It think it may be up to us – up to you and me.
The US Bishops begin their annual November meeting today in Baltimore.
There will be protesters around the meeting, as there should be. Some, seemingly within the USCCB itself, have tried to paint these protesters in advance as violent. I don’t think they will be and shame on those who painted them that way without sufficient evidence.
Anyway, their collective Excellencies will meet and talk, sometimes with cameras on, sometimes off.
Do we really believe they will do something about The Present Crisis?
It think it may be up to us – up to you and me.
Fast and pray.
The FSSP parish in Baltimore have the right idea. They have scheduled special Masses and Adoraton during the bishops’ meeting. THAT’s how it is done. This will help those who go there to protest and it will help the bishops. I hope the bishops took note that this is a TRADITIONAL parish. I wonder if any other parish did anything even remotely like what the Baltimore FSSP parish did.
Watch the stream live: HERE
UPDATE:
I tuned in to the live stream only to hear the Nuncio denouncing “clericalism” and praising the new ratio for formation of seminarians.
*sigh*
UPDATE:
So, there were a couple of speeches this morning. Now the bishops have a day of prayer, with opportunities for confession. There is a Blessed Sacrament Chapel and reliquary chapel.
Card. DiNardo said that they were instructed by Rome not to take any votes concerning accountability of bishops! Instead they are to wait until after the February conflab.
So… why are they there again?
Loading ...
Well that settles it.
If Rome is telling the USCCB not to take care of their own problem, then this whole “collegiality” and “decentralization” push by Rome is truly a farce. Decentralize only to allow disorder, disunity, and chaos…but maintain ultramontain centralization in order to prevent local conferences from addressing local concerns, thus using centralization to allow disorder, disunity, and chaos.
If nothing comes out of this meeting, I am writing my bishop, DiNardo, and the Nuncio letting them know I’m not giving another dime to the diocese, the USCCB, or Peter’s Pence.
Which is too bad for all of them because I just finally finished all of my surgical training and my 10% just got a lot bigger.
I will officially be finished with them all. I’ll give to my local good priests and local charities.
Ah,yes. Nothing like creating some drama by waiting until the last minute to cancel a scheduled vote.
Meanwhile, the rest of us become more enraged. I hope this leads to more secular law enforcement investigations of bishops!
What I find interesting is the fact that the pope has been pushing to devolve more decision making to the episcopal conferences – you know, for doctrinal matters – but when it comes to cleaning up Sodomy and bishops’ behavior he’s back to centralized control.
We might as well all just give up. I am sick of this pontificate, I have tried to remain calm and rational, I cannot do it any more, Pope Francis does not care, he just wants to cover all of the abuse caused by clergy up, particularly concerning those closest to him, there is no longer any clarity on church teaching, the cover up by Bishops is absolutely despicable. Can someone tell me is there any point remaining with a Church which is on the brink of floundering. I have served on the altar for 25 years, and now I am on the brink of completely giving up. I have felt so angry with a Pope or with the Church before. Father, I ask for your prayers.
Rod Dreher, in The American Conservative, reacts to the news from Baltimore:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-pope-is-the-problem/
There is a Tweet from Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press.
B.S.
I wonder if the USCCB could be at risk of a lawsuit if they reported Michael Voris and friends to law enforcement as potentially violent.
Imagine, our own bishops reporting some of those who work hardest to save the church in our time to law enforcement.
If the Church is to survive, we need to clearly see that we are dealing with tyranny from Rome, and take shrewd and stealthy steps to resist destruction.
If I were a bishop at that meeting, as soon as the Pope’s iron fist was slammed on the meeting I think I would have left the meeting, returned to my diocese, and made public comments that I wouldn’t participate in a farce nor pointless proceedings. I’m the ordinary of my diocese, and that’s where I’ll stay and make decisions from then on.
Barryalteraerver
I am on the brink of completely giving up.”
No, you just hand Satan the victory…and your soul.
The pope is not the church. Would you throw away a brand new perfect Rolls Royce because the motor pool sent over a bad driver? Double down, pray, sacrifice, speak the necessary truth, withhold funds, what ever, but don’t leave the sacraments and doctrine because others may sin.
A lot is riding on February’s meeting. The Holy Father better have some comprehensive proposals up his sleeve for the whole Church on the abuse crisis, to superceed the national conference.
The optics are awful.
@barryaltarserver1985: I was where you were this past summer. I can’t change Pope Francis’ mind. I can’t alter his past choices, particularly in selecting the cardinals who may replace him.
I cannot judge his heart, nor do I wish to. Were my _opinion_ fully voiced, I suspect that it would make even Jack Chick blush. But God has not placed me in charge of Pope Francis, nor has He granted me access to chew his ear out, so I must accept that God permits the steward to continue to strike the menservants and maidservants for now. I, however, have my own work to attend to, that my Lord be pleased.
For all this, God is not afraid, so why should I be?
At some point, whether by subtle or terrifying means, the Lord shall set things straight. I may not live to see it, but there is no promise that I awake tomorrow either.
When confiding in Confession, Fr. told me that if it isn’t my job to keep tabs on the bishops or the pope, don’t. Read the writings of the saints instead. So, I’m on Book 6 of St. Augustine’s City of God, and I am greatly fortified for it.
I will close thusly, that the Lord treasures the prayers of the brokenhearted, more than you can imagine. So much so that eventually Satan must relinquish his efforts upon your faith, if solely out of utter revulsion.
There is a part of the Church which is in communion with the Pope but refuses to accept any of his uncatholic decisions: the SSPX
Synopsis of Archbishop Christophe Pierre’s address to the annual USCCB meeting:
With respect to sexual abuse issues:
Rule with an iron fist. Resist government intervention because they can’t solve your roblem. Stray on this point and you’ll land outside the church. Be proud of what you have done. It’s working but there is more to do. Real reform means making people trust in you. Suffer if it suits you, but always remember you are invincible. Use Pope Francis’s easy three step program on how to be a bishop. Finally, clericism is the new homosexuality, so suppress clericism. Jesus saves.
http://www.usccb.org/about/leadership/usccb-general-assembly/upload/ga-2018-fall-nuncios-address-pierre.pdf
barryaltarserver1985, please don’t commit spiritual suicide because of the sins of others.
During the announcements on Sunday, our parish was reminded that any parishioners who taught any of the Sunday classes (children through adults) had to take training again to prevent OUR abusing people. Uh huh. It’s not the Bishops, folks, it’s the laity doing this was the message we were told.
No guts, no glory.
Since the French bishops were allowed to create abuse policies recently, I am beginning to think this is about something else entirely. And that thing is Vigano’s claim that Pope Francis knew about and rehabilitated McCarrick. But shutting down discussion on abuse issues, perhaps it is the Vatican’s way of hoping it puts a cork in the McCarrick mess.
Dismas- I think that many priests are giving advice like that. I understand that they want to limit spiritual casualties in our dangerous era, but at the same time, I can’t help but think that this advice has already caused a lot of casualties. How many baby boomers were not warned by parents who tried to ignore the crisis in the Church as though it weren’t happening, and how many have been lost to the culture of death as a result? How many boomers, gen-x-ers, and millenials have been sent off to high school or college (many to catholic colleges) only to lose their faith because they didn’t know what they were up against? How many seminarians were sent off by good families only to have their faith destroyed or their morals corrupted because they were unprepared?
In normal times, none of us would have to sit our sons down and tell them that if they go to seminary, they need to lock their door at night. My oldest son will be a senior in high school next year, and I have to figure out how to explain the scandals, both doctrinal and moral, engulfing the Church so that he is not so scandalized when he leaves the home that he loses his faith. The younger children are learning their catechism and are happily insulated from the firestorm. We pray for the pope and priests of the Church every night, but they know nothing of the scandals. As they get closer to leaving the home, I will have to find the words to explain this horrible mess to them in an attempt to save their faith. Our family does not watch network news, and my husband works too many hours to read too much of the news online, so it is my job in the family to keep informed of what is going on in the Church and society in order to prepare the older children to go out into the world.
I am hopeful that teaching them Church history will buffer some of the shock of what is going on now, as the Church has had a pretty wild ride up to this point. However, I do think the Church in our time is undergoing a trial which makes previous trials look like child’s play, as we are dealing with not one or two heresies, but modernism, the synthesis of all heresies. It is like every previous heresy and every previous era of moral emergency that has occurred in the Church has come back to plague us at the same time, at a time when the weakest and most corrupt clergy are supposed to be defending the barque, and the first mate of the ship is deliberately steering her toward the rocks while the Captain sleeps. It’s as if the enemy is trying to take the whole ship down, once and for all. If the laity are not informed during this crisis, we are liable to drown. Yes, the Church will survive as Christ promised, but none of us individually received a guarantee of safety.
Lord, make haste to help us!
@chantgirl: I should mention that the advice that I was given was only summated here. Fr. knew that I already know enough to guide my family, and so further delving into the gross depravity of certain prelates does neither the bishops nor myself any good, and merely distracts me from my own duties. Were I an investigative journalist or in the employ of a district attorney, for instance, my situation would be otherwise.
As for preparedness for the wickedness of the world, I have no doubt that the members of the Holy Church in its infancy had been far less able to shield their children from the vile acts of debauchery that the pagans enacted publicly, or guard them from the numerous perverse pleasures and luxuries proffered and plied to them in tender youth. Even so, the Christians prevailed, if not by seclusion, but rather by rigorous discipline and instruction.
Thus, should my own son seek the priesthood, I will be sure to support him and aid him. I would also supply him with a toolkit worthy of an intelligence agent and the phone numbers of canon, civil, and prosecutorial lawyers. Self defense techniques are a given.
Dark times require hard and stern men. Beware luxury!
I did see EWTN Nightly News last night.
Three observations:
1. Cardinal DiNardo seemed that he wanted to proceed with the planned agenda (same with several others – one bishop from Vermont was impressive) but out of obedience he complied (saying he was disappointed)
2. Testimonies from abuse victims were given
3. Al Kresta, a trustworthy news source who pulls no punches (I helped bring him in for a conference a few years ago), mentioned that a certain church leader of a large midwestern city seemed to know that the last minute announcement was coming from Rome. (My thought was a previous good Cardinal who led this large midwestern city was turning over in his grave).
The bishops and the laity do need to come up with something. Personally, I thought this was all behind us 16 years ago.
Dismas- Agreed about seminary prep. Before going to seminary, our young men need the religious version of SERE training!
In all honesty, I don’t think that our culture is all that different from pagan Rome, except that they were more honest about their debauchery. We hide our human sacrifices in abortuaries, and weed out unworthy newborns and elderly in a more secluded way. We do allow children access to tech that gives them an unlimited world of filth, though. We are pretty open about our sexual deviance, but still try to hide our murderous behavior.
Sounds like you have a good confessor; you are blessed in this time of lean!