When Silence, Confusion, and the Loss of the Sacred Endanger Souls
My brothers and sisters in Christ,
There are moments in the life of the Church when a shepherd feels a weight that cannot be ignored. Not a political pressure. Not a media storm. But a quiet, insistent sense of responsibility before God. A sense that silence, however comfortable it might seem, is no longer faithful.
We are living in such a moment.
The Church is not abandoned. Christ remains her Head. He is present in the Eucharist. He is faithful to His promises. And yet, many of the faithful feel unsettled. They feel disoriented. They struggle to put words to it, but they sense that something precious has been weakened, something essential has been obscured.
They sense confusion – not just in the world, but within the Church herself. And confusion is never neutral.
In Sacred Scripture, the Lord speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and entrusts him with a grave responsibility. He calls him a watchman. A watchman is not asked to predict danger, or to invent threats. He is simply commanded to remain awake, to see clearly, and to warn when danger approaches. If he fails to do so, the Lord says the blood of those harmed will be required at his hand.
That image has been on my heart for some time now. Because bishops are not called merely to administer institutions or preserve calm. We are called to watch, to guard, and when necessary, to speak – even when speaking is costly.
The greatest danger facing the Church today is not persecution from the outside. The Church has endured emperors, revolutions, prisons, and martyrdom. She has survived far worse than criticism or hostility.
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