[Greek] ἀφορίζω (aphorizō), [Latin] separare, [Latin] segregare, [French] isoler

[Greek] ἀφορίζω (aphorizō), [Latin] separare, [Latin] segregare, [French] isoler: to separate, to exclude, to appoint, to set apart; Mt.13:49, Mt.25:32, Lk.6:22, Acts 13:2, Acts 19:9, Rom.1:1, 2Cor.6:17, Gal.1:15, Gal.2:12

It was historically believed that unity meant bringing other faiths INTO the fold of the Catholic Church. Now with Vatican II/Synodality, unity means unity of faith OUTSIDE the Catholic Church.

Background information:

Greek Hellenism: This term means to mark off, to establish, to border on, to define, to separate, to exclude, to bring to an and, and to banish.

Isocrates’ To Phillip 5.120: “What opinion must we expect the world will have if you actually do this undertaking to establish cities in this region.”

Plato’s Timaeus 24a: “You see how the priestly class is separated from the rest: craftsmen, shepherds, and farmers, each distinguished and separate.”

Plato’s Greater Hippias 298d: “Did you make the distinction that in the category of the pleasing that which is beautiful, whereas, you say that that which is pleasing according to other senses.”

Old Testament: This term means to separate, to divide, and to cleave. Israel is separated from the world. The lepers, unclean, and the unholy are to be separated from the community. The Levites are to be a separated priesthood.

New Testament: This term means to separate, to disperse, to exclude, and to set apart.

Mt.25:32: “The Son of Man will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (The criterion of judgment is ultimately the acceptance or rejection of Jesus. The Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne and assemble all the nations [Gentiles and Jews] before Him. The criterion of judgment will be deeds of mercy.)

Lk.6:22: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.” (Being excluded: persecution, being deposed, being marginalized, and being excommunicated. Being insulted: being accused as heretics, apostates, and enemies [to the law or the Jews]. Being denounced as evil: being perceived as hateful and intolerant, being countercultural, and being monsters.)

Acts 19:9: “When some in their obstinacy and disbelief disparaged the Way before the assembly, Paul withdrew and took his disciples with him and began to hold daily discussions in the Tyrannus lecture hall.” (The truth had no impression on their opponents as they were not persuaded by the Way’s message. Therefore, it was necessary for Paul to find another place to hold daily discussions.)

Gal.1:15: “But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me [Paul] apart and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to Me.” (Paul makes reference to revelation, not conversion. This language echoes the Old Testament prophetic call of Jeremiah.) 

Gal.2:12: “Peter used to eat with the Gentiles; but when the Jewish Christians came, Peter began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised.” (Because of peer pressure, Peter walked away from the Gentiles. Since Peter’s actions were in public, Paul rebuked Peter in public. The Jerusalem Council recognized the freedom of Gentile Christians from the Jewish law.)

2Cor. 6:17: “Therefore, come forth from them and be separate, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will receive you.” (This phrase calls for a distinct separation from the practices and influences of the world contrary to God. This call is not about physical withdrawal but a moral and spiritual distinction. Jesus, while engaged with sinners, remained untainted by sin.)

In 1864 Pope Pius IX condemned the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom (religious Modernism).

1. This association sought to promote unity among Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox Christians.
2. This was a Modernist pre-Vatican II organization seeking to find unity of faith outside the Catholic Church.
3. Pre-Vatican II: The Church of Christ IS the Catholic Church. (“Outside the Church there is NO salvation.”)
4. At Vatican II: The Church of Christ SUBSISTS in the Catholic Church. (Any concept of the Catholic Church as being necessary for salvation has been minimized or eroded in order to be ECUMENICAL.)
5. Pope Francis and Pope Leo have both encouraged unity of faith outside of the Catholic Church. (Both of these hopes are seeking to create a new worldly Synodal Church made in the image of man.)
6. Modernism has been on the rise: Unity of faiths outside the Catholic Church was initially condemned. Now it is celebrated. (This is becoming a Church more and more unrecognizable from the Church that Jesus established.)

Excluding and ignoring Jesus’ commands to sin no more: (Jn.8:11-12):

1. It is naive to think that this applies ONLY to the adulterous woman. This applies to all of us who sin.
2. Jesus is often presented as being both infinitely merciful and and infinitely tolerable. Jesus associated with sinners but He did NOT tolerate their sinful behavior.
3. Unfortunately, Jn.8:11-12 is rarely mentioned by the Church and clergy. There is NOT enough focus on Jesus’ statements on sin.
4. Clergy who do not mention sin and Jesus’ statements on sin are failing in their duty to properly catechize the faithful.
5. Many clergy do NOT state Church teachings against homosexuality. These clergy are putting many people’s eternal mortal souls in peril.
6. The Church instead focuses more on inclusion, tolerance, false compassion rather than on sin, Jesus’ statements on sin, forgiveness, and conversion of heart.
7. Jn. 8:12: “Whoever follows Me will NOT walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”, in other words, ===> [Whoever does NOT follow Me will walk in darkness].
8. You would think this would be important for “a Synodal Church who supposedly walks with each other.

What did Pope Pius X’s encyclical Pescendi Dominic Gregis (1907) prophetically says about how the Church would separate from Traditional Catholicism?

1. The Modernists (and later Synodalists) seek to commingle objective moral truths (Church teachings) with lived experiences (personal and subjective explanations for religion.) This is called vital immanence.
2. Lived experiences often TAKE PRECEDENCE over supernatural realities and moral truths.
3. Clergy and laity share Church decision-making authority. This seeks to undermine the structure of the Church.
4. They seek to further separate Church teachings from Tradition. Modernism is a synthesis of all heresies leading to atheism.
5. They seek to transform Jesus’ divine Church (separate from the world) into a worldly synodal Church (made in the image of man and his lived experiences.)

How Vatican II and Synodality separated from Traditional Catholicism:

1. It was naively believed that the Church needed to bring in “fresh air” so that the Church “could get with the times.”
2. Along with “fresh air [worldliness] came the “smoke of Satan” [spirit of undermining].
3. Human traditions and questionable ecumenical efforts seek to find unity of faith OUTSIDE the Catholic Church.
4. Very questionable human tradition: Pope Paul VI coordinated with Protestant theologians to create a Novus Order Mass with the focus on the community meal (not the sacrifice).
5. Synodality seeks to double down on what Vatican II started: more worldliness and more spirit of undermining.
6. Lived experiences, tolerance, false compassion, inclusion, and equality take precedence over Church teachings, Jesus’ states, sin, forgiveness, and conversion of heart.
7. Warning signs of things to come with Synodality: the German Church is “reforming” and “renewing” itself into decline and heresy.
8. Clergy and laity are now SHARING DECISION MAKING AUTHORITY about Church organization, Church practices, and Church teachings.

John of the Cross warns us to remain SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD:

1. We are called to be temporary earthly sojourners and citizens of heaven. (1Pet.2:11, Php.3:20, Eph.2:19)
2. The Conciliar Church (Vatican II) begins to look more and more like a United Nations NGO.
3. Synodality is remaking Jesus’ Church into a worldly Church made in the image of man and his lived experiences.
4. It seems that both Vatican II and Synodality have lost the plot about what the Church should be.
5. The Church is more focused on MAKING A BETTER WORLD/SEEKING FAVOR WITH THE WORLD rather than with BRINGING SOULS INTO HEAVEN.
6. A Church, opposing the world and culture, often grows and thrives. A Holy Spirit inspired movement seeking Tradition and the TLM is already providing true reform for the Church.
7. A Church, moving with the world and culture, often stagnates and falls into decline and heresy  (The German Synodal Church)

Synodality: failing to separate the sacred from the mundane:

1. Bringing the altar to the beach: A Jesuit retreat organized a Mass on the beach. Bikinis and swim suits are allowed.
2. Yet, the Traditional Latin Mass must not be allowed. Traditiones Custodes must still be enforced.
3. Permitting and allowing a Pride event: The German bishops stated that this even is such a joyful and moving celebration.
4. Yet, a retired priest, who called this event a scandal of shamelessness and scandalous sexual behavior, is criticized by the German bishops.
5. Replacing fidelity with opposition: We now have clergy who believe that the Church has got it wrong about homosexuality and must stop “excluding” the LGBTQ community.
6. Yet, we have German bishops who complain that the Church must become a “safe space”, should not use scripture against them, and must stop its “cultural homophobia.”
7. We continually discover examples of cringeworthy and sacrilegious actions in the Novus Order Mass.
8. A Brazilian bishop says we need to exorcise homophobia and racism and not the “imaginary devil.”

Separating Tradition from Synodality:

1. The older generations of nuns/sisters who have forsaken the habit (looking like your grandmother in a pantsuit). These orders are diminishing and dying out.
2. The younger generations of nuns/sisters joyfully wear the habit. These orders are growing and thriving.
3. The older generations of priests have been more liberal and progression. Their numbers are retiring and dying out.
4. The younger generations of priests and seminarians are more conservatively minded and traditional. They also joyfully wear the traditional garments.

Conclusion:

Separate, separation, aphorism, segregate, segregation, isolate, isolation

Antioch becomes the primary center for the Christian community. It is here where the term ‘Christian’ originated.

Update: The diocese of Charlotte is seeking to shut down the TLM to “promote the concord and unity of the Church.” This is greatly opposed by the laity.

In his efforts to restrict the TLM, the bishop of Charlotte intentionally set aside a small isolated venue for the TLM to be celebrated. This is further illustration of the clergy who  marginalize the faithful.

Pope Leo calls on women and men religious to be experts in Synodality. But what about making disciples of all nations (Mt.28:1-20) and bringing souls into heaven? This sounds like making Synodality an IDOL!

St. Josephs’ Catholic Church in Indiana, having recently removed the TLM, was forced to close their Church for lack of attendance. Shocker! Bishops, more concerned about promoting their Modernist/Synodalist ideologies, evidently have no problems about closing churches.

THIS IS WHAT POPE PIUS X WARNED US ABOUT: Bishop Drainey of Middlesbrough UK diocese calls upon the Church to re-examine its theological position on sexuality, gender, and identity in light of “modern scientific discoveries and LIVED EXPERIENCES of people with different sexualities and identities”. This is elevating Synodality (lived experiences) over Church teachings  ===> SYNODALITY BECOMES AN IDOL. 

Pope Pius IX, Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pius X, Pope Pius XI, and Pope Pius XII actually believed that unity of faith meant bring people into the fold of the Catholic Church. The later popes changed this idea.

Repeatedly clergy are being identified and criticized for their scandalous or sacrilegious actions. Unfortunately, the Vatican (and Pope Leo) often remains quiet about this.

Although Jesus associated with sinners, He did not come to tolerate their sinful behavior. He told them to sin no more. Yet many still believe that Jesus is all about endless tolerance.

It has been said by some that Fiducia Supplicans (offering non-liturgical blessings to same-sex unions) has become a new “mill-stone moment” in the Church for the grave nature of blessing sin (evil.)

A German bishop now claims that homosexuality is part of God’s plan of creation. This is a typical rationalization for clergy who are already living in a homosexual lifestyle and for those who want to remove clerical celibacy.

Separate understandings about Vatican II: Pope Leo continues to celebrate Vatican II. Yet there continues more and more critical examination of the consequences of Vatican II on the Church.

God will also separate those wicked, unfaithful, and clergy who do not properly fulfill their responsibilities to bring souls into heaven. As a result, there will be some priests, clergy, and pastors who may be SEVERELY JUDGED BECAUSE OF THEIR FAILURE TO ACT LIKE PRIESTS, CLERGY, AND PASTORS.

The Son of Man will surely separate those clergy/goats who do not state or teach Church against sin. God will not be mocked.

It is important to note that God will remain faithful to those clergy and laity who are persecuted, marginalized, and cancelled in remaining faithful to Him. 

Aphorism: This is a term describing an important truth in a short or pithy sentence.

Aphorisms/quotes by St. Augustine

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” 

“Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.”

“If you believe what you like in the Gospels and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospels you believe, but yourself.”

“The cost of obedience is small compared with the cost of disobedience.”