R
rfk
Guest
Terrific article. Good luck up there. I wish things were a little more orthodox down here in Columbus.
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B
bboop
Guest
We are in RCIA, drawn to the CC by the History and Mystery, by the center core dogma that has not changed for 2000 years. However, I do not trust the American Catholic Bishops to hold that deposit of faith. Reading Dante’s Inferno the other night, I came across this passage, which pretty much summed up what I have been running into: (perhaps Los Angeles is NOT the norm):
“Heresy is not due to weaknesses of the flesh or mind, nor is it a form of Violence or Fraud: IT IS A CLEARLY WILLED SIN BASED ON INTELLECTUAL PRIDE, and because it denies the Christian concept of reality, it is punished outside of the area allocated to the Christian categories of sin.”
Intellectual Pride is rampant in our church – they choose to not believe what the Pope teaches; they pretty much choose to not follow the CC’s teachings on anything; one of the priests told me that there was no such thing as Free Will. I believe willful turning from the core Catholic dogma IS heresy, and I believe it is rooted in Intellectual Pride. The leaders seem to have themselves on the Thrones of their Hearts, where the Lord belongs.
IMHO
“Heresy is not due to weaknesses of the flesh or mind, nor is it a form of Violence or Fraud: IT IS A CLEARLY WILLED SIN BASED ON INTELLECTUAL PRIDE, and because it denies the Christian concept of reality, it is punished outside of the area allocated to the Christian categories of sin.”
Intellectual Pride is rampant in our church – they choose to not believe what the Pope teaches; they pretty much choose to not follow the CC’s teachings on anything; one of the priests told me that there was no such thing as Free Will. I believe willful turning from the core Catholic dogma IS heresy, and I believe it is rooted in Intellectual Pride. The leaders seem to have themselves on the Thrones of their Hearts, where the Lord belongs.
IMHO
L
larryo
Guest
I trust the Holy Spirit to guide the majority of our bishops in the Truth. I know that there are a few bad apples–even Jesus got one of 12 wrong–and that they truly need our prayers. I think most of the “problem” bishops get into trouble, not so much for teaching falsely but for being lax in their oversight of the disloyal and unfaithful dissidents that seem to pepper every parish, seminary, Catholic school, and chancery office. We should remember that the Church has survived worse episcopal calamities. At one time in the early Church, heretical Arian bishops were in the majority. When Henry VIII hijacked the English Church, just about every bishop caved in to the king’s whims. St. John Fisher did not and paid for his “insolence” with his life. I respect our archbishop in LA but do not agree with him on some non-doctrinal issues. I’m not aware of him teaching any false doctrine. I do believe he’s too liberal on political and social issues,
S
Steven_Merten
Guest
I trust American Bishops more than I trust the Pope. What did the Pope know about clergy child abuse and when did he know it? Why did he not use his world mass media voice to warn us to protect our children? Tens of thousands of cases of clergy abuse, millions of spent on hush money and no parent of an abused child took the time to write the Vatican? Did he use American Bishop vows of obedience to him to demand that they do all they could to hide the abuse? What other Church abuses to Catholics could he be hiding from us?
I have yet to see Pope John Paul II get down on his knees and beg Amerca to forgive him for not warning us to protect our children. American Bishops had enough Christ like humility to do this, why has he not done so? If he did not know of the abuse, I have yet to see him thank the Boston Globe for transforming all of American diosease into taking a philosophy to protect the children first. This is an accomplishment the he, the head shepard, did not accomplish.
As with investigating war attrocities, what was the command from the top of the Church hiearchy ladder about known child sexual predator clergy?
Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com
I have yet to see Pope John Paul II get down on his knees and beg Amerca to forgive him for not warning us to protect our children. American Bishops had enough Christ like humility to do this, why has he not done so? If he did not know of the abuse, I have yet to see him thank the Boston Globe for transforming all of American diosease into taking a philosophy to protect the children first. This is an accomplishment the he, the head shepard, did not accomplish.
As with investigating war attrocities, what was the command from the top of the Church hiearchy ladder about known child sexual predator clergy?
Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com
D
deogratias
Guest
O
oat_soda
Guest
They have a tough job at times and I think have been affected by there quest for power and glory. It’s easy for us to judge them but we’re better off praying for them. And I trust most of them about as far as I can throw them.
O
oat_soda
Guest
They have a tough job at times and I think have been affected by there quest for power and glory. It’s easy for us to judge them but we’re better off praying for them. And I trust most of them about as far as I can throw them.
A
Agomemnon
Guest
Toledo has been rampantly led down the modernist path for a long time. Give it time and pray the new bishop there can straighten things out.
B
BLB_Oregon
Guest
T.A.Stobie:
At any rate, the bishops would be thrilled for all the prayers they can get.
The Apostles were divided at times. That part doesn’t bother me. I don’t know all the bishops, but I believe that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church.The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is very divided right now. :whacky:
We need to pray that all bishops come to embrace the Truth and be granted the courage to preach it boldly.
At any rate, the bishops would be thrilled for all the prayers they can get.
G
GWitherow
Guest
I voted “unsure”. On the positive side we do have a number of good bishops. I am in the Arlington Virginia diocese and it has a reputation for being conservative. The bishops are moving on the sex abuse policy and that’s a positive initiative.
I don’t want to be negative but there are a number of issues where the bishops seem to have been asleep at the wheel.
We need to pray for our bishops.
I don’t want to be negative but there are a number of issues where the bishops seem to have been asleep at the wheel.
- Catholics almost universally don’t know their faith. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS, DON’T THE BISHOPS? The bishops need to address this.
- Catholics in the US don’t have a Bible. The NAB notes are almost heretical at times. The Vatican has condemed inclusive language (notice that the Vatican web site which has the NAB has refused to post the Psalms!). The bishops need to address this.
- Liturgical abuses are way too frequent.
- There is fuzzy thinking when it comes to the Eucharist and blatently anti-Catholic politicians WHO ARE CATHOLIC.
We need to pray for our bishops.
L
loyola_rambler
Guest
Faithful 2 Rome:
Keep your eyes open and pray hard. There’s more that’s going to come out about the good cardinal that’s going to be painful for people to hear. I like him as a person, but he’s an administrator and not a shepherd. There have been a few relatively recent things that aren’t going to sit well with people.
L
loyola_rambler
Guest
I moved from the A/D of Chicago to the Diocese of Saginaw last year. Most people think I went from a very “orthodox” place to one of “heresy and error”. This March we lost Bishop Untener (a hard name to speak in some quarters…yeah, yeah, yeah) and we’re now without a bishop.
The reality is that I was much more impressed by Untener than I was with Cardinal George. George is a very cold person who has a very hard time speaking with the slightest bit of compassion for the needs of struggling men and women. Though very intellectual, he’s not at all pastoral and I’m very pained by critically bad decisions that he’s made. Among those bad decisions was submitting for reassignment a bishop who is openly gay and was the source of serious scandal at a major seminary. That man is now the bishop of a diocese that had itself suffered serious sex scandals and I really doubt that the good cardinal shared this man’s sexual history with Rome when submitting him for the reassignment.
Untener was wrong on a few key things, but he was also right on so many others. For one thing, he made his priests work hard to raise the level of their homilies to the point of becoming interesting and inspirational. He sold the bishop’s mansion and lived parish to parish. Few bishops can possibly claim to have literally served at every parish in their diocese, but Untener could. Most of all, he did a lot of spiritual healing and brought an awful lot of people back to the pews. Don’t underestimate the value in that.
But are were two bishops who I really admire. The most impressive IMHO is Bishop Joe Adamec whom I’ve know for about 25 years. He’s a phenomenal shepherd and has a very strong sense of faith, obedience and humility. The other is the Bishop Gregory. Though in a very intense position, he approaches it with a good sense of humor and a keen sense of fairness. He teaches and shepherds his diocese extremely well and pays good testiment to what Catholicism in action really means. I really hope to see him in cardinal red one day soon.
The reality is that I was much more impressed by Untener than I was with Cardinal George. George is a very cold person who has a very hard time speaking with the slightest bit of compassion for the needs of struggling men and women. Though very intellectual, he’s not at all pastoral and I’m very pained by critically bad decisions that he’s made. Among those bad decisions was submitting for reassignment a bishop who is openly gay and was the source of serious scandal at a major seminary. That man is now the bishop of a diocese that had itself suffered serious sex scandals and I really doubt that the good cardinal shared this man’s sexual history with Rome when submitting him for the reassignment.
Untener was wrong on a few key things, but he was also right on so many others. For one thing, he made his priests work hard to raise the level of their homilies to the point of becoming interesting and inspirational. He sold the bishop’s mansion and lived parish to parish. Few bishops can possibly claim to have literally served at every parish in their diocese, but Untener could. Most of all, he did a lot of spiritual healing and brought an awful lot of people back to the pews. Don’t underestimate the value in that.
But are were two bishops who I really admire. The most impressive IMHO is Bishop Joe Adamec whom I’ve know for about 25 years. He’s a phenomenal shepherd and has a very strong sense of faith, obedience and humility. The other is the Bishop Gregory. Though in a very intense position, he approaches it with a good sense of humor and a keen sense of fairness. He teaches and shepherds his diocese extremely well and pays good testiment to what Catholicism in action really means. I really hope to see him in cardinal red one day soon.
L
lsburk
Guest
I Think what bothers me most, about the results of this poll, is the number of no’s and unsure’s there are. Where has our Church gone that there is this much suspicion of our Bishops? My suggestion to this problem is two-fold. Continue to demand, from our clergy, the teaching of the Church not their teaching. Those that refuse need to be reported to the Diocese or directly to Rome. Secondly, pray. God has given us so many ways in which to change our world through prayer. Intercessory prayer. Prayer using the Psalms. Prayer will move mountains. Glory to God.
Scott
R
ridesawhitehors
Guest
I trust the Holy Spirit to teach me ~ despite the human failings of some of the Bishops. The Church is human and divine. Pray for our unity.
B
Bushwhacker
Guest
lsburk said:
I Think what bothers me most, about the results of this poll, is the number of no’s and unsure’s there are. Where has our Church gone that there is this much suspicion of our Bishops? My suggestion to this problem is two-fold. Continue to demand, from our clergy, the teaching of the Church not their teaching. Those that refuse need to be reported to the Diocese or directly to Rome. Secondly, pray. God has given us so many ways in which to change our world through prayer. Intercessory prayer. Prayer using the Psalms. Prayer will move mountains. Glory to God.
Scott
Good luck in reporting anything to your diocese or Rome. That is where the Faith is most under attack, even more so than from the laity. Just my opinion…
D
deogratias
Guest
Depends on your bishop no doubt. I filed a formal complaint about liturgical abuse at my parish and received a reply within 48 hours and the pastor had to make a formal response.
You must be charitable and polite in your complaint, have all the facts and it doesn’t hurt to have the Church documents quoted which will back you up. Send it to two people, i.e. the Bishop and the Diocese Liturgist, with cc: marked, and keep a copy for yourself of course. It is better to do it by snail mail than E-mail.
You must be charitable and polite in your complaint, have all the facts and it doesn’t hurt to have the Church documents quoted which will back you up. Send it to two people, i.e. the Bishop and the Diocese Liturgist, with cc: marked, and keep a copy for yourself of course. It is better to do it by snail mail than E-mail.
F
faith_ful1953us
Guest
I vote “no”. I do not trust them as a whole. I know that there are a few good bishops, but when I see them on the whole, I think we are in trouble. Yes I see, pray, hope that we are on the “upswing”, but I do get discouraged.
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