Sunday Meditation: Did the Bishops Really Consecrate the Nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

On June 11th the bishops ostensibly consecrated the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But did they? What is a consecration? Here's the prayer they offered. As you read it find, if you can, the point where they consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart:

O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: You know the longings of our hearts, and you desire that we enjoy friendship with you. From your pierced side, you have poured out the wellspring of life, for which we thirst. Your heart burns with a love for all people to return to a right relationship with you.

It's Not Just Thirty Pieces of Silver These Days, It's Billions for the Pharisee Bishops!

Are the U.S. Catholic Bishops Pharisees or Shepherds?

There's a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a conversation between Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, Secretary of State to Pius VII, and Napoleon Bonaparte which has the ring of truth. Apparently Napoleon told the cardinal he had the power to destroy the Church. The ironic answer from the prelate was, "If the bishops haven't been able to do it in the past 1800 years, how can you expect to succeed?"

Remembering the Bishops' Safe Touch Programs! Do bishops learn from their mistakes?

Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, one of the cover-up bishops who ended up with an assignment in Rome avoiding prosecution in the U.S. (photo from a news conference in 2002)

With the bishops going after the Trump administration for its policies on the illegal invasion at the border, it might be useful to remember some other policies introduced by the U.S. Catholic bishops. Their motives often seem to be more about protecting themselves than concern for the flock. That's exactly what happened with the bishops" Charter on Protecting Children developed after the bishops' meeting in Dallas in 2002 where they addressed the sex abuse crisis. The bishops focused attention on the priests in the parishes and laity instructing children in CCD classes. I spent about 25 years in religious education and quit when the new policies were instituted, because they were more about protecting the bishops than protecting the children. The bishops exempted themselves from oversight and some continued covering up abuse and bullying parents to remain silent. Full transparency is needed at every level in the Church. Take a walk back through the history and pray that the bishops will learn from past mistakes. They seem a little obtuse when it comes to self examination. Check out Janet Smith's 2022 analysis of the charter after 20 years. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2004

Open Letter to the United States Catholic Bishops:
Keep “Touching” Programs Off Our Children

http://www.catholicmediacoalition.org/touching.htm

Your Excellencies,

Guest Post: Biden Sacrilege and St. Augustine

By James M. Thunder

Our hearts are restless until 
they rest in Thee.

​This week, at their semi-annual meeting, the bishops of the United States will discuss “Eucharistic coherence,” the issue of how they should react to public figures (Biden, Pelosi and so many others) who promote public policies – in the form of orders, laws, regulations, treaties, budgets, etc.-- contrary to fundamental moral teachings (plural) of the Catholic Church.Their discussion will occur over the objections (“concerns”) expressed in letters dated May 7 from Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and May 13 by 68 U.S. bishops, to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Fr. Tom Collins: Racist Planned Parenthood Happily Slaughters Hispanic Babies!

I offer the observations below for your consideration:More Hispanics were killed by Planned Parenthood abortionists on August 3rd than were killed at the El Paso Wal-Mart that day. But Catholic pro-abortion politicians publicly and repeatedly assert that one can support the continuing slaughter of Hispanics in the womb and still be a faithful Catholic. Thus they seem to be saying that it was not the slaughter of innocent Hispanics that was wrong, but rather where and how they were being slaughtered.

Fr. Tom Collins describes how the USCCB Acts Like the Liberal Democrat Party...

Disgraced Cardinal Wuerl addresses the conference
in November.  They still listen to this man?
Are the bishops serious about clergy sex abuse?
Sure doesn't look like it!

Editor's comment....The bishops' buraucracy enables abortion, contraception, gender ideology, and other moral evils through their "charities," particularly the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (disguised under other names in some dioceses), Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, etc. All these "charities" which do some good work also contribute to abject moral evils. You can't give to them without contributing to the evil. So with one hand you offer help and with the other slap the face of Christ. But, hey, supporting liberal politics keeps the federal tax dollars flowing into the bishops' coffers. So accepting a "little" sin is the price one pays to keep the money flowing! Thirty pieces of silver anyone?

Oh Goody! The USCCB Plans to Set Up a Committee to Solve the Crisis

Come one, come all to the USCCB circus where we will see the bishops' conference assure us that they are vigilantly acting to solve the abuse and cover up crisis that exploded with the McCarrick revelations! They will be discussing establishing a commission at their November meeting in Baltimore.

Get out the peanuts and popcorn for the show!

Keep in mind that the USCCB is the same body that has fleeced the flock for decades to support Alinsky community organizing groups that support liberal politics and politicians. (You know, the liberals who support killing babies in the womb, criminalizing the use of the wrong pronoun, putting Christians who won't bend the knee to the homo agenda in jail, etc.)

Alfie Fights On: Parents Just Want to Take Him Home

Latest: Alfie Evans' dad reveals how toddler's brave mum is 'keeping him alive with cuddles' as they bid to take him home

A few observations: 

• They keep describing Alfie as "terminal" when they don't even have a diagnosis. We've known people with "degenerative brain conditions" who've lived for years. So what do they mean by "terminal?" Aren't we all "terminal?" Does anyone get out of this life alive?

Do You Know Your Bishop?

If you haven't checked out my new page, Know Your Bishops, I invite you to visit. I'm adding to it

every day. Here's the intro I wrote:

INTRODUCTION: Jesus said, "By your fruits you shall know them." That doesn't sound like an admonition to live in blind acceptance of everything people say and do because "who am I to judge?" We are, in fact, called by Christ to evaluate and judge the fruits of those around us so we can make sound moral decisions.

CCHD - The Scandal Goes On and On and On and.....

I sat in Mass yesterday (not at my home parish) and listened to the announcement for the second collection to benefit CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development). It was all the usual drivel about how the collection helps the poor, yadda...yadda...yadda. Not a word was said about the organizations receiving grants that promote abortion, contraception, homosexuality, etc. Of course, that would have a chilling effect on the purse and pocket pickers running the so-called "charity."

CCHD has a scandalous past and its present isn't too pretty either. As Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute revealed today, things go on as they always have with Catholic money funneled to organizations undermining everything Catholicism stands for. Read their report about 2014-2015 grant recipient Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NBCCC). It promotes homosexual activism and communism! Yes communism!

Why?

Why do the Catholic bishops allow this to go on? Write to your diocesan bishop and ask why they continue to fund this national collection? Its continuation undermines the trust of the flock for their shepherds. What would you think of a shepherd who went out every night with a knife and bled his sheep? That's what CCHD does to the sheep in the pews, and it's way past time for it to stop!

Here's the Lepanto Institute's press release issued today.

Does This Describe Your Bishop?

"Bishops must be pastors, close to people, fathers and brothers, and gentle, patient and merciful. Men who love poverty, both interior poverty, as freedom before the Lord, and exterior poverty, as simplicity and austerity of life. Men who do not think and behave like 'princes.' Men who are not ambitious, who are married to one church without having their eyes on another. Men capable of watching over the flock entrusted to them and protecting everything that keeps it together: guarding their people out of concern for the dangers which could threaten them, but above all instilling hope: so that light will shine in people's hearts. Men capable of supporting with love and patience God's dealings with his people. The Bishop has to be among his people in three ways: in front of them, pointing the way; among them, keeping them together and preventing them from being scatterd: and behind them, ensuring that no one is left behind, but also and primarily, so that the flock itself can sniff out new paths."
                                                                Pope Francis from "He is the God Who Is Near"
                                                                Address to the Coordinating Committee of CELAM
                                                                July 28, 2013

Joe Being Joe...the Laughing Liar

Joe Biden continually accused Paul Ryan of lying during the debate on Thursday night. But he couldn't even get the basics right about what Obamacare will do. Here's the Catholic bishops' correction of Biden's lies [oops, misstatements] on Obamacare during the debate. It was released Friday:

Last night, the following statement was made during the Vice Presidential debate regarding the decision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force virtually all employers to include sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion, in the health insurance coverage they provide their employees:

The Bishops Share the Blame for Obamacare

Bart Stupak wasn't the only betrayor over Obamacare. The Catholic bishops share the blame.

From a blog piece by Pat Archbold at the National Catholic Register:

There is another group that should also take a hard look at their stewardship and and acknowledge their failures, the US Bishops.

Again, while the Bishops have acquitted themselves well through this process recently, they cannot ignore the past.

The hard truth is that for years the Bishops have allied themselves with the pro-abort party in matters related to health-care, and now they claim 11th hour betrayal.

When you hang out with thieves, you shouldn’t be surprised when you get robbed.

Moreover, the Bishops silence for years in the face of pro-abortion Catholic politicians has given aid and comfort to those who seek the death of children. The Bishop’s unwillingness, with some obvious exceptions, to effectively address or discipline pro-abort Catholic politicians allowed for the Democrats to portray the Church as divided on the issue. They have also allowed a culture of dissent to flourish for decades that culminated in the shameful last minute endorsement by a group of radical nuns that seriously hurt the cause of life.

The bishops’ decades long collective silence on these issues allowed for this culture to develop and has resulted in the USCCB being understandably criticized as an extension of the Democrat party (the Democrat party at prayer they say). This is the horrible result of that ungodly alliance. (Read the rest here...http://www.ncregister.com/blog/bishops_share_the_blame )

We would not be in the mess we're in if the bishops had not, as a body, become nothing but shills for Democrat party liberals. That's why the Reform the CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) movement is so important. The bishops' bureaucracy must be reformed beginning with CCHD. Pray for good bishops to take the lead. It's also high time they implemented Canon Law 915 against Judas Catholics like Nancy Pelosi. There isn't a millstone on earth big enough to match the level of scandal she has inflicted on the Church. That Archbishop Wuerl refuses to discipline her is irresponsible both to protect against her scandal and for the sake of her own soul.

When will the bishops wake up? Eliminate the USCCB!

Support Real Catholic TV.

Don't Believe Everything You Read in the Mainstream Media

LA Times Attributes Pro-Obama Catholics’ Statement to U.S. Bishops

But hey! CU (Catholics United) and USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) share two letters so they must be the same thing, right? Wonder what the IQ of the average reporter is.

Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, the USCCB Has Got to Go!

Cardinal Mahony: The Catholic Faith is Above His Paygrade

Please, Lord, give us patience and fortitude in large supply -- we need them to tolerate Cardinal Roger Mahony's blather. In fact, the Cardinal is a living illustration of the Peter Principle: "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence." Cardinal Mahony got there the day he was ordained, but unfortunately some nasty things tend to float to the top -- ever noticed the aurface of a stagnant pond?

For a Cardinal of the Church to say that whether to exclude child-killing from the health care bill is "way behind my field" is not only absolutely outrageous, it's downright satanic. And I use that word deliberately. Cardinal Mahony is a wolf in sheep's clothing who has spent years destroying the faith in Los Angeles. He should get the boot instead of courageous bishops like Joseph Martino. Mahony's legacy (besides enabling homosexual child abuse) is a cathedral that looks like a drive-in movie theatre an androgenous statue of the Mary that is a shameful representation of the Mother of God.

I'm going for a walk to pray to work off some frustration and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for this wicked Cardinal. He reminds me of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in England, Henry VIII's chancellor. I hope on his deathbed (if not before) Cardinal Mahony has the humility to repent and repeat Wolsey's words, "If I had served my God as diligently as I did my king, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs."

Canadian Bishops Fund Abortion

Sometimes it seems the Catholic bishops are among our worst enemies. The USCCB in this country has supported groups that fund abortion. They've poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into liberal organizations like ACORN that gave us a president totally committed to murdering unborn children. Multiply that by other bishops' conferences around the world, especially in first-world countries.

East Timor just legalized abortion in "extreme cases." Sound familiar? Remember when abortion was legalized in the United States in a few places for "rape, incest, and the life of the mother?" How long did it take to get from the extremes to Tiller's late-term abortuary in Kansas?

It's now just a question of time for the poor people of East Timor. And who helped do the dirty deed? The Canadian bishops. The original law introduced in April was even worse. Nevertheless, this is a blow to the heavily Catholic nation that now sets itself on the top of the slippery slope with a push from groups funded by the Church. What a scandal! Just one more, eh? Hard to point fingers with the Archdiocese of Boston entangling itself in the abortion business through it's "charity" business.

Here's what LifeSiteNews wrote about the latest scandal:

"Two of the East Timorese feminist organizations that have been at the forefront of the effort to liberalize the abortion law, and that have come head to head with the country’s Catholic bishops in the process, are funded by the Canadian bishops’ official development arm, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P)."

Shades of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

It's time for Catholics everywhere to stand up to these fundraising campaigns that funnel money from the pockets of the people in the pew directly into the coffers of organizations committed to monstrous evil. In fact, maybe it's time to defund the bishops altogether and stop giving to their yearly campaigns until they can assure us that they aren't using our money to increase abortion and advance liberalism.

Here's more from LSN: "D&P has in recent months been embroiled in a widespread scandal, after LSN and other pro-life researchers revealed that the Catholic group is funding numerous strongly pro-abortion groups around the world, and that it has no policy against doing so. Yesterday LSN reported that the Peruvian bishops have now written to the Canadian bishops demanding that they stop funding pro-abortion groups in their country."

Are the bishops in the first world clueless or are they wicked? You can sin from either ignorance or malice. Let's hope it's ignorance. But the babies will be just as dead in the end.

Read the complete LSN article. And cut off your funding to CCHD and D&P. To see LSN's extensive research on the Canadian bishops' organization, go here.

And pray hard for our shepherds who have a lot for which to answer on Judgment Day.

Is the Church in "Relatively Good Shape?"

I had a conversation recently with a pastor in Texas (Diocese of Houston-Galveston). He thought the Church in the U.S. was in relatively good shape. I disagree, although I suppose if you compare it to the Church in Europe which is just about moribund, he's right. But that seems to me like visiting a patient in the hospital who is imminently dying of cancer and describing the guy in the next bed with emphysema whose gasping for every breath as being "in relatively good shape." Frankly, I wouldn't give him too many odds for a long, enjoyable, and healthy life. The same can be said of the sick U.S. Church. Lately I find myself reflecting on Jesus' lament -- "When I return will I find any faith on the earth?" Not in too many chanceries I'm afrai, but I hope, at least, in the domestic church of many faithful Catholic families.

The priest also chided me. "I think you're too hard on the clergy. Don't the laity have any responsibility?" Of course! But it seems to me that the laity already bear an unbalanced share of the burden trying to make up for the lack of leadership from our shepherds. How so? Let's take a look at a few doctrines and check the scorecard for who's teaching the truth.

Abortion, euthanasia, etc.("Thous Shalt Not Kill"): The hierarchy and the clergy get relatively high marks for talking the talk on the life issues. Many preach about it during October, Respect Life Month, and around the March for Life in January. Unfortunately, they often don't walk the walk. They give pro-abortion politicians a pass and when a Terri Schiavo situation arises, they aid and abet the enemies of life (like Bishop Robert Lynch in Florida). Who acts like they mean what they say? The crisis pregnancy centers, national pro-life groups like Human Life International and Priests for Life, and the laity, like the 40 Days for Life Campaign. The shepherds not only do not lead on abortion, many actively undermine the doctrine by refusing to hold pro-abortion Catholics accountable. They are the same ones who fawned over Obama helping elect the most pro-abortion candidate in history. Fortunately, there are a few dramatic exceptions like Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Bishop Fabian Bruskewity of Lincoln, and Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, OR. Those who could have a significant impact because of their proximity to the halls of Congress (Archbishop Donald Wuerl of D.C. and Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington) allow the barque of Peter to be rocked by scandals with nary a word of protest. As for the bishops' conference - they are a big part of the problem.

Artificial Birth Control: Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's historic encyclical affirming the Church's unchanging teaching on the integrity of the marriage act remains largely unpreached by the clergy. When was the last time you heard a sermon in a parish praising openness to life and condemning contraception? When was the last time you heard a couple at a wedding challenged to be generous in welcoming children? Silence is so much easier! There are, of course, exceptions. Fr. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International and Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life don't shy from preaching the truth, but primarily it is a message coming from the laity. The Natural Family Planning and Pro-Life communities are the most vigilant in defending H.V., not unfortunately, the shepherds with the responsibility to do so.

Teaching the Faith: Parents are the primary educators of their children and have the first responsibility to teach the faith. But where do parents learn the faith? From the Church. Most adults today who are raising children "studied" the faith in the post Vatican II Church of watered down catechesis. Even today many dioceses maintain the coloring-book approach to religion and blacklist series that are heavy on doctrine like Faith and Life from Ignatius Press. How many clergy promote the Catechism of the Catholic Church? The laity, to be sure, should act like grownups and take responsibility, and many are. The home schooling movement illustrates it. But often home schoolers have to fight not only the governmnet, but the chancery. As for the average Catholic in the pews many may not even realize how little they know about the faith because the Sunday sermon basically gives them an "I'm okay, you're okay" homily of marshmallow fluff. Have you ever heard a priest in the pulpit say, "You have a serious obligation to study the faith? Coming to church on Sunday is not enough." The of the impact if Father said, "I'm making the noon Mass the study service with an extended homily. Check the bulletin for the syllabus and next week's reading assignment." Woudn't that be a grand experiment?

Like American students who have no self-esteem problem and believe they are the smartest in math in the world while they rank low on the achievement scale, many Catholics think they are perfectly fine even though they pick and choose doctrines to suit their taste. Cafeteria Catholicism is the norm and what's okay for Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Joe Biden, and other high profile Catholics must be okay for Joe and Jane Pewsitter as well. That attitude must be challenged by the shepherds!

Is the teaching in Catholic colleges at least okay? Have you stopped laughing yet? The scandals are so egregious (including the latest: Obama invited to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame) that most schools should be stripped of their Catholic identity to conform to reality. But again, the laity (The Cardinal Newman Society) are the ones shining light on the crisis, not the bishops -- with rare exceptions like Bishop Martino who is showing himself to be a serious shepherd of the flock.

I could go on and probably will in later posts, but what do you think? Where do you see the shepherds succeeding and where are they failing? As laity, how can we effectively make our concerns known to them? It's a tough question. None of the laity I know want to beat up on our shepherds; we just want them to come down from their ivory-towered (and often luxurious) chanceries to beat off the wolves before they eat any more of the sheep! Please, Your Excellencies, we're begging for bread. Don't give us stones.

Real Catholic TV and the Picture Worth a Thousand Words

If you haven't seen Real Catholic TV, check it out. Michael Voris gives a daily pithy opinion in The Vortex "where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed." In the video below Voris gives us a clear picture "worth a thousand words" of the state of the Church in America. After you watch it ask yourself, "when will the U.S. bishops enforce Canon Law 915 over these heretics?"

Archbishop Donald Wuerl and Bishop Paul Loverde are the spiritual shepherds over most legislators in Congress when they are away from their home parishes living in the Washington, D.C. area. Neither has lifted a finger to defend the faith against pro-abortion Catholic politicians scandalizing their people. Is it any wonder a recent survey shows a decline in Catholics despite massive immigration (both legal and illegal) of hispanics who mostly identify themselves as Catholic? The homosexual priest abuse scandal certainly took a toll, but many orthodox Catholics believe the decline is due primarily to the failure of the hierarchy to defend the faith. If the shepherds stand for nothing the sheep will fall for (and follow) anything.