Ad Limina: A Novella by Cyril Jones-Kellett

Author:Cyril Jones-Kellett
Language: eng
Format: azw
Publisher: March 7 Media
Published: 2016-02-17T08:00:00+00:00

(25.)

Mr. Hemmer had the good sense to capture video of the post-human. This the bishop sent via coded message to Rome, along with his own notes on the situation and a recording explaining his decision to baptize Doug.

The last bit was tricky. While it was obvious to the bishop that he was doing the right thing in baptizing Doug, it was not an area covered—at least as far as he knew—in Church law. Would the prelates in Rome agree with him? Would they scold him for not seeking advice before proceeding? Might they even inform him that he had been excommunicated?

Waiting for the return message to come, the bishop grew anxious. He really had no idea what things were like at the Vatican, at least not in any first-hand way, and having put himself in an awkward position, he now began to entertain various unpleasant possibilities.

What if the conspiratorial Father Van der Walt was right about the divisions within the Church? What if one of the cardinals rumored to be fascist sympathizers were to get the message? A creature such as Doug could not be tolerated in the fascist world. Rather than baptize him, a true fascist would euthanize him or, at the very least, hide him away in some dark place. A prelate with such inclinations would be unlikely to look kindly on Doug’s baptism.

On the other hand, what if the cardinal who got the message turned out to be a convinced New Progressivist? How might such a prelate politicize Doug? Doug could become a poster child for the New Progressivist idea of Church, a Church that encouraged humanity to strike out unfettered by old moralities in a thousand new directions at once?

When the message came, the bishop took a deep breath before reading it, and as he read he was immediately filled with a dread he had not, even in his anxiety, expected.

Apparently, whoever had received the message was neither a fascist nor a New Progressivist, but an old-time traditionalist. The return message came under the seal of the Holy Father, and that, the bishop was fairly certain, meant it was from the Vatican Secretary of State or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or some similarly high office—no one else, the bishop thought, could seal a message with the papal seal.

There was much reference to mortal sin and the duty to preach the Gospel in season and out.

The only reference to Doug was to convey the Holy Father’s apostolic blessing on the new brother and to order the bishop to see that once Doug was baptized he was given proper preparation to receive Confirmation, Eucharist, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If death became imminent, of course, the preparation was to be suspended in favor of immediate reception.

What was more, in his remaining time on the station, the bishop was to share the fullness of the Gospel with anyone on the station in a position of responsibility. He was to teach and instruct—in the most forceful

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