Our bishops continue to offer stones to the faithful who are simply asking for bread.
One by one, as though on a conga line for the Democratic National Committee, our bishops last November recited a scripted Instagram paean to illegal immigration. Moreover, at the end of their recent November meeting, it was reported that they also, by overwhelming majority, huffed and puffed: “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of peoples.”
For greater effect, they should have hired a better costume director. Except for one or two, they looked like unmade beds. Of course, this is part of the episcopal Spirit-of-Vatican-II look: casual, unkempt, pedestrian. All of which contributes to their “we have nothing important to say” message, joined to “we are simply here to listen to you.” The unspoken caveat: “you are listened to if you are the right you.”
Seems as though our good bishops have perfected the art of irrelevance.
Their view on illegal immigration reeks of an inverted Holy Charity: a regimen of good feeling, a happy indulgence of the zeitgeist married to soggy sentiment. This is galaxies away from true Charity, which C.S. Lewis describes as “severe” in his Four Loves, or, the 12th-century Richard of St. Victor, with his “violence of love” in his classic On the Four Degrees of the Violence of Love.
Charity has nothing to do with emotion but all to do with truth. It rips away at the comforts of feelings to make way for the glories of sacrifice.
This episcopal echo chamber of the DNC is a deadly serious matter. Souls hang in the balance. For many Catholics may gather the impression that this is the settled teaching of the Church, binding all Catholics in conscience. It is not. It is the opinion of a number of individual bishops. Making such a widely distributed Instagram message will most definitely leave many Catholics misinformed. The imitable Fr. Pokorsky clarifies,
“The content of the (episcopal) statement raises questions about the appropriate boundary between moral teaching and political intervention. Deportation may be immoral by intention or circumstance, but it is not intrinsically evil. The term ‘indiscriminate’ is morally uncontroversial: few would defend capricious deportation practices violating the fundamental dignity of human beings. However, it is more likely that most will perceive the statement as a critique of U.S. immigration enforcement, presumably failing to correspond with the USCCB policy position….
“Only those who reject fundamental Church teaching in matters of faith and morals are dissident Catholics. Blurring the distinction between the authority of Catholic principles and the broader latitude of prudential judgments is unjust. The ambiguity allows doctrinally dissident Catholics to accuse doctrinally orthodox Catholics of infidelity if they disagree with the USCCB political statements.”
Intelligent Catholics have every right to ask the good bishops some sharp questions. Mr. Gerard Nadal framed them pointedly in a Facebook post:
“Do all the poor people of the world have a right to free and unfettered entry into the United States?…What are your inclusive and exclusive criteria? What moral and economic calculus has gotten you to the numbers that define their answer? What is the number where you draw the line?
“What is the limit of government-funded support of the illegal migrants that you find acceptable? Should the American people be compelled to pay for food, shelter, and medical care for all who choose to just walk in under the umbrella of your blessing? Would you care to set a dollar limit on that? The three-year cost to New York City is in the range of $12 BILLION. Are the bishops saying that New Yorkers have a gospel imperative to pay this, plus however much more from a limitless number of illegal immigrants to follow.
“Why have the bishops not made a distinction between those here legally, who must show evidence of economic self-sufficiency as a condition of entry, and illegal immigrants who have cost American taxpayers well in excess of $100 Billion? Why have they deliberately conflated the two realities?”
Mr. Nadal’s questions plunge a dagger into the heart of the robotic parroting of the USCCB.
Would it not have been wiser for the good bishops to speak about St. Thomas Aquinas’ Ordo Caritatis: the right ordering of charity that commences with the obligations to God; then man’s immortal soul; next, to those nearest to us in blood; followed by those of the Household of the Faith; then, those who share with us our native patria. This unmistakable clarity would have unmasked the gauzy blather of the “stranger” so romantically invoked by those who have long been left unmoved by the irrevocable tenets of the Catholic Faith.
Interesting, isn’t it, that most singing off this page have long abandoned a perfect obedience to Catholic moral teaching. Many of these are the same folks who have been peddling a laissez-faire Catholicism which makes very few claims on the human person. A great number of them are the clan that have wreaked havoc on the Catholic liturgy, the principal conveyance of fidelity to Catholic teaching.
Catholics love their bishops.
They pray that they would begin to speak out on issues that speak directly to their path to Heaven and their place in the world. They would rejoice to hear them call every institution of Catholic learning—primary, secondary, and university/college—to a perfect fidelity to Catholic teaching, as Pope John Paul II did in his Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Finally, perhaps, these engines of an etiolated Catholicism might be brought to a halt.
How their hearts would race if the bishops reined in Georgetown University for hiring a new president, Eduardo Peñalver, who has a history of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, having publicly criticized opposition to gay marriage and defended a gay teacher fired by a Catholic school while at Cornell and Seattle University.
How heartened Catholics would be to hear the bishops speak out against runaway contraception, whose use among Catholics now exceeds the general population. Rather than illegal immigrants congesting our cities, the sounds of happy Catholic families bursting with children would make their presence felt.
What applause the bishops would enjoy if they framed a joint statement calling for a true return of reverence to the Blessed Sacrament, in the hope that this joint pressure would put an end to some bishops waging war on Eucharistic piety.
Good Catholics pray daily that their bishops would speak out unequivocally for nothing more than what is taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II. Now that would create a sea change worthy of a thousand Instagram messages.
Catholics are crying out for an Olympian Catholicism which roars the Faith rather than a sandbox one which only speaks in whimpers.
Couldn’t our dear bishops heed the words of Étienne Gilson in his The Intelligence in the Service of Christ the King:
“One of the greatest evils from which Catholicism suffers today is that Catholics are no longer proud enough of their faith. …instead of confessing in all simplicity what we owe to our Church and to our faith, instead of showing what they bring to us and what we would not have without them, we believe it good politics or good tactics, in the interests of the Church itself, to act as if, after all, we distinguish ourselves in no way from others.”
The Instagram kick-dance of the bishops after their last November conference was profoundly disheartening to the Catholic people. It evoked the sad indictment of Jacques Maritain in his elegiac Peasant of the Garonne, “kneeling before the world.”
Catholics simply wish that every Successor to the Apostles acts apostolically. Catholics only want the Faith of their Fathers spoken clearly, heroically unambiguously.
Now, that’s not too much to ask, is it?
By Fr. John A. Perricone (forwarded by Father Richard Perozich, who comments in the pages of Cal Catholic
Fr. John A. Perricone, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of philosophy at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York. His articles have appeared in St. John’s Law Review, The Latin Mass, New Oxford Review and The Journal of Catholic Legal Studies. He can be reached at www.fatherperricone.com.
Why I am moved by the words of Fr. Perricone? It is my spiritual response to the Truth.
Excellent, Fr. Perricone. Thanks very much. There are few good fruits, from the post-Conciliar era. What a big mess. Huge mistake. The Emperor has no clothes on. Nobody will tell the truth.
There is nothing wrong with writing in a natural way, something like “What a big mess!” Or, “The Emperor has no clothes on!” — quoting the famous fable. Why do you disrespect commenters’ writing styles– and change their comments for your own self-interest? So sick of this! A much better idea, would be to respect commenters’ natural writing styles– and help them by correcting spelling errors.
My church was so crowded with fake Catholics on Christmas eve. This weekend at Mass for Sunday obligation, where will they all be? Probably at Disneyland. I’m tired of the Church falling apart. Every wekend should be as crowded as Christmas.
That happens in lots of churches. I saw the same thing, at the church where I went. Wonderful that they were all in church, though, with lots of families with small children, all dressed up beautifully, in their “Christmas best.” Lots of beautiful Christmas carols, an excellent Cantor, a good children’s choir singing, and an excellent organist. Stormy weather outside– but they showed up for Mass at Christmas, anyway. For some, maybe some little seeds were planted, to encourage them to regularly come to Mass. Maybe the priests there will work hard to form these families in their Catholic Faith.
I know my bishop is pretty useless
“Our bishops continue to offer stones to the faithful who are simply asking for bread.” These words call to mind Bishop Martin of Charlotte North Carolina who is eager to remove altar rails due to USCCB (?) policy. With great fondness I recall keeling at the altar rail at St. Rita’s in Sierra Madre before the new pastor’s wreckovation descended upon us. Kneeling put my heart and mind in a disposition of humility. So a reverential posture threatens the USCCB? Should not the bishops be glad to see laity receiving the body and blood, soul and divinity or our Lord aided with a humble posture?
Great idea for Pope Leo to order an Apostolic Visitation to the Diocese of Charlotte NC and have a full investigation of Bishop Martin’s misuse and abuse of clerical authority. Looks like he learned nothing about “listening” and “dialogue” in the recent Synod on Synodality papal project. Would love to see Pope Leo “fire” — remove– Bishop Martin– without explanation, like they always do at the Vatican.
Bishop Martin is doing the right thing by enforcing the norm in the GIRM that the posture for receiving Communion is standing. Yet again — it is the trads who are cousing the trouble, not Bishop Martin. The trads — including trad priests — are trying to claim that kneeling is a preferred posture for receiving Communion. You’re not allowed to say that because the norm in the official liturgical book is standing. Bishop Martin is trying to correct and end the confusion.
No, you are incorrect. Our Archbishop, and many other priests and bishops, have reinstalled altar rails or used moveable priedieus, for reception of Holy Communion. If you are Catholic, please try to attend a reverent Mass that honors Our Lord and is very holy, in which communicants are invited to kneel to humbly receive Him on the tongue. It is a very holy and beautiful experience. Bishop Martin should be removed by the Vatican for his severe abuses of authority. A good bishop listens to his sheep and dialogues with them, and makes decisions together with them, and values their input. He should not be a bigoted, selfish autocrat.
While standing has been the current norm for Catholics to receive Holy Communion in the United States, along with a reverent bow— according to the current GIRM for American Catholics– the USCCB has strongly emphasized that clergy must be sensitive to and make pastoral provisions for, and accommodate devout Catholic communicants who prefer to kneel and receive Our Lord on the tongue. It has also been pointed out that humbly and reverently kneeling to receive Our Lord on the tongue fosters belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and greater reverence, love and devotion for Him. Since Vatican II, with new, Modernistic ideas and standards initiated in the Catholic Mass, a great many Catholics have lost their faith in Christ and in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
I recently read a news story about Bishop Ronald Hick’s former Diocese of Joliet Chancellor, David Salvato, who ran off suddenly and got in a gay civil “marriage.” Salvato has a Ph.D. in Canon Law from the “Angelicum”— Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas– in Rome, worked also as an English translator for the Vatican newspaper, “L’Osservatore Romano,” and previously held other prestigious jobs. Does anyone know anything about this awful scandal? Did Salvato get excommunicated? Hope Bishop Hicks will have better luck as soon-to-be (Cardinal) Archbishop of New York.
David Salvato reportedly “went missing” from his job a few weeks ago, and it was later found out that he had run off to Naperville, Illinois, and had a gay civil “marriage” with a gay man on Dec. 13th. I was totally shocked to see that it was also announced, the gay couple had a Wedding Registry at Bloomingdale’s — is nothing sacred anymore? Why does the Church allow gays in high positions? Canon lawyers teach in seminaries and work in diocesan Marriage Tribunals and other areas of huge responsibility, affecting the lives of Catholics. Did Bishop Hicks and other clerics know that Salvato was immoral, irresponsible and untrustworthy? How can Catholics trust their Church?
Many years ago, there was a priest who was a Canon Lawyer, who was the head of the Archdiocesan Tribunal. He sometimes said Mass at the Cathedral, and his sermons often were oriented towards promoting happy marriages and family life. One day, he disappeared, and the police were looking everywhere for him. He was suspected of being a horrific clerical child sex abuser. He was never found, and later, a phone call came in to the Archdiocese, saying that he had run off to Mexico, and had been killed. But the case was never solved. How long was this evil priest a child sex abuser, and how many boys did he harm– while serving as head of the Tribunal? Did the Archbishop know– and cover up his crimes? Why must our Church be so corrupt? Can’t they do better?
Bishop Hicks hired him. He knew who he was. He knew about his life. He knew. And that man was chosen by Pope Leo to run New York. That’s the kind of bishop New York is getting. A man who knew and who swept it under the rug when he had to. Convenient damage control. Typical church bureaucRAT.
Fr. Perricone: There is nothing wrong with the American bishops’ teaching against mass deportations. Nothing. Just because it doesn’t jive with your politics and ideology, doesn’t mean that the bishops are wrong.
In fact it will do you, Father, and the people who read you hear, to listen to what the bishops are saying, concerning the inherent dignity of every human life from the embryo to the immigrant.
No, I do not support Biden’s reckless open-border policy, but rather than playing politics, Father, why don’t you exercise prudence and obedience yourself? Mocking bishops isn’t in good form, especially for priests to do.
Fr. Perricone: “Intelligent Catholics have every right to ask the good bishops some sharp questions..” In the realm of politics, the bishops hold no particular expertise over the laity. Intelligent Catholics, lay and episcopal, have a right and duty to challenge sloppy thinking on public policy wherever such thinking is found. Lofty principles do not automatically lend themselves to facile solutions to complex problems. Gerard Nadal’s questions illumine this melancholy fact quite well. It would be well-advised for the bishops–and you jon– to ponder these questions.
Always use your God-given brain to carefully observe and examine the truth, jon. You are no longer a child. First and foremost, above all– we are called to love and serve God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Beware of unfaithful, sinful men in clerical garb, who may fail in their responsibilities to Christ. Did your bishop lie and hide evil child clerical rapists– and next, did your Diocese file for bankruptcy to compensate hundreds of. poor, suffering victims of clerical sex abuse? Beware.
Six of the twelve Catholic dioceses in the State of California have declared bankruptcy due to hundreds of lawsuits of poor victims of clerical sex abuse– the Dioceses of Sacramento, Oakland, San Diego, Fresno, Santa Rosa, and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The Diocese of Monterey considered bankruptcy to compensate victims of clerical sex abuse, and the Diocese of Stockton filed for bankruptcy, but the judge directed a different manner of compensating victims. The Dioceses of San Jose, Orange, San Bernardino and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have each compensated hundreds of poor clergy sex abuse victims, without filing for bankruptcy. There are hundreds of poor, suffering victims of clergy sex abuse in all 12 California Dioceses/Archdioceses.
Listen to yourselves, people. Talk about not using one’s “God-brain.” You and Fr. Perricone have not really refuted the substance of the bishops’ teaching which is the inherent dignity of the human being in the immigrant.
Instead, you merely hurled tangential issues (abuse, bankruptcy, whatever; and in Perricone’s case hurling insults and mockery–so childish), to discredit a perfectly Catholic and legitimate teaching of the American bishops. Yours is called straw-man argument, and it is an invalid way of arguing.
The truth is that the bishops are correct on this one, and none of you have made a convincing argument to refute it. And you can’t, because the backbone of the bishops’ teaching here is the inherent dignity of these immigrants.
Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
I’ll refute it right here, and pointedly: just as execution of some dangerous criminals does not violate their inherent human dignity, neither does deporting illegal immigrants violate their inherent human dignity. Both get due process, and after that has been duly performed and their guilt settled, justice should be rendered.
Illegal border crossers don’t get to stay “just because” or “because they married and have children now.”
Jon and the US bishops plead for a false, ignorant compassion. Where is the compassion for American citizens and legal residents who have been harmed or suffer due to the wider economic effects of illegal immigration?
Illegal immigration is a crime. The Church teaches that a nation’s borders and laws should be respected by would-be immigrants. All illegal border crossers should be deported. Otherwise, we no longer have a country.
Human dignity is not a get-out-of-punishment free card
“false” is wrong because the Catholic Magisterium has judged that the death penalty violates the inherent dignity of human life. That “false” premise by “false” weakens his/her argument of trying to “pointedly” refute the bishops’ teachings on mass deportations.
People, forget about “false, ignorant compassion,” when you ignore the teachings of the Catholic Magisterium, you risk losing any and all kinds of true compassion for your fellow human beings.
Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life!
Again– beware, jon. Use your brain. The most important issue, here– is not the worry for the human rights and dignity of illegal aliens. It is the rightful concern of our bishops for the respect, human rights, dignity, well-being and safety of Catholic families and their innocent, vulnerable children and young people in our churches. Many of our bishops– and some of our popes– have failed to the point of criminal activity– lying and covering-up horrific clerical rapists. Such deceitful “Churchnen” have been maliciously complicit in these Satanic clerical rapist horrors, and should be stripped of Holy Orders and sentenced to prison. They are a horrible menace to the Church and to society.
The 2011 US version of GIRM (in our current 3rd ed. of The Roman Missal) n. 160 is worded: “The norm established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling.” For those of us who are older it is not always possible to kneel on the hard floor and get up. I use a walker or a cane, for instance. Would I like to receive Communion kneeling? Most certainly! And I am no trad, have never been to a TLM. If my desire to kneel is legitimate, and I think it must be granted that it is, then a legtimate move by the Church is to provide the means by which this desire can be fullfilled. So how is Bp. Martin accomodating those preferring to kneel? And this leads me to ask: How strictly should a norm be enforced if variations are permitted?
Our Pope and our bishops have lost the faith. They want a world religion without Jesus. The look to the federal government for funds and could care less about the faithful unless they are LGBTQ or illegals immigrants. Stop whining, get used to it, and toughen up. The laity must save the church by keeping the faith. St. Athanasius, pray for us.
“Listen to yourselves, people. Talk about not using one’s “God-brain.”” jon, those of who post here are trying to use our brains as best we can. No one here doubts the inherent dignity of the human person. What is at issue is the practical outworking of that principle and others that many of us feel the bishops have not thought through with due care. What you call tangential issues concern the outworking of all principle relevant to legal and illegal immigration. Until the bishops address thougtful, legitimate questions such as those raised here, I cannot understand how anyone can find the bishops’ stand other than inadequate in depth and scope.
Pontificating “jon” and his “listen, people” or “you people”, and his thumbs-down votes, and his “Listen to the living Magisterium”, are all conceited blatherings.