The following comes from a Sept. 24 posting on the American Catholic.

Well, this is interesting.  Professor Douglas Kries at Gonzaga University in Spokane gives his assessment of Bishop Blase Cupich, the Spokane Bishop tapped to head the Chicago Archdiocese:

“Bishop White Seminary at Gonzaga, which was nothing short of an extraordinary success story until Cupich became bishop, fell quickly into desuetude after his arrival. Moreover, when Gonzaga University refused to continue club status for Gonzaga’s campus Knights of Columbus council, Cupich, it is widely whispered, told the remaining seminarians not to discuss the matter with the press. It has also been widely reported that Cupich did not want his diocesan priests involved with certain pro-life groups that he considered too strident. Cupich may not even know it, but at the time, students involved with Gonzaga’s Right to Life Club felt abandoned, even though they were not his direct target.

“I once wrote to him expressing in particular my concerns about the direction of Gonzaga’s core curriculum. His reply was polite, but he made it quite clear that he had no interest in involving himself in such matters. Gonzaga adopted, and is now planning to implement, a core curriculum that diminishes the number of courses that students take in “Catholic or Christian religion” from three to one.

“The formerly required course on the Bible is being eliminated and the course in applied Christianity, which often in practice meant Christian morality, is being changed to world religions. Gonzaga students, many of whom belong to Cupich’s diocese, will soon be devoting only a single semester course in four years of college (3 out of 128 credits, or 2.34 percent) to the study of “the Catholic or Christian religion.”

“The local Spokane newspaper describes Cupich as “a moderate who has called for civility in the culture wars,” since he has said that Pope Francis doesn’t want “ideologues.” From what I can tell, the description is inaccurate. Real moderates engage all sides, trying to find common ground, if it is available, that will permit them to advance their principles. By not inserting his office into conflict situations, Cupich has often, whether intentionally or not, quietly ceded much ground to one side, and without advancing his principles.

“To be fair, Cupich was willing to debate publicly a local city councilman about legalization of same-sex marriage. Still, on the whole, the record is hardly a bold one. And one wonders: if he comes across as too timid to be effective in the small, rather polite, and humble diocese of Spokane, what are his chances to be effective in a large, muscular, broad-shouldered place like Chicago?

“My advice to Catholics in Chicago? Your new archbishop is a very nice man; he is also very intelligent and talented. I respect him far too much to flatter him, as many of my fellow Spokanites are wont to do. And I refuse to believe that he really thinks that those of you trying to defend and advance the Church in the public forum are just “ideologues.” But he tends to be – to use a polite phrase – ‘conflict averse.’”

Go here to read the rest at The Catholic Thing.  I suspect that the key to understanding Blase Cupich is his obvious belief that it is best if Catholicism comes to terms with the powers that be in secular society and not rock the boat.  The term for this sort of accomodation by Christians and Jews in Islamic cultures is Dhimmi status.  That is precisely the path, whether consciously or unconsciously, the Blase Cupich’ of the Church would lead us down.  A world in which Catholics, if they are well-behaved, can still worship on Sunday, so long as they give up any hope of influencing their societies.  Among the pro-abort, largely Catholic, Democrat political establishment in Chicago, he will be as welcome as a fat bribe to an alderman.

Update:  Three of the comments under the post of Professor Kries are very interesting:

written by Leo James, September 24, 2014

In his first Mass as our new Pastor in Omaha, Father Cupich publicly chastised our teenage daughter for genuflecting,as was her practice, along with many others in our parish, before receiving the Blessed Sacrament. He said loudly so that all in the communion line could hear: “don’t do that in my church again”. We pray that he has reflected on John 12:3 since that time and for those he is called to serve in Chicago.

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written by Fr. Kloster, September 24, 2014

I know Archbishop Cupich. I first met him in 1991. He is a progressive Catholic. I was pushed over the edge long ago and don’t feel the need to play any nuanced games with anyone no matter what it costs me personally. I don’t like using the secular political titles, because they don’t apply where the Church is concerned. You are either Catholic or somewhat less than Catholic (all the way from missing one doctrine or discipline to being aggressively anti-Catholic). Archbishop Cupich could never be described as a traditional Catholic. I’m trying to be as charitable as possible. I’ve had several face to face conversations with the man, so I know his tendencies well.

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written by MTF, September 24, 2014

It is bittersweet to see Bishop Cupich appointed to Chicago. Bitter because he sees it as a promotion, when his priests and laity have suffered so much under his leadership. Sweet, because we can all breathe a little easier now, knowing that Our good Lord has come to rescue us from this wolf in sheep’s clothing. Without going into to too much detail, I will say that our holy priests are most likely VERY relieved. (Many of them have admitted in confidence, to many of us lay Catholics that B. Cupich terrifies them. Bishop Cupich has ruled over them with an iron fist, and this is not a secret, my friends (And his mandate to avoid praying in front of PP is only one of many of those examples.) “strike the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.” We have been in the desert over here in Spokane since he was installed September 3rd, 2010. God has finally delivered us from his hands, though. I’ll be praying for you Chicago- you are gonna need it!! Oh, and one piece of advice for any of you who ever happen to go to him for confession: ask him to turn off his phone BEFORE the sacrament begins. He is on his phone CONSTANTLY,(which is not news to Spokanites), but I was STUNNED to hear text beeps occurring while he was listening to my confession. To this day, I regret not asking him why he would leave his phone on during this holy sacrament.

To read the original posting, click here.