This is Ambrose.
Readers have noted that numerous bishops urged the USCCB to suspend its conversation on “Eucharistic Coherence.” One outcome of this conversation might have been the decision to direct bishops to look at their own flocks and possibly to withhold the Eucharist from high-placed Catholics who persistently, publicly, and proudly support the grave crime of abortion.
The Pillar published the list of signatories, and those in favor of quashing discussion were the usual suspects, as well as our local bishop Timothy L. Doherty and a number of others.
This may be a surprise to some, but indications of this intent were fairly plain in his May 13 letter in The Catholic Moment, in which he asserted that no one could be in doubt of the Church’s teaching on pro-life issues and that the tension between justice and mercy essentially precluded further actions against those who publicly work against such teachings:
“In a collision of values and disvalues, we are perplexed by Catholic politicians who vote for another’s right to choose abortion and are sometimes reported to receive Holy Communion. As we move from general principles into individual lives, we cannot know what is going on with them moment to moment. The pastor in me cannot know what distant person might have been to confession this week, or who has sought the counsel of their pastor or bishop. Just as the Church rightly expects me to present our teaching and to caution people against doing bad things, it also expects me to be the voice of God’s mercy. Holding both of these positions in tension at the same time comes at a personal cost. The cross chained around my neck daily reminds me that Jesus knew it better than anyone. As recent popes have written, it can be easy to lose sight of being a minister of forgiveness. So as you and I, or I and my brother bishops, walk into the coming weeks and months, let’s not imagine that we can erase this tension.”
As everyone knows, the shepherd’s crook is the inspiration behind a bishop’s crosier. It’s a tool that can thwack a predator or snatch a sheep that’s headed in a bad direction by hooking its neck or leg. This looks highly unpleasant in practice, and one may safely assume that the sheep does not enjoy it. Yet it is necessary, because the sheep may do injury to itself, and because it is a social creature, its bad behavior will be contagious to others.
Catholics today who participate in, condone, support, defend, spread, or fund unequivocally evil and gravely serious moral acts (and sometimes even enrich or aggrandize themselves by this) are in a great deal of danger spiritually. This is compounded when they present themselves for Holy Communion while either actually in a state of sin or while refusing assent to the Church’s moral teaching.
Bishop Doherty references “politicians who vote for another’s right to choose abortion.” In Catholic teaching, there is no “right to choose abortion.” But it seems that many clerics and bishops are willing to live as if there were.
A cynical view? OK. Buckle up. This has been going on for nauseating decades on end, and one cannot help but grasp for the motivations that drive this. Or those that don’t. Here’s one hypothesis:
Bishops who will not check those Catholics advocating for child murder with the power of their office, with the crook in their hands, are not very invested in the outcome of said people’s salvation, nor in those in society impacted by abortion, nor in those innocents destroyed along the way.
Change my mind.
If bishops, like our own, are “perplexed” by why pro-abortion politicians present themselves for Eucharist after condoning and promoting grave public evil contrary to the Church’s beliefs, it is simply because they know they can. They know that you bishops will issue general statements and head up fluffy social media campaigns, and that will be the extent of it. You will never call them personally to account as Our Lord did to those He encountered. And because you will not call them to account, the chances of their repenting are low.
Does a child ask forgiveness for the sins at which he knows his indulgent mother will only shrug? Why should he? He will, rather, kick his sibling in the face from the comfortable position of mother’s lap, knowing there are no repercussions.
Such a mother loves neither child.
The chances of administering mercy to a person in this situation diminish in equal proportion to the apparent apathy. How are you to be a minister of forgiveness to someone who is not sorry, especially when that person has learned from you that he need not be sorry? Your letters and committees are a cute idea, but evil is real and it is forceful and must be countered in ways that are also real and forceful. The Catholic pro-abortion politician (a term that should not even exist) has learned from you that he can toss babies into the mouth of Moloch with one hand–raking up political clout and Planned Parenthood dollars, oozing euphemisms about choice and healthcare–while extending his other for the Eucharist, and that precious few of you bishops will ever care enough to stop him.
Is it his sin that you don’t believe in, or is it the Real Presence?
Seriously: Change my mind.
When Emperor Theodosius was found to have had a hand, at least remotely, in the dreadful Massacre of Thessalonica in which many thousands died and no one was held responsible, St. Ambrose famously barred him from entering the Cathedral of Milan. He did so because the sins of the Emperor in this instance were not a private affair. They were carried out in the public arena and required a public demonstration of repentance, an acknowledgement that he must put such behavior behind him before entering into the common liturgy. Theodoret the historian recounted that Ambrose stopped him at the doors, saying:
“You seem, sir, not to know,” said he, “the magnitude of the bloody deed that has been done. Your rage has subsided, but your reason has not yet recognised the character of the deed. Peradventure your Imperial power prevents your recognising the sin, and power stands in the light of reason. We must however know how our nature passes away and is subject to death; we must know the ancestral dust from which we sprang, and to which we are swiftly returning. We must not because we are dazzled by the sheen of the purple fail to see the weakness of the body that it robes. You are a sovereign, Sir, of men of like nature with your own, and who are in truth your fellow slaves; for there is one Lord and Sovereign of mankind, Creator of the Universe. With what eyes then will you look on the temple of our common Lord — with what feet will you tread that holy threshold, how will you stretch forth your hands still dripping with the blood of unjust slaughter? How in such hands will you receive the all holy Body of the Lord? How will you who in your rage unrighteously poured forth so much blood lift to your lips the precious Blood? Begone. Attempt not to add another crime to that which you have committed. Submit to the restriction to which God the Lord of all agrees that you be sentenced. He will be your physician, He will give you health.”
You see, Ambrose was responsible for Theodosius. He did not wish him to eat and drink his own condemnation. He didn’t want Hell for him. He wanted Theodosius to show the wound of his sin to God so that it could be healed. He did not wish for the Lord to be profaned. He did not wish for others in the Church to witness evil acts scandalously unrepented and become unable to reconcile with Theodosius because of this. He did not want further evil acts to occur, and he took it upon himself to prevent them.
In other words, Ambrose loved Theodosius. He laid his crosier around the neck of the recalcitrant and presumptuous Emperor, so to speak. The Emperor repented.
Today’s bishops may believe that they love more and are kinder and more merciful by looking the other way. They are not. Watching as someone commits a likely sacrilege but doing nothing is a poor excuse for mercy. On the other hand, admonishing that person, drawing him away from the evil he is doing, is genuine mercy. The Church has always taught this, has it not?
Dear signatory bishops: Know that we’ve stopped listening to your occasional and feeble protestations against abortion, because you don’t even sound like you believe them yourselves. And you certainly do not live as if you do. None of you–not a single one–actually believes that their local Nancy Pelosi might have had a secret, total change of heart since whatever public pro-abortion deeds she enacted last week. And what is more: none of you will have done anything to help her have one either, or to begin the holy and necessary work of repairing the damage caused. You simply don’t care enough about the outcome, and it shows.
Do you intend to use the crosier that your Master put into your hand for the good of souls, or will He find it buried, like so many talents, unused, in the earth?
Ambrose barred Emperor Theodosius from the Eucharist.
Ambrose opposed sacrilege & helped Theodosius repent.
Ambrose is smart.
Be like Ambrose.
______________________________________________________________________________
UPDATED:
A few more interesting details, some from archbishop Cordileone of SanFran:
–This letter and its signatories attempt to circumvent the normal procedures used by USCCB to develop meeting agendas: ““The administrative committee voted overwhelmingly to put this on the agenda for the June meeting,” said the archbishop. “I know Archbishop Gomez is committed to following the procedures as we agreed on them. I think this is totally unacceptable.”
–The number of signatories is about 70 but really is inflated, due to the fact that a number of the signatories are auxiliary bishops of those leading the charge. All 7 of Cupich’s and both of Wilton Gregory’s aux’s signed, and many more were heavily pressured.
–Some bishops signed initially and then retracted their signatures, possibly upon learning the agenda at play. Notable among these is NY’s Cardinal Dolan who asked that his name be struck off the letter.
–Delaying discussion now would mean delaying the very important vote on whether to draft a document on “Eucharistic coherence .” In that case, the doc would also be delayed, and almost certainly fail to come out before 2023–probably later if things go as they usually do. The end result? No letter on Eucharistic Coherence in the leadup to the next elections. Ponder to yourselves who might need reelection & would be campaigning for the Catholic vote in that selfsame window of time …? We’re sure this is utterly coincidental, and also just purchased the Brooklyn Bridge.
–Blocking tactics are a Cupichian specialty. It’s a sort of episcopal politicking that used to be known as “The Roman Hand.” Recall when he did the same thing to prevent the release of the McCarrick report? Highly, highly disappointing, however, to see our own bishop become complicit.
More here: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/cordileone-usccb-agenda-letter-totally
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43 Replies to “This is Ambrose.”
Thank you for an excellent article!
I would like to add a few points. First, one ought to be concerned when prelates make recourse to the lingua franca: the transition from the language (grammar, syntax) of Catholicism rightly understood to the language of the therapeutic (cf. Philip Rieff, Carl Trueman, Joshua Mitchell). There are many examples from just a single article.
The May 13 article serves as emblematic – not atypical – of this phenomenon. Referring to the “Social wellbeing”, Catholic “ethos”, “values and disvalues” (weird term), holding Justice and Mercy in “tension”, referring to a “distant” person, and shouldering “a personal cost” are all examples of one’s psychological interiority as primary. This language of the therapeutic is a subset of the Post Vatican II Buzz Words discussed more broadly by Dr. Taylor Marshall here: https://youtu.be/-73cZX5GsM4.
This proclivity to make use of psychological self-expressive emotional states rather than employing the philosophical and theological framework of orthodox Catholic doctrine is a red flag that something has gone terribly wrong in one’s intellectual formation. What is missing? Sin, truth, salvation, Heaven. Hell – any number of sound Catholic terms drawing from the Tradition of Holy Mother Church.
Instead of the methodological realism of St. Thomas Aquinas (cf. Etienne Gilson) there’s a move to the realm of the psychological self (cf. Charles Taylor), which is understood to mean a person is who he/she perceives themselves to be interiorly developing their sense of self and identity. Be “authentic” meaning who you really are on the inside. Being authentic is being true to one’s emotions, feelings, inner self, and being recognized by society as such. This philosophy is the primer that makes the premise “I am a man trapped in a women’s body” not only plausible but increasingly acceptable. None of this is Catholic. It’s a dissident, heretical view of the human person, Creation, and wholly atheistic.
Side note: is it coincidental that the signatories seem to be the same cast of characters advancing the LGBTQ+ agendas in their diocese? Hmmm.
Second, one wonders what exactly is the personal cost the good Bishop is talking about. The signatures on the letter signal to all these Bishops have no intention whatsoever of using the coercive discipline of Canon Law to bring about good order, slay scandal, and save souls in this matter. The Red Wolf article “This is Ambrose” correctly identifies discipline as the response of a loving Father to correct wrongdoing.
But why? Conflict avoidance. Conflict and confrontation are risky because they almost guarantee discomfort or more dramatically emotional pain. The framework of the therapeutic prioritizes the psychological well-being of oneself and others such that a verbal challenge is deemed equivalent to or even worse than a physical harm. Far better, so it’s thought, to avoid thorny issues altogether.
Inspire of the emphasis these days of synodality, there are few reasons to believe these signatories as a “community” will have the cojones to bring themselves in line with orthodox Catholicism. Aversion to confrontation and avoidance of conflict is likely produce any number of stalling tactics and subvert efforts to bring Eucharistic Cohesion into being as a formal document much less implementation across American dioceses.
Why? Why is Eucharistic Coherence controversial at all? There are likely many reasons. One likely motivation is that a skirmish is a painful psychological state of harm and far worse, in this worldview, than admonishing the sinner risking a negative emotion experience oneself or potentially causing emotional distress in another. This psychological concern trumps protecting the most Holy Eucharist from sacrilege. Tough love, in this way of thinking, is no love at all. Kumbaya! (I prefer the Joan Baez version myself).
Third, isn’t it odd the claim the good Bishop gave about being unable to discern “a distant person” who may present themselves to receive Holy Communion unworthily? I found this argument quite mottled and shady. No one is advocating for clergy or commissioned EMHCs to read the interior disposition of strangers. The issue at hand (and I know this is repetitive for this readership) is the decades-long sustained public scandal of “Catholic” politicians promoting the slaughter of children AND wielding executive power to fund and expand its murderous reach. What is at stake is much more than people simply doing “bad” things as the good Bishop cautions his flock against. Abortion is a moral evil of the gravest magnitude such that participation in it puts a soul firmly on the path (i.e. fast lane) to Eternal Damnation. Biden and Pelosi are famous and famously recalcitrant. Begin here.
Perhaps by not, perhaps never, fully addressing the grave scandal caused by hardened pro-abort politicians prancing around clutching their Rosary beads on camera, one sadly expects our Bishops to remain harshly uncompassionate to the loss of innocent life while poo-pooing ever so softly those naughty politicians who obviously know they are violating Divine and Natural Moral Law. But what can I do about it? – the good Bishop says. Dialogue, conversation, and accompaniment are terms often deployed to give the appearance of pastoral action without accomplishing much of anything.
Fourth, the fogging of the issue aims at dissuading the Faithful from asking pesky questions and expressing righteous outrage. The list of signatories were the usual suspects: an ensemble of like-minded progressivists. It’s boringly predictable. These prelates rely heavily on the lexicon of psychology to update we rubes in the pews. The twaddle acts as a head fake to hamper any material effort at forthright action and accountability. I must admit the sheer intellectual muscle for so many Bishops to ignore or suppress the clarity of Teaching found in Evangelium Vitae, Veritatis Splendor, and Fides et Ratio astonishing.
Fifth, this new “ethos” of the contemporary setting encourages and endorses indifference to and loss of Faith. If receiving the most Precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Blessed Lord unworthily as a public administer of industrialized child murder, then quite frankly what’s the point of believing. Consider the stats. The numbers are horrible. Key metrics such as Baptisms, Marriages, belief in the Real Presence, and on and on, are vanishing. The Bishops are quite literally managing steep decline. And this issue is a serious and significant factor in the collapse of Faith.
Sixth, what of the good and holy Priests, Deacons, and Religious? Imagine how they feel.
Seventh, defending the most Blessed Sacrament from sacrilege is a solemn duty. But are we asking the right question? Excommunication seems a more fitting response (see Should pro-abortion Catholic politicians be excommunicated? | Catholic Culture).
I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of our good Bishop. One may rightly say he is being his authentic self. But at the end of the day….
“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works?” (James 2:14)
Appreciate your thoughts on this, Timothy O’Donnell, and certainly agree that this is just one more attempt, as you say, to ” hamper any material effort at forthright action and accountability.” Your point regarding swapping the “methodological realism” of Thomas and the vocabulary/ concepts of theology for a more secular psychological approach is germane, especially since, as you note, our bishops have not been given psychology but theology to pass on, and nor is it “good psychology” to adopt avoidance behaviors and to enable harmful behavior in others. Were excommunication even on the table, some of these politicians would have had to decide long ago whether the Church actually meant something to them. Instead, their sense of entitlement to use the Church is continuously inflated by the bellows of such episcopal hot air. One wishes the bishops had a tenth of the outrage over this as Wilton Gregory had back when former president Donald Trump visited & took photographs at the John Paul II Shrine. “I find it baffling and reprehensible,” you may recall Gregory declaring, “that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles.” So evidently these bishops can find their tongues when they want to.
I sure wished the Catholic Moment would allow letters to the editor, as some diocesan papers do. But even if they did, this group would not publish any that expose the bishop’s duplicity, and attacks on the Faith that he should be upholding. No doubt they would be inundated by such letters.
Lucky us, I think he is the only Indiana bishop that is a signatory to this horrific and cowardly letter!
Diocesan papers are just propaganda tools, and bad ones at that.
And a money pit! Is the Catholic Moment printed in the basement of the unused St. Joseph Retreat Boondoggle?
That would make it TWO money pits!
Back when The Catholic Moment was asking for writers, I applied with a report I wrote in college and a Wolfesque essay about how UIH dissolved trust between the laity and the bishop. As expected, I never heard back from them.
Bold move. Email me. Let’s talk about a guest post here.
Also seem our own bishop is opening the door to many of Latino Catholics in this diocese to become protestant. Just words but NO regular Hispanic ministry many times or priests as pastor who can’t speak to us.
Words. Not sincere things by our bishop and no way to say to anybody how we feel about Uniting in Heart = disaster!
“[One’s] right to choose abortion?”
That the bishop is a spineless coward, a modernist, and a neomarxist does not surprise me. However, the quote only seems to point to evil. I don’t say this lightly. No other explanation makes sense.
“Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.”
-St Thomas Aquinas
Watch the interview clips of Nancy Pelosi. Listen to her words. She makes theological arguments for abortion and other issues contrary to Faith, and ascribes her beliefs which contradict the magisterium to the Fathers of the Church, as if she is the arbiter. She describes protecting partial-birth abortion as her “sacred ground.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK8byt3bpPc
Biden talks less about it but has done just as much damage in practice by putting his signature all over executive orders to fund and cause more abortion and take away any limits on it. In common with Theodosius, he just got busy with the killing.
Is the sanctity of human life something that we as Catholics are required to believe in or not? Is the 5th Commandment something that we as Catholics are required to believe in or not?
How are those who deny this not heretics according to the Thomistic definition (Summa II-II:11:1) and the one in Canon Law 751? Maybe some theologian can explain this to me.
What I read says heretics are NOT afforded the privileges of intercommunion with the Church from which they separated themselves by their rejection of its teachings. Communion means just that, union, including unity of beliefs. You believe something radically different= you don’t have unity. We DON’T intercommune with those that do not share our beliefs, not because we are so perfect, but because we accept what God is asking us all to believe and do and they, well, just don’t.
“The right Christian faith consists in giving one’s voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ’s doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval. . . .The impelling motives are many: intellectual pride or exaggerated reliance on one’s own insight; the illusions of religious zeal; the allurements of political or ecclesiastical power; the ties of material interests and personal status; and perhaps others more dishonourable.”
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm
What is one to do then, if his bishop fits the definition of heretic?
Perplexing that our bishop who tweeted praise of St. Ambrose previously is choosing not to follow in his footsteps.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BishopDoherty/status/1203386703861473281
I’m taking my cue from our perplexing bishop and emulating him in how I choose to participate in the perpetual Catholic Ministries Appeal: Just as the bishop praised St. Ambrose but then chose not to follow him, I had pledged a certain amount to the Catholic Ministries Appeal but then chose not to write that check after all.
Has anyone noticed that Bishop Doherty stresses developing rules about everything and procedures for everything and then expecting people to follow those rules and procedures to the letter. And how he had to be together with the other Indiana Bishops for things like the COVID rules. And never doing anything disrespectful or divisive or uncivil! Now he is disrespecting the rules and procedures of his own Bishop’s Conference the USCCB, the other Indiana Bishops, and what the rest of his brother Bishops voted on! He went along with the sneaky disrupters and their attempted coup. So much for collegiality and respecting the rules and agreed upon procedures. I guess you don’t have to do them if you have a good reason, according to the Bishop’s actions. If he doesn’t have to do it, why should I? Hey, I feel free!
If it weren’t for double standards, some people wouldn’t have any.
We have now come to the full realization that these bishops are neither prolife, nor pro natural law and won’t defend against the horrendous atrocities against Jesus himself in the Eucharist. The lines are drawn. Will we come out and do something about it? What is our move? I can’t sit idly by and allow this to go on.
I feel as if another rally at the chancery and/or a petition is in order. Bishop Doherty has done severe damage to the integrity of the Catholic Church.
Don’t worry. Bishop’s got you covered. To address the fallout of his exposure, I’m sure he’s pulling together another 3-alarm snoozer of an article for the diocesan newspaper nobody reads. In it, he’s going to twist like a pretzel explaining why he’s right and, after going off on a dozen or so tangents, come to the conclusion that the laity are just stupid, need to grow up, and are guilty of the most heinous sin of all: “Divisiveness”. A summer reading list will likely follow, with a strong recommendation for the collected works of Fr. James Martin, S.J.
We could also unite in praying for a new bishop–or for this one to have a a massive conversion
Exactly. The Faithful MUST do something.
With this revelation, I think the “diocese-on-fire” fundraising campaign just hit another speed bump.
Let’s send the money to worthy pro-life causes. I would rather send donations to places where LIVES are being saved than to have it go toward throw pillows or whatever for the Tipton retreat building or paying ppl to go around dismantling parishes. After this, it is obvious the babies are on their own as far as these 60 bishops are concerned. Maybe we can make a list right on this thread of good places to send our $. Personally I trust and support 40 Days for Life. https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/donate.aspx What are other good places?
I would suggest Guerin Catholic’s scholarship fund through their SGO, and the Bishop won’t be able to touch a penny of it: https://www.guerincatholic.org/support/sgo/
Also, Women’s Care Center does great work (next to the PP abortion mill in NW Indianapolis) https://supportwomenscarecenter.org/donate/
Also, Birthright of Cicero does great work: https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/BirthrightofCiceroInc/general
Matrix center in Lafayette . Pregnancy & other health testing, ultrasounds, mental health help, parenting classes for mom sand dads, baby supplies etc. They are also right near a PP. Your donations will go to good use there. https://www.matrixcares.org/services/
Yup. Tithings being redirected to other worthy Catholic endeavors until further notice.
Prayers for these Bishops to open up their hearts and minds to this truth of which you so beautifully reminded them.
God bless your soul!
Agreed. The faithful laity must continue to pray for the souls of our clergy. The good ones need us, and the bad ones need us even more lest their souls suffer eternal damnation if they don’t repent soon. I’m so sad for the most pertenatious of sinners amongst the episcopate who are all but damned at this point. As the signs along the highway read in big block letters, “HELL IS REAL”.
This is very disturbing.
https://dol-in.org/report-ethical-misconduct
A few more interesting details, some from archbishop Cordileone of SanFran:
–This letter and its signatories attempt to circumvent the normal procedures used by USCCB to develop meeting agendas: ““The administrative committee voted overwhelmingly to put this on the agenda for the June meeting,” said the archbishop. “I know Archbishop Gomez is committed to following the procedures as we agreed on them. I think this is totally unacceptable.”
–The number of signatories is about 70 but really is inflated, due to the fact that a number of the signatories are auxiliary bishops of those leading the charge. All 7 of Cupich’s and both of Wilton Gregory’s aux’s signed, and many more were heavily pressured.
–Some bishops signed initially and then retracted their signatures, possibly upon learning the agenda at play. Notable among these is NY’s Cardinal Dolan who asked that his name be struck off the letter.
–Delaying discussion now would mean delaying the very important vote on whether to draft a document on “Eucharistic coherence .” In that case, the doc would also be delayed, and almost certainly fail to come out before 2023–probably later if things go as they usually do. The end result? No letter on Eucharistic Coherence in the leadup to the next elections. Ponder to yourselves who might need reelection & would be campaigning for the Catholic vote in that selfsame window of time …? We’re sure this is utterly coincidental, and also just purchased the Brooklyn Bridge.
–Blocking tactics are a Cupichian specialty. It’s a sort of episcopal politicking that used to be known as “The Roman Hand.” Recall when he did the same thing to prevent the release of the McCarrick report? Highly, highly disappointing, however, to see our own bishop become complicit.
More here: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/cordileone-usccb-agenda-letter-totally
The bishops have no faith. They’ve had 40 years with Biden and other pro abort politicians in office and they’ve done nothing. My parents in the 70’s used to complain about Mario Cuomo and his disgusting excuse for being pro abortion and the bishops said nothing back then either.
They are all discussing it now because Biden is on full display for the whole country to see so they are embarrassed and want to look like they are concerned. Too many are actors or wolves in sheep’s clothing.
You bought the Brooklyn Bridge!?!? But it’s mine! I won it at a diocesan fundraising gala two years ago!
“Hey Alexa, show me a list of bishops who who support the McCarrick Doctrine.”
Me: “Hey Alexa, show me a list of bishops who who support the McCarrick Doctrine.”
Alexa: “All the bishops of the USCCB.”
Me: “Hey Alexa, please provide an example of total frauds.”
Alexa: “See previous reply.”
That’s easy. The bishops don’t care for souls anymore, not even their own. All their actions and inactions point to this reality. They’ve abandoned the graces of their ordination and consecration and now live only for themselves, happily wedded to a diseased culture that’s eating itself. It is beyond belief how any person of faith could willingly prance down the gentle-sloping road to hell, but that’s the key: FAITH. These men clearly have none. So off they go. Don’t follow them.
What is glorious to behold is that it is all being exposed now. Our rotting culture and the proud, demonic influences underpinning it started this war and these forces mean for everyone to choose sides and be counted. They will not tolerate anyone hiding in the shadows anymore and God is clearly permitting a great unmasking before our eyes. Where terrible bishops could once hide their faithlessness in the shadows of a bloated institutional church comfortably living off the patrimonial fumes of previous generations, now they find themselves exposed, running low on cash, and unable to play both sides of the field anymore. The clerical state is increasingly no longer a place where malformed, opportunistic, greedy men can hide anymore. And thank God for it! Is it any wonder that so many faithful priests are persecuted by these monster bishops? A strong, faithful, fearless priest in this age is a walking, talking reminder to these faithless ones of everything they are not; an inspiration to none, someone to be avoided, an anathema.
Prayers for these bishops (including our own)? Absolutely! Satan shouldn’t get one more soul on our watch, for mercy is still available to them while they live and breathe. But if these terrible bishops refuse to cooperate with grace, then get out of their way. They’re going someplace you don’t want to go.
May all the faithful continue to be wise as serpents and simple as doves.
Come, Lord Jesus.
AMEN!
Thank you so much for reminding us of Ambrose, a true Shepherd caring for his flock and courageously performing a spiritual work of mercy….correcting even a king!!
Maybe our own ‘shepherds’ do not correct because they too have blood on their hands. They allow for CCHD and CRS programs to support abortion, birth control and even the LBGTQ agenda. Most of the bishops have been informed of this and yet still collect for them. Why?
Because for a majority of them it’s about MONEY and having powerful connections for more government money. As Jesus says in Mathew 6:24 ” No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” I think we all see what our leaders hold on to…money! They have no problem handing out the pearl of great price to swine which has produced more swine.
I find it amazing they do not feel responsible for the culture we see before our eyes. America has lost it’s Judeo Christian culture and it’s due to the fact bishops stopped standing against evil but instead built bridges to it! Welcome to chaos! Romans chpt 1 tells us all about what happens when one exchanges the truth for a lie.
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
These bishops who signed that document are not being merciful and kind, they are being weak and accommodating those who publicly support abortion. Sin abounds here and it is public sin with these people, not the hidden anguish of some teenager. More and more is being exposed as to the use of live infants, after they have been aborted, for experimentation and for “vaccines.” The bishops who are afraid to speak out against these politicians who allow this are aiding and abetting these evil practices. The Biden administration is accelerating this fetal experimentation. On live babies. Today. Dead tissue is worthless. The babies are alive. Money is paid for those tiny bodies. It’s big business. What does our bishop say about that? Our government is allowing it. Where are the Catholic ethicists and bishops on THIS? Those children need the love and mercy, not these politicians. And MONEY is a big issue.. Could it be that the likes of Tobin and Cupich and the signees know how much money is at stake if they criticize the Biden administration and the government? Maybe they want to jeopardize the handouts? At any rate, our own bishop needs to man up, or, AMBROSE UP!
Question: Should the Catholic Church have standing to weigh in on the abortion issue at all when it steadfastly refuses, despite being ignored by overwhelming majority of Catholics, to condone or promote the one practice that would significantly reduce abortions—contraception?
Absolutely it should. Contraception is part of the problem too. Because it makes people believe that sexuality and children are wildly unconnected things, and this make ppl think that they have a right to unlimited child-free sex, and a right to get rid of whatever children you did not intend to conceive. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434794/ Some statistics suggest it ends up leading to more abortion.
“In Spain, a marked increase in the use of contraception between 1997 and 2007 (30%) was matched by a significant increase in abortion (48%). This represents an increase from 5.5 to 11.5 abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age (Duenãs et al. 2011, 82–87).
Something similar can be seen in England and Wales, in which the use of contraception increased significantly among sexually active unmarried women between 1970 and 1990 from 26 to 97 percent (the use among married woman was already at saturation point), and this paralleled a similar increase in abortion from 8.8 to 19.9 per 1,000 women.1
Then again, in another study—this time in Turkey—we observe yet another pattern (Senlet et al. 2001, 41–52). When abortion and contraception are liberalized, we see a sharp increase in both contraceptive use and abortions. This seems to follow the Spanish and British models. After a time, contraceptive use becomes saturated though not ubiquitous (there will always be men and women in any society who do not use it). Once this level of use is attained, the abortion rate begins to drop, returning to somewhat above its initial pre-liberalization level.2
In these three cases (Spain, UK, and Turkey), we observe a hand-in-hand increase in the use of contraception and the rate of abortion. The most plausible explanation for this is that both phenomena reflect a change in attitude toward sex and babies. Supported by the increased use of contraception, extra-marital sex is becoming more prevalent, and women are orientated more and more to smaller family sizes: there is a more-sex–less-babies attitude developing.3 This in turn is likely to lead to more pregnancies being unwanted and in turn to more abortions.4”
It is contraception culture that spawned abortion, societal acceptance of homosexuality & gender dysphoria, and gender role confusion. Soon contraception culture will go for the brass ring: elimination of the age of consent. The only depravity left after that is the formal legalization of human slavery and I wouldn’t put it past contraception culture to eventually go there too. How could it not?
When the sexual act is intentionally closed to new life, human beings become commodities to be sized-up, bought, sold, and disposed-of in the service of the pleasure of the one doing the sizing-up, buying, selling, and disposing. It is the absolute lowest form of consumerism and American culture is dead-drunk on it right now. Is it any wonder the Pax Americana is ending? The barbarians are already inside the walls. They are us.
Contraception says: “I love you, but not your fertility.”
That is not love. That is lust.
I tell you, when Sister Lucia predicted that the final battle between Christ and Satan would be over marriage and the family, she wasn’t kidding!
When official Church teaching is so strong on the right to life, how can our shepherds condone some of the flock flaunting their support for the killing of babies?