Nabi Sayeth: To Whom Do the Bishops Pledge Allegiance?

Nabi Sayeth: You have heard by now that as the bishops began their fall meeting in Baltimore last Monday, the meeting was interrupted by a message delivered by the papal nuncio on behalf of the Vatican Congregation of bishops. The bishops were ordered to take no votes on a sexual abuse policy that would have governed the bishops themselves. They were told that the matter would be taken up at a world-wide meeting of Catholic bishops in February at the Vatican.

Cardinal DiNardo, the leader of the U.S. bishops expressed his frustration at the message which ultimately came from the pope himself.

The problem?

The bishops in the U.S. do not have time to waste. They are “under the gun.” The anger of the people in the pews increases with each new revelation of sexual abuse. 

While the bishops are expected to be “obedient” to the desires of the pope, they must consider their “loyalty” to and the needs of Catholics who are hurting terribly in the U.S. 

Catholics are enraged at the lack of response by Pope Francis and his predecessors. There is a real and wide-scale lack of trust in anything uttered from the chair of Peter.

The Ecclesiastical heat was turned up on Tuesday when archbishop Vigano, the former D.C. papal nuncio and who is now in hiding for fear of his life sent a message to the bishops:

Dear Brother Bishops in the US,

I am writing to remind you of the sacred mandate you were given on the day of your episcopal ordination: to lead the flock to Christ. Meditate on Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! Do not behave like frightened sheep, but as courageous shepherds. Do not be afraid of standing up and doing the right thing for the victims, for the faithful and for your own salvation. The Lord will render to every one of us according to our actions and omissions. 

I am fasting and praying for you.
Arch. Carlo Maria Viganò Your former Apostolic Nuncio

And then came a public statement by the man who had been sexually abused for years by the perverted former cardinal MCCarrick:

BALTIMORE, Maryland, November 13, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – by Claire Chretien

“Jesus’s law is much higher than pontifical secrets…it’s not Francis’s Church, it’s Jesus Christ’s Church,” James Grein, the man who ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick abused for 18 years, told the “Silence Stops Now” rally today.

Identifying himself publicly for the first time, James told the audience, “I have to admit, right now my whole body is shaking, so please bear with me.” He’d previously only identified himself by his first name in media interviews. 

“That [New York Times] article would never have been written had it not been for a 16-year-old altar boy” who credibly accused McCarrick of abusing him, James said. He encouraged everyone to read that article, where he first shared the story of McCarrick’s sexual abuse of him, which began at age 11. 

McCarrick’s “ghost will forever haunt Jesus’s Church,” he said. 

James revealed the Church’s acknowledgement of the credible accusation against McCarrick and the prelate’s subsequent sentence to a life of “prayer and penance” – now being carried out in Kansas near an elementary school – inspired him to come forward. “My time has come,” said James. “It has taken too long for victims to come forward.” “We need actions which will guarantee this problem will be addressed and addressed fairly,” he demanded. “It’s time for the Church to speak. There’s too much silence. But the silence will no longer trick us into forgetting or ignoring the scandal.” “Our bishops must know that the jig is up.” 

“I am here today because of the grace of God,” James concluded. He said he will continue to expose evil in the Church “for the rest of my life.”

 Finally, just when the prophetic voice could not be shouting any louder….another call to conversion was spoken to the bishops:

LANSING, Mich. — “No More Victims,” a group of laypeople located in the diocese of Lansing, MI, has prepared a sweeping collection of accounts drawn from national and local headlines concerning the clergy sexual misconduct with respect to adults. The reader, titled “What We the Laity are Reading that has Shaken us to the Core,” is 32 pages long; it includes excerpts from some of the most shattering articles published on the subject in recent months and information about additional resources. The full reader is available here, and will be available online at nomorevictimsMI.org. 

Copies of the reader have been sent to all U.S. Bishops in advance of their Fall Meeting, which begins today, Monday, Nov. 12. No More Victims hopes the bishops will regard the document as a vital resource and a tool in confronting the full problem of clergy sexual abuse in all its complexity and scope. It is not just Archbishop McCarrick who is the problem or clergy who abuse minors, but also clergy who engage in sexual misconduct with adults. 

In the letter they wrote to the Bishops that accompanied the reader, No More Victims member Al Kresta writes, “As you deal with the scandal of McCarrick and abuse committed by bishops, we urge you to include in your concerns efforts to rid seminaries, dioceses and all Church institutions and structures of those who are involved in sexual misconduct with adults. We believe clergy sexual misconduct with adults is at the core of so many of the problems of the Church in the last many decades.”

Nabi Sayeth: The heat is on! But how will the bishops respond? The Lord is calling them to a courageous act of conversion. They are being called to the way of humility and Truth, a way that will, indeed, require a complete break from their former manner of caring for the Lord’s flock. Do they have the faith and guts to do so???