Catholic Bishops Doing a Poor Job?

[puzzleannie]

General:

It seems to me that collectively, the Catholic Bishops in the USA are doing a very poor job. Their poor performance is on display with the problems we see with the liturgy.

I see very little team work amongst the Bishops. Each one seems to focus on protecting their patch of turf, rather than projecting a unified voice that support what the Church actually teaches.
…

this is a very general statement, you offer no specific examples to back up this extraordinary claim, and are basing it, I assume since you offer no background, from your own personal experience living in one or two dioceses, or from MSM accounts of events in various localities and various bishops.

There is really no basis for discussion here since you provide no factual basis for your disgruntlement.

 

[flamingsword]

General

While one should not opine about other lightly, it is our duty as Catholic Christians to do all that we can to support the Church – even if it means fairly critiquing our bishops.

Where does it say that our duty is to critique our bishops, or even priests? Yes, we may and should report liturgical abuses to the Vatican, that permission was given in Redemptionis Sacramentum, but we should not carry on a public discussion critiquing our bishops, it is not the role of the laity.

Andreas Hofer

True, we must pray for our bishops, but I’ve definitely seen the Angelic Doctor quoted on here as to the duty of the laity to call out their clergy when they need correction.

Calling them out is a whole lot different than critiqueing them in public.

JohnyJ

The Investigating panel of the USCCB when it issued its report recommended that 4 bishops resign

It is terrible that any bishop would be asked to resign, yet 4 bishops out of all the bishops in the US hardly constitutes a trend.

More than 4 Bishops have been forced to resign by the Media when it publicised their involvement with pedophiles or for other sexual type offenses.

The media again, hardly unbiased and hardly fair. MAybe they did do wrong and resigned as they should have, most likely I am betting the media made it so hard that these bishops couldn’t hold office any longer.

Two bishops have been forced to submit to ongoing oversight by the attorney Generals office of 2 states.

This means nothing, its a publicity ploy.

The bishops have been saved from criminal prosecution ,because. In most instances the statute of limitations has expired. Thats also why so many have in the end confessed.Knowing they couldn’t be criminaly prosecuted.

I hardly doubt any bishop would admit to anything of this sort because the threat of a civil lawsuit. The statute of limitations is a tricky thing, but it starts expiring from when the crime is reported in most of these cases.

You completly miss something very important. We gave our enamies the scandal and they are beating us over the head wth it.Also it is not Catholic haters that are going after the bishops.Its loyal Catholics that have been betrayed and humiliated by people who were sapose to be in Gods Service !

We gave them nothing. There have been some bad priests, but the VAST majority of priests are good men. The media played this up. They made it into an event.
The reason why most of these things stay out of criminal courts is because so many of the accusations are based on repressed memories. I would say most of them are based on repressed memories. Most of these were brought out under hypnosis, psychics and other demonic means. You can’t be naive enough to think that the devil couln’t have done this? It is ALL the work of the devil. And again you are making a broad statement when you say it is loyal Catholics who have brought these things up. You have no proof, and from what I have heard these people making accusitions are not practicing Catholics. Now, as to the average Catholic being humiliated by this. You speak only for yourself and a minority when you say that Catholics feel humiliated. You may feel betrayed if a bishop is truly guilty of what he is accused of, but no Catholic should be ashamed of being Catholic or humiliated.

 

[harinkj]

Hasn’t the repressed memory syndrome been discredited? Also, many bishops acted on professional advice that priests were no longer a threat. Why is everyone so determined to punish? When I was a child, many years ago, we would not be molested because our strongest ties were to our parents. We were not is a position to be molested. We were not sent off to a kiddie kennel during the day while both of our parents worked.

Yes, a priest who molests should be removed from a postion where children are present – perhaps to monastary. Why is it so important to spend our tax dollars to house him in a prison, just to get even.

In fact, has not a study shown that the vast majority of these cases were not molestation of little children, but sexual advances to post pubesent children. Neither is good, but it appears that several people who have put forth comments are not familiar with the facts. We can’t solve any problem until we understand the facts and toss out emotion.

The goal should not be to punish every molester, it should be to prevent any future molestations. That means we have to understand what is motivating these people and identify them BEFORE they molest the FIRST TIME. Then there will not be any molesters who need punishment. Sadly, the criminal justice system doesn’t seem to be making any headway. Have we even gone backwards? Are more women now making advances to underage boys?

Can anyone state definitively that these people have a genetic predisposition to such activity? The technology for such a study is currently available. Would it be ethical to identify such people at birth and then monitor them more closely?

It is sad to see so much hate against the bishops. Are we not all Christians?

• Kathie

 

[TJD]

Originally posted by General,

I certainly care what the US Bishops do collectively – they should all follow the Bishop of Rome.

I care about what the American Bishops do collectively just not all that much. I am more concerned about my Bishop and his words and actions. He is the leader of my diocese.

You are correct; all the Catholic Bishops should act in accord with the Pope! I want my Bishop to surrender to the Holy Spirit and lead his Church. I don’t want him to surrender to some loud mouth Bishop, I’m sorry I should say some Bishop gifted with fine communication skills … and a Big Archdiocese. Sure they should communicate with each other and speak in unison when necessary, but they should accept the responsibility for their own diocese and not abdicate it to a collective body. What do you think?

Christ’s Peace,

TJD

 

[General]

My posting was extremely general for a reason – it goes far further than the child molestation/homosexual rape horror that now engulfs the Church in the USA.

Given the size and the resources of the Church in the USA, it should simply be doing far more (and far better) at promoting and supporting the faith. Roll back to the Church in the USA in the fabulous 1950’s. How far have we come (or regressed) since those days?

Just look at what the Mormons (as one example are doing) with regard to their faith. How come the Catholic Church dosen’t run national television and print ads for RCIA? Why don’t we offer free Bibles (and CCC’s) shipped to requesters’ homes? Why couldn’t the US Bishops commission an official Bible commentary that could be given away with the Bibles and CCCs?

Why do I have the feeling that even if the mormons had a celebite male priesthood, they wouldn’t have a shortage of priests today?

It’s time for a paradigm shift, the US Bishops aren’t getting the job done as a group. Every time I watch the USCCB Conference, I can almost feel myself becoming ill watching what are largely a bunch of turf-protectors. Those bishops need to learn to work together for the good of the Church, and not their “careers.”