In fact the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) leadership and staff go out of their way to protect the bishops from the flock. The June meeting that just took place in San Antonio gave us one more bizarre example. American Life League (ALL) ran an ad in USA Today the first day of the bishops' meeting urging the bishops (once again as in former years) to deny Communion to obstinate public sinners like pro-aborts Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. ALL chose USA Today because the hotel delivers a complimentary copy to every room. Well, the hotel ordinarily delivers it to the rooms, but the bishops' staffers had instructed that the New York Times be delivered instead. When the on-site member from ALL contacted the desk, he offered to pay for USA Today to be delivered to the bishops' rooms. The clerk was agreeable but when the ALL member called back later the clerk referred him to the hotel contact person working with the USCCB which would not allow it. They had approved only the Times for the meeting. God forbid that the bishops should see the face of that little pre-born baby and be challenged by the words of St. Matthew: "Whatever you did not do for these least ones, you did not do for me." They must be protected at all costs from seeing and reading:
It is a duty in charity to warn not only pro-abortion Catholic politicians not to receive Communion, but to instruct priests and extraordinary ministers not to give such people Communion. We must, as St. Peter said, obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)
If you won’t enforce Canon 915 for the sake of the least of these babies in the womb, do it for your politicians and friends who are “stumbling to the slaughter.”
(Proverbs 24:11)
The past is prologue to the future. The USCCB nonsense is nothing new. Two years ago, the Catholic Media Coalition had a hospitality suite during the bishops' November meeting in Baltimore. Twelve bishops visited and a few even stayed for prolonged conversations about diocesan touching programs and spreading devotion to Our Lady of America. No bishop was forced to come. They were welcomed with open arms. But in 2008 when we attempted to repeat what we thought was a very successful and positive effort with the bishops, we found that the USCCB staff had reserved ALL THE SUITES. (At a pretty cost, I can tell you. We spent close to two thousand dollars for a suite for two nights.) It was clear that the staffers and USCCB bosses wanted to make sure the sheep had no contact with their shepherds during the meeting that they could not control. There's more to the pathetic story, including a threat of arrest, which you can read in my article The Devil's Triple Play.
While USCCB staff successfully blocked us (and others who might be tempted to do the same thing) from having a hospitality suite, they couldn't prevent another effort. We joined with ALL to hold a prayer vigil outside the hotel on the Harbor concourse. We had about 50 people join us in prayer and song. Although we sent invitations to selected bishops before the meeting and made some personal calls none braved the chill to join us for the rosary and rally.
Despite the on-going hostility of the bishops' bureaucracy toward faithful, orthodox Catholics, we remain undaunted. The Catholic faithful, under Canon Law, have a right to express their concerns to their bishops, and our shepherd-fathers have an obligation to listen. Like the widow before the unjust judge we will continue to seek justice for the unborn and proclamation of authentic Catholic doctrine - always respectfully, always undergirded by prayer. Those bishops with ears to hear will listen. The others will answer for their dereliction of duty in the end. As for the bishops' bureaucracy, the old saying applies: "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"
The USCCB Bureaucracy (One Bishop and One Bureaucrat) Strikes Again:
ReplyDeleteUS Catholic hierarchy [sic] shows support for legislation requiring massive tax hike
Jun. 26, 2009 (CWNews.com) - The US bishops have given their enthusiastic support to the Waxman-Markey bill, a piece of legislation designed to address climate change, which Republican opponents have characterized as entailing "the largest tax increase in American history."
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 proposes a complicated series of schemes known as "cap and trade," ultimately imposing taxes on the carbon-dioxide emissions that are cited as a major factor in global warming. Even before the 1,200-page legislation was made available to Congress, the members of the House of Representatives received a letter from two leading representatives of the American Church, giving their strong endorsement for the bill.
Bishop Howard Hubbard, who chairs the US bishops' committee on international justice and peace; and Ken Hackett, the president of Catholic Relief Services, welcomed the introduction of the Waxman-Markey bill. They criticized the legislation only because, in their view, it did not include adequate funding to protect the poor-- in the US and abroad-- from the bill's economic impact. Bishop Hubbard and Hackett argued that "the funding resources committed to international adaptation fall fundamentally short of what is needed." Their letter also suggested measures to protect churches and non-profit agencies from the adverse economic effects.
By pointing to the ways in which the legislation could harm the economic interests of the poor and the non-profit sector, Bishop Hubbard and Ken Hackett demonstrated that they were aware of the bill's economic costs. But their letter to Congressmen betrayed no concern at all about how the bill would affect ordinary American families above the poverty level.
The Congressional Budget Office, in its analysis of the legislation, concluded that the Waxman-Markey bill would entail new costs of $770 a year for the average American family. A separate analysis by the Heritage Foundation suggested that this figure was grossly understated, and the actual costs would be closer to $3,000 per year for a typical family of four-- rising steadily up to $4,600 by the year 2035. The Heritage analysis added that the bill would increase gasoline prices by 58%, home heating oil by 56%, and electic rates by 90%. The total drag on the economy would likely result in a loss of over 1 million jobs, Heritage concluded. In spite of this enormous cost, the Foundation argued, the Waxman-Markey bill would produce only a miniscule effect on the process of climate change, producing a drop in world temperatures of "only hundredths of a degree Celsius" in the next 40 years.
I wonder if any of the bishops have a shred of technical competence to evaluate whether global warming is even happening (earth has been cooling since 1998) and if it is happening how much human being contribute. I wish they'd just stick to what they are supposed to be competent at ... hmmm... maybe that's the problem ... it may be a null set.
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