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Wednesday, January 16, 2019

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.

10 comments:

  1. This is why usccb deserves picketing even more than scotus or congress.

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  2. This bureaucratic agency of the marxocrat party should be defanged. They lead more souls astray than bring them to Christ. There seems nothing supernatural in the outlook of the bishops as a whole.

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  3. Not picketing, my friend. Abolition. Fire the staff, sell the building. Abolition.

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  4. I like the way you think, Dad. The good bishops (no matter how few) should imitate the women religious who pulled out of the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) and founded the CMSWR (Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious). The old polyester pantsuit and pearl nuns are in the LCWR. The REAL nuns are in the CMSWR. Good bishops would do well to follow their example. They can take turns hosting in the church basements. Wouldn't that be refreshing. The good ladies of the parish could fix the meals. I'd volunteer!

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  5. I like the way _you_ think, Mrs. Kreitzer. No one begrudges the clergy--including the bishops--a reasonable middle-class standard of living (after all, Jesus and His disciples were a middle-class lot, relative to 1st century standards of living in the Roman Empire). However, the standard of living of far too many prelates is definitely in the upper-class range; yet, they have the chutzpah to condemn the faithful in the pews, who in many--perhaps most--cases must struggle to lead minimally dignified lives economically, for being "harsh and uncaring" when they object to untrammeled immigration, permissive crime-control policies, and wasteful, socially destructive government "welfare" policies . . . on top of which they castigate them for clinging to the moral precepts of the Church in sexual matters.

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  6. Amen, Carlos! Want to help make lunch? It would be good for the shepherds to hobnob with the smelly sheep.

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  7. Mary Ann, smelly sheep ...funny! Baaaah!

    As I heard while attending recent Roman Catholic Faithful (RCF.org) conference; after becoming a bishop, there are two things rarely (if ever) seen ....the truth, and a bad meal.

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  8. A choir member told me after Mass last Sunday that he had recently been laid off. I asked from where, and he said the USCCB. He ran the immigration services program for the Bishops, which was fully funded by the Federal Government to the tune of $300 million per year. He bemoaned that since President Trump came to office, these funds were being reduced, so he was laid off.
    When you want to know why the Bishops are silent on abortion, Homosexual marriage, LGBT
    issues,etc., all you have to do is follow the money! They are loath to bite the hand that feeds them.

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  9. By the way, did anyone see the USCCB represented at the March for Life? Impressed by all of the Bishops in attendance? Wowed by encouraging speeches by Bishops on the platform?
    Walking arm in arm with their flock? Didn't think so. Their silence is deafening, and makes my earlier point. Whom do they serve?

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  10. Hi Mike,

    I can understand the bishops being too embarrassed to particiipate. Since most of them appear to be Democrats it isn't really surprising that they wouldn't show. Did you see the report on the Senate vote about eliminating abortion funding? Every Democrat but two voted to defeat the bill. Gotta keep that baby killing machine going.

    Any Catholic who votes Democrat is covered with blood. I only support pro-life candidates with money and work. I will only vote for an "exceptions" candidate if the alternative is so bad that I want to minimize the damage. We're in a mess! The Democrat platform is committed to killing and since sex trafficking and drugs and selling baby body parts are all part of the package, Catholics should NEVER support the Democrats.

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