Unfortunately, we have numerous examples of bad bishops in this country. That sad situation leads me to shake my head ruefully while reading the quote attributed to St. John Chrysostom:
Gustavo García-Siller
The road to Hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path.
Two weeks ago I did a post about the Archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo García-Siller, persecuting a good Catholic family and essentially trying to destroy their retreat center (their livelihood) by banning any diocesan events there. It led to groups violating their contractual obligations, an obvious serious moral violation against the eighth commandment, especially with no evidence of wrongdoing. The archbishop violated every Catholic admonition on how to handle disagreements. If you have a mind to, you can read the original post:
Is there no limit on the injustice bishops are willing to inflict on faithful Catholics?
The article generated a number of comments, with one diligent anonymous source vigorously defending the bishop and painting the retreat center in the blackest terms possible. I responded to "Anonymous" at one point saying, "Your continuous attack on the ranch makes me suspect your "anonymous" status hides a chancery bureaucrat." I still suspect that is a fact. Someone more techie than I could probably discover whether the comment came from a chancery computer.
Archbishop of San Antonio gave Biden Communion, ignored Gov. Abbott at Uvalde Mass
Well, there you have it, folks. The Archbishop doesn't care about babies in the womb up until birth, children being mutilated in the name of transgender rights, and little abandoned ones in IVF freezer orphanages. He doesn't care about Joe Biden either and is willing to increase his chances of ending up in hell by coddling his lust for human respect and his acts of sacrilege. His attitude toward the president and the governor reveals him as one of our bishops more concerned about politics than faith. God save us from politicians in roman collars. It reminds me of Jesus' warning:
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.
That's what the archbishop is doing. And he is doing it in public which indicates he doesn't care a whit what the people of God who witness his egregious actions think. He obviously doesn't care about his flock either! He is willing to murder them as St. Francis de Sales reminds us. "Those who scandalize commit spiritual murder." Hopefully, those who witness his actions will not shake the dust of the Church from their feet and commit spiritual suicide by letting his scandal destroy their faith.
Pray for the bishops! Today I'm offering my rosary for Archbishop García-Siller. I'll have to hold my nose while I do it, but I don't want anyone to go to hell -- not even wicked bishops who seem intent on going there.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Having lived under the Archbishop's jurisdiction for some fifteen years (but no longer, blessedly), I can confidently state that calling him a "bad bishop" significantly understates the case; wicked, as in the penultimate paragraph, is closer to the mark.
ReplyDelete8.2.2013. “But Gomez seems undeterred. Two Sundays ago, he celebrated a special Mass in recognition of immigrants at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown. Busloads of people from the dioceses in San Bernardino and Orange attended, as did Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-East Los Angeles).
ReplyDeletehttps://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-aug-02-la-me-gomez-immigration-20130803-story.html
"In 2003, then-Rep. Becerra voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. In a partial-birth abortion the child is delivered into the birth canal up to its shoulders and then killed through vacuuming out its brain and crushing its skull. Despite Becerra’s vote in opposition, the bill passed in 2003 and went on to be upheld by the Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Carhart in 2007."
https://sbaprolife.org/becerra
"U.S. Representative Xavier Becerra (D-California) was one of 67 congresspeople who in 1996 voted against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which is now being challenged in the Supreme Court. He, along with 212 other lawmakers, signed an amicus brief asking the Court to overturn DOMA, according to Politic365.com."
https://www.newwaysministry.org/2013/04/17/quote-to-note-proud-latino-and-catholic-for-marriage-equality/
"Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, recently expressed his concerns about Biden’s views and his religious identity. He asked Detroit Archbishop Alan Vigneron to chair a special committee to deal with this issue.
Now that Biden has picked Becerra to be his new HHS Secretary, continuing the legacy of the Obama-Biden administration’s record of choosing Catholics who are at war with the Church for this post, Vigneron, and all the bishops, have their work cut out for them."
https://www.catholicleague.org/becerras-catholicity-poses-a-problem/
A little research by bill donohue would show opus dei gomez had been giving becerra holy communion since he got to california in 2010--and all the other pro-abort politicians there. What selective outrage--do you think God doesn't know/see your heart? Just like w/ivf - embryos can be bought and sold like chattel a virginia judge recently ruled -- but no mention of IVF on your blog. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/virginia-judge-rules-human-embryos-are-chattel-based-on-centuries-old-slave-laws
This is becerra's wife: Dr. Reyes is a practicing Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist and Associate Clinical Professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine. She is recognized nationally for her advocacy and commitment to improving the quality of care. She is Chair of the California Health Care Foundation Board and a recent former trustee of the Catholic Health Association.
https://www.commonspirit.org/who-we-are/our-leaders/carolina-reyes
You mentioned one Texas ruling on the ACA. What’s your take on the ruling by another Texas judge suspending the abortion pill? And the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade?
As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who tries to help women plan for pregnancies, those rulings are a tremendous setback.
And what about women of color? Will they find access to abortion services more difficult?
Oh, absolutely. When we speak of underrepresented minorities or those with less resources, they have less resources to t
https://health.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2023-05-02/the-nations-health-secretary-has-this-doctor-on-call
Hmm, I've seen that "skulls" quotation, from St. John Chrysostom, referenced by two separate blogs in a matter of five minutes. Perhaps this is a prevailing theme, nowadays, eh?
ReplyDeleteAlso, another easy litmus test, for discerning the bishop-hireling distinction, could always be found in the way they position their pectoral crosses. As in the headline picture, many of the modernist bishops often tuck it away in their spiffy, V2-style business suits. Contrast that with the way you'd see the pectoral cross affixed to the chest, near the heart, among past clergy (Pope Pius XII and Abp. Lefebrve come to mind).
The "skulls quotation" appears nowhere in the writings of St John Chrysostom or any other Saint. Most likely it originated with protestant anticatholic rhetoric.
DeleteHowever several of the Saints DID say something far more scary for bishops - that THEY will be held accountable for every soul in their care who was lost, and whom they could have helped to save.
Bishops can only be as bad as Catholics are willing to tolerate them. We should not forget the cases of our ancestors in the Middle Ages who drove some of the worst bishops out of their sees by rebellions, massive crowds besieging their cathedrals or residences.. In modern times it works even easier, such as was the case in Boston, where someone put up a few hundred bumpersticker sized eloquent posters telling him to get out or else. He was gone in 2 weeks, and fled to Rome where he remained until death. So yes, it can be done. Its long past the time when it is still a decent thing to tolerate some of these denizens of iniquity and lovers of Mammom.
ReplyDeleteI long for the days of Bishop Sheen and Cardinal O’Connor but the Lord has raised up good men to lead His flock like Bishop Strickland and Cardinal Burke !!!
ReplyDeleteI'll just make one correction to your opus, Anonymous. I've mentioned IVF a number of times. You can do a search on IVF to get them. The most recent was about Bishop Strickland addressing the issue at CPAC. You obviously don't read the blog carefully.
ReplyDeleteHi. Different "Anonymous" here. I don't like the way the Archbishop handles political matters or sacramental administration. The latter is really terrible, actually. But you can't run your own quasi-parish as a business. (The guy seems not even to know that c. 975 "is a thing" based on his "rebuttal letter." Yikes.) Truth is, we don't actually know what was said by whom, or when, or how... We just don't know how things were handled by the diocese. (On the other hand, there is a litany of serious canonical problems that are obvious to anyone who has eyes to see.) Not sure how one is morally justified in accusing a bishop of such immense wrongdoing when we are so in the dark.
ReplyDeleteDear “Anonymous” “Anonymous Karen”before you go around criticizing the business and claim the “guy” doesn’t know what all the entities are and mean, you’re out of your league sister and you don’t know anything. Just by reading their website, the retreat center has been running a business for nearly a decade, you don’t think they have professional assistance etc… Just keep donating to the NO heretic bishops hope things will get better
ReplyDeleteI am not out of my league, thanks. After nearly a decade of education in Rome, in the meantime dealing with... all kinds of things... I think I am able to point out some canonical absurdities.
Delete"Ms K:
ReplyDeleteRe: "He doesn't care about Joe Biden either and is willing to increase his chances of ending up in hell by coddling his lust for human respect and his acts of sacrilege."
Great line.
I read that when St John Fisher defended the bonds of Matrimony he was the only one of 27-English bishops to do so. And for so doing King Henry VIII took his head. Although the Bishops are successors to the Apostles we often cannot count on them to be brave successors to the Apostles.
God bless
Richard W Comerford"
I have some sympathy with the English bishops who gave in to Henry VIII out of quite understandable fear, knowing that to oppose him would mean being dragged from their positions, gaol, torture and death.
DeleteThe modern bad bishops in the west act merely out of a desire to curry favour with the secular establishment, get invited to all the best dinners etc. Some of them actually seem hell-bent (literally) on destroying the Church.
True. True
DeleteI just read the "messages" on MDM's website. They seem written by the same person who wrote the scores, and CONTINUING scores, of the Medjugorje "messages". Too wordy, too banal. They don't have the spiritual depth that would emanate from the Blessed Mother. They seem an advertisement for MDM"s "new Tepeyac" and nothing more. Did MDM see themselves as a new Medjugorje for making money? I don't buy it.
ReplyDeleteAgree that there's something .......fishy......about the MDM thing. Further, I think that LifeSite is near-hysterical about a situation they know very little about. There are two sides to every story; the Diocese has chosen to keep its 'side' under wraps, likely for good reason.
DeleteThe Bishop's letter was extremely cordial. He and the MDM priest met and agreed on things, then the very next day the priest double crossed the bishop. Also, I found a small connection to Medjugorje which is that MDM's women's youth group is called "Queen of Peace". I wonder how many phone calls Fr John Mary has had with people in Medjugorje on how to fleece the sheep? In addition, on their website/history I had to contain myself to charitable thoughts as I read that Fr John Mary was "feeling tired physically and exhausted interiorly". Who hasn't felt like that?! Like...don't feed me that c_ _p and expect me to believe it.
ReplyDeleteThere has not been a Queen of Peace youth organization at the MDM for more than 14 years.
DeleteIt's on their website NOW.
DeleteFigured you were angry, but i'm surprised you are still posting this late in lent since you gave it up for advent - but thought i would just go ahead and say even if it does seem self righteous considering God died for us while we were still sinners and prayed forgive us our ignorance on the cross w/his hands nailed: "I'll have to hold my nose while I do it, but I don't want anyone to go to hell -- not even wicked bishops" you offend Him (and seem completely unaware) and may be on the way to hell yourself
ReplyDeleteIt's remarkable how the author completely ignores the Archbishop's rationale - that the private retreat center is operating like a pseudo-parish with two priests in bad standing and a chapel that has no canonical status - and instead attacks him for distributing the Eucharist to President Biden. (Or is there some connection between President Biden receiving the Eucharist and a private retreat center operating as a pseudo-parish with two priests who are not in good standing and an unconsecrated chapel that I'm missing?) Objective articles about the situation portray an archbishop who is doing exactly what he is supposed to do - protect his flock from dissident priests and for-profit businesses masquerading as Catholic parishes.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment. All those who are taking the side of the ranch don’t understand the situation fully. I know I don’t and leave it to the bishops judgment to do the right thing. The ranch as you described is a magnet for rebellious schismatic attitudes. That’s what underlies the response against the bishop. Catholics need to realize, where the bishop is, there is the Catholic Church. Love it or leave it!
DeleteFrom St. Ignatius:
Chapter 8. Let nothing be done without the bishop
See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.