Great point, Fr. Barron.

Please do not hold Father James Burtchaell up as a model of someone whose opinion should be followed about the practice of the Catholic faith.

The march toward totalitarianism.  The only problem is that Catholics did not see it until the State “came for them,” but they had already taken away all our other freedoms, so religion was simply the last one .  Except for the freedom to buy things.  Somehow Americans believe that prosperity and freedom are the same things.  But they aren’t.  Prosperity is impossible WITHOUT freedom.  And when our prosperity disappears, all Americans will have to search their consciences and ask themselves the question: which policies did I support which eroded our freedoms?  No one will come out smelling like a rose.  Wake up Catholics!  Lead the charge, not just for religious freedom, but for the inalienable right to liberty given to us by our Creator.

JMJ That was one of the questions I had.  “precisely because they are so reliant upon government funding.”  Is this what makes the Administration feels they have the right that the right to do this?  Or, is it because the dessenting Bishops, Priest, Religious,Theologians and Laity (Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me. Ps. 41:9,Jn.13:18,...“It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him.Jn. 13:26-28) have shown Obama in their actions and support that he can get away with it. Escpecially with the caving in of the Komen foundation to Planned Parenthoods attack that the same kind of attack could be mounted against the obedient Catholics and get the HHS Mandate passed?  Because many Catholic institutions or CINO/Judas’ that started out as loyal Catholic institutions are now Catholic in name only, are doing this already. Its somewhat like the Priest that betrayed St. Paul Miki & 25 Companions.+patrick

JMJ “The reason that the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — is so important is that it holds off the tendency, inherent in any government, toward totalitarianism, even if that means the totalitarianism of the majority.” So then my question would be, Is there a Government agency that is there for this purpose that will defend us in Court? This way you have two Gov. agencies spending their money in court, and not EWTN and others like them?+patrick

Wonderfully said, Fr. Barron!

Thank you Fr. Barron. Well said.

Fr Barron nails it clearly, concisely and completely.

Fight for your flock, Archbishop Dolan! We stand behind you in full solidarity. http://gerardnadal.com/2012/02/10/an-open-letter-to-cardinal-dolan-fight-for-your-flock/

YES, Father Barron!  We should move against, cry out against, petition against, and do everything moral and within our power against this administration!

Freedom is lost in inches…evidently faith is, too.  And being American and being Catholic walk hand in hand quite well, when both are guarded with vigilance.

When I was State Chairman of my political party, I often had the opportunity to speak at schools, public forums, and debates with politicians.  I would always start by asking the audience “from where do we get the right to free speech, the right to freely exercise our religion, the right to peaceably assemble, etc?”  Hands went up, and 100% of the time, the answers were either “from the Bill of Rights”, or, “from the constitution.”  Of course, these answers are wrong…we are born with these rights, and they are granted by God himself by virtue of our existence.  Our government and the constitution were merely established to protect these rights…not dole them out.  Or take them away.

When we start thinking that any government gives us our rights, then we’re inches away from thinking that they have the right to take them away.  This is dangerous stuff…PLEASE, Dr. Barron, drop more of your rhetorical bombs, because it cannot be said loudly enough that the Obama administration more than any other has a clearly totalitarian agenda.  We absolutely CANNOT budge another inch with them, both as Catholics AND as free Americans.

This is a sobering article. It begs the question though. Where have our bishops and priests been for the past 50 years? Why is it such a rare occurence to hear a homily on the mortal sin of contraception, abortion, divorce and remarriage without anullment? Why is it, that now when we are experiencing the most flagrant abuses to the catholic faith by our very own “limited” government, that articles are published shedding light on the Obama agenda? Is there an agenda within the agenda?

Thank you very much, Father. This is just what we try to tell others, not only about what Obama is doing, but in our daily walk (hopefully towards Heaven) as Catholics. We see “movie critics” watching so much junk, that after a while they start slipping into a “coma” of faulty thinking. At first, any thing that smarts of the misuse of sex stands their hairs (at least, it should be) on end, but, after a steady diet, the hairs stay in place and the critics are lulled into sin without even knowing it. It is sad that the Bishops took away the Baltimore Catechism, as it very clearly told us to avoid any occasion of sin in order to save our soul. We might dismiss SIN as old fashioned or whatever, but, God says something very different.  Just a small thing such as replacing BC/AD on our dates with what ever is a clue that we are eating from the one tree that we cannot even touch. An apple starts to decay very slowly, until, one day, we find the whole bushel ruined.  Thank you again, Father, and I hope that your article will be sent to a wide audience. We need the truth.  +JMJ+

I heard someone repeat the line from Revelation recently; “if you are neither hot nor cold, i shall vomit you out of my mouth.” Before it became totally antagonistic to Natural Law and its main defender, the RC Christian Church, the USA was more in the neither hot nor cold mode. We saw how slowly the culture and the Gate-Keepers in all branches of government dealt with human rights for the simple things such as voting by blacks. We also saw the carnage of Vietnam softening the nation up for abortion. It led to the end of selective service. Abortion is losing its hold in the opinion polls, particulary as was seen in this year’s March for Life among the younger citizens college and high school as well as younger families. I regret the loss of clergy and religious personnel in the educational and health care fields. However, have we waited long enough to allow the fromation and education of the Catholic laity who replaced those to hit their stride?  The old worst aspcts of clericalism have not died the death the Council required of them by insisting on the whole Priesthood of Christ to be restored to the place from which it had been dislodged by the compromises of the centuries when Jesus’ Last Supper foot-washing, and be not like the rulers of the world- now His bishops have secular titles - My Lord, your Grace your Excelency and Eminence. Many of the clergy called My Lord =  “Monsignor.” And the trappings and homes and lie-style to match.  Flawed human nature does not like to drop power and title and position and any reform movement takes time- how long did it take to end slavery and get the 1964 Civil Rights Act?  Same for the Church, human sin and the Holy Spirit contend for the prize. This moment that has stirred up the Sleeping Giant will produce much fruit if the Church and all those of good-will who are stirred up will seize the day and roar like the biblical Lion of Judah.

“The secularist state recognizes that its principle enemy is the Church Catholic. Accordingly, it wants Catholicism off the public stage and relegated to a private realm where it cannot interfere with secularism’s totalitarian agenda. I realize that in using that particular term, I’m dropping a rhetorical bomb, but I am not doing so casually. “

Well said. We need to teach this in our Catholic Schools.Our kids our being taught that Jesus is a socialist and that todays progressive form of liberalism is where it is at. The foundation has been laid for a most difficult battle.  I pray the Bishops issue a special call to prayer with Rosary and evening Masses and campaigns to educate our youth. I hope it is not too late.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/secularisms-toll-on-catholic-americans?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register#When:2012-02-10#ixzz1m5mkCcWI

“secularism’s totalitarian agenda:” Brilliant.

Thank you, Father!

Thank you for this article, it is one of the better, intelligent articles on the subject. Overwhelmingly, the NCR seems anti-intellectual and doesn’t want to delve into the tougher bits of meat when dealing with this topic.

I find the Catholic response to be difficult to understand, when Catholics—and the Bishops themselves—have seemingly failed to keep their Catholic identity, and then we turn around and demand that the state recognize this identity—but it is effectively gone.  Also, to ignore the terrible violence committed in the name of religion—in Europe most especially (specifically in the Western World)—and how this has lead to a type of “radical secularism” (France seems to be the best example of this—even more then the United States) seems intellectually childish.

Humanism isn’t formed in a vacuum, and when religious people do not behave themselves (Israel is a prime example) they mar the name of all religious peoples.

“The state seems no longer satisfied with a slow but steady evolution toward secularity; it is aggressively forcing Catholic hospitals off the stage, for it is creating for them an impossible situation.” And this seems to be so removed from the reality, that it is not entirely true.  28 states have laws which are essentially identical to this federal law—requiring employers to pay for women’s healthcare (which the secular world considers to include birth control). Many Catholic Universities and Institutions already comply with these laws, and there is no outrage and talk of how the state if forcing secularization on them. Many Catholic hospitals and health organizations already accept federal funds which *require* them to offer contraception to their patients. 

And if you look at the law, such as the supreme court ruling (the opinion which was authored by Scalia) in the 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith, Scalia’s opinion decrees that religious liberty is insufficient grounds for being exempt from laws of the land.

So Catholics, can we get a little more substance and actually look at the law, and ourselves, and actually respond to why so many Catholic institutions can comply with the essentially same law—and yet the Bishops have been silent on that, and how we can accept that 95 percent of Catholics use oral contraception, and the Bishops seem complacent with that—but yet we are suddenly persecuted when the federal gov’t has a law that essentially does to us, what we have already done to ourselves? It is merely the little blankie tucking us into the bed we have already made and are lying in.

Please, NCR, lets have a little more substance then crying “the secularists are being mean to us!” and “first amendment rights” when this is a little more complex; can we actually look at the laws of the land and then answer?

Where is the great Catholic Intellectual tradition of the counter Reformation to answer to secularism now—which is no greater then the protestantism and secularism of Ignatius of Loyola’s time.

No need to be afraid to us the word Totalitarian father becuase that is just what Secular Humanism is leading to. Those of us who read Obama’s books before the election knew that he was heavily indoctrinated in Marxist philosophy which leads to totalitarianism. The left’s complete lack of tollerence of anything that does not suit them is a sure sign of totalitarian tendencies.  Call it what it is and expand on it Father.

Thank you for shining the light on Obama to show what a liar he is.  The Catholic Church and western society ignored our Blessed Mother’s message to the three children at Fatima. She warned of the rise of Communism in Russia and “They will spread their errors throughout the world”.  This article articulates how we are now experiencing these “errors”.

Fr, Barron’s information is so important and timely.It is the bird in the the mine warning the miners. We need to awaken the sleeping giant,Christians of all faiths,to stop the insanity that is upon us.Silence shows one agrees and is content,to speak and act on what our faith teaches brings awareness and prehaps holy zeal, that will lead to a return to being what our name “Christions” implys

Our cause is compromised when Catholic bishops in my home state of Ct. fold under political pressure. Gov. Malloy an alleged Catholic threatened to cut off state medical unless Ct. Catholic Hospitals dispensed Plan B abortifacient to alleged rape victims. Despite pleading by Pro family-Life groups the bishops in Ct. capitulated. Obama’s contraceptive policy is Gov. Malloy’s policy on steroids on a national level.                  They figure that the bishops will fold like the Catholic bishops in Ct. Mansell and Lori etc.  have already done. Now doubt when they go to court the Obama liberal so called Catholics Biden Sibelius etc.. will point out to the clearly Plan B abortifacient being dispensed by ALL Catholic Hospitals in Ct.. Sadly there is a 50-50 chance a leftist judiciary such as the pro-Homosexual-abortion, pro contraceptive court in Calf., 9th.,Fed., circuit court could agree with them.

“colorfully visible” are my two favorite words in this excellent article.  That the Catholic Church could become colorfully visible again!

Obama, by his actions,  has shown his true colors and intentions repeatedly.  Only a fool would be suckered by his oratory.

Excellent article, Father.  Unfortunately, as the Anti-Federalists warned during the debate over ratification of the American Constitution, even with all of the written safeguards against centralized tyranny, the state, over time, always concentrates more and more power in itself, and those at the center start to impose their values on the rest of the population.  This is why every government goes kaput after a while: the center tyrannizes the periphery until the whole project collapses.  Fortunately, God has ordained that His Church always picks up the pieces after these messes, which, by the way, demonstrates the divine mission of the Church since its hierarchy and sacramental life have been prevented from ruination at human hands, both internal and external, many times.

If I may, I would correct the statement that President Obama “would provide for a ‘conscience clause’ for those who wanted, for religious reasons, to opt out of a policy they find objectionable.” What he promised was a “sensible conscience clause.” When I heard the adjective “sensible,” alarm bells went off. Who, but the Executive Branch, was to determine what was “sensible”? And we now have its version of a “sensible conscience clause.”

Even with a very broad religious exemption, millions of citizens and thousands of organization are to have their consciences sundered. This unjust law, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, must be repealed. If not, we will have surrendered to totalitarianism. May God have mercy on us.

Bishop Fulton J Sheen was a chosen mentor after my adult conversion in 1949.  I consider the years preceding the Second Vatican Council, when Life is Worth Living dominated TV, as the golden age of Catholicism in America. Infallible dogma and de fide doctrine were unassailable and unchallenged by dissident Catholics.  After VCII a significant difference became apparent.  I don’t believe Pope John XXIII had in mind what happened after the council. and did indeed happen to evangelization.  It concerned me greatly that the council eschewed doctrine and discipline and left three generation of Catholic children bereft of defense against proselytizing.  I really appreciate your EWTN program and your courses in Catholicism aimed at overcoming that. I have considered your efforts comparable to those of Archbishop Sheen.
The council will remain a tragedy until every Catholic again believes in the Real Presence – Twenty-five percent is unacceptable.
I think the difference is attitude between then and now greatly contributes to the inroads of secularism.  That Catholics had a major hand in voting for abortion and electing the first(and I hope the last) socialist president was an Obamination (sic).  If they don’t try to redeem themselves by overcoming excommunication to get back in the Church and vote him out their salvation should be forfeited.

Excellent, well-written article. I was born(decades ago) in a Catholic hospital, 2 surgeries as child. My father at the time was not Christian, also had surgery there as a teen(1936). To put it mildly, he had not love of Catholic but he vigourously verbally supported it. “Those nuns knew how to run things right,” he often said! I am a confessing creedal Lutheran(MS) but attend mass on occasion,etc. Thisproblem effects all faithfulreligious.
Ms. Alice J. Fink

Laura, can you provide proof of your assertions?  It’s not that I don’t believe them, necessarily, but it would be nice to know that you aren’t simply “cutting and pasting” talking points from some pro-Obama site.  Thanks. 

Further, can you tone down your condescension?  While we may not all share your intellectual gifts, it would be nice not to be insulted while being schooled.

Finally, as someone lamenting the lack of “intellectualism” at NCRegister, you’d think you have something more substantive to say besides relying on old memes like “Also, to ignore the terrible violence committed in the name of religion—in Europe most especially (specifically in the Western World)—and how this has lead to a type of “radical secularism” (France seems to be the best example of this—even more then the United States) seems intellectually childish.”  All you left out was to say that the Church has caused more damage than done good in the world.

Ed M,
Like you I have watched our Catholic institutions sell out our Catholic identities under pressure from the state. If we would have stood up at the state level, it would be different now.  But it seems difficult to suddenly have unwavering principals when our bishops have compromised them all along.

Catholic hospitals routinely prescribe oral contraception as well as plan B (which is the same drug just at different dosages) to their patients. 

How can we expect Obama or any non-Catholic to understand and respect our ethical ideals if we do not do so ourselves? It isn’t an “attack” if we’ve sold ourselves into slavery bit by bit, state by state, already.

It just seems intellectually and ethically lazy to suddenly say “constitutional violation” and blame Obama for the laziness on our Bishops part… when they’ve accepted nearly identical laws on the state level.

Several observations about the article:
1. Ironic that a Holy Cross Father wrote the book The Dying of the Light, and the current president of Notre Dame University is a Holy Cross Father.
2. The government is like a drug pusher, the drug in this case being money. It establishes its clientele by first offering it “free” samples of its wares, and then gets the user hooked on and dependent on its drug.
3. Secular liberalism was long ago co-opted by the proponents of progressivism. The meaning of the word “liberalism” was corrupted in the process. Secular liberalism is today nothing less than leftism. We should be mindful of how the term “social justice” is also being distorted, the meaning being changed from a personal responsibility of the individual to a responsibility of the collective.
4. How sad that it is necessary to clarify in a column written for American adults that the Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Every literate American should know this.

Through slight changes, little adjustments and tiny concessions the clergy has, since Vatican 2, diluted the liturgy. The mess we’re in is the result. The threat of persecution from ever growing secular states looms on the horizon because the clergy has become spineless and afraid of conflict or even offending anyone. From the Pope on down the clergy has proven itself to be a coven of cowards.

There is still hope.

Obama has handed the clergy a golden opportunity to rediscover their testicular fortitude. Squander not the justified outrage at the HHS mandate but use it to clean house. De-frock any priest who does not agree with Humanae Vitae. Excommunicate them if they do not recant(I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the pedophiles are counted among them) Excommunicate politicians like Pelosi who support abortion. Pound the pulpit and press the flesh. Let all in the pews know that they commit mortal sin when they accept Communion while using contraceptives.

Take a stand now. Don’t wait until your backs are up against the wall.

I think your discription of this administration as ” totolitarian ” is right on point. And once the American people cave in and allow the government to dictate to their consciences, we have arrived at totolitarianism. From that point on we will be living under a dictatorship, just as vicious and soul searing as any other dictatorship. Dictatorships come in many forms - a King, a Military, a ” President ” or even a Bureaucratic Dictatorship under the tutelage of a dictarorial Executive. They are all the same, some more brutal, some less, but all demand absolute obedience, or government sanctioned approval to exist and live.
” And in those days you will not be able to sell or buy unless you have the mark of the beast on your forheads.” The mark of the beast is precisely that ” government sanctioned approval ” to exist and function in society. It calls to mind the novels ” Fathr Elijha,” ” That Hedious Strength, ” and ” Prince of World. “

Thank you for speaking up, Fr. Barron. It is refreshing to see so many Catholic priests, bishops and laymen speaking out so clearly and eloquently about religious freedom and Catholic doctrine. I’ve never heard so many Catholics speaking up about these issues before. That is one good thing that has emerged from the Obama disaster.  My interested in and commitment to learning and living my Catholic faith was renewed in the fall of 2010 when I started watching Fr. Corapi on EWTN. I’d never heard a Catholic priest speak with such clarity and conviction about Catholic doctrine. It was so refreshing! It lead me back to the church, and when when his voice was silenced last summer, there was a vacuum for a long while. Now that vacuum is beginning to be filled my countless others, and that is much needed to revitalize the Catholic Church in America today. Catholics elected Obama, for pete’s sake! How did they not understand that voting for the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever was morally unacceptable? Why did they think that legalized theft/income redistribution was a reason to vote for Obama? Fr. Corapi analogized government handing out money to people to crack dealers getting people hooked on drugs. I hope the Catholic bishops are not too hooked on government funding that they’ve sold out.  Jude Brown’s book, the Broken Path, was most informative.

I am afraid too many of us have unwittingly already surrendered to what must be totalitarianism-lite or self-restrained totalitarianism. I believe it is already here, and the restraints are starting to come off. At the same time, I believe it is not too late to resist the present direction our nation is going and re-direct it to something based on faith and reason. Clearly many of us will have to give up our apathy and take up the cross. It will not be easy, but it is necessary. I applaud Fr. Barron for contributing to the intellectual and moral argument that must be made.

I shall research it, but presume that Scalia,a really devout practical Catholic thinker, did not compromise the First Amendment in the case cited above. One would also have to see the full facts of the Connecticut hospital case, IF it had to do with rape victims only, it might be that the lesser of two evils was the principle cited. I do not know, but I have been around long enough to know one needs to check all the facts. As to saying the bishops have succumbed to the secularist culture, show me the facts on that, the evidence shows me otherwise.  The reference to the 28 states does not see that a federally mandated “one size fits all” requirement is not the same. Further another 20 or so states do not require this.  As I commented above, we as believers cannot ignore the history of the Church (and Israel before it as one poster noted) were not always surrendering to the status quo and Truth did win out- slavery, and equal civil rights for non-Caucasians as citizens, and advocates for immigrants’ rights that are fair at present, despite the hateful opposiition. Sure, the current rush toward totalitarianism is regrettable but the Church and the Natural Law have beaten worse odds! Faith, hope and charity, and the presence of saints, prophets and people with vision, including the Holy-Spirit guided Bishop of Rome are always among us to keep the Ship of Peter afloat and not being driven off course by the pirate-driven speed boats shooting at us.

The post by Barbara McDonnell on Saturday, Feb 11, 2012 6:29 AM (EST), has left the greatest impression on me since yesterday.  I hope everything is well with you, Barbara, as you are in my thoughts.

THE ONLY THINGS TRANSPARENT ABOUT OBAMA ARE HIS LIES.
That leads me to wonder what the real agenda of all of his supporters is. 
It’s not compassion: denying the humanity of an entire class of persons until they’ve been allowed to be born alive is the ultimate lack of compassion.
It’s not selflessness: putting oneself before another helpless unborn human being for any reason is the ultimate selfishness.
It’s not concern for others: Insisting that an anonymous government take care of the “poor” with anonymous taxpayer money rather than taking care of someone yourself is the ultimate lack of concern.
It’s not a higher moral ground: insisting that every manner of sexual immorality be taught and encouraged from kindergarten on is hedonism - self-centered immorality.
Tell me again - WHY DOES ANYONE THINK THIS MAN AND HIS HENCHPERSONS SHOULD BE RUNNING OUR COUNTRY?!?!

“The secularist state recognizes that its principle enemy is the Church Catholic. Accordingly, it wants Catholicism off the public stage and relegated to a private realm where it cannot interfere with secularism’s totalitarian agenda. I realize that in using that particular term, I’m dropping a rhetorical bomb, but I am not doing so casually.”

Precisely Fr. BARRON !  You refer to it as a “bomb”, in reality totalitarianism = Communism, don’t mince words, political-correctness started us on this slippery slope.  The infamous fascist & communist leaders put their plans & agendas in writing, just as the occupant of the oval office has.  Presently, Georgetown is farther left than even those ivy league bastions, N.D., Fordham, Boston College, etc. are close behind.  N.D. for instance, under the guidance of their beloved Fr. Ted, sold its soul at the Land O’Lakes fiasco, for future research funding by the atheistic Rockefeller & Ford Foundations.  He desperately is seeking another term.  The alinsky trained community organizer from Chicago cancelled the National Day of Prayer, claiming he didn’t want to offend anyone, yet he didn’t hesitate to take off his shoes & worship in D.C. with his 50,000 muslim brothers.  As long as Pelosi, Sebelius, Kerry, Reid, Biden etc. are permitted to spew their heresies unchallenged by our Bishops, other Catholics will do likewise & vote their souls away.

Dear Friends in Christ,

While I couldn;t be more grateful for Father Robert Barron’s insights in the article above (and also for his excellent DVD series on Catholicism), I hope he will consider not waiting “until later” to do an article on the failure of Catholic colleges and univesities to adhere to the Mandatum of Blessed John Paul II Promulgation of “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” which de facto calls for each theology professor to sign an agreement to teach only orthodox Catholic Teaching of Morals and Faith. 

What also has to be dealt with is that most of our bishops have not enforced the Mandatum on those Insitutions of Higher Learning which are under their canonical jurisdiction in their respective dioceses.  Less than 20 per cent of our Catholic Colleges follow the Promulgation which has the force of Canon Law.  Also, over 108 Catholic College and Univesity Campus’s have gay and lesbian “clubs” promoting same sex marriages, sex outside of marriage, etc.  Furthermore, most of our Catholic college students believe that same sex marriage is okay along with pre-marital sex.  How our bishops now think that the majority of our Catholics are going to rally around the government mandate about supply contraceptives, the “morning after pill” and sterilization because the bishops are asking for support is somewhat naive when we have 20 years of ignoring Ex Corde Ecclesiam.  The very fact that Seton Hall Univeristy, which is run by the Archdiocese of Newark,  is teaching a course on the positive aspects of Homosexuality as an alternative life style is a glaring example of inconsistency.  No where else is this inconsistency so blatant in that while 80 bishops objected to Notre Dame’s Fr. Jenkins inviting President Obama to receive an honorary degree, in spite of the same bishops issuing a directive against this type of awards to those who teach against the Faith and Morals of the Church, the majority of bishops remained silent.  However, if in spite of all this we can realize that the action of the President’s mandate violates the First Amendment with regard to religion. and that the sanctuary liturgy cannot be separated from the excerise of that religio’s ministry to the sick, and the poor, then we should unite at least that issue.

Sincerely,

Deacon John M. Edgerton
Tarpon Springs, Florida

It is the continuing failure of certain Bishops to properly (IMO) respond to the self-proclaimed Catholic politicians (Pelosi & Biden stand head and shoulders) who continue to defend, much less regularly vote for and encourage anti-catholic activities. My own opinion is denial of Communion (publicly if necessary) and excommunication if/when they persist. They have already left the Church in their conscience.

From a purely secular viewpoint these policies of the administration simply play into the broader attack on all our cultural values. From hard work to personal responsibility, from public education to defending our borders the federal government has insisted on taking the lead… and then utterly botching the job. Not just this administration either. We need to take back our nation and return politics from the lucrative profession it has become to the public service it was meant to be.

Dear Deacon Edgerton,

Please remember that the USCCB elected Bishop Dolan as president only on the third vote. A great many Bishops voted for Bishop Gerald Kicanas who as rector supported the ordination of Daniel McCormack even after he had been informed that McCormack was an active homosexual saying “It would have been grossly unfair not to have ordained him” and that McCormack’s engaging in homosexual sodomy as a seminarian was “developmental”. McCormack later went on to rape and molest over 20 young boys. Sadly, Cardinal George then allowed McCormack to continue on even after he himself was informed of accusations of child molestation by McCormack while he was actually working as a priest under Cardinal George.

That is the present state of the USCCB, and that is why so many Bishops have simply allowed the virtual disintegration of Catholic higher education. They either never had the ability, or the desire, to ever do anything about it.

“I have come to do My Father,s Will. I obeyed My Parents, I obeyed My tormentors and now I obey the Priests. There are many Judases in our midst so to the USCCB we say Lead us because as followers of Christ, we believe and adhere to the will of the Bishops as the will of God. Obama has an agenda that is opposite to our Judeo-christian beliefs therefore in his secularized mind he does not see this as a time of grave decision, but only as a time of opportunity to promote his agenda not only eradicating freedom but the Catholic Church because of its connection to Christ. Satan is angry and is really trying to decieve us, we must understand that our efforts no matter how great are not pleasing to God without this same obedience as mentioned above”. So Bishops, Priest lead and we will follow.Thank you for your article Father Barron!

Pray to Our Lady of America.
http://ourladyofamerica.com/

Max:  You are correct.  Bishop Dolan only beat him by 11 votes.  Over 100 Bishops voted for Kicanas who was a devout protege of the ultra effeminate “Bernardin”, therein lies the corruption & ongoing homosexual agenda inside the USCCB.  He’s the author of the “seamless garment”, social-justice, common-good, socialism that equates minor problems as equal to slaughtering Babies.  He’s also the one that befriended the radical-communist saul alinsky who wrote one pitiful book entitled “Rules for Radicals” which he dedicated to Satan.  Alinsky started the “Industrial Areas Foundation”, IAF, to train other radicals to enforce his communist agenda.  He then saw that the IAF was to be given 15% of the annual collection of the CCHD, the USCCB’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  Millions each year are collected, telling the Catholics in the pews that it is for the poor, when it actually goes to the IAF & numerous other Pro-Abortion, anti-Catholic groups.  They gave over 7 million to the election fraud group “ACORN” that put the worst Pro-Abortion politician in history, in the oval office.  For over 5 years the USCCB claimed it was going to correct this corruption & it simply has gotten worse.

I counsel all to follow the old maxim, do njot judge a person until you walk a mile in his mocassins. Ms Sibelius, to offer one example, was approached privately by her Archbiship as governor of Kansas. He went public when she at one point approached communion and said what he told her privsately.  How many more do we know of, pastoral initiatives away from the microphones. Bishop Kicanas and other baggage which had nothing to do with that specific ordination as was noted at the election of the NCCCB officers in the catholic media. We may righteously protest what is blatantly objectively wrong with university faculties and student groups who seem to promote alternative immoral lifestyles and unorthodox catholic doctrine. Then pause. How much influence do local bishops have on the universities all-lay boards? The bishops are also fallible humans, and act or do not act with the best knowledge and advice that is available at the time.

That post Grey Bear is an absolute insult to the Gospel you seem to want to defend on here. Slandering and libeling a deceased person, presuming an accepted culture of active homosexual tolerance within the bishops’ conference.  That goes way beyond the bounds of prudence, justice temperance and the loving-kindness of the Gospel.

To say that Bishop Kicanas had nothing to do with the ordination of this practicing homosexual and now convicted child rapist is simply absurd. Kicanas as rector was told, and admitted that he believed the report, that McCormack was actively engaging in homosexual sodomy as one of his seminarians. Not only did not not toss him out of the seminary, but dismissed the homosexual sodomy between his seminarians as “experimental and developmental” and then actually went on to actively support his ordination.

Both the article and the many articulate responses were informative and a pleasure to read (compared to many other types). I found that their substance provided a concrete illustration of the observation that “In order to change black to white, one only needs to insert a few shades grey between them”.

PAT DENZER: We are suppose to have the Attorney General to defend us, but, as we have been shown; any defense that they would do in court, such as what they are doing with DOMA, will be just a show to make people believe that they are being protected. With Obama & all of his fiends, including Scott Brown, from Mass. we have very little hope to see the right things being done, which means that we will have to fight in court such as Priest for Life & EWTN are doing in the courtrooms. WE NEED TO PRAY & FAST TO GET RID OF OBAMANISM.  God Bless you.  +JMJ+

prayer and fasting. this is so big and so many people seem to have hardened their hearts…But I do think the church needs to win on this. we are not called to do evil to accomplish something good.

I saw no post on here defending Bp Kicanis about sodomy. i am not familiar with the backgrouhd, I recall he was the expected president to succeed Cdl George as was their custom in the NCCB. The sodomy story was not the reason for it. As I understood the vetting process for bishops, I doubt if he would have made the cut if that information was made known. Anyway, i am more alarmed with the puritanical suggestions to clean the “House of God"so dramatically above. That is not Jesus’ style, recall the many Gospel incidents, including His forgivenss of Peter and accepting the rest of the 11 back after running from His side at the trial.

The absence of wisdom and grace needed to stop the Obama Change Express began when Catholics accepted the changes of the Council of Vatican Two, namely by their reject of the Syllabus of Errors by Pope Pius IX.  Obama learned he could ‘get away with change’ because Catholics voted him in and Catholics still continue to accept the progress of deterioration connected with the Vatican II changes.

Hermit Talker:  For the record, please factually confirm what part of the Grey Bear blog is slander or libel. Your accusations seems to reflect likeness to what you accuse Grey Bear of. You obviously don’t know much about the Bernardin era in Chicago.  There is more truth in this blog than slander. That was not a memorable era in Church history.

HermitTalker:  When something is rotten it is not judgmental to point it out, it is our duty.  The corrupt ones know the rhetoric to use & befuddle you with words to cover their sinful actions.  There are many good Cardinals & Bishops in the USA but the rotten ones do not deserve your respect or reverence.  It is sickening to realize this has gone on for over 50 years.  Check out Rembert Weakland another close comrade & follower of “bernardin”, like Kicanas, & they are not the only one’s.  They took care of each other & implemented their on policies in America & wreaked havoc by ordaining their own kind.  Catholics must face the facts instead of passively letting it continue.  Nuff said !

HermitTalker:  When something is rotten it is not judgmental to point it out, it is our duty.  The corrupt ones know the rhetoric to use & befuddle you with words to cover their sinful actions.  There are many good Cardinals & Bishops in the USA but the rotten ones do not deserve your respect or reverence.  It is sickening to realize this has gone on for over 50 years.  Check out Rembert Weakland, another close comrade & follower of “bernardin”, like Kicanas, & they are not the only one’s.  They took care of each other & implemented their on policies in America & wreaked havoc by ordaining their own kind.  Catholics must face the facts instead of passively letting it continue.  Nuff said !

Joe: A pastoral council should not have had the capacity to overrule the doctrinal councils of Trent and Vatican I. Bringing the Church into the modern world instead of bringing the modern world into the Church was the worst mistake of VCII as witnessed by the drop from almost perfect belief in the Real Presence (The mainstay of the Catholic Church) to an abysmal 25 percent. Corruption of the Eucharist and sacred vessels by unconsecrated hands caused familiarity to breed indifference or rejection. I don’t know it we can ever recover the spirituality unfortunately eschewed by VCII. The “new” translation of the Missal reflects what I remember from before the council, and is at least a step in the right direction to recover it if we can.

Bob Rowland - Vatican II turned its back on its own history.  How few read the 16 documents of the council.  The step in the right direction you referred to is a mere token to appease the conservatives who choose to tolerate the many errors.  Why do the bishops fear and refuse the Traditional Latin Mass to be said in the Catholic Churches?  Furthermore, are you aware that in the parochial schools 53% of lay religious (paid) teachers believe a Catholic can have an abortion and continue to teach our youth?  Did you know that a mere 10% of lay religious teachers accept church teachings on contraception; 65% accept that Catholics may divorce and remarry and remain in good standing; 77% believe Sunday Mass is optional?  (Statistics taken from “Tumultuous Times”, by Fathers Radecki, written in 2004, page 496).

Okay- so we blame Vat11 for loss of faith in the Eucharist,  we defame the dead and drag up gossip from Chicago and Milwaukee. Right now the media are dragging up gossip about the new US Nuncio who apparently spoke out about internal Vatican business practices and some cardinal supposedly spoke of an assassination of B XV1 and the Secretary of State may be ousted. Did any of you read, and absorb the NT story? The apostles wrangled among themselves about power, one sold out and denied Christ (Peter) and only John was at the Cross. IF the HOLY TRINITY wanted a perfect, holy and unblemished Church, they would have designed a perfect strain of humans who were free of original sin, said yes to the Angel Gabriel and never, never ever sinned. They did not. It survived for 2200 years, take a few. The Devil wins when we bring up our gossipy, slander and libel and go “tut tut2 to make some point that escapes me.  Blame Jesus for the Incarnation, starting a Church, and blame God for creating us in His image in the first place and for decreeing that Stuff Happens.

Just a few months ago the German Bishops conference, in responding to the scandal that had just broke that they were earning money from the making and selling of pornography responded with “That is not a substantial source of our income.” Don’t take my word on it, look it up. THAT is the state of Bishops Conferences in the world today. The Bishops in Ireland have utterly destroyed the Church there with a recent statement by an American Bishop asked to look into the matter stating that the Church might in fact all but cease to exist in Ireland within 10 years. Not only was there child rape there, but child slavery, torture, and imprisonment.  The New York Times, almost never one to print a kind word about the Church, put it quite right in that for an entire generation the Church will be considered nothing more than a punch line. To be perfectly honest, about 300 bishops should have been asked to resign, but that did not happen. The success by the secular world against the Church is in no small part because not only “has the smoke of Satan entered the Church” but that next to nothing has been done about it. Probably because the problem is simply too massive to deal with. It was in my last year in Rome that the scandal broke about a homosexual prostitution ring being run by a monsignor for bishops, cardinals, and important dignitaries, just down the hall from the Pope’s apartments.

If the church is teaching error it is not the Catholic Church.  If the diocese or bishop(s) are tight fisted and not allowing the Traditional Latin Mass, it is not the Catholic Church.

What reasons are offfered for refusing the Latin Mass- are the petitioners dissenters from VAT11 and cry heresy about it and the bishops and popes since then? Who knew what and when about the German bishops owning a huge publishing company that included porn? The Catholic Church in Ireland has endured murder of its priests, theft of its cathedrals and churches, denial of freedom to practice their faith. A US cardinal flies in for a stop over to investigate,  and pronounces that it has ten years to survive?

Hermit Talker - One place you might start is with “A Catechism of Modernism” by The Rev. J.B. Lemius, O.M.I., March 1908.  It is based on the encyclical “Pascendi Dominici Gregis” (On Modernism) by Pope Saint Pius X.  Don’t stop these studies once you have started, but most of all pray the Rosary daily.

Joe; Why should I read Fr Lemius’ 1908 book? What “modernism” teachings are around today? Are you aware that a lot of scholars whose work was condemned, or they were told to stop writing and teaching, were vindicated when an authentically Catholic Bible studies were given the papal okay by Pope Pius X11?  Several of those who were still active were expert advisors, periti, at the Second Vatican Council.Pius X11 was the most quoted author at the Council. Of course you may be a SSPX fellow-heretic and consider that JXX111 and the Council and all Popes since are in heresy.  I do not need any arrogant, superior-sounding advice about my spiritual life, thanks anyway.

Dear HermanTalker = I am a cradle Catholic who loves Holy Mother Church.  I believe in all the Truths which the Church teaches without exception.  I am not an SSPX member.  If one would follow the SSPX, however, they would discover they are collaborating with falsehoods which Holy Mother Church warns against.  You aren’t mentioning what and whom, but I believe the writings and the believers you mentioned that were exonerated were modernists whom our beloved Popes have forewarned us about for our spiritual protection.  When a person states they do not want to read a legitimate Catholic writing based on a Vicar of Christ’s encyclical, I suspect they fear the Magisterial teachings of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.  I don’t mean to sound superior for I surely am not.  If one was to take the time to read at least some of these most wonderful encyclicals possibly starting with Pope Pius IX, one’s faith would be truly revitalized.  We are not left orphans and the gates of Hell will not prevail against Christ’s Church even if it is in the catacombs.  Have you taken the time to read the 16 documents of the Council of Vatican II?  Are you aware that in the history of the Church there are 17 illegitimate councils and 41 antipopes?

To HermanTalker = I am a cradle Catholic who loves Holy Mother Church and am not an SSPXer.  I believe in all the Truths that the Church teaches without exception.  When a person states they do not want to read a legitimate Catholic writing based on a Vicar of Christ’s writings, I wonder if they believe in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.  I don’t mean to sound superior, for I surely am not.  Have you read any of the encyclicals about modernism possibly starting with Pope Leo XIII?  We are not left orphans and the gates of Hell will not prevail against Christ’s Church even if it is in the catacombs.  Have you read the 16 documents of the Council of Vatican II?  Are you aware that in the history of the Church there are 17 illegitimate councils and 41 antipopes?  Who are the writers and believers you mentioned that were exonerated?

(Posted by HermitTalker: “The Catholic Church in Ireland has endured murder of its priests, theft of its cathedrals and churches, denial of freedom to practice their faith. A US cardinal flies in for a stop over to investigate,  and pronounces that it has ten years to survive?”)

It was not a “stop over visit” by a Cardinal but instead an official Apostolic Visitation, so perhaps being childishly dismissive is the wrong response. In any case, the very great difference between those historical occurrences that you mention and today, is that the destruction wrought on the Church in Ireland was done by the Irish Church itself. Please remember that it is simply good manners to spend even a little time reading any of the official reports on what happened there before actually commenting on the matter.

I have read the reports and am quie familiar with them, and with the fallout. Including their being used by the majority of the media to denigrate the whole Church. Aa recent study from the iona Institute put the figures of those who believe that clerics who abused children at 37 percent, a grossly outrageous figure. I read a report from a The PM - an Taoiseach Enda Kenny, used the total rejection of the pope’s advice and the Irish hierarchy in the Cloyne Report to take a totally erronsous, midguided, factually inaccurate data,  blast at the pope aka “the Vatican” last summer.
Now: my references to the past were made to illustrate a piece of Faith information we all profess IF we are Catholic Christian, whether we are visiting US cardinals or on the scene Irish citizens. The Holy Spirit brings light from darkness, grace from sin.  How can anyone see the large crowds going to Mass today, lay people studying theology, the St Vincent de Paul society doing Jesus’ work as practical Catholics,  lots of inter-church activity, clerical, religious and lay missionaries from Ireland going overseas fulltime or for a three-month sabbatical in medical clinics and agree that the Church has ten years to survive?  Idiotic assessment. it takes missionaries a long time to understand a foreign culture, so how can an apostolic visitation do that much better?

So. JOHNXX111 as pope allowed some former silenced from writing and teaching professors of Bible and Theology to paretiicpate in Vatican 11 as periti, expert advisors. An earlier pope’s warnings were applied so rigidly that they were in the dog (ma) cat (holic)house, as in where suspected Catholic puppies and kittens go for obedience training.
Recall, their biblical scholarship was vindicated by Pius X11 in 1942/7? Therefore those Popes were wrong and Pius X was correct. Sounds like SSPX and other dissenters who decide who is in and who is out depending on their tiny privately infallible minds. So much for the Holy Spirit guiding the Church in doctrinal latters. Did the Holy Spirit resign and let the flawed human race run wild,  and did HE let Jesus’ promise to guide His Church lapse and fend for itself 9except for the infallible dissenters? Sounds like the revolt-amation of the 16th century to me.

John XXIII 1410 - 1415 is one of the anti-popes.
As promised the Holy Spirit is in His Church, the Church that has not turned its back on its own history and is currently in the catacombs.

If you had read the reports then I find it curious that you would dismiss an official Apostolic Visitation as a ‘stop over visit by a Cardinal.’ In any case I rather think those Bishops who actually conducted the Visitation have a much better grasp of the condition in the Irish Church than you.

Church attendance in Ireland has collapsed and where there were once 5 full seminaries, now even the last one in the entire country may be closing. The fact that anyone can see the disaster that is still unfolding there through rose colored glasses bespeaks to the problem in the Church as a whole these last 40 years with the Bishops “What, me worry?” style of governing. When Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that the Church was like a sinking ship that was taking on water on all sides I began to pray in earnest that he should become the next Pope as here was a man who had a firm grasp of the reality of the situation. Again, it was the Church in Ireland that has brought the Irish Church to the brink of ruin.

What precisely does your comment mean? John XX111 was the duly elected lawful pope who succeeded Pius X11. Why drag up the anti-pope and make comments about the catacombs which make no sense gramatically or logically to me?  JOE; Are you a sede vacante, SSPX-er or their admirer?

I refuse to try to have intelligent conversations on here. The denail of authentic Caholic theology re human nature being good but tending to evil. Using a line from St Paul that he struggled within himself between good and wrong does not prove we are dead. Then presuming the media-driven clerical scandal, which painted a worse picture of the reality has brought the Irish Church to the bribk of ruin.  shows neither a grasp of the Big Picture. NOR of the victory of Christ whose Holy Soirit is breathing through the present fog and will bring light out of it in HIS good time. Depressing comments about the Church were as true on Good Friday about the first Pope and college of bishops as they are today. IF one has no Resurrection Faith and no faith in the Spirit. Where sin abounded grace did more abound,Paul wrote so aptly and hopefully. I again challenge you to pit the prediction that the Church here has ten years left, or is falling apart or in the USA or Germany or France against the full history of the Church in those nations, AND the power of the Holy Spirit.

Was made aware today that a Catholic Church in Ireland project ACCORD is 50 years old. Strengthening and preparing for marriage. Sponsored by the bishops conference. There is great life-giving energy and solid music and good participation, and practical homilies in the Sunday Masses from around the nation on the national TV station, also on the web. So much for the ten-year predictions from afar versus the Breath of God, aka the Holy Spirit, breathing life and the Pentecost fire through the Church that is as new and fresh as it is old and tired in ways.

How perfectly distracting and loss to the world for the amazing loss of sensus Catholicus.

Missed your last point Joe, and what is sensus catholicus, not good Latin? PERhaps sensus fidelium, the classical phrase,

HermitTalker,  Safety for Christians is to stay within the mindset (Sensus Catholicus) of Holy Mother Church.  Many merely give ‘the appearance of’ and/or claim to be a Catholic, but actually believe and live what is contrary to the Faith.  Gone are the days of being ‘spoon fed’ the dogmas and doctrines handed on by Christ and His Apostles.  We live in dangerous times.  Beware of he who comes in the name of the Lord and does not.

Joe i sure hope you are not questioning my faith or intellectual assent to the Sensus Fidelium. Should you have discovered such, please mention it on here to allow me to check it out and reply if needed or correct if not expressed adequately. Thnk you, brother.

HermitTalker,  ‘Anything new is not true and anything true is not new’ is a good rule to follow.  Can you give me an example of ‘sensus fidelium’ and why you believe it is a Catholic principle?

The sensus fidelium is an ancient phrase to acknowledge that the whole Church is guided by the HOLY SPIRIT. There are disagreements among scholars, they had Councils to hammer them out in the first eight ecumenical councils. The TRUTH is accepted, those were Greek languageways to bspell out the core doctrines, Jesus as God-Man, Mary as ttheotokos, mother of God and the three persons in one God of the trinity. They were then accepted as expressions of the biblical TRUTH of each. There were then, and still are, dissenters, heretics and schismatics- liyterally tearers. The presence of the Holy Spirit within the Church, which is not a pyramid but concentric circles kept the Churcg in the TRUTH. In recent years, the Church got away from rights as we have the whole truth, so you, the State must outlaw the heretics, dissenters, The VAT 11 document on RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, main architect a US Jesuit, was passed at VAT 11 and we as Church became champions of conscience and of individual religious liberty. NATURAL LAW, acknowledged in the USA First Amendent, Thomas Aquinas said it in the 13th c defending the primacy of personal conscience, even when it is wrong. Hope this helps. Same goes for the slow rejection od the death penalty which we Europeans abd S Africa, fter its genocide-aparthied system abolished, same for nukes. and war. The Puritanism of US WASP culture holds on to cruel punishments and warring idiocy. “Liberals”- horribly inaccurate label, oppose the death penalty, but favour abortion as a “right.” Totally wrong understanding of conscience, liberty and hubris in personalism-individualisism versus the COMMON GOOD, and Natural Law.

“The secularist state recognizes that its principle enemy is the Church Catholic.”

No, this is wrong.  It’s not about you.  They have their own goals, and they want to win, in fact they are winning and maybe that’s why you’re butthurt but nobody sees you as their enemy.  This kind of thinking is a combo of delusions of granduer/taking it personally when it isn’t.  You see yourself as arch enemy, they see you as speed bump.

(Posted by HermitTalker: Then presuming the media-driven clerical scandal, which painted a worse picture of the reality has brought the Irish Church to the bribk of ruin.  shows neither a grasp of the Big Picture.)

I am almost without words. That someone could actually in essence state “Yes, there was in fact child rape, imprisonment, torture and slavery there, committed by members of the clergy over decades, but the media is making that seem worse then its reality.” is as unconscionable as it is inexcusable. And to also claim that the conclusions of the official Visitation by Rome “shows neither a grasp of the big picture nor the reality.” is also unbelievable. In fact it is this very ‘bury your head in the sand’ mentality that was the cause of the crisis and scandal in the first place.

I was not trying to downplay or minimise the actual harm done or the effects it had on the victims. The authorities at the beginning had absolutely no awareness of the sickness of pedophilia. Most of them did act pastorally when the actual damage and threat was etter known.  They took action to help the damaged children at whatever age they came forward. In Ireland the Pope and bisops were ahead of the cyrve as the Government still has no Law in effect to protect all children. The iona Institute report showed a much larger number of even Mass-going ciitzens thought the abuse stats were worse than they were in fact. It is also indisputable that the actual structure of the local diocese, the inter-conection between dioceses and the role of the Vatican is not known or understood.  The bishop and responsible cleric in Cloyne ignored the pope and bishops, so who should have been blamed? The rest of the story is that the gospel is based on human nature- forgiveness is the only way to peace even though the flawed human instinct is to lash ou and seek revenge. The magnificent work the Church has done for its history in the USA and Ireland and the UK and Australia and Austria is often tossed aside, sadly as an excuse, to discount the Church as instrument of loving concern in education, medicine and helping the poor.  Theh there is the irrational over-reaction to the small percentage of those who abused and causes suspicion on all.

@ds
The devil is using the State against the Church, it’s no accident that Pontius Pilot made the Apostles Creed.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, for me to imagine an “irrational over-reaction” to serial child rape and torture. In the U.S. and Ireland alone, at least 50 victims of clergy sexual abuse have taken their own lives.
This failure of leadership in the Church is in fact a substantial part of the reason the secular assault has been able to advance to such a devastating degree.

HermitTalker, you said, “The sensus fidelium is an ancient phrase to acknowledge that the whole Church is guided by the HOLY SPIRIT.”
Your whole discussion gets too wide, too fast and too soon and does not stay on topic.  The infallible Holy Spirit is only with the Teaching Magisterium. 

As Pope Leo XIII taught in Satis Cognitum:
“If the living magisterium could be in any way false — an evident contradiction would follow, for then God would be the author of error.”

And also the First Vatican Council (1870), in the Dogmatic Constitution, Pastor Aeternus, reaffirmed the teaching of the Fourth Council of Constantinople:
“And their truth has been proved by the course of history, for in the Apostolic See, the Catholic religion has always been kept unsullied and her teachings kept holy.”

Who is that ‘whole Church’ you speak of?  Is it the one that ‘subsists in’?  Apparently you are not talking about the Roman Catholic Church because the protection and teachings of faith and morals are not dependent upon the laities’ approval. Far be it for Holy Mother Church to operate as a democratic organization to be tossed about by the winds of the day.  Holy Mother Church safe guards what has been handed on.  She never gives a new meaning to an updated interpretation.

HermitTalker,
Around 90% of all cases of abuse were against boys, and of that some 70% were against pubescent boys which is pederasty and not pedophilia. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of cases were homosexual assaults on young boys. And, no, sorry, you simply cannot explain away a Bishop taking a priest he himself believes to have committed child rape and moving him secretly to another parish as “They simply had no awareness of the sickness of pedophilia”. Do you actually contend that if the accused priest had raped a young nephew of a Bishop that that same Bishop would have allowed him continued access to that nephew, or transferred him to a place where he would have access to another nephew? And all because he had “no awareness of pedophilia” and that without this “awareness” it is somehow understandable how a Bishop could keep someone working in a parish who he knew for a fact had already raped and molested a child?  “Yes, I knew he had already molested and raped one child in my diocese, but at the time I had no awareness of pedophilia so you must understand why I kept him on.” That is your reasoning?

I am sorry Max, I was not trying to deny the evil but put it in context. I cannot answer hypothetical cases. The work ahead of all of us is to see that the US bishops’ and worldwide bishops’ pattern of CORRECTING their pst erros and those of their successors and MODDELLING that for the other professions. You may know that the US armed services are now more openly dealing with sexual abuse that was denied or covered up in the past. Protestants are now openly dealing with pornography which is more openly becoming a major difficulty for them, and that leads to all sorts of abuse, including abuse of the women, or men or children. The NYT did a story that the then archbishop Timothy Dolan told on EWTN several weeks back- a priest who abused a child was featured on page 1 and seven rabbis on page 7.  Hollywood’s abuse of child actors is now being aired. A study last year by a Hofstra professor for the US Department of Education said that students in public schools are more vulnerable to abuse by their teachers and coaches - male, female, single and married, than they are by Catholic clergy. I follow these topics as a former journalist and adjunct university professor.

JOE: You seem not to have kept up with the Church’s actual practice and deeper teaching. The two Popes who proclaimed the only two infallible dogmas - Immaculate Conception in 1854 (6?) and Pius X11 in 1950, the Assumption, both asked the worldwide bishops to consult with the laity before he proclaimed the dogmas.  Read Blessed John Cardinal Newman’s famous essay On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Dcctrine on this topic. He wrote after the IC but before Pius X11 onbviously but that second Pope honoured the faithful’s share in preserving the Faith, not being spoon-fed by the hierarchy and clergy. The whole Church has the holy Spirit’s guidance. All levels of it.

HermitTalker -  That explains everything, HermitTalker-:))
Look at the progress by the ‘laity’ following the guidance of the Holy Spirit:
•  Catholic Marriages in American in 1971 were 416,924 and in 2003 dropped to 241,727
•  Marriage annulments in America in 1968 were 450; and in the year 2000 they skyrocketed to 49,069
•  Less than 10% of annulment applications are denied
•  U S Catholic Elementary Schools in 1962 were 10,630; in 2003 were 7,342
•  U S Students in Catholic Schools in 1962 were 4,451,893 and in 2003 were 1,871,217

•  53% of lay religious (paid) teachers believe a Catholic can have an abortion and continue to teach our youth

•  a mere 10% of lay religious teachers accept church teachings on contraception;

•    65% accept that Catholics may divorce and remarry and remain in good standing; 77% believe Sunday Mass is optional? 

Did the Teaching Magisterium of the Church get it wrong the first 19 hundred centuries, and or should they have availed themselves much sooner of the laity’s assistance? 

Were the ‘laity present’at the twenty General Councils in the History of Holy Mother Church called to combat heresies?

My explanation about the laity’s role in defining dogmas is valid. We are going through another massive cultural shift, such as the Reformation was for Europe and the French Revolution was for the late 18th century. Birth control and abortion as legal are only 50 and 39 years old.  Huge pressure from manufacturers, physicians, media biased stories and years of bad catechetics by un-prepared catechetists, un-trained clergy and other leaders after Vat 11 have not helped.  Give the great/grand/ and children of the Hippie and Yuuppie generations TIME. They saw the evils of so-called free sex, easy aborion and condoms on bananas for “education”  which left out the obvious need for discipline and morality.  See the rampant STDs and ruined livers from today’s alumni/ae of DARE and JUST SAY NO with their bings drinking and irresponsible sexual activity.  It will all come back to centre again. You cannot fool Mother Nature. Not for long. She kicks like a mule if we try to fool Her.

HermitTalker, you said, “My explanation about the laity’s role in defining dogmas is valid.”  How about some substantial references, HermitTalker?  You still have not provided proof and examples of “sensus fidelium” as a Catholic principle.

Sense of the Faithful is apparent with those that follow the Church’s Teaching on contraception. Not the majority, but faithful. Not the rich, but the poor country’s. Not the wisdom of the world, but Christ.

HermitTalker - Please explain what Church you are speaking about?  Please explain what is taught in the schools of that same Church?  All I’m getting is your opinions of which you are entitled but you are not the “Authority”.  Please explain your sources for what you believe to be true and not just make generalized statements, HermitTalker. 

Why are Catholic women contracepting and aborting at alarming rates?  Tim Drake, senior writer of this paper has written on the fact that Catholic College women are more promiscuous than their peers.  Sounds like the ‘sense of the faithful’ have more in common with barbarism.

David, I should have addressed my last comments to you as well as HermitTalker.  I’m sorry I did not acknowledge you.  The same questions apply.

I gave you a reference to Newman’s famous essay, he is now a Blessed, and showed where the Pope he knew of, and Pius X11 later, had the bishops consult the faithful. Bl J h Newman explains what the word means and what it does not. See the essay online.  ON CONSULTING THE FAITHFUL IN MATTERS OF DOCTRINE. It is very scholarly so read it all and do not jump at a sentece you may misread and say Gotcha. They both consulted the laity and hierarchy, so that is good enough for me. Read more about the sensus fidelium, wherever, I have long since accepted it, we read Newman’s essay decades ago in College.
AS TO FAITHFULNESS to MORAL TACHING, there are no formally defined papal teachings but the Commandments are a given- as is the teaching on marriage and all of human sexuality, whether accepted or not by the majority or the few. The US Bishops teaching on Nuclear weapons on war back in the 80s or , no defined teaching on contraception as such, but it has been around a long time, reinforced by Paul V1, the Anglicans, who believe nothing much any more dropped it in 1929 and see the results among the general populace. Evangelicals and Catholics practice the Natural approach, hoW many, we have no idea, and orthodox jews accept the biblical ban on sex outside the female fertile time. earlier, was very well accepted and appproved by the US faithful. The death penalty is less so because of the cruelty of the dominant Calvinist ethos in the USA. It has been abolished in Europe and S Africa abolished it after the blacks took over and they knew how cruelly it waa used under the white rogues.  As I said above in the earlier post, many former users are regretting the damage done to their bodies, souls and marriages. As I heard Dr Willke, with his nurse-wife who developed the very natural NFP approach, in one workshop at the university years ago, the pill tells a woman’s body 13 times a year she is pregnant. What does that do? The medical experts describe the effects on females who are taking the pill in their relationship with males- the hormonal diffrences are verifiable. Check that medical data, it is not my area of study but is for sure of interest.  My primary concern for the culture has been to work toward acceptance of the Natural law, and of course for Catholics to save their minds, bodies, marriages, famililes and SOULS by listening to the HOLY SPIRIT teaching the whole Church.

please read my posts, think about them before asking me what I see as baiting questions. I gave you authoratative teaching and two major courses from two popes about the laity vis a vis the two Marian dogmas. I did not make any pronouncements about being an AUTHORITY either lower or upper case on any dogma or moral question. for the latter, I cited statistics and showed trends as an observer of the human condition. I have not done any studies about the use of contraceptives and Catholic females students in College. I also showed time brings conversion to many, so why do not not pray and fast, it is Lent of course. Then the long view and teach by example. Some posts are like immature kids demanding that Daddy aka bishop or Father rant about these topics.

HermitTalker - I fear you are part of the reforming mania and your “new dogmas” are unhinged as spoken of in “Pascendi Dominici Gregis”.  A protective guideline is “anything new is not true, and anything true is not new”.  Christ did not built his Church upon the laity for they do not have the infallible spirit as does the Victor of Christ / the Teaching Magisterium.  No wonder we are experiencing such disrespect and chaos. To follow your belief is to follow the way of the dinosaur.

Fine Joe;
Let me repeat it slowly. Two POPES asked their bishops to consult with their laity about the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption. A theologian declared Blessed by HH BXV1 in 2010 - the brilliant John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote an essay that is renowned on Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, which you apparently have not bothered to read. He translates the Latin to explain that the laity are specifically included in the IC doctrine, Pius X11 came after he died but did the same.
I do not worship at the statue of St Dinosaur but it appears you do. That ends my last comment on this topic.

Christ did not design His Church to be a democratic organization. The whims of the generations cannot change revelation.  Truth ‘handed on by the Apostles’ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Truth is not decided by laity for they have not the capacity nor the annointing to know the ‘total deposit of faith’. Popes guard what has been handed on; they do not invent new doctrines. Popes cannot change ‘Truth’.  Supreme/Authoritative pronouncements are never new revelations.  Beware of these!

Christ’s statement to Simon “you are rock and on this rock I Will Build My Church” and “the gates of hell will not prevail against IT” are two truths and mysteriously one in the same.

The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church -takes in all of the Faithful. Where would priests come from if it were not for Families? Who are the greatest two Saints?: Mary and Joseph, laypersons. (St. Ignatius Loyola was still a layperson when he wrote his “Discernment of Spirits”, and there are countless other laypersons that were/are Saints.) The Rock is Christ, the Successor of Peter and the Successors of the Apostles (Bishops), all the priests, religious and lay faithful in Communion with HIM.

The Sense of the Faithful and the Magisterium are in total agreement in regard to contraception. Included in the Faithful are those who are no longer on earth: over nineteen hundred years worth of faithful Christians (all Christians not just Catholics). Since 1930 and the Anglican Church’s break with communion on the teaching of contraception we have seen the capitulation of all Christian denominations except the Universal Church, the Rock. And we have seen the effects of contraception on society. It is a terrible but awesome sight and paves the way to Christian reunification. (Where’s the proof that the Church is infallible in faith and morals –contraception!)

Here and now, in America, the country known as the Great Debate, we have the Obama Administration trying to rig the debate, trying to remove all Voices from the public square except their own.

Its time to fight: pray, fast, explain to all, write letters to the editor and debate….we need to focus on the First Amendment, and defuse the silly contraceptive arguments. The media and the vast public opinion polls seem to be against us; Christ and the Successor of Peter and the Successors of the Apostles are on our side and we theirs. If God is with us who can stand against us?!

People know the truth when they hear it and all have a guardian to point the way, there are things seen and unseen in this fight. For sure.. Act as though Victory is ours, because it already is. Watch for those who argue for contraception and abortion to become increasingly impatient and downright vicious, pray for them, they’re not the enemy, the devil knows that his hold on the world is being broken, he sees the danger of reunification and he knows what awaits him.

Don’t give in to petty debates on cursory points or pointing out sins of the past, there are seeds of division and distraction here and that too is from the devil. The Bishops can’t do this alone without the Faithful in communion –and that my dear friends’ is the point.

I also need to heed what I just wrote.
God Bless.

These are the hardcore facts when ‘people’ separate from ex cathedra and Supreme pronouncements on matters of faith and morals.  Let’s look at what is in the parochial schools, David. 

•Catholic Marriages in American in 1971 were 416,924 and in 2003 dropped to 241,727
•Marriage annulments in America in 1968 were 450; and in the year 2000 they skyrocketed to 49,069
•Less than 10% of annulment applications are denied
•U S Catholic Elementary Schools in 1962 were 10,630; in 2003 were 7,342
•U S Students in Catholic Schools in 1962 were 4,451,893 and in 2003 were 1,871,217

•53% of lay religious (paid) teachers believe a Catholic can have an abortion and continue to teach our youth

•  A MERE 10% OF LAY RELIGIOUS TEACHERS (paid by the people in the pew, thank you!) ACCEPT HOLY MOTHER CHURCH TEACHINGS ON CONTRACEPTION;

•    65% accept that Catholics may divorce and remarry and remain in good standing; 77% believe Sunday Mass is optional?

The sensus of the faithful unto themselves. BTW, no one has explained which Council or which Papal pronouncement proclaimed the ‘sense of the faithful” as a Tradition handed on.

It’s bad Joe I know. But look at those who have been faithful. Look at those who promote NFP in spite of having been dismissed by their peers, clergy and without even the support of some Bishops.

I know it’s bad Joe. But look at the people who in spite of being dismissed for promoting NFP by their peers and many clergy, with little support from Bishops have continued to be faithful. Faithful is not a popularity contest.

My Dear Daughters and Sons; Greetings from your Heavenly Abba (Father);
I wanted to drop down and into your world to remind you of a few facts. Your acientists tell you that my lumbering Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. You Humans, the crowning work of my Creation have been around 20 thousand years they say, I will not say yes or no to that figure because we enjoy the Sciences, trying to figure out waht we did when and where. We- the Trinity for you Christians, I the Intelligent Designer for you others, want to remind you of some facts. Cavemen used cub women over the head to marry them, that “raptus,” taking a woman for rape and therefore automatic marriage was still in vogue in Italy until recent times. Your Human ancestors in some nations, and some still today bought and sold slaves for economics to work the land or sadly today for prostutition, and some are hired today by large corporations,  paid low wages and minimal hours to avoid being fulltime employment with insurance bebefits, or in “sweatshops” as you call them in very poor nations so you can buy clothing at very high prices and make the Fat Cats richer.
Now let me get directly to the point here. We/I have been most patient watching you move from clubbing your future wives, to being upset about clubbing Baby Seals to allowing the slicing and poisioning of Baby Humans, to being so upset anout the present state of belief on the Earth, especially about My Son’s followers ( sorry you liberals and not-yet-believers). IF dinosaurs were there 65 million years ago, and you for only 20,000- I will accept that figure for the sake of our discussion, whay get all hot and bothered about sin and failure and blaming each other. Do your best, give Us and yourselves time to mature and grow emotionally-spiritually. As We see it, to use a very earthly human annaogy, WE see you still in diapers unable to talk except go jah jah jah jah and you have a long way to go. GET ON WITH IT. LEAVE THE JUDGING TO US/ME. And examine your own hearts and see how your real self, without the masks you put on to fool each other, is in OUR/MU eyes.  GROW UP and realoise your Human Race may have 65 million years to GROW UP. Have a good Lent. Your loving Abba, who laughs OUR/MY head off, or LMO, excuse that cyberspace abbreviation, to see you taking yourselves and your tiny brains’ understanding of the Big Picture so seriously.  Check that diaper smelly butt.

David,  We cannot remain silent.  Our most valuable resource, our youth, are being scandalized by these teachers who teach a new doctrine against Holy Mother Church.  Where is the outrage? Legalized abortion is in conjunction with what is being taught to youth.  Silence and complacency are destroying the Faith of many.  Catholics do not study what has been handed on. 

Pope Leo XIII, Apostolicae Curae

“It is better that the truth be known than that scandal be covered up.”

St. Augustine

“Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it; and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them.”