02 May 2024, Feast Day of Bishop Saint Athanasius, Doctor of the Church

THE PREFECT OF THE DICASTERY FOR THE CLERGY
His Excellency Lazarus You Heung-Sik

THE PRELATE OF OPUS DEI
His Excellency Fernando Ocáriz

THE VICAR OF OPUS DEI IN IVORY COAST
His Excellency Serge Abdoulaye Sissoko

Your Excellencies,

“Of every tree that is in the garden, eating you shall eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, but on the day that you eat, dying you shall die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

I am but a simple Catholic who has no advanced knowledge of Canon Law or Theology or similar disciplines. But I am confident that with God’s help I know how to discern between right and wrong.

I understand you are aware of James Martin, a Jesuit priest who is promoting things that are in favor of homosexual acts, a grave sin condemned by God. We also have Marco Rupnik, another Jesuit, who allegedly raped over 20 nuns, also a grave sin condemned by God.

In my simple Catholic mind, these two priests are fruits of the tree of knowledge. If I “eat” the message they preach, my soul will die. I will become like them who presume lordship over moral orders who attempt to redefine right and wrong as opposed to what God really wants.

On the other hand, we have Fr. Janvier Gbenou, an Opus Dei priest who has already endured extreme suffering for intellectually criticizing the two Jesuits and other bad clerics, including the Pope, who now faces a canonical case he does not deserve.

In my simple Catholic mind, he is a fruit of the trees of the garden and not of the tree of knowledge. His cause, though it may irritate the ears of our Pope, his supporters and other not-so-learned Catholics, is wholesome, full of truth and pleasing to God and His Church.

We cannot blame this good priest if he criticizes our Holy Father, Pope Francis. This is because he is sadly and obviously on the side of the two bad fruits already mentioned above. In fact, he is a friend of theirs and promotes their destructive works. Pope Francis is supposed to confirm our faith but instead he undermines it with his many ambiguous and confusing words and deeds.

Bishop St. Athanasius quoted the above verse in his writing “On the Incarnation of God.” He said that “by ‘dying you shall die,’ what else could it mean than not only to die, but also to remain forever in the corruption of death?” That is, death of the soul for those who shall in any manner partake of these bad fruits.

As true Christians, we do not desire the damnation of anyone’s soul. We pray for them and, if necessary, issue a fraternal correction. That is why many concerned Catholics, like myself and Father Janvier, who love the Sacred Deposit of Faith, need to raise our voices against those who undermine the teachings of the Catholic Church. We want them to realize the damage they are doing to the Kingdom of God and to hopefully change the way they treat God and His Church.

I wrote this letter to refresh our minds (Apostolicam Actuositatem 10) regarding our discernment between good and evil, especially Your Excellencies, who have the authority to either do what is good in favor of Fr. Janvier, or what is evil in favor of the enemies who are gradually destroying the Church from within.

May God give you an understanding mind with regards to his canonical case, so like King Solomon, you may be able to discern between good and evil. (Cf. 1 Kings 3:9).

Sincerely,

Jonel Esto
http://www.epistlesph.com