Credit must be given when credit is due!
Trautman to skip graduation in protest of Clinton visit
Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman will not attend the Mercyhurst College graduation in protest over Sen. Hillary Clinton’s visit to campus Tuesday.
Trautman issued a written statement on Monday, the day after the college announced Clinton would be speaking.
The full text of the statement follows:
“I am disappointed in Mercyhurst College for not reflecting the pro-life stance of the Catholic Church regarding abortion. As tangible expression on my disappointment, I have notified (Mercyhurst President Tom) Gamble that I will not be present for Mercyhurst’s graduation. I am open to meeting with Dr. Gamble in the future to ascertain how the Catholic identity of Mercyhurst can be better clarified.”
Clinton favors abortion rights.
Diocesan spokesman Tom McSweeney said in the statement that Trautman would have no further comment on the issue.
Mercyhurst spokeswoman Debbie Morton said she was not sure whether Gamble had received the statement and was not prepared to comment.
WDTPRS applauds Bp. Donald W. Trautman…. (which may be the first time those words were ever written)!
Incidently, the last time I was flying through, I think it must have been in Detroit, I wound up in the NWA lounge sitting next to the President of Mercyhurst College. Small world.
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Applauds due here! It’s good to see that he’s standing up for the unborn by this action. Now’s not the time for me to get on him for ICEL translations
Deo gratias!
All it takes is a few bishops to stand up for the right thing, and it will snowball into others following along. I think we are seeing it.
God bless Bishop Trautman on this one.
Brick by brick. Bishop by bishop. Thank you Your Excellency.
Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come. A lot of bishops have started to show a spine under this pontificate. If Trautperson straightens out, it’ll be a miracle to be thankful for!
O.K. I want to know which one of you has been praying for Bishop Trautman, because I want you praying for ME!
To say it again, Bp Trautman is a 1000 times right about the dreadful proposed new ICEL translations.
The old ICEL did an excellent job of translating the Roman Canon, and they fully explained the rationale of their choices. Now the bad arguments made against them and refuted at that time are being dragged out again in favor of the wretched new translation.
If the new translations are imposed, there will be havoc in the ranks of the faithful.
God bless you, Bishop Trautman!
Spirit: If the new translations are imposed, there will be havoc in the ranks of the faithful.
Piffle.
And this is not in any way relevant to this entry.
Yes, Bp. Trautman did the right thing by defending the Faith. However, he should be doing that all the time.
For this reason, I don’t know that I’d be so quick to give him kudos.
After all, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Forgive me for being cynical.
When I first saw the header, I thought it might be an April Fools’ joke.
Happily, it is not.
This just goes to show you that you never know where or how God’s grace will prevail!
Thank you, Bishop Trautman!
Wow…
Perhaps brief notes of thanks and support should be sent to His Excellency?
Is this an April Fool’s joke?
Back in the mid 1990s I was working on the organ in the Methodist church in Erie. I took a drive out into the countyside one Sunday and stumbled onto Mercyhurst. It was not difficult – you can see the chapel from miles away. But when I went into said chapel, it was bare – totally. I think they were converting it into a lecture hall. Even the sacristy had many closets and drawers that had been totally emptied. It was a sad day for me.
Stephen… what were you doing going through the drawers and closets of the sacristy? lol
This Bishop’s name isn’t really familiar to me. But, I am glad that he’s protesting Mrs. Clinton’s visit.
O.K., O.K.
But, cannot bishops do something more than voice concern in a situation like this, like govern, before the ‘event’ takes place?
That’s a real question, because this kind of voicing of concern goes on all the time and no one, but no one, could care less, ever. Is there something more that can be done? I don’t know. Maybe that’s all he could do…
Any canon lawyers? What can really be done?
Bishop T. is not familiar to me. I applaud his stance, but not completely. I would have said all that he said but added that my first inclination would have been to withdraw from the graduation ceremonies, but upon reflection, I agree to attend to take the opportunity to teach everyone the Catholic viewpoint on abortion. I’d use the speaker’s platform to teach. I’d make my position well known beforehand, so that my attendance would not be considered as agreeing with Clinton. Once there, I’d let them have it.
Right now, nothing else involving Bishop Trautman matters. He did the right thing, and the angels are rejoicing in Heaven. Send the bishop a card, send him flowers, send him a singing telegram, send him a spiritual bouquet. Or just call his office and thank him without bringing up anything else.
David Alexander writes:
Right now, nothing else involving Bishop Trautman matters. He did the right thing, and the angels are rejoicing in Heaven. Send the bishop a card, send him flowers, send him a singing telegram, send him a spiritual bouquet. Or just call his office and thank him without bringing up anything else.
Cry this a thousand times from the rooftops… AMEN! :)
Seriously… Bishop Trautman is as human as the rest of us, and he has a human heart which can’t help but respond, if we (and others) send him a flood of positive reinforcement for his good action.
For those who comment on the “weakness” of the Bishop’s response–I agree wholeheartedly (and lament the lack of decisive leadership as much as you!), but Bishop Trautman is who he is, and he’s *where* he is, theologically and spiritually. We can’t expect him to become Archbishop Burke (may the latter be raised to the altar soon after he finishes a long and prosperous life!), but we can encourage him to grow, bit by bit. Let’s not be short-sighted; charity is, by definition, to be offered to those who don’t deserve it (like me, and any other wretched sinners out there).
I don’t mean to say that criticisms of the Bishop’s other actions aren’t appropriate; I think they certainly are. But fair is fair, and simple prudence demands that we reinforce even the most humble good when we see it.
Bp. Trautman, and all of our bishops, must be applauded for their actions like this. It takes a great deal of courage in this times to take a public stand like this, especially since it will likely enrage many of those who support him in other things.
It is occasions like this or when we see Bps. Mahoney and Brown marching in the Right-to-Life parades that we must stop and reflect that yes, indeed, as promised, nothing shall prevail against the Church. The Holy Spirit can and will use us all, especially in the matters of such great importance.
Mercyhurst is operated by the Sisters of Mercy. The most progressive feminist sisters in America.They will fight teeth to teeth even with the Pope.
I propose a 1 year moratorium on “Bp. Trautperson” comments in wake of this wonderful decision.
Bishop Trautman is such a lightening rod on liturgical issues that
I don’t know much else about him, but there is a type of bishop (and priest), who it is super-frustrating to deal with, who is completely orthodox doctrinally but hopeless in his attitude towards the liturgy.
It’s the generation that thought — not without reason — that obedience to Rome was the hermeneutic of liturgical discontinuity.
O.K., O.K.
But, what can really be done within the limitations of Canon Law to stop a Hillary from speaking at a Catholic Institution in the first place?
There may be some excellent young bishops out there who are reading this blog and they may not be experts in Canon Law and may appreciate some good advice from a canon lawyer or two!
Can we learn from this event even more, for future reference?
Wow, at first I thought this was an April Fools joke. Thank God it isn’t.
To say it again, Bp Trautman is a 1000 times right about the dreadful proposed new ICEL translations.
The translations embraced by you and used for the past 35 years are literary disasters.
As long as Latin is not the architectonic liturgical language of the Church, any translation will be controversial and will quickly become outdated.
Having said that, I find it ironic that someone from Ireland wants to tell Americans and Brits what is a good translation for them. The last thing American liturgy needs is an injection of Irish sentimentalism–or Northern European ambiguity (and sentimentialism).
The old ICEL did an excellent job of translating the Roman Canon, and they fully explained the rationale of their choices.
I would like to see a re-translation of the Roman Canon (which is of course seldom used), but most of the changes are not proper to it.
The main changes are in the Credo, the Gloria, the Et cum spiritu tuo, the Orate Fratres, the Domine, non sum dignus.
One other point: The translations found in the Lectionary are often a joke. For example, from the Prologue of the 4th Gospel, “plenum gratia et veritatis” (a literal translation from the Greek) is “full of enduring love”.
Now the bad arguments made against them and refuted at that time are being dragged out again in favor of the wretched new translation.
So you’re saying that you prefer the wretched old translations to the wretched new ones?
If the new translations are imposed, there will be havoc in the ranks of the faithful.
Comment by Spirit of Vatican II
Ah, we have more of your recycled 70’s theology, with the usual warnings that the new translations aren’t “pastoral”. But, as I’ve pointed out before, your approach has been tried–it is has been shown to have been a pastoral flop.
Your prescription is to buy more liturgical ENRON stock.
As a frequent critic of Bishop Trautman, I am pleased that he is taking a very pro-active stance on this very important issue. Perhaps, a conversion
to Summorum Pontificum is the next step. We can only hope. Tom
My aunt, Sr. Maura Smith, used to be the President of Mercyhurst and one-time
president of the Sisters of Mercy. Let’s just say that things are not healthy
at ole’ Mercyhurst…not by a long shot.
Still, the press release does say what it says, so I must give His Excellency the benefit of the doubt.
Mea culpa.
It is wonderful that priests and bishops are standing up to the abortion speakers on Catholic campuses, however I have yet to hear of one stand up to neo-cons and their unjust war. Priests and bishops are quick to fight against abortion at times, but they are nearly silent when it comes to the unjust war that is killing the innocent. Maybe the warmongers are not visiting Catholic institutions, but all must remember that there are ten commandments to be respected.
What I wonder is what it’s going to take for one of the US Bishops to pull the label Catholic from one of their institutions of higher learning that just don’t seem to get it.
A rare, but justified hat tip to Bishop Trautman!
Good for his Excellency! Whatever his views on what the next Liturgical text should look like he’s doing his job well on this issue.
Is there some forum elsewhere, where views on the next Liturgical text can/should be made?
Father Z: I am absolutely stunned that you would delete my response to a lefty like Christopher Mandzok who slams Neocons while keeping his disgraceful rant about Neocons killing innocent people in an “unjust war” on your website. Unlike Christopher, Neocons are fighting to save innocent people from people like Saddam, who maintain human shredders and rape rooms. If Christopher wants to hide behind “just war” theories to promote his left-wing political agenda against the US that’s his problem. But the Catholic Church teaches a very different theory. A prominent Jesuit at Georgetown wrote a very convincing analysis as to why the Iraq War is a just war under traditional Catholic doctrine. That priest was also very orthodox and a promoter of the Latin liturgy. If that’s the way you want to play the game, I greatly underestimated your sense of balance and fair play. Tom
TJM: When I see comments leading to rabbit holes, I shut them down.