Bishop Athanasius Schneider on the Vigano Letter

Graphic for the bishops' November
meeting in Baltimore -- Good thing it's next
to the harbor -- plenty of water!

As the U.S. bishops prepare for their upcoming meeting in November I hope they will consider, pray, and prepare to defend the faith. There are likely to be plenty of fireworks, if the good and faithful bishops do their duty and demand a change to the circle-the-wagons, hide-the-truth manner of doing business so typical of the past. 

God forbid that it's a business as usual, ho-hum, nothing-to-see-here-move-along strategy. That is, of course, what Cupich, Farrell, Wuerl, Joseph Tobin, et al will be going for. "Hey, all you right wing, rigid bishops, you've got to stop your clericalism and be pastoral like us. We love our flock, especially the altar boys. 
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, one of the bravest voices in the Church today, made a statement about Archbishop Vigano's letter that sets a sensible agenda for the Vatican and the bishops. He writes, "From the document of Archbishop Viganò one can draw the following conclusions":

(1) That the Holy See and the Pope himself must start to cleanse uncompromisingly the Roman Curia and the episcopate from homosexual cliques and networks. 

(2) That the Pope must proclaim unambiguously the Divine doctrine about the grievously sinful character of homosexual acts. 

(3) That there will have to be issued peremptory and detailed norms, which will prevent the ordination of men with a homosexual tendency. 

(4) That the Pope restores the purity and unambiguity of the entire Catholic doctrine in teaching and preaching 

Bishop Schneider grew up under atheistic
socialism.  He knows evil when he sees it!

(5) That there will be restored in the Church through papal and episcopal teaching and through practical norms the ever valid Christian ascesis: the exercises of fasting, of corporal penitence, of abnegations. 

(6) That there will be restored in the Church the spirit and the praxis of reparation and expiation for sins committed. 

(7) That there will start in the Church a securely guaranteed selection process of candidates to the episcopacy, who are demonstrably true men of God; and that it would be better to leave the dioceses several years without a bishop rather than to appoint a candidate who is not a true man of God in prayer, in doctrine and in moral life. 

(8) That there will start in the Church a movement especially among cardinals, bishops and priests to renounce any compromise and any flirt with the world.

Let us hope that the bishops at their annual meeting in Baltimore echo Bishop Schneider's call for purification of our Church.

And let all of us take seriously our own obligation as faithful Catholics. The Vatican and the bishops aren't the only ones with work to do. We have a little over two months to pray and fast for the upcoming November meeting. May our bishops do the will of God and respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit to bring about a purification of our beloved Church.

Let's roll!