It is occasionally instructive to view events through the lens of the… “other side”. Hence, we might look at the panicky reaction over the USCCB elections over at the Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter). One has the image of that photo of the woman wailing after the loss of her dearest Hillary.
As you may have heard, the US Bishops elected new officers. From the USCCB site:
Archbishop [Timothy] Broglio [Military Services] was elected president with 138-99 votes over Archbishop Lori [Baltimore] in a runoff on the third ballot. Archbishop Lori was elected vice president on the third ballot by 143-96 votes in a runoff vote against Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The president and vice president are elected by a simple majority from the same slate of 10 nominees. If no president or vice president is chosen after the second round of voting, a third ballot is a run-off between the two bishops who received the most votes on the second ballot. Both bishops will assume their new offices for a three-year term after the adjournment of this year’s USCCB Plenary Assembly.
Fishwrap‘s Brian Fraga shows that grubby site’s cards. My emphases and comments:
“Archbishop Timothy Broglio, a former Vatican diplomat who has supported religious exemptions for coronavirus vaccines and has blamed gay priests for the clergy abuse crisis…. [DOUBLE UNGOOD!]
[…]
In the 1990s, Broglio served as private secretary for the late Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state under Pope John Paul II who was a staunch promoter and defender of then-Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado …. [Therefore, BROGLIO must be bad… even through he was out of that position before the revelations came.]
[…]
In 2018, Broglio supported a U.S. Air Force chaplain who in a homily blamed “effeminate” gay priests for clergy sex abuse. In an emailed response to a woman who complained about the priest’s homily, Broglio said there was “no question that the crisis of sexual abuse by priests in the USA is directly related to homosexuality.” [Fishwrap is committed to the pro-sodomy movement.]
[…]
During the coronavirus pandemic, Broglio supported vaccine exemptions for military members on religious objection grounds, writing in October 2021 that “no one should be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience.” [Fishwrap of course was on the side that no right had the right to refuse the non-vax “jab”, that all were to be compelled to receive it.]
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As chairman of the conference’s ad hoc religious liberty committee, Lori played a leading role in the conference’s fight against a rule in the Obama administration’s signature health care law that required employers to provide contraception coverage in health insurance plans. [Very bad indeed! We must be forced to pay for as much contraception and as many abortions as possible because… you know… seamless garment!]
In 2020, the conference elected Lori to serve as chairman of its Committee on Pro-Life Activities. In that capacity, Lori has praised the Supreme Court’s June decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.
[See above. Abortion remains the sacrament of the Left.]
Meanwhile, Madame DeFarge (aka the Wile E. Coyote of the catholic Left had a bad day.
The U.S. bishops have sent a clear message of rejection to Pope Francis by selecting Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, as president of the bishops’ conference.
The bishops’ choice of new leadership revealed the deeper ecclesiological orientation of the body. They had to decide if they wanted to be a part of the ongoing reception of the Second Vatican Council in the context of the magisterium of Pope Francis, or not, a choice made all the more obvious by the success of the synodal process so far. As papal nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre reminded them in his opening address, the bishops govern the church “cum Petro and sub Petro,” with Peter and under Peter. They forgot that law, or ignored it, 30 minutes later.
[…]
His oily encomia of the election losers follows.
From his feinting couch, DeFarge moaned…
It is difficult to overstate what a repudiation of Pope Francis the selection of Broglio to lead the conference is. He is the one bishop in the United States with long-standing tensions with the pope, tensions that goes back to Broglio’s work with Sodano, [Yup… gotta blame Broglio for that.] who famously tried to shut down the Latin American bishops’ conference CELAM and who protected the monstrous pedophile Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ. [Ditto.]
It was on Broglio’s watch as nuncio to the Dominican Republic and apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico that Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres was made a bishop. Torres was forced to step down as bishop [LOL! That’s a good one. He was summarily and unjustly sacked and hasn’t received an explanation as I understand the situation.] of Arecibo, Puerto Rico earlier this year. The bishop had long been a thorn in the side of his brother bishops in Puerto Rico [the type liked by Fishwrap], but his decision to publicly oppose the bishops’ collective support for efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 was a bridge too far. The pope took the unusual step of sacking him. [Everybody MUST BE JABBED! Churches MUST BE CLOSED! Masks ARE TO BE WORN!]
Broglio also supported those who harbored “conscientious objections” to getting the vaccine: “This circumstance raises the question of whether the vaccine’s moral permissibility precludes an individual from forming a sincerely held religious belief that receiving the vaccine would violate his conscience,” he wrote. “It does not.” [Everyone MUST comply!]
[…]
[And, true to the principle in cauda venenum, here is the basic problem…] Broglio also seems obsessed with the issue of homosexuality,… [the irony is rich…]
[…]
I am not all that concerned about who sits in the chairs in the US conference. I am a little concerned for Archbp. Broglio, a good fellow whom I’ve had a chance to spend a little time with, who must travel to the farthest reaches of the planet to serve those who serve. On the other hand, his HQ for the Archdiocese is just up the way from the HQ of the USCCB.
I pity bishops, all bishops. I fear for the souls of most of them.
They need prayers.
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Personally, I am cautiously looking forward to the oncoming Broglio-Bergolio Imbroglio.
Excellent news. Broglio has a spine. Lori speaks softly but carries a big crozier and Rhodes was an excellent and orthodox bishop when here in Harrisburg. God have mercy on them all.
Father Z, your last part about pitying bishops calls to mind my hearing many times over the years about priests (good and bad) who are offered a see and decline, have no interest in being a bishop. I am a layman, but I think I can understand why a priest would have negative interest in becoming a bishop. But to what extent would you say an episcopal nomination should be begrudgingly accepted, or how individual discernment comes into play?
Could you please give your thoughts on the piece 1P5 did on Broglio last week?
At least ++Broglio is assisted in his episcopal duties by 4 auxiliaries so that ought to ease the burden on the archdiocese as a whole. Perhaps it will be the impetus to appoint a fifth auxiliary to have an extra pair of hands during ++Broglio’s term and then slot into the duties of +Spencer once he hits retirement age in 3½ years.
Interesting, innit, that Archbishop Lori, although sitting in the equivalent of our country’s primatial see, has not been made cardinal, while the holder of a mere bishopric (San Diego) gets a red hat?
Song alone having failed, these moonbat “catholic” “journalists” are laboring mightily to spin a new church into being!
I am sitting at my keyboard applauding Fr. Ferguson’s comment. Well done, sir!
I am happy when faithful bishops take-up leadership positions at the USCCB but I have to wonder if a permanent bureaucracy is not a threat to the Church itself? What happened to the regional councils, like the Counsels of Baltimore, to deal with regional and national issues within the Church? Perhaps the best bet is to disband the USCCB and then call a council when needed.
This is very encouraging. Both Archbishops Broglio and Lori are good men. In particular, Archbishop Lori has done very good work as Supreme Chaplain for the Knights of Columbus. As a subject of the Archdiocese for Military Services for many years, I was impressed both by the pastoral and doctrinal fervor of Archbishop Broglio.
I wish them both well and pray for their success.
I receive the quarterly newsletter of the Archdiocese for Military Services and always enjoy seeing what Archbishop Broglio has to say. Of the military chaplains I know, he is held in high esteem by them. I look forward actually to how he and Archbishop Lori will govern the USCCB. I love the pearl clutching by the Fishwrap.
Father Ferguson has my vote for a GOLD STAR for his comment about this election.
Seamus, maybe not so interesting about Archbishop Lori not being made a Cardinal.
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Pope Francis has enough of a history that it seems clear he doesn’t feel generally bound by any “automatic” or “traditional” red-hat Sees.
Also, after O’Malley succeeding Law in Boston, and Dolan succeeding Egan in NYC – the trend (not ironclad policy) has been to not elevate an archbishop to Cardinal if a living predecessor is already a Cardinal. While Cardinal Keeler has since passed away, Cardinal O’Brien is alive (though only made Cardinal after Baltimore).
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It may be thin cover, but it’s cover nonetheless.
Looks like a good slate to me. And if things proceed as normal, AB Lori will be next president.
It’s worth the few minutes to re-view Lori’s “Parable of the Jewish Deli” – a straightforward demand for religious liberty. Check YouTube.
Well played, Fr Ferguson, well played.
I’m looking forward to seeing what these men do in the coming years.
I have to object to these continuing insults to Wile E. Coyote.
I’m surprised the Fishwrap didn’t accuse Abp. Broglio of seditious, conspiratorial rigidity. Maybe next week…
It is good for Archbishop Broglio that there are those who think well of him and offer him their support.
Winters is sounding more and more like “Baghdad Bob” about the Council & Synod:
“They had to decide if they wanted to be a part of the ongoing reception of the Second Vatican Council in the context of the magisterium of Pope Francis, or not, a choice made all the more obvious by the success of the synodal process so far.”
The cope is palpable.
‘Any small coterie, bound together by some interest which other men dislike or ignore, tends to develop inside itself a hothouse mutual admiration, and towards the outer world, a great deal of pride and hatred which is entertained without shame because the “Cause” is its sponsor and it is thought to be impersonal. Even when the little group exists originally for the Enemy’s own purposes, this remains true. We want the Church to be small not only that fewer men may know the Enemy but also that those who do may acquire the uneasy intensity and the defensive self-righteousness of a secret society or a clique. The Church herself is, of course, heavily defended and we have never yet quite succeeded in giving her all the characteristics of a faction; but subordinate factions within her have often produced admirable results, from the parties of Paul and of Apollos at Corinth down to the High and Low parties in the Church of England.’
Screwtape
Cue complaints about the Church in the US becoming too Militant…
I am that thankful to God for these men who will head up the Conference.