US Catholic Bishops
US Catholic bishops urges people NOT to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it 'uses tissue connected to aborted fetal cells'
The bad grammar is the fault of the Daily Mail, but the arrogance and effrontery are the unique property of the American bishops who for decades have equated the Christian Gospel with The Communist Manifesto, though the Manifesto is a more morally responsible statement than most of the bishops' pronouncements.
Vast stretches if Catholic moral theology on such subjects as war and peace, crime and punishment, marriage and family, birth and death, church and state, have been transformed by these grotesque ignoramuses into illogical and cowardly accommodations with the values of the regime.
Any serious Catholic who retained residual respect for the American bishops must have been wised up by their wholesale capitulation to the COVID crackdown that has so damaged both the economy and the social life of Americans. We cannot worship except in compliance with government regulations. These same bishops cannot even excommunicate the political engineers of infanticide--Biden, Pelosi, and the other members of their blood-stained party, bu they think they are in a position to tell Catholics which vaccine to use.
As someone who has come to look upon the bishops--with a few exceptions--as the moral equivalent of congressmen and journalists, I have only one thing to say to these imposters and it is "Go Dry Up." If I want moral advice, I can get it from Saint Thomas or the Pagans but not from regime propagandists.
Do you have an opinion on Michael Voris of Church Militant, The Vortex as found on Youtube? He is a conservative Catholic that is extremely critical of American bishops.
I know very little about Michael Voris apart from the fact that he wasted his college years getting a worse than useless degree in communication and that, despite being a recovering homosexual who confused plumbing with reproduction, he has presumed to set himself up as an authority on the Catholic Church. That little I know I should happily exchange for a bit of free neurological space to cram in a few extra emperors in my list from Augustus to the last Constantine.
These guys have cried wolf for so long every time a opossum enters their pastures that no self respecting Christian could believe them even if a pack of grey wolves from Yellowstone came for dinner.
There was a EWTN reporter today who asked Biden’s press secretary a question about doctors who object to abortions and transgender procedures that lead to extraordinarily high suicide rates. She said it was Biden’s desire to make these acts the law of the land and for everyone to follow them. As wicked as her answer was, it was a more public and honest apology for belief in evil than our Catholic bishops ever offer in defense of faith or hope. With rare exceptions these Bishop’s conferences should be either shut down entirely or only held for forty days in a remote desert every five years.
What can we say of wolves in sheep’s clothing who cry wolf? I suppose it is a case of counter-intelligence.
Good for you, Tom!
Tom,
Yes, I was referring to their equivocation of the death penalty (wolf, wolf ) with the taking of innocent life. Their utter silence in defense of Pope Benedict’s condemnation of the unjust attack and war on Iraq while blathering about nuclear weapons. Their irrational fear (wolf, wolf) of orthodox priests, and religious communities while proposing endless “dialogue” with every marxist, material heretic and two bit, nut job under the sun. Their fear (wolf wolf) of Latin and traditional sacred music while embracing “bi-lingual liturgy” and sentimental popularizations and profane adaptations. I could go on but you get the idea.
Robert, the charges you bring up are exactly what I had in mind when I scribbled out this screed. When are you coming to the Midwest? On March 17 we’ll be doing a small-scale Ides of March Lecture which we shall also vend online. You should try to make that.
It used to be said that the Episcopal Church was the Republican Party at prayer. Today it would be even more true to say that the US Catholic Church is the Democratic Party at prayer.
Bishop Barron (wh0 longs to be considered a modern day Fulton Sheen) just came out declaring “Traditionalist” Catholics (i.e. people who prefer the ancient Latin Mass to the guitars and felt banners of the Novus Ordo) are proponents of a “radical, self-devouring” form of Catholicism and are to be avoided at all costs. Meanwhile, he writes a complimentary introduction to a book by pro-homosexualist apologist Fr. James Martin, SJ. For some reason, the image of Christ in the Temple with a whip made of cords keeps coming to my mind.
Tom, I was hoping for a bit more substance. That he received a useless degree is all too common today. That he suffers from ‘same sex attraction’ or was a homosexual is noteworthy. I dont see the relevance of his presumption. His group appears to be doing a stand up job taking US bishops to task. Seems to me that is a good thing. Unless it is not.
But as you suggest, they may not be worth looking at.
The RC church changed in 1958 when the Mass was changed from Latin to the vernacular. It had it’s pluses and minuses, but on the whole, when it was in Latin, congregants could follow the Mass with the missal or by saying the rosary. The Ten Commandments were important then and doubt if they still are. When I have visited the RC church or “attended it streamed in” I noticed that the priest does practically nothing except takes over during the Eucharistic part of Mass – that’s all. Usually women give out the Communion Host. I imagine it makes them feel real good. I have heard the deacon give the sermon.
I know there is a great shortage of priests but if the church is going to capitulate to the current leftist mindset I can’t see things getting any better. The new religion will be political – Republican, Democrat or Independent.
Mark, I bean with the statement, “I know very little about Michael Voris” and added what little I have heard or read about someone of absolutely no interest to me. If I were given 1000 years of life, I still should consider such a person not worth reading. When there are real books written by serious men and women, how can one make room for the likes of Bishop Barron or Mr,. Voris?
Dear Mr Cornell,
As a general rule today I tend to become interested in certain groups and individuals simply by noticing how hard they are being hit by certain sectors of our ruling class and opinion makers. Tom mentions it in another article about cliches and phrases such as “nobody today can take him seriously” or “bottom line is there is simply no audience for that nonsense in today’s world”
Bishop Barron is a type of such popularizations although I am sure he would not see himself as such. Certain traditionalists are a tough bunch to get along with and in a certain sense have gotten meaner by necessity like a once nice dog who has been kicked around too much or one that has constantly been sprayed with mace by the mailman every time he barks. Bishop Barron tried to “dialogue” appealing to sentiments about faith, as is his way, and they pealed his hide back, hurt his feelings and left what we call a “bad impression” on him. Truth be told he simply wasn’t accustomed to that type of push back ( after all he is a popularizer not a philosopher or theologian) and I am sure he was offended.
I still think it will take another hundred years to sort the current Catholic mess out but we have been here before and so long as men continue to walk on the face of the earth we usually deserve what we get rather than getting what we deserve, thank God!!
Mark, I think Church Militant.com is a good source of news & information about current shenanigans in the Church, especially episcopal shenanigans. As I recall, they published documentation supporting some of Malachi Martin’s more sinister revelations about Cardinal Bernadin. They have good catechetical material available at their site. In addition to his original college degree Voris has an STB (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, usually known for short as the Angelicum. He makes no secret of his unregenerate past.
Mr. Reavis,
I certainly agree with your assessment – I have met more than my share of Traditionalists who would make a rabid porcupine seem warm and welcoming. I really do think, though, that with the easing of restrictions against the Latin Mass and the increase of younger folks who have run out of patience with the saccharine stylings of the V2 hipster take on liturgy, the cranky Traditionalists are in the minority. Albeit they’re probably the more vocal minority, especially online.
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I don’t know anything about Bishop Barron. I can’t say I’ve listened to any of his talks, watched his DVDs, or read his books or articles save the recent one that someone pointed out to me where he castigates traditionalists. I had heard he got into some Twitter wars with some folks a little while back, but all I could think was “What on earth is a Bishop doing getting into Twitter wars with anybody?” He has struck me, and perhaps I judge unfairly, as someone who is overly interested in building a media empire. I wonder if spending so much time focused on screens, both TV and computer and phone, doesn’t warp one’s sense of reality. It comes across as if someone like homosexual apologist Fr. James Martin is more of an authentic person because he’s a fellow Twitter citizen and Catholic celebrity whereas the many, many families with many, many children attending Latin Masses every week aren’t even worth considering.
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Either way, I believe you’re right. The current mess will take a hundred years or more to clear up. And it won’t be cleared up by media moguls or Tweets or the “New Evangelization” (whatever that might mean) or, least of all, bishops committees. Perhaps homeschool families are the new Cluny, and a few generations from now, arising from the wreckage, men who actually hold their Faith and their God as something to be taken seriously will get to the work of repairing Peter’s leaky boat.
Tom, fair enough but I like him. Like Limbaugh he is imperfect but he is in the trenches and sticking it in the eyes of those that need to be stuck.
De gustibus non disputandum may work for flavors of ice cream or breeds of dogs but it cannot even be stretched to cover serious esthetic questions such as an affection for abominable music, e.g. disco and rap. In a discussion of clergymen and intellectuals, such an approach short-circuits all rational discourse. Then throwing in the worn-out and inappropriate metaphor of being “in the trenches,” you are making sure that no one will take it seriously. Really, in the trenches, as in dodging bullets and suffering poison gas attacks? Or as a metaphor, incurring grave dangers from powerful forces? Hardly. Every moment spent on such people is wasting time that could have been better spent watching “Gilligan’s island: reruns.