Fr. Tom Collins: Observations on the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

And why, exactly, do we need the USCCB?

For several decades now, it seems that the USCCB has, de facto, regularly been giving a “free pass” to a number of dangerous political, societal and psychological trends, among them are:

 

1. The obfuscation of facts about the immigration crisis, so as to provide propaganda cover for coyotes, drug dealers and others, who use innocent women and children as human shields to cover their nefarious activities; 
2. The obfuscation of the brutal facts about abortion by providing Democrat leaders the cover of a “seamless garment”, which both diminishes the seriousness of abortion and allows Catholic politicians who promote it with a “lesser of two evils” rationale, whereby they can both justify their pro-abortion stand as part of a “social justice” agenda and receive glowing accolades from Church leaders for their “diligence” and “compassion”; 
3. The slanderous use of the charge of “racist” by secular progressives against any who dare to question or oppose any part of their agenda, even though that agenda includes support for Planned Parenthood’s genocidal policies against the African-American community (cf., documentary at maafa21.com); 
4. The degradation and desecration of our youth through government-sponsored “family life curricula”, whereby children are instructed to develop “positive and non-judgmental” attitudes toward such moral perversions as contraception, abortion, fornication, sodomy, masturbation, cunnilingus and marital infidelity; 
5. The promotion of “compassion” and “tolerance” for couples, who are merely living together and for those in homosexual relationships, thus undermining a consistent call for all to take seriously the sacred demands of the virtue of chastity; 
6. The continuing protection of certain high ranking clergy, guilty of the sexual abuse of minors, even after the fear of the lawsuit supplanted the fear of the Lord in so many dioceses, and now necessitating sweeping investigations of personnel files in a number of dioceses; 
7. The promotion of moral ambiguity by validating the “lived experience” of strong emotional/hormonal drives as more credible than the absolute truths supporting objective moral standards (When did we last hear references to the reality of concupiscence?); 
8. The desecration of the Mass and the Eucharistic Christ by liturgical innovations and “pastoral considerations”, which prohibit the “harsh” proclamation of the reality and the seriousness of the sin of sacrilege. 
9. The capitulation to comfort, convenience and complacency by changing the dates for some solemnities, by eliminating the obligation to participate at Mass on other major solemnities and by dispensing from Friday Lenten abstinence on St. Patrick’s Day. 
10. The insistence that the purpose of the liturgy is to make people feel good about themselves, rather than help all Catholics to hold themselves accountable to the whole truth of God(eg., If it is OK to receive Holy Communion after deliberately violating the Third Commandment, why is it not likewise OK to receive Holy Communion after deliberately violating any of the other Commandments?).

Sadly, for too long leaders at the USCCB have chosen to overlook two basic truths. First, the fact that character formation is organic and holistic, and does not merely engage parts of a person’s life. Second, virtue cannot be attained by capitulation to falsehood, perversion, cowardice or laziness.

For too long now, those Catholics, who have sought to loyally live out the whole truth of God, have been treated in a way reminiscent of David’s treatment of his loyal soldier, Urriah the Hittite. If, by humble and contrite receptivity to God’s gracious mercy, current trends are not reversed, America may soon witness the degradation of several dioceses to the status of titular sees.