was not us who were urged by the Apostolic Nuncio to return a stolen property. (The circumstances connected with our departure are explained in detail in the letters on www.community.org.ua)

If You call the contents of our letters – “their own distorted notions of what the Church is to teach and do”, mention, please, at least one of our distorted notions concretely and explain in what way it is distorted. We ourselves would like to know how You will manage to do it so as not to look thereby like a heretic or not to affront the Holy Father, because we emphasize nothing else but time and again the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith and the biblical – evangelical demands. We often express them by using quotations from the book of the present Holy Father Benedict XVI “Dialogues with V. Messori”.

What do You concretely mean by the formulation: “…encroached on what they considered without right to be their own”? Who encroached? What concretely did we consider without right to be our own? Naturally we will wait for Your reply, but if by the word “encroached” You wanted to express that You had stolen from the Order its houses which the Order “considered without right to be their own”, why then did the Apostolic Nuncio demand from You to return the stolen property and why did the General Superior submit the whole affair for trial?

In Your declaration You literally state: “They are writing half-truths and lies to people who do not know what the matter is at all.” Mention a concrete half-truth and a concrete lie. Of whom of those to whom we write do You concretely think that he does “not know what the matter is at all”? The Holy Father Benedict XVI, the State Secretary of Vatican, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church? To tell the truth, it greatly surprises us that You speak of them as of people who “do not know what the matter is at all”, when we are writing here about two deep wounds through which the mystical body of Christ is bleeding most. It is HCT and false respect for other religions. Next the Holy Father, the cardinals and the bishops are shown a painful but true fact that unfortunately the greatest hindrance of spiritual awakening is the unconverted Church hierarchy. We also present a biblical solution and that is opening oneself to the spirit of repentance and through it an inward conversion to God.

The declaration further states: “They lost contact with reality and live in some virtual world in which they a priori divided people into good and bad.” However, the opposite is true. You, Most reverend Exarch, along with the members of CBK have unfortunately lost contact with reality and live in some virtual world. Because You do not want to admit it Yourselves, You artificially put us into this virtual reality. But we have a sound and critical thinking, there need be no doubt about it, we and virtual world have nothing in common, we are realists. How is it possible that even without our letters You cannot perceive the real pain and the real situation in the Church and the intensity of spiritual fight in the present times? What did You mean by the division of people into good and bad? However, supposing that You do not divide people into good and bad, wicked and just, then we are all either good or bad. When we clearly speak of sin as of sin and of good as of good, You reproach us for “lack of love and unity”. Such attitude is propagated by Focolare, but also by the spirit of globalization and by the spirit of the New Age.

A similar reaction as with Bishop L. Hu?ko (Focolare) was also with the head of CBK Archbishop J. Graubner (Focolare). He likewise did not care about the substance at all, yet without love he reproached Fr. Eliáš: “You are an enemy of Christ’s cross and of the Church.” Fr. Eliáš wrote him a reply: “I am not an enemy of Christ’s cross, but You in that You allow the intending priests of Your diocese to be intoxicated through the spiritual poison of HCT. You are an enemy of Christ’s cross in that You approve zen-buddhist meditations at Your faculty, in that by Your silence You support the spread of occult practices in Your diocese and You protect the spirit that liquidates anything alive. So You are an enemy of Christ’s cross, and not me. I have been on this cross for more than 20 years and I feel safe here, and I would not change with You.”

The CBK declaration reads: “The Czech Bishops’ Conference in its plenary session on 23rd January 2007 unanimously passed this declaration in which it condemns the contents of these letters as contradictory to Christian morals.”

We are surprised at the word unanimously. Was there not even one who would at least abstain from voting? This unity is suspicious. But we accept that it was like that. And why? Card. J. Ratzinger, when speaking about bishops’ conferences, explains: “I would like to point to one psychological aspect: We, the Catholic priests of my generation, became used to avoiding conflicts among the fellow brothers. Thus many bishops’ conferences are ruled by a kind of collective spirit and maybe by a desire for an easy life and conformism. It is required that one accept the attitude of the active minority aimed at exact targets. I know bishops who face to face admit that they would have decided otherwise than in voting at the conference, if they were to decide on their own. Accepting the collective pressure here was the result of fear lest one look at them as at someone who is ‘spoiling the play’, as at someone who is ‘preposterous’ or ‘little opened’. It seems that it is really comfortable always to decide in common. However, in such case there is a danger that the ‘offence’ and the ‘folly’ of the Gospel, that ‘salt’ and that ‘leaven’ which in the present hard crisis is indispensable more than ever, will fade away (predominantly in the case of bishops who are definitely responsible for the sheep entrusted to them).” (Dialogues with V. Messori, 1984)

The Bishops’ Conference in CR unanimously condemns our letters “as contradictory to Christian morals”. We ask how we have violated God’s commandments and Christian morals? Telling the truth is not “contradictory to Christian morals”, but it is a duty of every Christian. On the contrary, telling lies, stealing, killing God’s life in the Church, obscuring the truths of faith, preaching heresies in the name of God and the Church and at the same time sheltering oneself behind the Church office and referring to the authority of the Holy Father is not only highly amoral, but it is a crime which must be punished.

The duty to preach the truth and to stand up against heresies is a duty of the Czech and Moravian bishops and of this Bishops’ Conference. Here they should be united. But because they are not doing it, to certain measure they forced us into doing it ourselves, and consequently they condemn us as amoral. The only thing in our letters that contradicts Christian morals is the concrete mentioned guilts of the Church hierarchy which we point at (of Bishop L. Hu?ko, Card. M. Vlk and Archbishop J. Graubner /Focolare movement/).

If it was a reply of one of them personally, or if all three of them spoke for themselves, then it is understandable regarding the fact that we wrote about the thefts of Mons. L. Hu?ko, about the endorsement of syncretism at theological faculty by Mons. J. Graubner, about the shielding of the heresies of Prof. T. Halík by Card. M. Vlk. We would therefore not wonder if all three of them united and signed. But if they appear in the name of plenary session and in entire unity with all bishops, we put a question: What is the sense of the bishops’ conference as of the pillar of truth when under the pressure of these three Focolarines all make unity with them even counter to their conscience? If we are mistaken, let these bishops write concretely where we committed some heresy or something against Christian morals. From this ineffectiveness of CBK there arises the question what is the sense of CBK for the Catholic Church in CR. The duty of every bishop, and the more so of the bishops’ conference, is to preach and protect the teaching of the faith and morals, and to respond to actual problems and pressures that attack this substance. Regrettably to say, within the 15 years of the existence of CBK there has not been a single solid pastoral letter issued. We ask what is the sense of the bishops’ conference if it is not performing its first and foremost task – it does not respond to the most topical problems, but on the contrary, it keeps God’s people in darkness. Card. J. Ratzinger (1984) exhorts his brothers in episcopal office with words of an earnest and emphatic admonition of Paul the Apostle: “I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables (myths of HCT).” (2Tim 4:1-5)

CBK as well as every one of its members should repent both of this declaration by which they pronounced both against the truth and against conscience, and also of their cowardice! Similarly the people of SR (Slovak Republic) have already for 11 years been waiting for the time when KBS (Conference of the Bishops of Slovakia) will repent of approving the declaration by which it opened the door to a mass spread of homoeopathy in Slovakia (1996). Many people ask: Were these bishops bribed or we have blind shepherds? If they were not duly informed about this field, they were obliged to abstain from voting and thoroughly to inquire the whole issue. And if they already were deceived, they should at least have retracted their error which up to the present day has borne pernicious fruit for the spiritual life in Slovakia. The ex-minister of health, who likewise was deceived, has repented publicly. Up to the present day he has actively fought against this pseudomedicine and occult practice. This much as for the question of bishops’ conferences and their unanimous attitudes. We recall the period of Communism when on the radio or on television we could hear how all conclusions in the plenary sessions were voted unanimously and with one voice. Therefore it is necessary that in each nation there is the prophetic office established that will not be dependent on these conferences but will be responsible for the field of faith and morals and will be in direct subordination to the Holy Father through the Apostolic Nunciature.

Conclusion:

The declaration of CBK regarding the letters from Ukraine lacks concreteness and arguments and in its unanimous pronouncement it points at false unity enforced here by the Focolarines Card. M. Vlk, Archbp. J. Graubner - Head of CBK, and Exarch L. Hu?ko - General Secretary of CBK. “It is required here that one accept the attitude of the active minority aimed at exact targets.” Concerning CBK one can still apply the statement of Card. J. Ratzinger: “However, in such case there is a danger that the ‘offence’ and the ‘folly’ of the Gospel, that ‘salt’ and that ‘leaven’ which in the present hard crisis is indispensable more than ever, will fade away.” Within the time of its existence (since 1990) CBK has never clearly stood up for the defence of faith and morals, yet, on the contrary, through obedience it spiritually choked those who were attempting to do so.

We therefore propose that beside this anti-Church CBK organization in CR there should be the prophetic office established that will be responsible for the protection of faith and morals and of a true spiritual life.

In Christ,

Fr. Eliáš A. Dohnal ThD. OSBM

Fr. Cyril J. Špi?ík Ing. ThD. OSBM

Fr. Markian V. Hitiuk ThLic. OSBM

Fr. Metod?j R. Špi?ík ThD. OSBM

                                                                                            12th February 2007, Pidhirtsi (Ukraine)

Address: Monastery OSBM, 80660 Pidhirtsi, Brody district, Lviv region, Ukraine

www.community.org.ua 

Copy to:

-  His Holiness Benedict XVI

-  Apostolic Nuncios, CR and SR

-  Conference of the Bishops of Slovakia

-  Cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church