Invoking the spirit of Blessed John Paul II, Archbishop Timothy Dolan opened the U.S. bishops’ 2011 fall meeting with a passionate call for his brother bishops to embrace the New Evangelization and grapple more effecitively with the waning numbers of cradle Catholics still practice.
Archbishop Dolan summarized the problem with a quote from Father Ronald Rolheiser’s reflection on an emerging “post-ecclesial era, as people seem to prefer.”
“A King but not the Kingdom,
a shepherd with no flock;
to believe without belonging;
a spiritual family with God as my father, as long as I’m the only child;
‘spirituality’ without religion;
faith without the faithful;
Christ without the Church.”
For Archbishop Dolan, the emerging reality of a fractured and individualized Christian spirituality means that Church leaders must “invite our own beloved people, and the world itself, to see Jesus and his church as one.”
With a spark of humor, the archbishop cast off the mischaracterization of the Church as some “cumbersome, outmoded club of sticklers, with a medieval bureaucracy, silly rules on fancy letterhead, one more movement rife with squabbles, opinions and disagreement.”
While opponents of Catholic moral doctrine point to the clergy abuse crisis as a reason to doubt the validity of Catholic teaching, Archbishop Dolan challenged this stance. He argued that those “who believe in Jesus Christ and his one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church interpret the sinfulness of her members not as a reason to dismiss the Church or her eternal truths, but to embrace her all the more!”
UPDATE 1:
Asked to comment on the Penn State sex-abuse scandal, Archbishop Timothy Dolan acknowledged that church leaders had reason to be humble. But then he proposed an alliance between the Church and educational institutions to combat child sexual abuse.
He noted that Penn State “reopens a wound” for the Church.
“We are reluctant to offer wisdom,” he said. “What seems to be coming to the fore is that the sexual abuse of minors is widespread. It’s everywhere. More often than not it’s [perpetrated by] people in positions of trust. ... That is what complicated our own crisis.”
“One of the things we have learned is that education is efficacious,” Archbishop Dolan said.
He noted the the Church has “the largest group in the country involved in education, and safe-environment [training].”
Offering “love and prayers” to those suffering from the Penn State scandal, the archbishop proffered a remedy.
“One good thing would be a kind of alliance in a major educational campaign to see that this is faced head on. We must come to this table with wisdom. We’ve learned the hard way.”
UPDATE 2:
During the noon press conference, the archbishop also reported on his recent visit with President Obama. He said the president was “sensitive” to the USCCB’s concerns regarding religious liberty.
Asked to comment on whether all the bishops were on board with this priority agenda issue, Archbishop Dolan said he was impressed with the “unanimity” of the bishops’ support for the establishment of the ad hoc committee on religious liberty.
While election-year politics have led some critics of the Church to argue that the bishops are pulling away from social justice concerns, the archbishop noted that the Church remains deeply committed to caring for the needy. He observed that the bishops’ trafficking victims’ assistance program had been denied funding because of its refusal to provide family planning services. HIs point: the church’s social justice commitments are also not immune from the effort to remove Catholic witness from the public square.
UPDATE 3:
In an address on religious liberty, Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., characterized the role of Church teachers as “watchmen” who eschew “partisan” attacks, while defending a fundamental right.
As the U.S. bishops adopt a more aggressive strategy for challenging threats to religious liberty at both the federal and state level, Bishop Lori of Bridgeport, the chairman of the newly established ad hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, took to the podium to advance thel importance of religious freedom.
He kicked off his speech with a note of gloom, asking “whether a genuine understanding of religious liberty still has a chance of shaping our society. For, as one distinguished jurist put it, if liberty dies in the hearts of men and women ‘no constitution, no law, no court can save it.’”
In a reference to recent challenges, including the HHS interim rule requiring the inclusion of contraceptive services in private, employee health benefits and the Justice Department’s attacks on DOMA and its supporters in and out of the Church, Bishop Lori defended the crucial role of Catholic social programs and other organizations that “serve the common good with extraordinary effectiveness and generosity. In the dioceses that we serve, the Church is the largest non.governmental source of education, social, charitable, and healthcare services.”
HIs comments acknowledged that many of his brother bishops will be under pressure to remain silent during a high-stakes election year. But Bishop Lori called on the assembly of bishops to draw the laity into the battle to defend the 1st amendment. Employing the faithful to get the word out, he argued, was a better approach than creating new bureaucracies to address the issue.
The bishops, he said, “cannot do this alone. ... Together we will do our best to awaken in ourselves, in our fellow Catholics, and in the culture at large a new appreciation for religious liberty and a renewed appreciation to defend it.”
UPDATE 4:
If the Supreme Court decided to declare the new health bill unconstitutional, that would solve some thorny problems for the U.S. bishops, at least over the short term.
The HHS mandate to require the inclusion of contraception would disappear, to take just one example. As the bishop continue to debate religious freedom issues at their fall meeting in Baltimore, I asked Rick Garnett—the Notre Dame legal wizard who will serve as a consultant to the Committee on Religious Liberty— to provide his reaction to the news that the high court has agreed to hear arguments challenging the constitutionality of the new health bill
“The justices just wrote the exam questions for a lot of constitutional law teachers. They agreed to take up a number of interesting and important questions that go to the very foundations of our Constitution’s structure. Our Constitution was designed to create a government that is effective and flexible, but also limited. It is just as important for courts to enforce the limits on the national government’s regulatory power and conditional-spending practices as it is for them to enforce individual-rights protections.
“At the same time, as the dissenting judge in the D.C. Circuit’s most recent decision reminded us, the power of judges is also limited, and it could well be that, in the end, the Court will tell us that it is too early to rule on the congressional-power questions. In that case, the matter will probably be settled then old-fashioned way-by elections.”
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I guess you would have to be there to be “fired up” with what is said in the article.
I disagree. As a blogger who defends the Church’s moral teaching on controversial issues; abortion, contraception, homosexuality, I am grateful that the bishops are taking action to defend our rights to our deeply held beliefs and freedom of speech. If we back down now,and succumb to political pressure; we may lose our position as salt and light to the world. Then the Church is no longer a prophet but merely a social club.
It is now clear, the USCCB will be “more of the same” for the next few years. Thank goodness for our great Pope Benedict XVI. His words are much more inspiring.
Have to agree with LMR and Rick - the Pope is much more inspiring as “one who speaks with authority”. The bishops are attempting to ‘get on board’, but they have a long way to go towards speaking the Truth boldy and unequivocally. Always on the defense, they need to move to an offensive stance of bringing the Gospel to the world.
I am glad Archbishop Dolan has been in the NCR so much latley and the news. I am grateful for his leadership and his stance in saying that no homosexual “marriages” will be permitted on the property of Catholic Churches. I like that he also forbid any employees of the NY Archdiocese to attend gay “marriages”. I also had the pleasure of meeting him and other college age students for a day of prayer and got a lot out of the day. I think the bishops are doing well, and they have been and are still working very hard for us and God and for that I am very grateful! God protect and lead our Bishops who protect and lead us. <3
How do our bishops protect and lead us? Most of them are just quiet. Still others only speak out in a group, and after their attorney’s approve of their statements. Think about it - there are bishops throughout the world.
These men are to be examples to us. The role of a bishop is to manage priests working under them, ensuring they all preach GOD’s wisdom, and God’s truth, in context, so everyone of us will be on the same page. That is protecting the Lord Jesus’ flock.
Billy and Franklin Graham are leading, teaching and preaching. They are the real bishops, without the title or the fanfare. Let them go to Penn State and share Bible wisdom, and try to save souls.
Most Catholics I know have left the Catholic church to go to churches that teach the Bible. They just gave up hope that our bishops and priests can teach the Good News. I’m right about at that point too.
Our Catholic bishops and the leaders in the Vatican are too distracted. They are off making new saints, changing the liturgy words, collecting funds. Long ago, their priorities veered from what is important. It is because they are not obeying all of what God commands, and they are not teaching all of what God commands to us either.
No wonder Penn State was secretive for 10 years. How can bishops share any wisdom with Penn State people? It’s the blind, leading the blind. If Catholic bishops had wisdom, they would teach the Bible, and in its fullness (in context). Then they may be credible, and by their actions, they would be trustworthy. Trust is earned. Then, it would trickle down to Penn State and to the US Congress.
The annual meeting of the USCCB used to bring much trepidation for me wondering what directives from the Vatican would be circumvented or eviscerated next. I have the utmost confidence in Archbishop Dolan’s apparent desire to give the American bishops new direction perhaps started by his predecessor to bring the organization back in full accord to the Magisterium. I will really be following the meeting with interest and confidence.
Thank you Archbishop Dolan. Holy Mother Church is not a buffet or smorgasbord to pick and choose what we want to believe. Faith, trust and obedience serve us best.
Holy Mother Church has been under attack for 2000 years and as The Blessed Mother told the children of Fatima, She will remain strong…pray the rosary.
Bravo Bishops on the marriage issue. It’s not modern to accept same sex marriage, it’s been wrong since creation.
Two comments, one about the bishops and one for Terah.
Bishop Dolan is not taking a backseat, but more importantly,I would bet Bishop Lori got the committee chairmanship because he DID lead his priests and parishoners to fight the state legislature that was trying to wrest church governance, our religious freedom, from the Church. We were on the steps of the state house by the busload.
This duo and their cohorts tried several times to attack the Church and we beat them. As Bishop Lori said, these were battles the war is just beginning but Connecticut has a Christian soldier, a general in Lori. I have moved out of state but I have no doubt if these things come up again, our parishes and our two bishops will be on the steps of the State Capitol again. My priest was there and if Bishop Lori could get him there to fight, I am sure more priests and bishops can get their people out but it takes constant communiction from the Bishop and from the parish. Bishop Lori took the reins but both dioceses in CT were out there physically and with telephone calls and writing campaigns. And since we have a common priesthood, then let’s not hang it all on the bishops…we have the obligation to know what is going on and to address it as citizens of the US and as citizens of the kingdom.
As for Billy Graham and his son teaching the Bible. I have enormous respect for both these men and their faith. But anyone who reads the bible (I was protestant for 16 years before I really ever read it…I became an evangelical before I actually read it for anything but a college course), and is blessed to come to this gift with no pre-conceived traditions/doctrines of any particular denomination, quickly find out it is unequivocably Catholic. It stunned me! It is only when the doctrinal traditions of a particular denomination color it and interpret it that the words take on meanings theydid not and truly could not mean.
EVERY denomination has its own pecular doctrines and traditions outside of those they kept from Catholicism, including those of the Grahams. Non- denominational is an oxymoron except for Catholicism…we are NOT a denomination…all others are derivatives of us. So to say that one should leave the CHurch, the Church that Jesus Christ started is a decision made in anger that serves to once again rend the body of Christ not heal it.
I became an evangelical (leaving a mainline protestant church)when I had an adult conversion to Jesus. All I wanted was to know more and more about Jesus with whom I was truly in love. My quest became one of truth with a capital T. So like many Terah, I thought where else but a Bible church would I get the truth. Not so much. the first thing you find out is that evangelicals believe that the Bile is inerrant “in its original form”. WHo has that? I think I was the only one whose ears perked up at that in the new members class. Even my husband didn’t pay attention until I brought it up. Then I took Sunday school classes and listened to people argue about degrees and kinds of predestination, about dispensationalism, tongues etc. I had come from a protestant church with totally different ‘doctrines’ and I became more and more disillusioned. AT the same time, I realized I was reading the same passages and because I had not been indoctrinated with any particular denomination’s ideology, what I read and what these people argued about seemed at times to be miles apart, especially because so much of the proofs that people used were phrases, verses taken out of context of not only the particular paragraph, book or letter they were in but out of context of the relationship between the books and letters. It is called proof texting, something Catholics really do not do. Long story short, in a personal encounter with Christ, who does answer when you cry out sincerely, not out of anger but our of love, I learned the truth of the bread of life discourse. The Real Presence, the belief that Jesus is sacramentally present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist is not something the the CHurch made up, it is the TRUTH. And that the rending of the body that took place, the so called Reformation, was a sin akin to the original Fall. It is prayer not protest that is the way of Jesus.
I returned to the Church of my youth not because she is perfect, but because she IS the CHurch that Jesus started, she IS his bride and she has the truth. Jesus said he would protect her and while you are mad at what you perceive her members to be doing or not doing well, the truth is through all of history, no matter how debauched her leadership may or may not have been, the truth of her doctrines, the faith handed down from the apostles has not been compromised. This fact smacks you in the face when you study CHurch history. If Jesus were not protecting her, she would not have survived.
And while a lot of Catholics do leave for ‘bible’ churches, I would venture to say that had they taken the time to learn their own faith and read scripture within their own faith, they would not have left.
Pray do not protest. There is so much more to the Church than her earthly manifestation and to leave her is to leave the Eucharist, to leave Jesus.
I think the Bishops should call Secy. Sebelius’s bluff. They should say, “We are issuing health insurance to our employees that does not pay to kill babies and does not pay for condoms. We answer to a higher to a higher authority, so you can take a hike.”
In all humility, we, who love our Church, must speak the truth. The US bishops’ own National Review Board has pointed out that although canon law requires punishment for a cleric who sexually abuses a minor,not one bishop in the US has ever been punished for this violation. Cardinal Law, driven from Boston by his priests and people, for his history of secretly reassigning miscreant priests, not only was never punished but, escaping to Rome, was given by John Paul II the rectorship of a prominent Roman basilica, retained on boards of several Vatican dicastories, and provided with an annual six figure income. Neither he or any US bishop has ever been held accountable for reassigning miscreant clergy.
The Penn State scandal is quite different. Two officials were indicted, not for what they did, but for what they neglected to do. The prominent coach and the renowned president of the university were quickly removed by its Board of Directors as accountable.
Our Church could well learn from Penn State how officials should be made accountable. No US bishop has ever been made accountable for his cover-ups in this sordid chapter. Have they some kind of diplomatic immunity?
Sorry- Dolan lost me the minute he quoted Ronald Rolheiser. Can someone tell me what is so attractive about a priest who shuns his collar, who is a regular contributor to the National Catholic Reporter and who has many questionable “teachings”? I know so many clergy, bishops included, who fawn all over this man. With two thousand years of history of incredible saints, couldn’t he have found a quote from someone more respectable?
What a strange statement from one who I believe calls himself a Catholic. Terah James, if you are truly a Catholic - which is doubtful from your Comment - what are you doing in our Church if you so love the Protestants. The Holy Bible which Billy and Franklin Graham preach, was compiled, recorded and has been preserved, taught and proclaimed these 2000+ years by the Catholic Church. Sadly Billy and Franklin Graham’s Bible threw out some of the Canonical Books of the Bible. Terah James, the Catholic Church has Three Pillars which - Holy Spirit-inspired - has ensured She protects, preserves and proclaims the True, Authentic Message of Christ. These are the Scriptures the Catholic Church, inspired by God compiled and has preserved intact to this day, the Tradition and the Magisterium. The Bishops you so harshly castigate have never taught anything outside the Catholic Doctrine. Your American Bishops, in communion with all the Bishops of the Universal Church, the College of Cardinals and the Holy Father, are the Magisterium Authority of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as instituted by Jesus Christ Himself. That we have sinners within the Church does not affect the Holiness of Christ’s Bride. Remember among the 12 Apostles of Jesus, one was a Traitor. That did not make His Teaching and Redemption Mission faulty or deficient. The fact that we have fallen Priests and not so fast-acting Bishops does not in any way invalidate the Authority of the Catholic Church and Her Bishops to shepherd Christ’s Sheep until He comes back in Glory. We all wish the American Bishops’ success as they fight the Evil that is your Obama Government.
You don’t compromise with evil, and this President is fundamentally evil. His sympathetic view to Crdinal Egan is a lie.
The comparison with the PopE and Aabp. Dolan is not really fair. The Pope is teacher and does not have to pastorally manage the message in any specific nation or state. Abp Dolan has to lead in NY state and church. Then he has to be the ship for bishops who are THE shepherds in their local Churches/arch/dioceses and may not all be on the same page on every issue. Religious liberty is a fundamental right in the Constitution. IF it is not defended and protected for all religious persons, and institutions particularly for health care and education and social services we can kiss a lot of the Catholic Church’s ministry goodbye. It is already under attack for adoption. We can be assured that forcing vaccinations and chemical and barrier birth control for our school children and abortion for them and Universities is on the Obama-Sibelius agenda. See how abortion for “rape and incest” was pushde to force abortion as choice for all pregnancies in 1973 Roe v Wade decision. Euthanasia’s FAT LADY is warming up on the wings to sing next so how will conscience-guided physicians and institutions be treated. The camel’s nose is already in the tent and he needs to be escorted out.
~~~ Monsignor Byrne, in my opinion, your post was old stuff, not appropriate here and undermines your other pastoral help to the wider Church.
Great point by Sheryl W.
When I saw the reference to Ronald Rolheiser, I was saddened. Dolan may be the archbishop of New York, but he sure has not progressed very far in his choice of sage philosophers and theologians. We have plenty of good ones to offer right here in the USA. You have to draw the obvious conclusion from this connection. It suggests Dolan is in the progressive camp.
“Sorry- Dolan lost me the minute he quoted Ronald Rolheiser.”
Perhaps you can provide the cardinal with your own list of acceptable priests to quote next time.
Dan, I would be happy to!
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