Is the Underground Church in China in Schism? Are It's Newly Consecrated Bishops Excommunicated?

In September, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), the official church in China, ordained its 18th bishop under the secret Sino-Vatican agreement signed in 2018 and renewed several times including for four more years in 2024. Pope Leo approved the move. 

At the same time, Chinese expert Anthony Clark revealed a contact from an underground Chinese prelate that the underground church has ordained ten new bishops. The Catholic Herald's Michael Haynes reported on it last month:

When People You Respect Disappoint You

There was a time when I totally trusted Phil Lawler's take on things. I read several of his books with pen in hand and made margin notes to return to later. A trusted source, he was my regular go-to source as I slogged along in the Church crisis. So I was truly disappointed in his recent articles on the SSPX situation and upcoming consecrations. I was staggered when he said there was no state of necessity since it's up to Rome to make that decision. Really? If I see a child about to run into the street and be hit by a car, I'm not waiting for a policeman to tell me I can jaywalk. I also disagree with Lawler's interpretation of Fr. Pagliarani's statement that “In an ordinary parish, the faithful no longer find the necessary means to ensure their eternal salvation.” Perhaps that statement was overbroad, but certainly not untrue. 

Phil Lawler Asks: Why Bishop Mark Brennan to Replace Bransfield?

In West Virginia, another bewildering Vatican appointment

Here's Lawler's recap from the article. I highlighted some things I thought were especially a propos and added some comments of my own:

So to recap:

When Bishops Usurp the Laity’s Role: Now THAT is Clericalism!

Editor’s Comment: One of my objections to the Bishops Lenten Appeal is that it supports the Virginia Catholic Conference, a lobby group that continuously takes “Catholic positions” on prudential moral issues. Is opposition to uranium mining really an issue that the bishops’ have any expertise on AT ALL? Of course not! But they tell Virginia Catholics to come along to Richmond and push their questionable opinions on climate change, immigration, the death penalty, and a whole host of other prudential issues. Phil Lawler’s article raises the same questions I have often posed about the role of our bishops which is to teach, govern, and sanctify. Ironically, while sticking their noses in all sorts of things that are NOT their business, many bishops irresponsibly neglect what IS their business. If your bishops have a lobby group, there is something wrong! Ironically, many of the lay-run lobby groups defend intrinsic moral issues that the bishops treat with a ho-hum or even an enabling wink. It’s time to stop! Thumbs up to Phil Lawler!

A STATEMENT THE TENNESSEE BISHOPS SHOULDN’T HAVE MADE

A Modest Proposal from Bishop Barron re McCarrick's "Diabolical Masterpiece"

I'm not a huge fan of Bishop Barron. He seems to me to be too much one of the "nice guys" who keep their heads down and always speak sweetness and light. When he cast down on whether anyone was in hell, I just shook my head. Goodness, was Our Lady of Fatima a sadist showing the children souls like burning embers falling into hell when, in reality, nobody ever goes there?

So I confess I was surprised at this article bout the diabolical nature of the McCarrick scandal and his suggestion which is 180 agrees away from the sickening proposal of Cardinal Wuerl.

It Was a Diabolical Masterpiece

On Pope Francis and His "Friendship" With Scalfari: Is the Confusion Deliberate?

The conversations between Pope Francis and his atheist journalist "friend" continue again and again to be sources of conflict with quotes that are clarified as "not quotes" and statements that are said not to reflect what the pope really said. But, it seems, the points in the quotes are seldom refuted.  

Are the pope's discussions with Scalfari
a deliberate decision to sow confusion?
Phil Lawler urges Catholics to ask their bishops to
 "Bring back clarity in an age of confusion."

Confusing eh? And is that the point? If Pope Francis owned a company called Confusion Unlimited he could be described as a very successful CEO.

With regard to the pope's relationship with Scalfari, a friend on Facebook used the following analogy about Pope Francis who, as persona Christi, is called to protect his bride, the Church. It describes his relationship with his buddy Scalfari who, as an atheist, doesn't even recognize the bride. I think the analogy is spot on! 

This Disastrous Papacy and the Big Question!

Will the real pope please stand up!

I've always admired Phil Lawler for his integrity and clear writing as well as his charity. So when I saw his article, This Disastrous Papacy, in the March 16th issue of The Wanderer; I read it carefully.

He minces no words. Acknowledging that he criticized the two former popes for what he considered imprudent actions, he then stresses that "never did it cross my mind that [they] posed any danger to the integrity of the Catholic faith." Then he writes more pointedly about Pope Francis:

Phil Lawler: "Eventually, a dysfunctional family needs an intervention."

Phil Lawler is a favorite writer of mine. His book on the Boston achdiocese under Cardinal Law was excellent. His articles at Catholic Culture are filled with clarity and common sense. Here's an excerpt from This Disastrous Papacy. It's awful, yes, but follow the advice of Padre Pio - "Pray, hope, and don't worry." When we are in the state of grace we rest securely in the hollow of God's hand. Let nothing disturb you, my friends:

In the worldwide family that is the Catholic Church, the best means of intervention is always prayer. Intense prayer for the Holy Father would be a particularly apt project for the season of Lent. But intervention also requires honesty: a candid recognition that we have a serious problem.

Colleague of Fr. Rosica Tweets Cardinal Burke Should STFU!

Ah...life is never boring when "progressive" Catholics who are always so eminently tolerant illustrate the depth of their intolerance. Such has been the Fr. Thomas Rosica soap opera where leading man, Fr. Tom, sues a Catholic father for quoting his statements and commenting on them. Here are the posts at Vox Cantoris that Rosica's lawyers are demanding he remove. And here is the letter from the lawyers.

Adding to the soap opera was the tweet by one of Fr. Rosica's colleagues in the Basilian order that Cardinal Burke, who has been an eloquent voice against the "progressive" agenda, should STFU. Not being an expert in obscenity by shortcut, I had to think about that for a minute. The priest, Fr.Timothy Scott, has now received his fifteen minutes of fame and announced, after apologizing, that he is taking a break from Twitter. Good thing! But, as they say, "Birds of a feather flock together," and in view of Fr. Rosica's history with dissenters, one is not surprised that an associate would object to an orthodox cardinal like Burke to the point of obscenity.

Anyway, Fr. Rosica says Vox Cantoris is damaging his reputation, but, after reading his own statements, I can only conclude that he's doing a pretty good job of damaging his own reputation and making himself both ridiculous and irrelevant. Fr. Rosica and friends are showing themselves for what they are and it isn't a pretty sight. Fr. Rosica is a lover of dssenters and this article about his relationship with former priest Gregory Baum, a man eminent priest scholar, Msgr. Vincent Foy, called an "arch-heretic" speaks volumes about Fr. Rosica and where he stands on the truths of the faith. (Read this article by Msgr. Foy on Gregory Baum whom Fr. Rosica admires and has the gall to call a "faithful, deeply devoted Catholic who loves Jesus and the Eucharist." If such a statement weren't so tragic one would laugh. Msgr. Foy considers Baum's teachings evil and dangerous. Fr. Rosica, on the other hand, treats him like an icon of orthodoxy which shows exactly how pernicious he is.)

Watch Fr. Rosica's interview with Baum in the video below. It should wake up every orthodox Catholic to Fr. Rosica's agenda which is certainly not fidelity to the Church. What can we expect from any role he plays in the upcoming Ordinary Synod on the Family. Can we trust his Salt and Light network to report the truth? Hell no! And I mean that hell literally. When you follow those who admire and promote evil and dissent, they are leading you on the wide road to hell. Run as fast as possible in the other direction!

So sue me, Father!

Oh and I recommend that readers write to the pope and ask him to fire Fr. Rosica as his English language media adviser. How about Phil Lawler as a replacement? Here's the pope's address. His Holiness, Pope Francis Bishop of Rome, Apostolic Palace, Via del Pellegrino, Citta del Vaticano, Vatican City State, 00120, Europe (See other Vatican addresses here.)

What's Wrong with the Synod on the Family?

Plenty! I have high regard for Phil Lawler and he is no knee jerk critic. So when he points out problems, orthodox Catholics would do well to listen. I've highlighted a few particularly important passages in red. Pray for the Synod Fathers. If they "squander this opportunity" or, even worse, follow a liberalizing agenda that further confuses the faithful like so many clergy did after Vatican II and Humanae Vitae, God help them on Judgment Day. Check out the complete articles by clicking on Part I and Part II.

Part I -- Shuffling the Deck Chairs:

If what we hear from the Synod Hall is an accurate representation of the actual discussion, the bishops are missing the big picture. Worse, they are squandering an opportunity to deliver the one message that our society most desperately needs to hear....

[A]s we have lost our theoretical understanding of what constitutes real marriage, we have also lost our practical ability to hold marriages together. The widespread acceptance of divorce...was the first sign of that failure. But the problem grew exponentially with the acceptance of “no-fault” divorce laws, which made it possible for one party to sever a marriage contract. As Stephen Baskerville observed for Crisis magazine: “Today it is not possible to form a binding agreement to create a family.”...

Real marriage has three essential characteristics:

Maybe There's Hope for the USCCB After All

It's a start anyway.... Good-bye and good riddance to John Carr. Hello to Jonathan J. Reyes. "Gaudeamus igitur, and chill the champagne!"

Terrific Appointment at Bishops' Conference

Phil Lawler of Catholic World News Explains What Happened in Massachusetts

Phil Lawler is from Massachusetts and his insight on the election of Scott Brown is astute and interesting. Author of the fascinating book, The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture, Lawler is well positioned to describe the collapse of the Kennedy myth.

Check out "What happened in Massachusetts?"

Catholics: not a sign of contradiction, but a voice of confusion

A new Zogby poll shows Obama leading among Catholic voters by about 5%. What gives? How can the most pro-abortion politician in the history of American government, a man who favors stabbing a partially delivered baby in the head and sucking out his brains - who won't even offer minimal protection to a living baby who survives an abortion - how can Catholics support him? This question is especially compelling when numerous bishops, the teachers of the faith, have stressed that it is seriously sinful, a threat to salvation, to vote for someone who advocates intrinisic evils like abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, etc.

Phil Lawler's book, The Faithful Departed, points to the answer by turning the jeweler's eye on the Church in Boston. In one generation Boston Catholics went from being a powerful voice in unity with their bishop's voice of authority to being eunuchs in the political process. Politicians once feared to flaunt them because it meant the death knell for their political interests. No more!

Those days are long gone, buried, not only in the sex abuse scandals, but in a long string of compromises with the world. The Land o' Lakes statement declared the freedom of Catholic colleges and universities from Catholic doctrine and the faith has all but disappeared at most so-called Catholic institutions; John Kennedy running for president declared the freedom of Catholic politicians from the moral authority of the Church and now we have pro-abortion politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden daring to teach their depraved theology on the evening news while they and others like Ted Kennedy, Rudy Giuliani, and John Kerry publicly desecrate the Eucharist by their sacrilegious reception; and dissenters spout their heresy with nary a whimper from the hierarchy even when the heretics, like Charlie Curran, wear Roman collars. It is a shameful picture!

Catholics in the upcoming election will speak with a divided voice thanks also to organizations like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development which has funded many of the voices clamoring for Obama including scandal-ridden ACORN. Catholic Cardinals and bishops who want a place at the table of the rich and powerful will - who want to walk down the aisle arm-in-arm with the likes of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi will be to blame as well.

The big losers, as always, will be the innocent: the tiny baby growing in secret under his mother's heart, the elderly men and women starved and dehydrated to death in nursing homes, the depressed pressured to believe they would be better off dead who opt for poisonous drugs, the Downs baby induced early and left to die in a soiled linen closet.

If Obama wins in this election it will be thanks to apostate Catholics and enabling clerics. God forgive them; they don't know what they're doing. And God have mercy on our poor country.

Lawler's Book Banned at the Shrine

The bishops policies following the sex abuse scandals are based on openness and transparency right? Shouldn't we all welcome an analysis of how it all happened so we can make sure it never happens again. Apparently not. Eminent Catholic laymen, Phil Lawler who was scheduled to do a book signing at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception bookstore has been given the boot along with his book by Msgr. Walter Rossi, the Shrine rector. It's just too negative to talk about these things. Time to move on. (See Julia Duin's Washington Times article.) On the other hand homosexuals are still being trained for the priesthood. In July Tom Roeser blogged about the Rockford Diocese pulling seminarians out of Mundelein after two upperclassmen propositioned an underclassman. Rockford now says it isn't true and Roeser is being threatened with legal action. He stands by his story at the time he published it and is fighting back. (Does anyone really believe the diocese will go to court on this? After all the deals and money spent to avoid going to court with the - gasp - possibility of entering into legal discovery. It ain't gonna happen!)

Anyway, Lawler has obviously touched a nerve. The bishops (and those who hope to be bishops - last Shrine rector is now the bishop of Wheeling/Charleston) want to "just move on," but as Lawler said at the Brent Society Communion Breakfast today, "If you have cancer the doctor doesn't tell you to move on; he cuts out the cancer." That hasn't happened; the Church in the United States is in deep trouble. And Msgr. Rossi's inexcusable action is one more example of shooting the messenger. (Hey, they've told us they've solved the problem; who are the riff-raff in the pews to disagree?)

Please call, fax, or email Msgr. Rossi and tell him what you think of his cancellation of Lawler's book signing. And order the book, The Faithful Departed: the Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture. I bought it at the breakfast today and can't wait to read it. You may have to wait to get it. The first run has pretty much sold out, Msgr. Rossi and others of his ilk notwithstanding.

Here's the contact information:

Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Rossi

RectorEmail wrr@bnsic.org

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

400 Michigan Avenue NEWashington, DC 20017-1566Tel 202-526-8300Fax 202-526-8313