Lay group asks bishops to tackle economic crisis [Allen]

[Catholic_Opinion]

The lone formal channel of (name removed by moderator)ut for lay Catholics to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recommended today that the bishops tackle the current economic crisis, addressing issues such as homelessness, health care, and unemployment.

“There’s a strong consensus that [the crisis] touches and impacts all people and every Catholic in some way,” said Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, speaking on behalf of the National Advisory Council. 

Membership of the council includes bishops, men and women religious, diocesan priests, deacons and lay persons, and is designed as a way for Catholics at the grassroots to comment on the work of the bishops' conference. The most numerous group (30 members) is comprised of lay men and women, appointed by the bishops, representing different geographic regions.

Wester told the bishops this afternoon that because the conference is taking up fewer documents these days, the council has had time to ponder issues that aren’t part of the formal USCCB agenda. Their recommendation on the economic crisis is one fruit of that effort.

More…

 

[Evangel]

A few things struck me as odd here.

The lone formal channel of (name removed by moderator)ut for lay Catholics to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recommended today that the bishops tackle the current economic crisis, addressing issues such as homelessness, health care, and unemployment.

Tackle the economic crisis? Seems to me the USCCB goes off the tracks when they wander away from the essentials of the faith. I’m not saying the temporal welfare of their flock is beyond their ken, but I get the impression they often “major in the minors”.

“There’s a strong consensus that [the crisis] touches and impacts all people and every Catholic in some way,” said Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, speaking on behalf of the National Advisory Council.

How about sin? Abortion? Gay “marriage”? Obedience? Evangelization?

Membership of the council includes bishops, men and women religious, diocesan priests, deacons and lay persons, and is designed as a way for Catholics at the grassroots to comment on the work of the bishops’ conference. The most numerous group (30 members) is comprised of lay men and women, appointed by the bishops, representing different geographic regions.

Does this not sound like an echo chamber? Hand-picked lay people telling the bishops what they want to hear?

 

[Beau_Ouiville]

A few things struck me as odd here.
Tackle the economic crisis? Seems to me the USCCB goes off the tracks when they wander away from the essentials of the faith.

My thought exactly.

 

[Layman]

"Lay group asks bishops to tackle vocations crisis" might be a better idea.

Hint: suggest focusing on preaching the Gospel, traditional catechesis, adminstering the sacraments, healing the sick and casting out demons as a good start. The occasional sermon on ‘Hell, and how you can end up there’, might be an idea also. To motivate the troops, so to speak.