With Christmas behind us, there’s a bit of catching up to do on the events we may have overlooked. We begin with two stories from in the world of Catholicism. The first involving an openly homosexual priest. The second is about the Pope’s Christmas message. Both signal darker days in the future for the Catholic Church. To inject a little hope into an otherwise dark DarkLinks, I place an article by my colleague JD Rucker over at NOQ Report praising God for a successful 2019. My article on Christianity Today and Pete Buttigieg is currently number one there showing just how important the connection between NOQ Report and the Evangelical Dark Web is. Then we finish on a darker note in the happenings of Presbyterians. While Catholicism is being taking over by Leftism, Evangelicalism contends with the Social Justice Gospel. The excerpts themselves are lengthy, so there will only be 4 links this edition.
Vatican retracts ‘unjust’ sanctions against openly homosexual Dutch priest
By Jeanne Smits @ Lifesite News
The Congregation for the Clergy, the body of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regarding priests not in a religious order, has asked the bishops of Haarlem-Amsterdam to retract two decrees by which they suspended and then fired a parish priest after he publicly proclaimed his homosexuality and dissolute lifestyle.
This took place at the end of “Gaudete” Sunday Mass in April on the 25th anniversary of Pierre Valkering’s ordination. The long-haired priest, wearing pink vestments proper to the fourth Sunday in Lent, told his story and presented his shocking new book, Undressed, not naked, to assembled parishioners and friends who came to celebrate his Jubilee.
The priest was sanctioned because he had not remained faithful to his promise of “celibacy” while having multiple homosexual relationships. Valkering, by his own account, disregarded the requirements of chastity and continence for a Catholic priest and for several years was visibly militant in pushing for a change of attitude by the Church toward homosexuality.
Bishop Jozef Punt of Haarlem-Amsterdam complained that the diocese had been “publicly pushed into a corner” while trying to help Valkering explore the situation and “to reflect and to get help” in observing sexual continence. Several statements were made insisting that Valkering was not being suspended or fired because of his “sexual orientation.”
According to the ruling by the Congregation for the Clergy after Valkering’s appeal of the sanctions, procedural errors affecting the two decrees against him will most probably lead to their annulment when they are assessed by the ecclesiastical tribunal of the Signatura Apostolica.
But contrary to what has been suggested in media reports, Valkering was not truly vindicated by the Congregation of the Clergy after his appeal against the two decrees. The Dutch priest, who first went public with the news on a radio show on December 12, told the Evangelical station EO program “Dit is de Dag” that his dismissal was found “unjust” because his offense was not clearly defined. He added that, according to the curial institution, proof was insufficient and he had not obtained his due rights of response.
POPE USES CHRISTMAS ADDRESS TO PRAISE IMMIGRANTS INSTEAD OF JESUS
By Pulpit and Pen
Pope Francis used his Christmas address to praise and glorify illegal immigrants. On a day typically reserved to set politics aside and remember the Christ-child’s birth, the first pope belonging to the Jesuit Order preached Liberation Theology instead of the traditional Christmas narrative.
Liberation Theology, born out of the Communist Revolution in South America and crafted by the Jesuit Order, interprets the Bible through the Marxist lens of class struggle, making the narrative of Christ’s birth, life, and death about identifying with the lower classes. Francis’ so-called ‘Christmas Message’ was textbook Liberation Theology while the Son of God was left out in the cold.
In God we trust for 2020 and beyond
By JD Rucker @ NOQ Report
We praise our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for being the sacrifice we didn’t deserve but desperately needed. I’m proud to be part of a growing conservative Christian news outlet and I look forward to informing more in 2020 and beyond.
Reasons Our Church Will Be Withdrawing From the Presbyterian Church in America
The Session of Providence PCA in Fayetteville voted to recommend to the congregation that we withdraw from the PCA and affiliate with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP).
By Andrew Web @ Aquila Report
This year marked the 25th anniversary of my joining the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). While I was converted outside of the PCA, largely through radio ministries, it was in the PCA that I was introduced to Reformed theology, and it was in the PCA that I was mentored by very patient and very learned men. It was with the blessing of the PCA that I went to seminary, became a Ruling Elder and was eventually ordained first as a church planter, and then as the permanent pastor of that same church.
My children were born into this denomination, and baptized in it, and have never been a part of any other denomination. I have attended almost every General Assembly since 1997 and was honored to have served in Central Carolina Presbytery on both the Candidates Committee and as the moderator. At one time, I could say that almost all of my friends in the pastorate were in the PCA, and many still are.
So with all of that in mind, I hope you will believe me when I say I am sorry to announce that on Friday, December 13, 2019, the Session of Providence PCA in Fayetteville voted to recommend to the congregation that we withdraw from the PCA and affiliate with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP). The final congregational vote will be on January 19, 2020. It is, of course, possible that the congregation will choose not to leave, but I think that is highly unlikely. I may have more to say more about my reasons for leaving the PCA at a later date, but the most pressing 12 reasons for going now are as follows
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