Nabi Sayeth: What Made FORMER Bishop Bransfield Tick? STUFF?

Former Bishop Bransfield Consecrates New Marble-Topped altar at Co-Cathedral in Charleston.

Nabi Asketh: What made FORMER bishop Michael Bransfield tick? Why was he so materialistic? Why did he spend so much money on “stuff”: Fine dining, expensive wines, hundreds of thousands of dollars on imported flowers, many first-class flights to Rome? Why did he cover up and protect clergymen who had sexually abused teen and post pubescent boys/young men? Why was he so silent on very important issues for the Catholic Church, especially homosexual “marriage” and the right to life of the Unborn? It must be known that not only was he mostly silent about the murder of the Unborn but he punished those priests under his command who did speak out in defense of the Unborn. How could he do this? 

My Friends, he had succumbed to the philosophy of Materialism. Practically speaking, what does this mean? For the Materialist, what matters, what is treasured and is seen to be of value, and therefore, worthy of one’s efforts and energy….is STUFF.

And since STUFF is finite, temporal and never filling, fulfilling or satisfying….so much of the Materialists’ time is spent accumulating, searching for, acquiring, using, manipulating and even abusing STUFF.

Some examples from the life and times of FORMER bishop Bransfield will help illustrate the effects of Materialism on his behavior. For the one who succumbs to Materialism:

-Stuff is never enough. The more stuff, the happier he is for the moment, but then dissatisfaction emerges and he needs more stuff. He can never quench his lust for stuff.

-Needless Church renovations are a vivid example of Materialism. Cutting to the heart of the issue one can ask: How many $500,000 plus imported marble altars does a bishop need? (Such altars were purchased for and installed at Sacred Heart in Charleston, St. Joseph Cathedral, and St. Michael’s in Wheeling—-but now refused by the good people there). Are a layperson’s/clergyman’s, prayers better heard by God from a brand new imported marble altar rather than the existing altar?

-Catholic institutions, and especially, Churches are just piles of STUFF. With that mindset it becomes easy to close and/or demolish cherished places such as Mount de Chantal, Bishop Donahue, Wheeling Catholic Elementary school to make way for newer lusts and interests. The hearts and the faith of those who found meaning in them and who hold precious memories of such institutions mattered not.

-People are STUFF, nothing more than pawns on his Diocesan checker board. The Materialistic mindset makes it easy to quickly and antiseptically dump a long-term devoted staff member such as George Smoulder. Discussion, due-process are unnecessary because George was just an employee with a Diocesan ID number. Concepts such as loyalty, compassion, LOVE are not a part of a Materialist’s thinking. There is no need to love stuff, you just eliminate it when it is no longer useful to you and replace it!

-There is no need for the Materialist to speak out against homosexual “marriage”. Why? Because sex and human sexuality are just STUFF. Jesus’ commandment on marriage (to be exclusively between woman/man) is old and irrelevant. People need to do what FEELS RIGHT/GOOD TO THEM. The body is just a clump of STUFF and must be used for one’s pleasure (sodomy included). The concepts of human sexuality as a gift from God and the human body as a Temple of the Holy Spirit are absurd for the Materialist. Sex with infants, children, teens, young adults…..well, they are all just STUFF, all can be used for the Materialists’ narcissistic pleasure. Pornography, especially of middle school and high school aged boys….just pictures of STUFF.

-And then there’s the Unborn. They are given names such as P.O.C. = “Product of Conception”. But bottom line, they’re just STUFF. If it’s convenient to bring a POC to full term, then so be it. If not...abort “it”. There is no need for the Materialist to speak out in defense of the lives of the Unborn because Roe v Wade holds that all boils down to a materialistic decision….a “choice.” Those priests who do speak out are to be silenced, and several were during FORMER bishop Bransfield’s tenure in West Virginia.

Nabi Sayeth: Materialists are lonely and miserable people. They are never happy because they are never grateful. Ask any of the chancery Monsignors (My Lord’s) and they will tell you that FORMER bishop Bransfield could never be alone. If he thought he might be alone during an evening, he would call one of them up and pressure them to “watch a movie with him”; or any other ploy to keep someone close. He never travelled alone on his many first-class trips to Rome, he always had at least one escort, at Diocesan expense, of course.

How does the Materialist deal with his loneliness and misery???? You guessed it….STUFF. My Friends, FORMER bishop Bransfield, his colleagues and associates are to be pitied. St. Paul’s words in Philippians 3:19 have convicted them:

“Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their 'shame.' Their minds are occupied with earthly things.”

But is repentance possible? Or perhaps the better question is: Will they, will FORMER bishop Bransfield repent before it is too late???