Real Catholic Blog

Regarding the last post about the U.S. Bishops not doing enough until, possibly, now, to affect the debate on the “health care” bill and its funding of abortion, as well as their tolerance of groups and individuals who intentionally misrepresent Catholic teaching, here is the latest commentary from Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com. How appropriate the timing! As I posted yesterday, there are real lessons to learn from Saint Patrick. Mr. Voris gives us one, today, that certainly is applicable to the abortion debate and the “health care” bill.

Drive out the snakes as they are present among us to this day and we’re not talking reptiles, either.

Below is a very informative video from RealCatholicTV.com (via YouTube.com) about corruption and scandal at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, especially as it relates to personnel there and the activities in which they are engaged which are counter to the teachings of the Church. One individual, John Carr, served on the board of the radical leftist group Center for Community Change (see Bellarmine Veritas Ministry).

Mr. Carr and others at the USCCB are funding organizations — remember the revelation of its funding to ACORN? — that have a left-wing political agenda including those that work to advance the agendas of pro-abortion and homosexual rights groups. As Michael Voris (Catholic.org) and Vic Faust (The American Catholic) explains in the video, it calls into question the role of the USCCB. For example, the Conference doesn’t rule on doctrine and teaching — that is up to the Vatican.

However, that doesn’t stop it from issuing letters, which it represents as authoritative. But its biggest fault is that it has and continues to staff its organization with leftist political ideologues who have, since the USCCB’s inception, used the imprimatur of the U.S. Bishops to influence the notions of the faithful, seminaries and Catholic colleges. In this way, it has poisoned the faithful by confusing them as to what the Church (God) teaches. This has led to division within the Church and a weakened voice in the culture of our country which abets abortion, a weakening of marriage and a general deterioration of our culture and spiritual lives.  

By the way, we have added two sources from the video — RealCatholicTV itself and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry to our Media section and Blogroll, respectively. Two others, American Life League (see article) and Pew Sitter (see article) are mainstays in our Public Policy Section and Media sections, respectively.

The USCCB needs a staff and policy house cleaning. Michael Voris and Vic Faust  provide a detailed report.

The head of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, is known for his behind the scenes pragmatism. He is not one for the limelight. But recently, in light of the D.C. City Council’s aggressive moves toward legalizing same-sex marriage, the Archbishop has publicly upped the ante as reported in today’s Washington Post.

His stand for the Word of God has caused some discomfort in the District’s Catholic community. Those upset are in two camps: Those who call themselves Catholic but don’t subscribe to the Church’s teachings and those who just can’t believe an American bishop won’t pull the liberal go-along line. After all, American bishops are supposed to support liberal social justice measures but stay quiet on abortion and marriage. They are shocked!

Of course, as written here before, the U.S. Bishops, unfortunately, are a bit naive. They play to the liberal social justice crowd and can’t understand why those types turn on them when they stand up for Biblical teachings. But, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and now the liberals are upset that Archbishop Wuerl has told D.C. that if it legalizes same-sex marriage, Catholic Charities will put the breaks on its services in the city.

Unfortunately, the city council did vote 11-2 today to legalize homosexual marriage (see Post again, here). It is the first of two votes needed, but final passage and Mayor Adrian Fenty’s signature appear all but guaranteed.

There is some good news, however, in the culture war, according to the Washington Times. After Maine voters rejected homosexual marriage during last month’s elections, the New Jersey and New York legislatures have slowed down their marches to destroy the meaning of marriage.