• Those who have no idea what “Carl’s Cuts” are must be forgiven, as it has been nearly three—three!—years since the last edition of this rare but, um, interesting exercise in scattershot commentary. Much has happened since 2018. But let us dwell on the more immediate news and views.
• My not-published-but-certainly-wish-it-had-been headline for the week: “Bishop upset and bewildered that other bishops dared to mention Catholic doctrine in communication with Catholic layman”.
Others put it differently. “In rare rebuke, Cardinal Cupich criticizes USCCB president’s letter to President Biden” went the headline at America Magazine. “In Unprecedented Move, Cardinal Cupich Criticizes USCCB Statement on Joe Biden”, stated the National Catholic Register.
Full disclosure: my low opinion of Cardinal Cupich is not a secret. I wrote a CWR piece in February 2015 in which I asked a number of questions about this so-called “Francis bishop” (he was even called “America’s Pope Francis” by one effusive TV talking head) who was detached, rarely in his diocese (Spokane, at that time), created a legal dumpster fire while there, and then left quite a few good Catholic perplexed and frustrated after he got sent on to Chicago. (And my last “Carl’s Cuts” took a long look at one of Cupich’s curious columns in 2018.)
This latest incident merely reinforces what has been my view for a while now: Cardinal Cupich is quite obsessed with power but is oddly uncomfortable with apostolic authority. The background is both fairly simple even if somewhat convoluted. Early on January 20th, the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, The Pillar—operated by JD Flynn and Ed Condon—reported, “The U.S. bishops’ conference held back a statement on incoming President Joe Biden Wednesday morning, after officials from the Vatican Secretariat of State intervened before the statement could be released.”
After Biden was sworn into office just before noon EST, the Vatican released a fairly standard note from Pope Francis, stating, “I pray that your decisions will be guided by a concern for building a society marked by authentic justice and freedom, together with unfailing respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those who have no voice.”
Not long afterwards, the USCCB posted the delayed statement from José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles and President of the Conference. It read, in part:
Working with President Biden will be unique, however, as he is our first president in 60 years to profess the Catholic faith. In a time of growing and aggressive secularism in American culture, when religious believers face many challenges, it will be refreshing to engage with a President who clearly understands, in a deep and personal way, the importance of religious faith and institutions. Mr. Biden’s piety and personal story, his moving witness to how his faith has brought him solace in times of darkness and tragedy, his longstanding commitment to the Gospel’s priority for the poor — all of this I find hopeful and inspiring.
At the same time, as pastors, the nation’s bishops are given the duty of proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and power, in season and out of season, even when that teaching is inconvenient or when the Gospel’s truths run contrary to the directions of the wider society and culture. So, I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.
Our commitments on issues of human sexuality and the family, as with our commitments in every other area — such as abolishing the death penalty or seeking a health care system and economy that truly serves the human person — are guided by Christ’s great commandment to love and to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, especially the most vulnerable.
For the nation’s bishops, the continued injustice of abortion remains the “preeminent priority.” Preeminent does not mean “only.” We have deep concerns about many threats to human life and dignity in our society. But as Pope Francis teaches, we cannot stay silent when nearly a million unborn lives are being cast aside in our country year after year through abortion.
Cardinal Cupich was clearly angered by the text, as he got on Twitter to lambast the statement by Gomez as “ill-considered” and “seemingly” without “precedent”, before lamenting the supposed lack of “collegial consultation”. The “internal institutional failures involved must be addressed,” said Cupich, whose outrage at supposed failures in bureaucratic processes is duly noted in the context of a “Catholic” President whose pro-abortion, pro-“gay marriage”, and pro-transgenderism stances have been, shall we say, blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.
As one acquaintance wrote to me: “Would [Cupich] ever have criticized Biden as harshly as he is criticizing Gomez and the USCCB?” Well, no, of course not. To ask the question is to laugh at the question.
Again, I’m convinced this is very much about grasping after power while failing to uphold authority. Or, as Christopher Altieri put in a November 12, 2018 CWR report, after Cardinal Cupich essentially stalled and crashed whatever vehicle might have existed for the U.S. bishops to address the matter of bishops accused of sexual abuse: “Francis appears more concerned with making sure everyone understands that he’s in charge, than he is with actually governing.” That also applies to Cupich. And Cupich is Francis’s man in the USCCB; the tensions there are fairly obvious, it seems to me, even to those without any inside scoops or sources.
Meanwhile, The Pillar notes that Cupich’s complaint about the process of drafting and publishing the USCCB statement is—in my words—much ado about nothing:
Bishops told The Pillar that Cupich’s procedural concerns reflect neither the policy nor the customary practices of the USCCB.
One bishop provided to The Pillar the official policy of the bishops’ conference on statements from the conference president: “In circumstances of special urgency, the President of USCCB may issue statements in his own name as President. Circumstances permitting, he should first consult with the Executive Committee and with the appropriate USCCB chairman or chairmen.” …
The Pillar has confirmed that Gomez did consult with members of the executive committee before his Jan. 20 statement was released, and with several other USCCB chairmen, who served on a special working group on the Biden administration that Gomez announced in November.
And, of course, no comment from Cupich. No doubt he’s been on the phone to Rome.
• I, for one, was quite happy to see the statement from Gomez. But saying, as the Archbishop does, that Biden “clearly understands, in a deep and personal way, the importance of religious faith and institutions” while referencing the President’s “piety” is hard to align with the correct observation that “our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity.” What sort of piety, exactly, facilitates evil? What sort of deep faith encourages direct attacks on fundamental Catholic teaching about life, personhood, humanity, marriage, sexuality, procreation, and much more? Now, I do understand the rhetorical approach and I also understand the implicit appeal to the new President. That said, it’s a jarring juxtaposition.
• Still, the direct nature of the second half of the statement is both welcomed and needed. In a glowing January 17, 2021 piece of WaPo hagiography that makes most ancient stories of saints read like works of rigorous, northern European scholarship, Biden cheerleader Michelle Boorstein proclaims: “Joe Biden’s Catholicism is all about healing.” But the more accurate descriptive is found later in the piece, when Villanova University’s Massimo Faggioli—the author of an upcoming “spiritual biography of the president-elect”—flatly states: “Joe Biden is a Catholic in the public square who doesn’t take lectures from bishops about what being Catholic is about. This is totally new…”
The first part of that statement is remarkable, as those familiar with Faggioli on Twitter know how challenged he can be by facts, arguments, and inconvenient truths. Now, it’s not as if Catholic bishops in the U.S. are known for directly correcting and “lecturing” specific Catholic politicians (a recent exception to that is noted below). And, no, it isn’t all that new, as the list of Catholic politicians who thumb their noses at the bishops and the Catholic Faith is long, dreary, and, well, long. It’s essentially a sort of pseudo-sacred tradition among many progressive Catholics.
• Boorstein is quite taken with the notion that Biden wants to be or should be a “healer”. Personally, I’d welcome a President who emphatically denounced the deeply unhealthy, even disturbing, notions of the POTUS as a healer, buddy, savior, light-bearer, life coach, emotional crutch, deified dandy, glorified guru, and, yes, even “uniter”.
• Biden, writes Boorstein, “has long pushed back on the idea that, for him, faith must lead to policies.”
“I’m prepared to accept doctrine on a whole range of issues as a Catholic. … I’m prepared to accept as a matter of faith — my wife and I, my family — the issue of abortion. But what I’m not prepared to do is impose a rigid view, a precise view … that is born out of my faith, on other people who are equally God-fearing, equally as committed to life,” Biden told the Jesuit magazine America in a 2015 videotaped interview.
The notion that Catholic opposition to abortion is a matter of faith is simply false. It’s an excuse. It’s not even a good or convincing excuse, thought it seemingly works well for media puppets. Catholic teaching on abortion and life is rooted in science, commonsense, and natural law, as Pope Francis noted back in 2019:
“Is it legitimate to take out a human life to solve a problem?” Francis asked attendees at a Vatican conference on the issue, repeating one of his most contentious remarks on the issue. “Is it permissible to contract a hitman to solve a problem?”
A decision to abort based on medical information about an ill fetus amounted to “inhuman eugenics,” he said, and denied families the chance to welcome the weakest of children. He argued that using abortion as a mode of “prevention” could never be condoned, and that such a position had “nothing to do” with faith.
“Human life is sacred and inviolable and the use of prenatal diagnosis for selective purposes should be discouraged with strength,” Francis said.
Nothing to do with faith. Exactly right. The truly perverse thing is that Biden and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians actually cite their “faith” as a reason for supporting abortion as they don’t wish to “force” their “faith” on others. Strangely enough, they end up forcing abortion as a right on all of us—and seem fine with forcing nearly everything else on us as well. Go figure.
• It’s almost as if the power to allow the unborn to be killed provides the impetus and drive to increasingly dictate what the living should do and think on a nearly minute-by-minute basis. Isn’t that what liberals used to criticize Christianity for supposedly doing? Turns out that many of them weren’t upset by the loss of freedom but by their frustrated desire to call the shots and implement their own religion. But I digress.
• Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone has had enough:
On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized prolife voters who voted for Donald Trump on the abortion issue, saying their votes cause her “great grief as a Catholic” and accusing them of “being willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue.”
Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, issued the following statement in response:
“To begin with the obvious: Nancy Pelosi does not speak for the Catholic Church. She speaks as a high-level important government leader, and as a private citizen. And on the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb, she also speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years.
Cardinal Cupich could not be reached for comment.
• Finally, on a lighter note, a bit about music (longtime readers know that I’m something of a music nut). These past few days I’ve been quite taken with Charlie Peacock’s “Skin and Wind” album, which is an exceptional collection of introspective, sophisticated songs by a remarkably eclectic Christian musician, singer, song-writer, and producer. I went back and listened to some older Peacock albums and was struck by these lyrics from his 1996 song “No Insult Like the Truth”, from the fine album titled Strangelanguage:
I’ve run my ship aground
on the rocks of the soul
There’s no lie like independence
there’s no demon like control
I’ve fanned the burning embers
til my house was on fire
There’s no parody like power
There’s no fever like desire
I’ve drained the wine of darkness
to the dregs of deceit
There’s no drug as strong as pride
There’s no blindness like conceit
I’ve railed against the mountain
With a pickaxe and a file
There’s no minefield like presumption
There’s no death wish like denialThere’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth
Seems even more timely now than it was 25 years ago.
• Meanwhile, I recently posted—on the Spirit of Cecilia site, operated by the wonderful Bradley Birzer—my favorite 20 jazz albums of 2020, followed by my 20 favorite albums of “everything else”: rock, country, prog, and, yes, sacred music.
• Finally, a quote from Saint Augustine that has been rattling around in my head for a few days: “There are three unions in this world: Christ and the Church, husband and wife, spirit and flesh.” Amen.
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Dear Mr. Olson:
Thank you to you and your colleagues at CWR for faithfulness to the truth, and faithfulness to allow Catholic people to comment at your site.
Sincerely – Chris
Left, Right, and Church teaching: Seasonal reflections on politics
James Kalb
April 6, 2021 24
Great commentary, except that you left out Cardinal Archbishop Wilton Gregory.
For me personally, this is a crisis of my faith. Not exactly my Catholic faith, but rather faith in the presumed successors to the Apostles who now purportedly serve as our Shepards. Joe Biden is now the face of “Catholicism” in the USA. It is time for faithful bishops to take a stand – not only to denounce Biden for his actions (and withhold reception of the Sacred Host) but also to admonish their brother bishops who commit grave scandal by pretending that Biden’s behavior is totally acceptable. Is Cardinal Cupich Catholic? Is Cardinal Gregory Catholic? Is the Pope Catholic? Unfortunately, in the minds of some of us, the answer is far from clear. Well, actually the answer is clear.
Ok, even the first Apostles were known to scatter and hide. But they eventually owned up to their responsibilities. It is now or never for our nation’s bishops. Archbishop Gomez has made a modest but positive start. I hope he puts his foot to the gas pedal, not the break – and goes in the right direction.
Your comment reminds me of an old expression that, sadly, we cannot use anymore. Say you are an ice cream lover and someone asks you, Do you like ice cream? And to show that you do, you respond, Is the Pope Catholic?
I prefer the response – “Does a bear s..t in the woods?”
Steven: Very well put and followup to Carl’s Commentary. I feel uncomfortable in criticizing Cardinal Cupich. However I see first hand his actions and wonder what is he thinking. For example, I see first hand how Catholic Schools in Chicago area are undermined, Pro Abortion Catholic Democrats in Illinois are given the green light to pass pro abortion legislation, etc. He is in my opinion a travesty to the Catholic faith. With God’s grace I will never ever leave the faithbecause of such actions, since I know individuals such as Cupich can be lead astray.
It just points out the dangers of pride, arrogance and whatever else that pushes people with influence away from God and the Catholic Faith. All I can do is pray for Cardinal Cupich and other bishops like Cardinal Cupich that they will see the error of their ways and repent, and return to the faith as they should. For those Bishops who are not like Cardinal Cupich, pray for their continued strength, leading the faithful the way they should.
The cardinals and bishops are cowards
Why hasn’t Biden and Pelosi been excommunicated alone with the others of their ilk
According to Canon Law they have excommunicated themselves, but SO FAR there is no Bishop with the stones to make it official.
It will happen, and Nancy and Joe know that and they are terrified.
It keeps coming up that abortion has nothing to do with faith. Murder is one of the ten commandments and is a deadly sin.
The Bishops need to all sign a letter and send it to Biden and Pelosi regarding their stance on this abomination.
Left, Right, and Church teaching: Seasonal reflections on politics
James Kalb
April 6, 2021 24
Wow!
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Well put, and shows the scandal of Francis-appointed Bishops “accomanpanying” publically-sinful people in their error, rather than confronting them…where are the JPII Culture Warriors?? all now converted to (so-called) social justice warriors???
The “seamless garment”: accompaniment, then accommodation, then accomplice.
Too many of the compassionate bishops seem to never have heard of a teenage curfew.
3Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!”
“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”
Yet…not only did Mrs. Pelosi again marginalize the Faithful Catholic for political gain, she is plain wrong on two other points. We are not a “democracy” where the majority of persons–often blind to truth–can impose godless “mob” opinion on even one person. (Thus the Bill of Rights). Also, with artful deceit Pelosi attempts to impress on–indoctrinate– that same “mob” the notion that pro-life Catholics only care about “a fetus” (as foundational as that may be). Pro-life persons are most often committed to charitable acts well beyond the womb and across many domains, though one wearies at playing the defensive about that provable reality. Sadly, the new socialistic Democrat Party succeeds only in fostering intense, prolonged embitterness and division, inappropriate dependence on one party-rule, and threatening ultimate atheistic totalitarianism. Worst of all, mortal sins multiply in and outside this phantom safety net. Pray, pray, pray. Salvation of souls!
Patricia, as you write, that’s exactly it! “Worst of all, mortal sins multiply in and outside this phantom safety net. Pray, pray, pray. Salvation of souls!”
3Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!”
“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”
Carl’s Cuts are good and lean, palatable for the honest ethics journeyman. Although baloney favored by some isn’t on the menu. It’s his Deli. Man belongs to God not the State. That comes through as we read on. Boorstein’s depiction of Biden as healer and uniter is from the same premise held by Biden that his faith cannot be his rule of judgment in a pluralist society. That it’s not Catholic to impose our faith on the masses. For Boorstein justice is practiced in favor of public opinion where freedom is protected. The exact premise that is now the rule of jurisprudence for Chief Justice Roberts, who ruled in favor of State bypassing its legislature during the election on electoral rules. A ruling that contradicts the Constitution. Editor Olson notes a similar tendency to appease in Archbishop’s Gomez’ acknowledging Biden’s piety despite his initial condemnation of Biden’s evil. As Gomez says Biden has “deep understanding” of Catholic doctrine and its institutions. That is contradictory. Olson is right. Nevertheless a person can and likely does possess that ‘deep’, even inherent understanding [rather than appreciation] of the good and evil in an act, and in this instance the evil. As I’ve consistently taught in seminaries, that this inherent ability is the strata for conscience and responsibility for a moral act. Otherwise reasoned opinion would determine moral conscience rather than truth. Since JFK the issue of a Catholic conscience has been compromised in favor of political unity and social cohesion. We find it in a statement by Cardinal Piero Parolin in his condemnation of abortion followed by a mitigation perspective. As Pope Francis’ strong position quoted by Olson is later compromised by moral focus on ecology and science. Consequently I urge us all when in unity with my former bishop is always best for Church and State, who urged during a dispute with a medical ethics committee over withdrawal of life saving care for a marginally compromised patient, “Stick to your guns!”.
To understand the Biden innerspring one needs only remember his UNreasoning at Dr. Bork’s confirmation hearing. His innerspring keeps slowly unwinding with every tick tock of his fabrications. He is not his own man.
Take note here – Mr. Biden does not say “believe the science” when certain issues arise. No, no, Mr. Biden uses his “faith” as his handy card, either to justify or to excuse his decisions and EXPECTS his hearers to believe he is playing in diamonds. He is quite successful too, as media and clergy seem to feel the need to take up his sympathies by leading out their commentaries or letters to assuage The Mr. Biden. Mind you, we’re walking on eggshells here – and want to avoid the scorpion’s sting.
I must say that I am grateful that Archbishop Gomez states that “…as pastors, the nation’s bishops are given the duty of proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and power, in season and out of season, even when that teaching is inconvenient or when the Gospel’s truths run contrary to the directions of the wider society and culture. So, I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.”
Now he said it, and I hope and pray that the USCCB will continue to speak out and help politicians, Catholics and people in general to form a Godly conscience. I hope and pray that the USCCB will abandon the need to couch the nucleus of Truth in the mush, mush of the political sphere. It’s past time to deliver the real beef. People are starving (including Mr. Biden).
USCCB please come out from under your collective bushel basket and let your lights shine AGAIN, please, please! Begin to exercise your muscles that were gifted to you in your Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. Amen.
Rosemarie, I agree with every word you wrote! Jesus never “buttered” anyone who was clearly Wrong!
Thank you, CWR, for having the courage to tell the truth about the betrayers who were prophesied to arise from within the Church:
“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.”
N.b., “savage.” The Holy Spirit does not mince words.
Also, don’t you think that more than two years’ lag time since the last edition of Carl’s Cuts is taking this whole social distancing thing to a ridiculous extreme?
“Also, don’t you think that more than two years’ lag time since the last edition of Carl’s Cuts is taking this whole social distancing thing to a ridiculous extreme?”
You’re too kind, as it has been nearly three years! If you lived closer than 3,000 mile away, my friend, we could discuss the social distancing aspect. Ha!
I noticed you don’t have here in CWR a review article on the book of Massimo Faggioli, “Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States.” Why?
As an addendum to my comment, I add a word [or two] to Editor Olson’s appeal to common sense, science, and natural law. There is precedence, in American jurisprudence on all three found in the Common Law of England imposed on the Colonies in the Reception Charter and adopted post Revolution by most States in their constitutions. We find evidence of Natural Law more in cultural practice particularly a Christian society as in the case of Britain than theoretically. As in legal decision made against abortion. Example, the King would sanction a suicide by confiscating their property, abortion deemed unlawful subject to penalty. Social mores universally held within the Christian community are the bases for understanding the tenets of Natural Law, the first principle the right to life, evident in the practice of a people rather than in a philosopher’s handbook where there is variation according to the author’s beliefs. Although in England at the time these judicial findings were not legal enactments, that is codified law. Natural Law is indeed unwritten “common sense”, since the law written in the hearts of men God is universally known if not held. That is why theologians consider the Ten Commandments God’s Reminder. Thus the Catholic politician has a real, viable basis for holding to truths that are not simply specific to his religion. Rather they are the historical legal basis for jurisprudence. A culture may change its views, however that change does not necessarily reflect truth and justice.
From Our First Anti-Catholic “Catholic” President
by Robert Royal
January 22, 2021
excerpt:
What’s truly unprecedented, then, beyond being an unfaithful Catholic, is that Biden has already shown himself by word and deed to be an anti-Catholic “Catholic.” Indeed, he’s an equal opportunity religious bigot who, for all the talk of coming together, will ride roughshod over his co-religionists as well as traditional Protestants and evangelicals, Orthodox and Conservative Jews, Muslims, Mormons, and even secular citizens who believe that “woke” politics do not abolish ordinary reason and human nature.
What is not mentioned is President Biden’s flip flopping on several of these timeless moral issues over his decades in Washington. To be faithful means to be firm and constant in the truth, come what may; to be a politician too often means to “adjust” and even repudiate one’s positions to stay with the mob of public opinion.
Flip flopping got him into the White House, but St. Peter will have some hard questions to ask Biden at pearly gates.
“Decades in Washington.”
That alone is its own perverse topic.
You know that incident on January 6 when a bunch of people broke into the U.S. Capitol? “I am personally opposed to such behavior, but am not prepared to impose my belief on others who may feel differently.” Is that how it works, mr. Biden and Mrs. Pelosi?
There is no “gospel priority for the poor”. This is a false theology based on a false reading of Scripture. In every case where the Bible talks about caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan, etc., it is a reference to those members of the covenant community who have suffered some misfortune. It is NOT the poor as a socio-economic class that are being referred to. It is NOT widows in general. orphans in general, or poor people in general that Christians are being admonished to take care of. It is the unfortunate members of their own communities who are entitled in justice to consideration and help, precisely because they are fellow-members. And if Catholics would take the time and make the effort to understand the Scriptures, they would soon discover that this is in fact the case. Bad exegesis yields bad theology and a false understanding of the gospel.
What I see happening is that Cardinals Cupich and Gregory are increasingly becoming isolated outliers, despite their honorifics. The rest of the U. S. episcopate is beginning to awaken to the reality that the bishops have to act to regain some measure of credibility while they still can, and Cupich and Gregory are expendable if they won’t cooperate. In such a scenario, if in fact a majority of the USCCB is on board, we could even see a direct challenge to Pope Francis; he won’t get a mass resignation in that case such as happened in Chile, and he would simply have to live with it. The bishops are still smarting from the loss of credibility that the inconclusive McCarrick report dealt them, particularly among Catholics who matter, and the ascent of Biden is another black eye that they aren’t going to be able to ignore much longer. Note the phrase “Catholics who matter.” The ones who matter are going to be conservatives and traditionalists who actually still go to Mass– sometimes daily– and put money in otherwise empty collection baskets. The leftists are just going to stop going to church altogether. For the last 50 years, the refrain has been, “We can’t take a chance of offending people; they may leave and never come back!” The U. S. bishops aren’t going to have the luxury of catering to those who either have left or are going to leave anyway– and that is when Cupich and Gregory and their supporters simply become irrelevant.
Don’t forget to drag Tobin and McElroy along with Cupich and Gregory. Their first loyalty is to the democrat party. They love the applause of the very people and elements of our culture that are bent on the utter destruction or irrelevance of the Catholic Church. And they know Francis has their backs.
The Bishops have spent too much time backing away from their responsibility to actually LEAD their flocks and TELL them when they are going off track. As a lector I have often read a letter by St. Paul in which he is chastising some church or other for the behavior of certain members, or the behavior of that church as a group. Lets say he does not mince any words in reprimand. Advancing an idea of God’s forgiveness and love is a great thing. But the Bishops do their flock a disservice when they leave the impression that “anything goes” because they are not prepared to STOP anyone’s clearly sinful behavior. “Who am I to judge” is not a statement which should ever be made by a Bishop. OR a POPE. It’s their JOB to judge. Biden and Pelosi use the church as a props, and in so doing disrespect the church. They should not have been permitted to use a Catholic church as a prop for the inauguration. As politicians who make a point of making their Catholicism known in order to harvest votes, and then advocating for violent positions which run counter to church law, they should be reprimanded,and barred from Communion, Their voters who are Catholic should be told they run the risk of getting the same treatment. If they choose to leave , let them. A more faithful church will be the result.Recent govt decisions have led to the church being forced out of Foster Care services as they will not place children with homosexual couples. They have allowed the govt to decide when the church will open and close to their congregations, how many can enter the church and whether or not they can sing. How does this differ from the churches’ treatment in Communist China and why do the Bishops just play dead? Now that too many faithless “Catholics” voted for the left, we can expect more repression coming soon from the party who appear to believe their big “moral achievement” is infanticide. Women’s health issues, as they call it. As if pregnancy is a deadly disease rather than something good and natural.
To dishonor our Catholic faith, by calling Biden Catholic, who is married to a divorced woman (Trump nor Reagan were not saints in that arena either, but didn’t use faith as their wild card),and embraces radical abortion policies,is a travesty,
He is as Catholic as Prlosi, whose god is power.
Please stop calling them Catholic.
Thank you, Mr. Olson. Cardinal Cupich reminds me of a child who, when his sibling does something he doesn’t like, yells for mommy or daddy to punish him, and mommy or daddy do–just to get the accuser to hush. Of course,I’m afraid that Rome’s reasons for siding with Cupich may not fit the analogy. I think they just agree with him. Didn’t Cupich do something similar a few years back, undermining something good the Bishops actually wanted to do?
Video (2 min. 20 sec.) of the sacred music Carl mentioned:
Benedict Sheehan: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
Excerpt from text:
The 2-disc deluxe set features both CD and PureAudio Blu-ray™ media with high-resolution 2.0 Stereo and 5.0 Surround versions (DSM192K/24bit), recorded in DSD and downloadable to audio servers and devices. The Blu ray™ also contains three video performances: two concert selections from the world première performance and the complete liturgical première sung at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC. The accompanying booklet provides an extensive essay by the composer, the full text of the Divine Liturgy, and beautiful photography.
Cowards? Were it that. I fear it’s worse than simple cowardice but actually believing what Biden believes.
Cupich and Gregory are the same kind of “Catholic” as Biden, namely CINOS who have lost their supernatural faith in God and view the Church as nothing more than a glorified NGO.
Somewhere out there is a Priest – maybe even a Bishop but I don’t think so – who has the courage to deny Holy Communion to Joe Biden, and we may all rest assured that Joe’a spin doctors are working overtime to insure that NEVER the twain shall meet.
The statement released by His Royal Highness, the current Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, on the day of the inauguration of “Scary Joe” and “Lady Macbeth,” says it all – and damns him all the more.
For the record: His Royal Highness turns 75 (the mandated retirement age for all bishops and archbishops) on 19 March 2024 (the feast day of St. Joseph). Let the countdown begin…..