Some Thoughts On The USCCB Meeting In Baltimore

Cardinal Dolan, who can't be all that happy with how things have progressed in Baltimore, has a personal project of returning year round meatless Fridays to American Catholics.  Sigh.

Welcome news from the USCCB meeting in Baltimore.  A pastoral statement on social justice, put together by Detroit's AB Vigneron was denounced by a series of retired bishops led by Houston's AB Fiorenza and defeated in a floor vote, failing to get a two thirds majority necessary for passage--134 yes-84 no with 9 abstentions. AB Fiorenza did not pull many punches in his assessment of the original doctrine.  The following is from Jerry Filteau's report in the National Catholic Reporter:  It was written before the vote and then updated later.

Statement on economy denounced by archbishop fails to pass

Jerry Filteau - National Catholic Reporter - 11/13/2012
Portents of a major social justice conflict among the U.S. bishops rose on the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting Monday when retired Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas, denounced a proposed pastoral statement on workers, poverty and the economy as a betrayal of Catholic social teaching.

If approved in its draft form, the statement would be "lampooned" in the Catholic academic world, he said.
Fiorenza, a former USCCB president, said the proposed statement devotes only one short sentence to the long history of Catholic social teaching on workers' rights to organize in unions, to bargain collectively with their employers and to go on strike if their demands for just wages and working conditions are not met.
He noted that the proposed statement, "The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Economic Times: A pastoral message on work, poverty and the economy," did not have a single reference, even in a footnote, to the bishops' landmark 1986 pastoral letter, "Economic Justice for All," which the bishops developed after years of consultation with economists and other experts. The letter addressed a full range of applications of Catholic social teaching to economic policy and practice in the United States. (I find it quite telling that one of the best statements ever to come from the USCCB was not cited even once.)

"Where's the continuity?" Fiorenza asked.
"I am very disappointed, and I fear that this draft, if not changed in a major way," will harm the U.S. bishops' record on Catholic social teaching, he said.
"The title of this document is about work, and it seems you only gave one sentence to our social teaching ... on the right of workers to unionize," he said.

"One sentence," he added. "It's almost like it was an afterthought. But when you look at the compendium of the social teachings of the church, there are three long paragraphs on the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to strike."
Those kinds of rights are "at the heart of our social teaching" on the rights and dignity of workers, he said.
He added that some conservative Catholic institutions, like the Acton Institute in Michigan, have tried to argue that Pope Leo XIII's landmark 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which spelled out workers' and private property rights and marks the start of modern Catholic social teaching, is a dated document that is "no longer applicable today." (OK it's Acton Institute, but really, to whom is this encyclical no longer applicable? Silicon valley maybe, but not Walmart or our corporations who outsource American jobs.)

"Every pope from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI has insisted upon the right to unionize," he said, but the proposed pastoral statement facing the bishops "gives short shrift" to that teaching.

Fiorenza said the proposed document fails to address adequately several other current issues of poverty and human dignity in U.S. economic policy by not giving adequate treatment to the issue of political prudential judgment as a criterion for church assessments of the morality of political policies or decisions.
 
"Sometimes prudential judgments can be neither prudent nor moral," especially when such judgments attack the poor and the common good, he said. He said he thought Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., head of the bishops' domestic policy committee, and Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, head of international policy for the bishops, "got it right" earlier this year when they publicly opposed Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's budget proposals as not in keeping with Catholic social teaching. (As an aside, it was down right amazing how the two words 'prudential judgment' became the buzz words of the political right as it pertained to their own policies.)

"Why don't we address [in the proposed statement] the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots, beginning with Paul VI in Populorum Progressio [his 1967 encyclical letter, "On the Progress of Peoples"] and John Paul II, Benedict XVI: They speak about the growing gap between the haves and have-nots and the right to a redistribution -- redistribution has become a dirty word, yet the [recent popes] have said that this must take place," he said.

"There's not a word about this" in the proposed new statement on the economy, he said.
"I fear that this will not be an effective instrument" for the bishops to address the current woes in the U.S. economy or the people suffering from those problems, Fiorenza said.

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This original letter was probably written with input from Action Institute, given how it reads, and given where Acton Institute is in relationship to AB Vigneron's Archdiocesan See of Detroit. It's really nice to see that not all of our bishops are ready and willing to sell out Church teaching to the 'prudential judgments' of the Republican think tank world. At least yet anyway.

Cardinal Dolan gave the opening address and spent considerable time waxing eloquently about the sacrament of penance and how efficacious it would be for the bishops themselves.  Not a bad idea if the penance consists of more than 'three hail Marys and three Our Fathers'. It would be a good idea if the penances given were about restitution for failures.  We might then see Bishop Finn take a permanent vacation, but I doubt Cardinal Dolan had those kinds of penances in mind.  I guess I found it interesting that Dolan would lecture about confession and then get have one of his predecessors publicly confess his reservations about a document which truly would have been lampooned in the academic world and underscored the USCCB's hard swing to the right.  I really would have loved to have been able to see the look on Dolan's face as Fiorenza voiced his observations.  I don't know that any sitting USCCB President has ever had a letter of this importance shot down from the floor.

I have no doubt it was retired bishops that voiced their opposition because this was the strategy the opposition chose to use.  It allowed retired bishops with nothing to lose to voice the concerns of those that had way more to lose.  I'm sure there were conference calls and emails and such moving amongst the bishops before this conference.  Probably quite a few after the disaster of a showing Catholic bishops received on November 6th.  While I have no doubt bishops know how to read polls, the kinds of polls that say American Catholics show most unity over social justice issues, I also like to think that many of them voted against this statement for spiritual reasons.  After all Jesus didn't become man to save the wealth of the wealthy from redistribution, but to bring good news to the poor and the marginalized.

I also couldn't help but hear that AB Cordileone wants to double down on his anti gay marriage failure.  As Jim McCrea noted, nothing like continuing to dig a bigger hole for yourself with a double sized shovel.  I'd like to hope that we have bishops in the USCCB who are also rethinking this strategy.  There are numerous polls out there that indicate Catholics who get the difference between civil and sacramental marriage are now in the majority and that percentage is rising.

No matter what else comes out of this conference, I really took a big dose of hope from the fact that finally the rightwing of the USCCB was essentially slowed down and told their 'prudential judgment' was not very prudential.  

A Call For Cardinal Pell To Man Up About Catholic Clergy Abuse

Cardinal Pell isn't the only Catholic bishop that needs to progress beyond the 4th grade excuses when it comes to clerical sexual abuse.

I kind of doubt Cardinal Pell is going to 'man up' anymore than Boston's Cardinal Law.  Red beanie nation doesn't answer to 'media out to get them'.  This is a great article anyway.

Archbishop George Pell needs to man up and deal with festering sickness in Catholic church

Tory Shepherd - Herald Sun - Melbourne -11/12/2012

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard announced last night a royal commission would aim to expunge the "vile and evil thing" that is child sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney and the country's most powerful Catholic, is acting like a child just when he most needs to man up.

In the face of the latest horrific allegations of systemic child abuse and cover-ups in the Catholic Church he has cried, by turns, "It wasn't me", and "They did it, too". (Uhm, yes these do seem to be play ground excuses.)

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, a senior investigative cop, has revealed new depths in the scandal that has haunted the church for decades.

"The church covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the church," he said. (For some reason alerting the perpetrators the police were on to them always bugged me more than any other cover up strategy. This was closely followed by destroying evidence and transferring offenders.)

Meanwhile, the Victorian inquiry keeps uncovering new and more graphic details of abuse. But Cardinal Pell is holding his hands up and deflecting.

It wasn't him, he said in the Sunday Telegraph. "It is ludicrous to suggest I was involved in some cover-up in the Hunter region.
"I am not bishop of the area and have only visited there a few times.
"I have never approached any politician or police official to speak of problems there, much less have I intervened to thwart justice." (This is the same cardinal who financially bailed out the Brothers of St John of God and then claimed he had no jurisdiction even though he leads the Primatial See of Australia and could have revoked their privileges in his Archdiocese. He may not be the bishop in the Hunter region, but he is that bishops ecclesiastical superior.)

They did it, too, he said in a sermon: "We have to answer up for what we've done but any suggestion that we are the only culprit or only community producing culprits is entirely misleading."
In both cases he's fighting straw men. People just want him to take responsibility for his institution. No one is saying he was involved in the Hunter cover-up, nor are they saying the Catholic Church is the only place where child abuse is happening.

What the evidence has shown is that there is a sickness festering in the Catholic Church, a sickness that has destroyed the lives of children and their families, and that the culture in the church has protected the diseased at the expense of the victims. (As that same culture has in so many other countries.)\
 
It is hard for the Australian public to hear the tale of a white-knuckled boy screaming in agony as he is raped, trying to focus on a St Christopher cross to take his mind off his pain, then to hear Cardinal Pell say: "It is hard to name any other Australian organisation that has done more to produce a safe environment for young people." (No other Australian organization has this many abuse claims lodged against it, and at this point, no other organization has been proven to have protected rings of pedophiles.)

It's clear the culture of the Catholic Church is threaded with evil. That doesn't mean everyone within it is evil. But it means anyone in a position of power has a responsibility to actively tear out that thread.

Stories keep emerging of priests moved from parish to parish. The abuse does not stop at diocesan borders, or state borders, or even country borders. A federal royal commission is the only way to untangle this mess, to work out why it has happened and to stop it happening again. (As Ireland found out, it doesn't happen at the behest of the Vatican from whom Pell takes his marching orders.)

Where did it go wrong? Is it the insularity, the very cloistered nature of the church where men are in charge of their own little fiefdoms? (Yes)

Does the church's history of protecting its own make it a haven and a magnet for the depraved, who can act without fear of retribution? (Yes)

What role does enforced celibacy play? (Less than misogyny and homophobia and the theological notions of ontological superiority which appeal to narcissists.

And this: What sort of person does not welcome a process that could find out the answers, to fix forever what is so terribly broken, to start the healing process? (One who doesn't want Catholics to know these answers and choose to stop providing them with a meal ticket.)

They're easy to spot. They're the ones, in the face of a royal commission, who are saying "It wasn't me", or "They did it, too".

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So far Cardinal Pell has been acting very much like the boy in fifth grade who got caught protecting his fellow altar boys while they engaged in drinking altar wine.  Except of course, this is not about a prepubscent prank of naughty ten year olds trying out an adult behavior.  This is way beyond that, but it seems to me Cardinal Pell can't see it as much different, certainly not for the real time disaster this is for the Australian Church.

I don't know that too many of our hierarchy understand what the term 'man up' actually means, because most of them haven't really been expected to 'man up' about much of anything.  That's not how the clerical culture operates.  It operates on enforced infantilization which can be most clearly seen in the infatuation of upper Roman clergy with clerical bling, political grandstanding, use of ostracizing, plain old juvenile back stabbing, and a universal desire to cover up and lie about embarrassing events.  And then they wonder why they have no credibility.  Sigh.

 

Out On The Cutting Edge Of Neuro Science, It's All About Compassion

Two spiritual warriors whose weapon is compassion recognize one another, the Dalai Lama and Brother David Steindl-Rast

After catching up on some reading and giving things some thought, there are two more stories in the Catholic world which seem to be gathering momentum and may burst with the same explosive force as the Australian abuse scandal.  The first is Vati Leaks, and the second is the status of women in the Church.  I will get to these two topics in later posts, but for now, there is this article on the new science of contemplation and it's intriguing findings about humanity's innate capacity for compassion.  This is a critical new field of scientific study because it holds within it's framework the synthesis of religious/spiritual contemplation and neuroscience.  It also holds out hope for finally getting past our religious barricades, as mindfullness techniques are part and parcel of amost all religious contemplative traditions.  

I've written this before, and I'm sure I will write it again--The future belongs to comtemplatives and mystics.  The good news is that deep down inside it is innate to our biological brains.  It is exactly what Jesus taught.

When Mindfulness Meets Compassion: Close Encounters in Contemplative Science

Joe Loizzo, MD;Phd - Huffington Post - 11/9/2012

At the world's first International Symposia on Contemplative Studies held this April in Denver, it seemed as if the emerging field of meditation research had finally come of age. The gathering brought together research pioneers Jon Kabat-Zinn, Richie Davidson, John Teasdale and Marsha Linehan with groundbreaking contemplative teachers Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan Halifax, Matthieu Ricard and Brother David Stendl-Rast. In fact, as the nearly 750 participants convened for what could have been just one more hi-tech conference, the event felt not just historic but oddly unearthly, like a real-world version of Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

A philosopher of science might explain that remarkable feel in light of the history behind the meeting. An unlikely array of individuals and teams -- exploring dozens of converging paths around the nation and world, after decades of patient progress -- suddenly find themselves assembled as one global community embodying a breakthrough field. A science journalist might explain the event's uncanny feel by the fact that a once-obscure Buddhist contemplative practice called mindfulness, introduced in the late 1970s into pain management by Kabat-Zinn, has defied all the skeptics and all the odds by becoming one of the hottest topics in mainstream clinical research today.

But as a contemplative psychiatrist, I found the conference remarkable because what brought its participants together was less the cutting-edge science being discussed there than something far less tangible. Kabat-Zinn announced as much in his keynote address by confessing that what he really meant when he chose the word "mindfulness" for his popular stress-reduction program was "dharma," the ancient Sanskrit term for spiritual teachings and contemplative experiences like Shakyamuni Buddha's. Richie Davidson echoed this sentiment by sharing that his groundbreaking research was inspired not just by a lifelong interest in meditation but by a spiritual challenge from a renowned Buddhist leader. "What the world needs most in our global age," the Dalai Lama told him, "is new brain science that clarifies the causal basis and beneficial effects of compassion." (The Vatican's evangelization efforts would go much better if this melding of science and compassion were being taken as seriously by the Vatican as it is by the Dalai Lama.  Instead Catholics get a new Pontifical academy for the study of Latin.  I kid you not.)

As an exploding body of clinical research confirms that mindfulness helps reduce stress and promote healing, learning and neuroplasticity, a parallel line of study on the related practice of loving-kindness has begun to converge with exciting new research on positive emotions and the brain.

As the conference unfolded, the shape of that convergence came clear. The new contemplative science is not just consolidating its broad foundation in mindfulness, but is also opening an emergent frontier of basic research and application: the deep, healing and transforming power of compassion.(Or to put this differently, a state of compassion helps return a biological/emotional system to it's innate wholeness.)

What I found most surprising about the new compassion research is that for most of human history, this cutting-edge scientific frontier has been the province of religious professionals and lifelong contemplatives.

In panel after panel, researchers from a handful of labs around the world shared recent work involving cognitive-behavioral compassion training based on the Tibetan Buddhist practice called mind-training. The gist of the four studies I heard about is that such training enhances novices' natural capacity to experience and respond to human suffering with proactive compassion, rather than with the sympathetic distress some call empathy, and others, emotional contagion. The studies not only show a significant change in subjects' reported experience but also show measurable changes in brain processing, suggesting a shift from simple mirroring of distress to deeper, positive emotional engagement and prosocial responsiveness.

These and other studies in the new frontier were the exclusive focus of another historic conference, The Science of Compassion: Origins, Measures and Interventions, which took place in Telluride in July, featuring the renowned Tibetan scholar Thupten Jinpa.

In the last few months, some exciting new studies in this new breed of contemplative science have been published, introducing the budding field to the larger public for the first time.
What does this new frontier mean for our everyday lives? My strongest close encounter moment at the Denver conference came in a panel that brought together neuroscientist Tania Singer with lifelong advocates of compassion Sharon Salzberg and Brother David. Although the two contemplatives used contrasting language from the Buddhist and Christian traditions, they were both able to explain in human terms the shift Singer and her team found on fMRI scans of subjects' brains.

 Brother David used the metaphor of Michelangelo's statue of David, who stands firmly on one leg and "plays" with the other. Our normal, stressful life in the world, he said, reflects a stance where we rely mainly on our disconnected identity and social role, and only play with fleeting glimpses of deeper attunement and connection to others. Instead, a proactive life of social engagement involves a stance where we rely mainly on a deep sense of caring interconnection, and flexibly play with the identities and social roles that seem to separate us from others. (This means a heavier reliance on the intuitive right brain while simultaneously disempowering the social indenties developed by the self aware ego to maintain it's ascendancy.)

What made this moment so profound for me had less to do with an otherworldly encounter than with an unexpected homecoming. As a science-minded teen in a progressive Catholic school, I recall asking my philosophy teacher why the infinite connectedness of people and things should be conceived as a personal God? At the time, I was bemused by the only answer he gave me: his caring smile. Thanks to meeting Robert Thurman and eventually the Dalai Lama at Amherst College, by the time I got to med school I'd learned enough to know my professors were dead wrong to warn compassion would cloud my objectivity and cause burnout. Yet after 30 years integrating contemplative psychiatry with Tibetan mind-training, it was listening to Tania and Brother David that the right and left sides of my brain clicked together, bringing me back to the visual koan of Father Eichner's smile.(Seriously, sometimes the only answer to an astute question is to smile--with compassion.)

In mulling over what makes these new developments so historic, I kept recalling the words of T.S. Eliot: "We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."(Nor shall we stop evolving as a self aware sentient consciousness, whether our religious authorities want to admit that or not.)

The rest of this article can be read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-loizzo/mindfulness-research_b_2092829.html?utm_hp_ref=religion&ir=Religion

I'm Not Iventifacting. The Clerical Abuse Crisis Is Exploding in Australia

Australia's PM Julia Gillard has a real problem to deal with:  the exploding clerical abuse crisis and whether the national government should get involved.  It should.

I have to think that some people may think Jerry Slevin is crazy with his posts about clerical sexual abuse and a national response to the lies of our bishops.  He is not crazy.  It's happening in Australia as I posted right before this post.  The pressure is mounting amongst Australian Catholic politicians, and it will mount here in the US.  As long as Bishop Finn stays in his position the pressure will mount. Do you get this USCCB?

Pressure mounts for Royal Commission into sex abuse within the Catholic Church

PRESSURE is mounting on Julia Gillard to launch a Royal Commission into child sex abuse within the Catholic Church following public demands from key independents, and the Greens.
The calls, from Greens leader Christine Milne, Independents Tony Windsor, Nick Xenophon and Craig Thompson, come amid calls from the Prime Minister's own backbench to support a Royal Commission.
There are already state based commissions into sex abuse within the clergy currently underway in New South Wales and Victoria.
A Royal Commission would give investigators national and expansive powers to expose any alleged cover ups.

A victims group will today present to the Victorian government inquiry a list of 18 convicted pedophile priests who were moved from parish to parish or further away, where they continued offending.
The 18 include some of the most notorious pedophiles, such as Gerald Ridsdale, Edward Dowlan, Michael Glennon and the socialite priest Vincent Kiss, as well as many who barely caught public attention.
Mr Windsor said he would write to the prime minister, expressing his concerns about the "enormous number" of people affected by the allegations of abuse. (None of these men include the St John of God's Brothers mentioned in the previous post.)

"They feel as though the system is letting them down," he told ABC radio.
"My advice to the prime minister and others ... is it is probably better to deal with this sooner rather than later."
Mr Windsor said the allegations had created an odour over the Catholic Church.
The odour is the truth.  The Catholic Church surely does have an odor from the priestly caste.) 

He is concerned about recent allegations, especially from a senior NSW police detective, about a cover-up inside the church.
The MP dismissed as "pathetic'' a decision by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to limit a special commission of inquiry to examine the police investigations of paedophile priests in the Hunter Valley.
"It almost makes a mockery of the people who have suffered," he said.

Any inquiry into the allegations needed to be national, Mr Windsor said.
"Blind Freddy can see that."
Federal cabinet minister Craig Emerson said Ms Gillard had yet to discuss the issue with her colleagues.
"She wants to review the work that is going on already and also review the evidence and the issue more generally," Dr Emerson told ABC radio.

Opposition frontbencher David Johnston said the revelations of child abuse were damaging the reputation of the Catholic Church.
"This has been an absolute blot on the landscape in terms of people's faith and trust in the church," Senator Johnston said.
But he was circumspect about the merits of a national royal commission.
"Remember, royal commissions are very expensive and people have to be cross-examined in giving their evidence," he said.
"The victims are often the last consideration in this, and I am concerned we put them through a court process that aggravates the situation."(Let's be honest, the Church is the first consideration in this because there are victims ready to testify.)

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said the coercive powers of a royal commission would look at the systemic failure of the church.
"And that is what people want," she told ABC radio.
"There is no doubt that cover-up occurred and the key thing was to protect the church at all costs rather than have the embarrassment and the humiliation of this coming out." (Absolutely true, which by actual behavior makes the Church more important than the teachings of Jesus.  Gosh, I wish some fundamentalist could point out in the Gospels where Jesus said the Church was more important than His followers.)

Senator Milne said she would discuss the matter with Ms Gillard when parliament resumes later in November.
Ms Gillard is expected to comment on the possibility of a Royal Commission later today.


Update:  Prime Minister Julia Gillard has indeed announced a national royal commission into child sex abuse which will cover religious institutions, state institutions and NGO's serving Australia's children.  Cardinal Pell welcomed the announcement:   
"Public opinion remains unconvinced that the Catholic Church has dealt adequately with sexual abuse," he said in a statement.
"Ongoing and at times one-sided media coverage has deepened this uncertainty.
"This is one of the reasons for my support for this royal commission.
"I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement. I believe the air should be cleared and the truth uncovered."


Here's a link to the story with video: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-12/gillard-launches-royal-commission-into-child-abuse/4367364

Here's a link to Catholica Australia which has mover coverage and comments:http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?mode=thread&id=116932#p116932

Cardinal Pell Has A Memory Issue. The St John of God Order Has A Major Pedophile Problem

"Seriously, it was just an itty bitty multi million dollar loan.  I didn't bother to ask why there were so many victims of so few Brothers requiring so many pay outs."

There's a major Catholic abuse story unfolding Down Under that has now precipitated government inquiries at the state level.  National legislators are also demanding a national inquiry into sexual abuse in all churches.  The details of this particular abuse are truly horrific, as is the extent of and lengths to which Church authorities tried to evade and cover up. The following unedited story from the Sydney Morning Herald deals with an order of brothers, St John of God,  whose mission was to serve orphaned children and those with special needs.  In other words they were to serve the very least of the least.  Instead they became what I can only describe as a demonic cult of predatory sexual and physical abuse.  They were eventually bailed out of financial distress due to victim payouts, by the orders of Cardinal Pell.  It beggars the imagination that Pell didn't shut the order down, rather than bail it out.

Pell urged to close order over abuses

Rory Callinen/Josephine Tovey - Sydney Morning Herald - 11/12/2012
MORE than 70 per cent of the Brothers from the St John of God order are suspected child abusers and the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney should immediately shut it down, says a psychologist who was employed by the order to meet scores of victims.

Michelle Mulvihill, who dealt with more than 120 of the order's child abuse victims during compensation negotiations, claims Cardinal George Pell was aware of a loan by the Catholic Church to the order, which was later used by the order to pay victims of abuse.

She also alleges the order has never properly supervised suspected paedophile Brothers and has hid documents relating to the abuse in places where police ''would never find them''.
Dr Mulvihill's revelation came as the former prime minister Malcolm Fraser joined the independent MP Tony Windsor and the senator Nick Xenophon in calling for a national royal commission into sexual abuse by religious groups and other institutions, after claims by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox last week that the church was still covering up the crime.

The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, has announced a special commission of inquiry to examine the police investigations of paedophile priests in the Hunter but resisted the call for a royal commission, as have federal MPs from the main parties.
Mr Fraser said the church should have nothing to fear from a royal commission if it had nothing to hide. ''Isn't it time we laid the issue at rest and made sure that all the institutions in Australia have procedures in place that will protect children?'' he said.

A spokesman for Cardinal Pell last night confirmed he had supported the payment of a loan to the order because the order had a liquidity problem. ''It is not possible to confirm the details today,'' the spokesman said. (How utterly convenient for Cardinal Pell.)

The spokesman denied the cardinal was involved in any investigation of any abuse within the order. He said the cardinal was not briefed on any outcomes. (And yet he was briefed sufficiently to authorize a loan to bail out the order. I wish I had a loan source who didn't ask any questions and just gave me the $$)

Up to 200 victims have sought compensation from the St John of God order after alleging they had been abused in special schools and homes run by the brothers in NSW, Victoria and New Zealand.
Last week a Melbourne inquiry into child abuse heard allegations that Brothers had drugged and pack-raped boys at their operations in Victoria.

Claims were also made that two boys had allegedly been beaten so badly they were thought to have died but their deaths had not been reported to authorities.
And Fairfax Media has obtained documents revealing that in the 1960s and 1970s dozens of boys were brutally assaulted at Kendall Grange, the order's school for mentally and physically impaired boys at Morisset on the NSW central coast.

Dr Mulvihill, who is based in Sydney, worked with the order for nine years from 1998, sitting in on meetings involving negotiators from the order and 150 victims in NSW, Victoria and New Zealand.
But she says she quit the job in 2007, fearing that suspected paedophile Brothers still wielded too
much power in the order and were interfering with victims' compensation and treatment.

On Sunday she described the order as hosting Brothers who were responsible for "the worst examples of child abuse I have ever heard of" and said of the 40 to 50 Brothers who had been in the order around the time she was involved, about 75 per cent had been the subject of allegations. (That means almost 40 of the 50 had abuse allegations of some sort.)

"There was a small gene pool as to who you could talk to [about the abuse],'' she said.
She also alleged the church and now Cardinal Pell had been well aware of the extraordinary numbers of victims as the order's head, Provincial Peter Burke, had borrowed millions of dollars from the church to pay victims in a deal overseen by Cardinal Pell.

Cardinal Pell's spokesman said the order was not responsible to any Australian bishop. It managed its own affairs and reported to its headquarters in Rome.
''Cardinal Pell was not involved in the investigation of any abuse within the order. He was not briefed on any outcomes. He was not involved in the payment of any 'hush money' …

''Cardinal Pell's recollection is that the order had a liquidity problem in meeting its obligations to victims, that a loan was made by the Sydney Development Fund and repaid.'' Cardinal Pell supported this.

Dr Mulvihill said that last year she had given a statement to NSW Police investigating the order's operations at Kendall Grange.
She said she believed documents had been placed in special hiding places where the police would never have found them - locations known only to a few people. ''They are in spaces on Brothers' premises that are extremely hard to find. There's only a couple of people who know where they are.''
The order would not comment.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/pell-urged-to-close-order-over-abuses-20121111-296h2.html#ixzz2Bw660zrT

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This article describes a Cardinal Pell that doesn't seem to understand what his roll a pastoral shepherd entails.  The Brothers of St John of God might have their own leadership in Rome, but it is incomprehensible to me that Cardinal Pell couldn't have picked up a phone, or dropped in on it's leadership on one of the many times he was in Rome, and asked what the hell was going on in the order in Australia?  Or for that matter, once he had fixed their 'liquidation' problem, why he just didn't  liquidate the Order's privileges to operate in Australia/New Zealand.  He most certainly would not have been the first Archbishop to forbid an order from operating in his domain.  His excuses are just that, lousy excuses.

 

This is just one egregious sexual abuse problem of many that have come to light in Australia in the last few months.  Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox has been instrumental in getting officials to move on the pedophile rings in the Church in New South Wales.  As is usual with outspoken committed people, he has been taken off the case for reasons of 'jurisdiction'.  As these stories unfold, it is a given we will see that police and prosecutors enabled the Church with it's policies of protecting pedophiles while ignoring victims. This is one reason people are demanding State and Federal officials open up their inquiries.

Some press coverage indicates that officials have pretty hard evidence that an Archbishop, bishop, and priest were all actively involved in the coverup of at least one predator in New South Wales.  It may come to pass that Bishop Finn will no longer be the only bishop convicted of crimes in covering up pedophile behavior amongst clergy.  If Pell's behavior is any indication, it is going to take the State to provide justice, because the red and purple beanie crowd have closed ranks to protect their own.  Funny how they have the power to  do that, but not the power to demand accountability.

What happens in Australia could certainly happen in the United States.  One would hope our bishops might think long and hard about this possibility when they gather in Baltimore.  The kind of publicity Cardinal Pell is now generating is not exactly the kind of publicity Cardinal Dolan ever seeks.  But he may just get it anyway.

Based on GOP campaigning it's not just atheists that come in for the wrath of God. I just don't think the saner heads in the GOP are going to be able to take back their party from the rabid 'Chri$tian$.

The following excerpt is by Anthea Butler over on Religion Dispatches.  I love Anthea's writing because she doesn't pull any punches, isn't afraid to point out the emperor has no clothes, and she has a preferential option for taking on all hypocrites of any persuasion. The following starts about half way through her essay on Tuesday's take down of the Republican Party.


Election Takeaway: Fake God Talk Doesn’t Cut It with Americans 

Anthea Butler - Religion Dispatches - 11/7/2012
......From Akin’s “legitimate” rape to Richard Mourdock’s “semi-omnipotent God,” the party looks like a version of Inherit the Wind without the monkeys to provide levity. No matter how much Glenn Beck believed that Romney could win, or Billy Graham’s pretense that he never believed Mormonism was a cult, nothing will take away the demographics that are against the party, or their religious conservatives. To top it off, the Catholic Bishops threw their lot in with this bunch, knowing that much of what they believe is not compatible with Catholic theology. (That is a very telling move on the part of our bishops.)

After four years of hearing the refrain “Let’s take our country back,” it is clear that 2012 is not only, as Sarah Posner writes, a religious realignment, but also a moral realignment.

Fake God talk doesn’t cut it with Americans. Everyone sees through it. For Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and a host of others, the last four years have been a confidence game, a careful calculation that if they could just promote themselves, their god, their America, and Obama as a socialist just enough, the tide would turn their way and the money would flow. It didn’t. Many Americans want gay people to have the right to marry, recognize that rape is rape, and view women’s reproductive rights as important. (The one thing the millennials- a demographic the GOP lost big time- are not looking for is more fake God talk. This generation has a well tuned hypocrisy meter. PO and the Dems better pay attention to this as well.)

Americans are tired of racist remarks and the denigration of the office of the President of the United States simply because an African American with a dual heritage and a white mother cracked and decoded the American dream.

While President Obama won decisively, he also must be held to account. Reelection does not mean that the president cannot be judged. The drone war, the continued level of poverty (especially in the African American community), and the injustices of Guantanamo Bay are just a few of the issues we citizens need to hold the president accountable for. Having a black president doesn’t mean that everything is wonderful.  (No one is entitled to a free pass on accountability just because of their skin color. A lesson for all, not just for 'angry white males'.)

In the end, Mitt Romney was the right candidate for the Republicans. His good looks, his CEO cred, and his ability to lie at the slightest turn were tailor-made for what the Republican party and its religious operatives have become: a bunch of capitalistic prosperity grifters who have turned their backs on the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Gospel of Ayn Rand. Even his running mate, Catholic Paul Ryan, was eager to grift by proposing an untenable budget. Rather than “do unto others,” they raised millions to disenfranchise, to sow hatred, and to bask in a smug cocoon of self-reliance while Americans suffered foreclosures, job losses, and anguish. Now, they have lost.

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At this point I have no hope that the GOP will seriously reevaluate it's positions on much of anything. There is way too much money and energy invested to allow for much of a change of direction.  At best we will see a change of emphasis, a kind of reshuffling of the deck.  The one thing they will not be able to fix easily is the utter lack of trust in anything they say, which will be the lasting legacy of the GOP primaries and Romney's run for the presidency.  The hidden agendas which called for this lack of transparency may no longer be hidden, but like in Roman Catholicism, the use of secrecy and half truths will continue unabated.  They will continue unabated because the reliance on this strategy is founded in a need to not see any real importance for speaking the truth.  Instead it's founded in a belief that lies serve their truth. It's amorality masking as morality. 

The USCCB has the same problem.  For them the pressing issue is not 're evangelizing' lost Catholics, it's restoring the lost trust in their own offices. But again, the momentum is such that I don't think we are going to see any such acknowledgement coming out of Baltimore.  I believe we will see the beginning of a concerted campaign to deny this issue tomorrow when Bishops Sartain, Paprocki, and Blair meet with LCWR leadership. It's hard for me to imagine that three bishops who were overly involved in GOP politics are going to admit problems to the leadership group whose Nuns on the Bus campaign was far more effective than all the USCCB politicking combined.  That fact too, is a matter of who is trusted.  I expect the bishops will once again attempt to use authority to overcome mistrust.  Big mistake.  More Fake God Talk.

Obama Gets 4 More Years, Bishops Need To Rethink Their Politics

Let's hope the next four garner some cross aisle cooperation, which may be easier now that certain Tea Party candidates will be home rethinking their ideas about rape, and one congressman may re evaluate his attachment to Ayn Rand.  As for Mitt, well he's not exactly going to have to get in a soup line.

As for these guys, they may just have to caucus on how to deal with the IRS.  Bummer.

Reforming Authority In The Church Also Means Reconstituting The unHoly See

Cardinal Pacelli signing the Reichsconcordat with Nazi Germany in 1933. Pacelli was Secretary of State of the Holy See at the time.  Later as Pope he got to deal with consequences of his own diplomacy.  So did the People of God.

The following seven areas of reform deal with authority in the Church.  It is taken from the blog site churchauthority.org  There is a link on their Home page in which folks can add their names to a substantial list of others who agree with these areas of reform.  The Home page also lists 27 theologians from multiple countries as academic sponsors.  Readers will recognize quite a few of the names. Here are the reforms, but as far as I am concerned, they over look one of the real problems for why the Vatican refuses to reform.  The Pope is also the absolute ruler of the Holy See.



A principal source of present-day stagnation lies in misunderstanding and abuse affecting the exercise of authority in our Church. Specifically, the following issues require urgent redress:


The role of the papacy needs to be clearly re-defined in line with Christ's intentions. As supreme pastor, unifier and prime witness to faith, the pope contributes substantially to the health of the universal church. However, his authority may never obscure, diminish or suppress the authentic authority directly given by Christ to all members of the people of God. (Unfortunately the Pope is also the head of a sovereign state, the Holy See, an that entity has zero justification in the Gospels, but wreaks havoc on the spiritual health of the Church. It's aims are too often in conflict with the Gospel and the above paragraph completely ignores this part of the Pope's authority.)

Bishops are vicars of Christ, not vicars of the pope. They carry immediate responsibility for people in their dioceses, and joint responsibility, with other bishops and the pope, for the world-wide community of faith. (Way too many bishops are just mouth pieces for the Pope, much less vicars of Christ and sadly, whole national conferences allow themselves to be bullied and silenced by the Vatican curia.)

The central synod of bishops should assume a more decisive role in planning and guiding the maintenance and growth of faith within our complex world. To execute its task, the synod of bishops needs to be given appropriate structures. (Without structures which insure consistent application of any such power sharing, this will never happen. There are too many forces whose operations need the current structure completely centralized in Rome.)

The Second Vatican Council prescribed collegiality and co-responsibility on all levels. This has not been realised. Priestly senates and pastoral councils, as envisaged by the Council, should involve the faithful more directly in decision making concerning the formulation of doctrine, the running of the pastoral ministry and evangelization in secular society. (The Holy See is an absolute monarchy.  There is a reason Vatican II's call for power sharing and collegiality stalled before it got off the ground. It would be real nice though if this reform were at least implemented on a parish/diocesan level.)

The abuse of choosing for leadership offices in the church only candidates of a particular mindset, should be eradicated. Instead, new norms should be laid down and supervised to ensure that elections to such offices are conducted in a fair, transparent and, to the extent possible, democratic fashion.
(This would be a great start if this one ever got off the ground.  Too bad the current Cardinals are almost all products of the very mindset which should be eradicated.)

The Roman curia requires a more radical reform, in line with the instructions and vision of Vatican II. The curia should be retained for its useful administrative and executive roles.
The curia will never be reformed as long as the Holy See exists as a sovereign state. The diplomatic corps has way too much power and it's way too influenced by the very wealthy.)

The congregation for the doctrine of the faith should be assisted by international commissions of experts who have been independently chosen for their professional competence.(That would be nice, but I can't see this happening either.  The CDF was an effective tool under JPII/Ratzinger for silencing bishops and theologians expressing social justice concerns in Latin America and elsewhere--like Seattle, Wa.


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Until the Holy See ceases to exist as it's currently configured, which is basically a rogue state at the beck and call of the Pope,  I have zero hope for reform in Roman Catholicism.  Politics drives policy.  All one need do is study the career of Pius XII as Secretary of State.  He negotiated concordats with Hitler and Mussolini,  an essential validation for the political governments of these fascist dictators whose combined forces then almost destroyed Catholic Europe.  I actually think it was cosmic justice that as Pope Pius XII, Pacelli truly saw the fruits of his diplomatic labors. But in any event, his story perfectly demonstrates the rogue nature of the Holy See.  It wasn't the armies of the Vatican City States that won World War II, but those secular democracies that so threatened the Vatican's concept of it's divine right to rule in the world of men. 

I would add an 8th reform plank:  abolish the Holy See and with it the Vatican Bank.  Then we might have a chance at some real reform.  No other major religious body has this kind of governmental setup in which it's both a secular global player and a religious player.  This hybrid set up has not served the People of God well at all, and it was proscribed by Jesus himself.  It's time to end the Constantinian Church of Empire, and the first step is to end the pretensions and political machinations of the Holy See.

Jimmy Savile is congratulated on his Papal Knighthood by Pope John Paul II

Last night I was catching up on the ACP website (Ireland's Association of Catholic Priests) linked to this sidebar and found a number of worthwhile articles--I shall post one of them later today, and then this morning I awoke to this editorial analysis in the Irish Independent. As in Austria, the Irish association is either being collectively ignored, individuals threatened, or careers stopped in their tracks.  The Vatican decided somewhere along the line, they will not allow a priest/sacramental shortage to leverage them into moving on clerical reform.  I don't find that surprising since they didn't let a global sexual abuse crisis motivate them to reform.

Bishops give priests' plea for renewal kiss of death

Editorial Analysis by Colum Kenny - Irish Independent - 11/4/2012
THE Irish Bishops Conference has refused to meet the Association of Catholic Priests. The hierarchy will not dignify them with a high-level meeting.

'Cardinal snubs plea by liberal priests for meeting,' shouted one headline. But the Association of Catholic Priests is no fringe group of lax priests. It represents more than 1,000 members. The laity may be surprised to learn that there are still that many priests in Ireland.

The behaviour of the Irish hierarchy since Vatican II has driven committed priests and nuns out of office. And it has driven many other Catholics to despair. Its recent censoring of outspoken priests to placate the Vatican now means that even a priest as mainstream as Fr Brian D'Arcy has to submit his newspaper columns for approval in advance of publication.
Last week, D'Arcy appeared on a special documentary made by BBC Northern Ireland about his life and thoughts. He asked, "How can I stay in a Church which I've served for 50 years and which now doesn't trust me to speak my mind about religion?".

Parishes are merging as the number of priests decline. Last week, Ballina was shocked by the sudden death of local priest and theologian Muredach Tuffy, aged 39. (This link will take you to an article on the life and death of Muredach Tuffy, now listed as an official suicide.)

Fr Tony Flannery of the Association of Catholic Priests said last week that, "Our indication is that the church is in very serious difficulty and we believe that it is of crucial importance that all sections of the church in Ireland begin to face this reality and that a dialogue is created among us all."

The failure of church authorities to engage in dialogue and to embark on a radical journey of change led Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini to say in his last interview before he died this year that his Catholic Church is 200 years behind the times. (It's not just that it's teaching authority is 200 years behind the times, it's that the exercise of that authority is fundamentally abusive.)

Pope Benedict and his most loyal hierarchies seem to like it that way. They appear not to worry that the sin of pride may be blinding them to their own faults.
Not content to leave well enough alone, they have been pursuing nuns in the USA, academics in Latin America and priests who write in Ireland. There is no space for serious disagreement or for effective consultation within the church.

The Irish hierarchy, whose handling of child abuse makes the recent BBC's management of the scandal over Jimmy Savile look good, seems to have remained fundamentally unperturbed by every disaster that it has visited on its church. (For those who haven't followed this story Jimmy Savile is a deceased BBC television personality who is now accused of abusing 300 or more children, mostly female. He was given a Papal Knighthood by JPII for his philanthropic activities in 1990.  Like in the Sandusky case, his charitable activities gave him unfettered access to victims.)

Bishops continue to play the kind of hair-splitting, legalistic games that have brought Ireland to its knees both in the civil and religious sphere, as powerful elites guard their rights and privileges. In this instance, the hierarchy is telling the Association of Catholic Priests that any engagement with it "would best take place at local level".

In theory, this may seem reasonable. In practice, it is the kiss of death for what priests wish to achieve in terms of renewal and change in their church. It is a policy of divide and conquer, of letting the water run into sand. It has as much chance of ultimately changing power structures within the church as have public consultations of changing the way that Irish politicians make decisions.

It is not surprising that the Irish hierarchy cannot share power with priests, never mind nuns or the laity. It has been supine in its acceptance of Vatican authority as Rome edges ever further away from the spirit of Vatican II. (That's not just true for Ireland, it's true for all Anglo hierarchies.)

In her new book on how the second Vatican Council's teachings on collegiality were sidetracked or ignored, Ireland's former president Mary McAleese writes that, "A quiescent episcopacy failed to carry forward the conciliar agenda on Episcopal collegiality with any enthusiasm."
Mary McAleese's new book, Quo Vadis, is a good gift for anyone who cares about the future of Christianity in Europe. It is balanced and fair, its title being the Latin translation of an urgent question that Jesus once asked Peter: "Where are you going?"

McAleese, now studying in Rome for a doctorate in church law, identifies ways in which both critics and defenders of the current status quo within the Catholic Church may yet find common ground in Christ. That is, of course, if they actually want to share power in a way that is appropriate to democratic societies rather than to the Roman Empire.

The Catholic Church in Ireland is increasingly absent for lay people, its presence in their communities withering and its evident priorities irrelevant. The continuing exercise of absolute power with the church is not inspiring, especially when many Irish people currently feel oppressed by circumstances.

In his final interview, Cardinal Martini, who himself once might have been Pope, said: "I advise the Pope and the bishops to look for 12 people outside the lines for administrative posts -- people who are close to the poorest and who are surrounded by young people and are trying out new things. We need that comparison with people who are on fire so that the spirit can spread everywhere."

But the present Pope and many of his most obedient bishops seem to have closed the door. Allying themselves with some of the most reactionary political and social elements, they rebuff nuns and priests who have devoted their lives to their church -- and offer the Irish people a stone when what is needed is bread.

Professor Colum Kenny teaches a course in Belief and Communication at DCU

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Mr Kenny's piece could be written just as truthfully about the Church in the Europe, Latin America, and the entire Anglo world.  Since 2011 the Vatican and our hierarchy have been on something of a Crusade against theologians, outspoken clergy, progressive politicians, and of course, the LCWR.  The stated purpose for this is to 'protect authentic teaching' from secular inroads.  I think the real reason has nothing to do with protecting teaching and tradition, and everything to do with protecting absolute authority.  Liturgy, moral theology, and Catholic identity are just fog used to confuse and distract.  The real issue is protecting clerical authority and the Vatican's position in geo politics and the financial world.  In the meantime the Vatican gets more and more secretive and abusive, as can be seen in the multitude of theological and episcopal take downs, while it continues to ask us to believe it is becoming more transparent and less abusive.  This works for certain segments of the Catholic population, the indifferent conservative and the reactionary true believers.  It doesn't work so well for anybody else.

One would think the last thing one's religion should engender in them is embarrassment, and yet this bizarre crusade of the last couple of years is truly embarrassing.  I don't see where any of these disciplinary events have much to do with the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.  They are all centered in teachings of the historical Church and especially specific popes.  While Pope Benedict has written some truly profound thoughts that challenge Catholics to think deeply about some issues, his curia has seemingly gone rogue, allowing sycophantic but the well connected to the wealthy--insiders like Law, Burke, Pell, and Levada--to wreak havoc in the Church of the Anglo world, while other well connected sycophants in Latin America do likewise. I truly believe  Maciel was allowed to function as long as he was,  not because JPII didn't know all about him, but because Maciel had seriously wealthy folks behind him.  Just exactly as the BBC ignored all the warnings about Jimmy Savile for thirty years. Amoral pschopathic pedophiles can also be serious cash cows for the institutions protecting them.

Catholics can talk about reform until they die of asphyxiation but nothing will come of all the talk until the issue of authority, who wields it, who is allowed in the authoritative decision making process, and what is the point of the authority are re examined and reformed.  As long as the Roman Catholic Church must balance between the conflicting goals of  the Vatican and the Holy See, and as long as the Pope holds the authority for both in his hands alone, there will be no meaningful reform.  The political priorities of the Holy See will be pursued at the expense of the People of God. In the end this is the primary message of Vati Leaks.  It is why Jesus stated we should render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.  Until the Vatican stops trying to be Caesar as well as God, Roman Catholicism can only be another force of secular oppression and not the principle source of nourishment for the People of God.

Bishop Jenky Commands His Flock To Vote, And Vote Republican

Imagine that, Cardinal Burke and Bishop Jenky taking a stroll.  Why am I not surprised.

 I don't believe I've written anything about Bishop Jenky of Peoria.  I have read quite a bit about him and he struck me as being another Bishop Martino of Scranton, or Morlino of Madison.  Men who had garnered mid level dioceses who had their eyes on bigger prizes and decided to follow the Burke route to Rome and red beanies---shout and wave a lot so that Rome will notice their 'zeal' for 'teaching the hard truths'.  The easiest way to get noticed in this country is to get all raging political and mimic Rush Limbaugh in thought, word, and deed.  Jenky may be the most Limbaugh-like of all of them, and not just in physical shape, but in verbal affront.
The following is an article by Nicholas Cafardi excerpted from National Catholic Reporter"

Churches should be a sacred space, free from partisan politics

Nicholas Cafardi - National Catholic Reporter - 11/2/2012
Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., just can't seem to stay out of politics. On April 14, he gave a sermon in the cathedral in Peoria in which he compared the president of the United States to, among others, Hitler and Stalin. He has now just come out with an order to all his priests, under their vow of obedience to him, to read a highly political letter from the pulpit this Sunday before the election. I will leave apart the very serious question about whether this is the proper use of  canonical obedience, but would point out to Jenky that his theory of obedience, which reduces his priests to automatons under his control, is not very respectful of their personal dignity. It is also the type of episcopal over-reach that allows plaintiffs' lawyers to argue that bishops are legally responsible for everything their priests do. And we know how many hundreds of millions of dollars actions like that have cost the church. (Actually Bishop Morlino went even further.  Back in 2008 he ordered his priests to play a tape of Morlino 'teaching' against gay marriage as opposed to trusting them to read a letter.)

Jenky's letter is a non-endorsement endorsement of one party's candidates in the elections next Tuesday, filled with highly tendential "facts." Jenky appears not to know that the contraceptive regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services that he complains so bitterly about have already been modified once to exempt Catholic-affiliated institutions -- such as colleges, universities and hospitals -- and that future modifications to take care of the issue of Catholic self-insured organizations are in the works. He also seems to buy the notion that the only way to fight the evil of abortion is to make it illegal.

As a result of Jenky's command, Catholics in Peoria on Sunday will be exposed to a partisan political rant in order to attend Mass. That's just wrong. Our churches should be sacred spaces, free from any whiff of partisan politics. The Lord, in the Eucharist, welcomes all of those in the state of grace, despite their political affiliations. And making people feel unwanted in church because of the political party they belong to is a sure way to empty our already sparsely populated pews. (Jenky is implying one's politics destroys their state of grace. In his state of mind, the American democrat is the evil new fascist communist hybrid.)

Jenky is among those bishops who would say that while we Catholics may use our prudential judgment in designing solutions to the social justice issues, issues like the federal budget and its support for the least among us, or issues like racial justice and immigration, we may not use that same prudential judgment in designing solutions to the life issues, that the only way to address the life issues is to legislate the church's views into law......

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Jenky represents so much of what is wrong with Catholic leadership in the West. He is an emotional child with a child's confusion between morality and spirituality.  It is why bishops like him can not get beyond the pelvic issues and truly believe the unruly apostates they shepherd must be kept in line by the power of secular authority while they rant and shake impotent fingers from their episcopal authority. It's like the State must take on the role of Reverend Mother Superior in all her feared authority, so that the children will listen to the hall monitors.

Here's his letter straight from the horses mouth, with my comments, of course,  of course.

Dear Catholic Believers,

Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present. (Total inventifact which negates the real suffering experienced by Catholics in the history of this country.)Neither the president of the United States nor the current majority of the Federal Senate have been willing to even consider the Catholic community’s grave objections to those HHS mandates that would require all Catholic institutions, (Anyone who has followed the story knows this is a complete and total lie.)exempting only our church buildings, to fund abortion, sterilization, and artificial contraception. This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent in the American political and legal system. (Another total lie. Ask Native American and Mormons about assaults on religious liberty.)  Contrary to the guarantees embedded in the First Amendment, the HHS mandates attempt to now narrowly define and thereby drastically limit our traditional religious works. They grossly and intentionally intrude upon the deeply held moral convictions that have always guided our Catholic schools, hospitals, and other apostolic ministries. (Hyperbole aside, this happens only if bishops like Jenky throw the Catholic mission out with the birth control bath water.  Which this infantile excuse for a bishop will most certainly do.  Essentially he would be throwing a tantrum which would have very serious consequences for the very people Jesus told us were our responsibility as His followers.)

Nearly two thousand years ago, after our Savior had been bound, beaten, scourged, mocked, and crowned with thorns, a pagan Roman Procurator displayed Jesus to a hostile crowd by sarcastically declaring: “Behold your King.” The mob roared back: “We have no king but Caesar.” Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin. (This is a heretical statement which conflates the Redemption earned for us all by Jesus with one single issue. He is stating to disagree with the USCCB criminalization strategy is to deny God and to send ones self to hell, and then he follows this up with a warning for those evil democrats:)For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life. God is not mocked, and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God’s great mercy in time will give way to God’s perfect judgment in eternity. (Whoa, I never knew God's great mercy didn't extend beyond death. If that's true then why did Jesus descend into hell?)

I therefore call upon every practicing Catholic in this Diocese to vote. (I think that's over his pay grade. He can't make not voting a sin, even for practicing Catholics.  OK, maybe he can if they are so ill informed as to believe he actually can.) Be faithful to Christ and to your Catholic Faith. May God guide and protect His Holy Church, and may God bless America.

Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, CSC
Catholic Bishop of Peoria


So there we have it, an American bishop inventing his own history, extending the limits of his own authority, re prioritizing the Gospel and teachings of Jesus, and completely embarrassing the American Church.  I hope his Republican handlers paid this clerical actor very well for his services-something more than thirty pieces of silver I should think, given Cardinal Burke is his mentor.