Winchester, Connecticut, February 19, 2020 — Arcadia Films and City of Light Studios, today released a Spanish spoken version of its short film, “Manifesto of Faith: The Movie” at ManifestoOfFaith.com.
The film was originally released in English in October 2019. Since that time, there have been many requests for a Spanish version of the film.
“This work brings to life and visualizes the “Manifesto of Faith” text written and released by Cardinal Müller on February 8, 2019,” said Stephen Payne, the film’s producer.“ He wanted to make a public testimony of the truth ‘in the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the Faith’ among the laity and the clergy.
The text of the film is Cardinal Müller’s effort to carefully, clearly and succinctly express the truths of the Catholic Faith. Its intent is to reassure Christians that, no matter what they might hear, the Church remains firm in expressing the teachings of Jesus Christ and in guiding believers along the path to salvation.
Gerhard Cardinal Müller is a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 until 2017.
# # #
Winchester, Connecticut, Estados Unidos (EUA) 19 de Febrero del 2020 — Arcadia Films y City of Light Studios, hoy lanzaron en Español su cortometraje, “Manifiesto De La Fe: La Película” visiten ManifestoOfFaith.com.
Desde el lanzamiento original en Inglés en Octubre del 2019, se han recibidos muchas solicitudes para una versión en Español.
“Esta obra da vida y visualiza el texto del “Manifiesto de Fe” escrito y publicado el 8 de Febrero de 2019 por el Cardenal Müller,” dijo Stephen Payne, el productor de la película. “Él quería hacer un testimonio público sobre la verdad “ante la creciente confusión sobre la doctrina de la fe” para los laicos y clero”.
El texto de la película es el esfuerzo del Cardenal Müller para expresar cuidadosamente, claramente y sucintamente las verdades de la fe Católica. La intención es asegurarle a los Cristianos que, sin darle importancia a lo que escuchen, la Iglesia se mantiene firme expresando las enseñanzas de Jesucristo y guiando los creyentes hacia el camino de la salvación.
El Cardenal Gerhard Müller es un Cardenal Alemán de la Iglesia Católica Romana. Fue nombrado por el Papa Benedicto XVI como Prefecto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe (CDF) y sirvió desde 2012 hasta 2017.
# # #
While some of our shepherds are truly shepherds, others are the wolves in shepherd’s clothing. Funny how the filmmakers of Manifesto of Faith also made a docudrama film in 2016 called A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing about Saul Alinsky bringing cultural Marxism to America.
In Manifesto of Faith, the father and son team of Richard and Stephen Payne have brought the German cardinal’s text to life. The 22-minute film was created by Arcadia Films, an American independent film company established by the Paynes. Arcadia is a division of City of Light Studios who has also brought us films and television shows like The Saints Speak, Parable, and the Gabriel Award-winning Saints Alive.
In the film’s press release, Stephen Payne tells us:
“This work brings to life and visualizes the Manifesto of Faith text written and released by Cardinal Mueller on February 8, 2019. He wanted to make a public testimony of the truth ‘in the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the Faith’ among the laity and the clergy. The Amazon Synod in October presents a good time to re-set these discussions with the truth of the faith as practiced for 2,000 years. Controversy is nothing new to the Church, and, when these do occur, reasoned voices, like Cardinal Mueller’s speak out to provide guidance and reassurance to the faithful.”
Translating an abstract “credo” into a documentary film lush in sound and cinematic aesthetics, U.S. filmmakers have reproduced Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s “Manifesto of Faith.” In his four-page public testimony, the German cardinal reasserted many key teachings of the faith, reminding clergy and laity, as Register Rome correspondent Edward Pentin reported, that it is up to “shepherds” to “guide those entrusted to them on the path of salvation.”
Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s “Manifesto of Faith” has been turned into a “catechetical documentary.” In the document, described as a four-page “public testimony of faith,” Cardinal Müller called on the faithful to resist error by educating themselves in the truths of the Catholic faith.
“In the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the faith, many bishops, priests, religious and laypeople of the Catholic Church have requested that I make a public testimony about the truth of revelation,” the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith writes in the introduction to his document, published in February. “It is the shepherds’ very own task to guide those entrusted to them on the path of salvation. This can only succeed if they know this way and follow it themselves.”
Considered the first of its kind, this documentary was produced to present the full content of Cardinal Müller’s document with a background of dynamic cinematography and sound.
Arcadia Films, the same studio that produced EWTN’s hugely popular A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, has dubbed the documentary a “faith opera.” The film made its debut online Oct. 1. According to Arcadia Films, “Manfesto of Faith” received a response of more than 40,000 views in its first week.
The sexual abuse crisis is one of the greatest scandals in the history of the Catholic Church. Wicked clerics have violated the trust of the laity to such a degree that it will take generations for this trust to be restored. What’s worse, bishops covered-up the abuse, thereby enabling abusers to continue their crimes for years.
The most infamous case by far is that of Theodore McCarrick who rose to be one of the most powerful churchmen in the United States, if not the world. In 2018, when McCarrick’s crimes became public, people began to realize the abuse crisis was not behind us.
Instead of dealing swiftly with the McCarrick scandal, the Vatican delayed his laicization for nearly 8 months. In the midst of this period, the Vatican interceeded in the USCCB’s plan to address the sexual abuse scandal in the United States. It then announced that there would be a worldwide sex abuse summit scheduled in February 2019.
Just prior to the abuse summit, the Vatican announced the laicization of McCarrick and promised to release the files which documented his history of abuse. But months later, these files have still not been released.
Little came from the 4 day abuse summit and what did has been slow to be implemented. Contrast this with the 3-week Synod on the Amazon Region held in October of 2019. The Vatican devoted 5 times the number of days to addressing Amazonian concerns than was allocated for the sexual abuse crisis.
In the end, the abuse crisis is simply a symptom of a much deeper problem; the lack of supernatural faith among a large number of Catholic clergy.
Related Stories
The Catholic Church teaches that the four last things in life are death, judgement, heaven and hell (CCC 1020-1050). At the moment of death, each human person is judged by God based on his conduct in this life, and goes immediately to his reward or punishment. Moreover, at the end of the world, Jesus Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. At that time, God’s whole plan for the world shall be revealed, and his mercy and justice demonstrated.
Some clerics today appear to be attempting to modify these eternal truths of the faith. Bishop Robert Barron is well-known for stating that we have “a reasonable hope” that all men are saved. In a 2018 interview with his longtime atheist friend, Eugenio Scalfari, Pope Francis claimed that Hell does not exist and that condemned souls just “disappear.”
The most charitable action a Catholic can take is to proclaim the truths of the faith regarding the reality of Heaven and Hell.
Related Stories
The tradition in the Western Church has been for priests and bishops to take vows of celibacy, a rule that has been firmly in place since the early Middle Ages. While there are exceptions made in some cases such as a Uniate Eastern Rite priests and married Anglican priest converting to Catholicism, no celebrate priest is allowed to marry. Priestly celibacy is not a dogma but a disciplinary rule. Priests voluntarily opt for celibacy as “a sign of new life” (CCC 1579).
One of the key issues being discussed at the Amazon Synod is to change the celibacy rule so as to allow priests to marry. Pope John Paul II wrote in 1992:
The synod fathers clearly and forcefully expressed their thought on this matter in an important proposal which deserves to be quoted here in full: “While in no way interfering with the discipline of the Oriental churches, the synod, in the conviction that perfect chastity in priestly celibacy is a charism, reminds priests that celibacy is a priceless gift of God for the Church and has a prophetic value for the world today. This synod strongly reaffirms what the Latin Church and some Oriental rites require, that is that the priesthood be conferred only on those men who have received from God the gift of the vocation to celibate chastity (without prejudice to the tradition of some Oriental churches and particular cases of married clergy who convert to Catholicism, which are admitted as exceptions in Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on priestly celibacy, no. 42). The synod does not wish to leave any doubts in the mind of anyone regarding the Church’s firm will to maintain the law that demands perpetual and freely chosen celibacy for present and future candidates for priestly ordination in the Latin rite.
He added that the “unchanging” essence of ordination “configures the priest to Jesus Christ the Head and Spouse of the Church.” Thus, he said, “The Church, as the Spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse loved her.”
Related Stories
The Holy Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith. In no other sacrament do we receive the very body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.
In John’s gospel, Jesus summarized the reasons for receiving Holy Communion when he said:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:53–58).
The Church encourages Catholics to receive frequent Communion and mandates reception of the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season. Before going to Communion, however, there are several things one needs to know:
Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Communion.
The Second Vatican Council, St. John Paul II, and Benedict XVI – as well as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts under them – all firmly opposed proposals to admit to eucharistic communion the divorced-and-remarried who do not observe continence. The 2016 Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, has been widely criticized for it vagueness regarding offering communion to the divorced and remarried. Indeed, the document has been interpreted by several bishops conferences to mean that those in the mortal sin of adultery by having been divorced and remarried can somehow received the Holy Eucharist. This is a grave error which leads persons to adding to their mortal sins instead of being reconciled to the Church.
Related Stories
The Catholic Church teaches that heresy is “the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same.” (CCC 2089). Heresy differs from apostasy in that apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith. The Catholic Church has had to deal with heretical teachings since Her very inception. Some of the major heresies in the Church’s history include Gnosticism, Arianism, Pelagianism , Nestorianism and Jansenism.
In today’s Church, we are seeing a resurgence in confusion and false teachings. Examples include Modernism, communion for the divorced and remarried, women clergy, the existence of Hell, the divinity of Jesus Christ and that God willed a plurality of religions. Several of these heresies have become evident in discussions surrounding the Amazon Synod.
Related Stories
The Catholic Church teaches that “the moral law is the work of divine Wisdom. Its biblical meaning can be defined as fatherly instruction, God’s pedagogy. It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God and his love. It is at once firm in its precepts and, in its promises, worthy of love.” (CCC 1950). The moral law stands in stark contrast to today’s popular belief in “moral relativism.” Moral relativism states that truth is always relative to the person and their situation.
Many within the Catholic Church have fallen prey to the seductive call of relativism. This has led to a serious crisis among certain moral theologians who have embraced the separation between will and act, resulting in a morality essentially free of the reality of sin, shot through with “sincerity” and coated in talk of “complexity.” In turn, some Catholics have concluded that “freedom” involves choosing for oneself what is true or false. Pope John Paul II addressed this misreading of truth and morality in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), where he stated:
This view of freedom leads to a serious distortion of life in society. If the promotion of the self is understood in terms of absolute autonomy, people inevitably reach the point of rejecting one another. Everyone else is considered an enemy from whom one has to defend oneself. . . . In this way, any reference to common values and to a truth absolutely binding on everyone is lost, and social life ventures on to the shifting sands of complete relativism. At that point, everything is negotiable, everything is open to bargaining: even the first of the fundamental rights, the right to life. (par 20)
Christ’s Good News was, and still is, that salvation is possible for us all — however, those who wish salvation must repent of their sins. One cannot be repentant unless a real, objective moral law exists. Moral relativism makes repentance and forgiveness―both human and divine―not only impossible but useless. It follows that all moral relativists imperil their salvation.
Related Stories