|
 |
Statement on
Archbishop Milingo
 FORT ERIE: MAY
29, 2001: The Fatima Center has expressed shock and dismay at the news that
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was “married” in a group wedding presided
over by Sun Myung Moon.
The ceremony took
place on Sunday, May 27, in New York.
The Archbishop
took this tragic action because he believes that the Lord told him to do it.
“Now at 71 years of age, after a lifetime of devotion to the
Church and to my priestly vows, the Lord has called me to take a step that will
change my life forever, which will enable me to be a vehicle of His grace and
blessing to Africa and the world, but one which I expect will alter my
relationship with the Roman Catholic Church as well”, Milingo said in a
statement issued Saturday.
“As a
celibate priest, matrimony was the furthest thing from my mind. It is only
through the command of Jesus, and the counsel and support of Rev. and Mrs. Moon
that I take this unexpected and bold step, one that I have wrestled with in my
heart for some time”, he said.
Archbishop
Milingo obviously failed to follow the Scriptural mandate to “test the
spirit”, since the Good Lord would not command a bishop to break his vow
of celibacy. Nor would Heaven direct a Catholic to be married by Sun Myung
Moon, a man whose followers claim that Jesus is not God, and claim that Moon is
the Messiah who is completing the salvation Jesus Christ failed to accomplish.
Catholic News Service reported that Archbishop Milingo had
disappeared from Italy about a week earlier, and could not be reached.
Three nuns
of a religious order founded by the Archbishop had flown from Zambia to New
York to try to find him, hoping they could talk him out of this drastic step.
Even
the Vatican made several futile efforts to contact him.
The
Archbishop’s recent behavior had been abnormal in other ways. Before he
ceased communication, he failed to cancel a number of scheduled appearances in
Italy and elsewhere. In North America, he was to appear at May Marian
conference held in Pittsburgh along with speakers such as Father Andrew
Apostoli and Father Mitchell Pacwa, but the Archbishop himself canceled this
engagement.
The Fatima Center
is deeply saddened by Archbishop Milingo’s attempt at marriage, which, of
course, cannot be recognized as such by any Catholic, and it in no way supports
his recent actions in this regard. Nor does it support his newly-announced
views that the Catholic Church should abandon its teaching on priestly
celibacy.
Even bishops are
not exempt from the snares and deceits of the devil, who “goes about as a
roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) A possible
explanation as to what happend to the Archbishop is found in the May 27 edition
of the Italian daily Il Messaggero, which ran an interview with Father
Gabriel Amorth, an exorcist who has performed more than 5,000 exorcisms in
Rome.
Father Amorth says that he believes Archbishop Milingo had been "brainwashed"
by the Moonie sect.
"Reconstructing
the last years in reverse," said Father Amorth, "we have noticed that the Moon
sect made a ruthless hunt for him. Even the persons involved in the coercion
have been identified, they have subjected him to brainwashing. In particular,
an Italian family, which disappeared with him to the U.S.A. There were many of
them plotting for some time to drag him into their net with much astuteness and
premeditation. And he let himself be snared.
"They got him in
a moment of discouragement and depression" Father Amorth explains. "Perhaps he
resented the 'kick out' he received from Holy Mother Church, he was worn down
by the struggle they subjected him to. He didn't realize that he was prey for
those who worked on him for a considerable time, and little by little, they
broke him down. Now in my opinion, Milingo is beyond recovery, because he is no
longer approachable."
Father Amorth,
who is a colleague and admirer of Archbishop Milingo, concludes that the
Moonies "have a deadly method for depersonalizing people" and that there are
cases where adherents of the Moonie sect need to be "deprogrammed" before "they
return to normal lives."
The Fatima
Center urges its friends and supporters to pray for the Archbishop that he may
return to his vocation in the Catholic Church.
Return to
Table of Contents
|
 |
|
|