The Bureaucracy Blind-Sides The Bishops

The Wanderer ^ | July 3, 2008 | Christopher Mannion

[livius]

Our recent coverage of the scandal at Richmond Catholic Charities ( CCR) tells a sordid tale of tragedy, secrecy, and sub­terfuge. But this incident, sorrowful as it is, also reveals a deeper and more per­vasive problem that has plagued the Church in America for decades. That problem is the power of rogue bureaucra­cies that have hijacked the work of the Church and secularized it. In many cas­es, like that in Richmond, they have to­tally corrupted it.

Sometimes we have to wonder if the chanceries have learned anything from the clerical abuse scandals and cover- ups that have so damaged the Church in re­cent years. The Richmond chancery, flouting the Dallas charter’s requirement for transparency, covered up this latest scandal for months. Their method is marked with familiar signs — secrecy, ex­pensive lawyers, denials, and finger pointing. The only tactic missing is “ blam­ing the victim” — which is impossible, in this case, because one of the victims is dead, killed last January 18 by an abor­tion arranged and authorized by employ­ees of Richmond Catholic Charities ( CCR)...

The bishops must wonder, how did this come to pass? Well, while they weren’t looking, those church bureaucracies have become solidly entrenched and radical­ized. They are now virtual clones of the federal bureaucracy — where government unions demand “ gay days,” castigate any­one caught praying on the job, and mock pro- life presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush as though they were temporary “ political appointees.” For the past thirty years, many USCCB bureau­cracies have faithfully reflected the poli­cies of the pro- abortion, Democratic left in Washington. The small (and good) pro­life office at the USCCB is a lonely island in a sea of left- wing attitudes...

[verga]

D@man good idea I think I will do the same.

[sitetest]

Dear Mad Dawg,

The cover up alone (the baby murder happened in January, it was months before reported, and then not reported on the initiative of the bishop) is reason enough for the bishop to resign.

If there was such a serious problem with his diocese's Catholic Charities, he OWED it to the people of his diocese to bring it out into the open, to publicly excoriate those who assisted with murder, to publicly excommunicate any Catholics involved, and to essentially conduct an Inquisition of the entire organization IN PUBLIC.

Dioceses take up collections for their diocesan Catholic Charities. That his diocese's Catholic Charities was so damned corrupt was a fact that he ABSOLUTELY OWED his flock, so that they could be completely informed about the organization to which they were being asked to donate money.

His failure to do so makes him a co-conspirator in fraud, and at a minimum, an accessory after the fact to the murder of an unborn baby.

sitetest

[sitetest]

Dear Mad Dawg,

“Rosaries IMHO brought down the USSR. Surely they can clean up the USCCB.”

It'll take a lot more rosaries to clean up the USCCB than it took to bring down the USSR.

sitetest

[Salvation]

Hopefully this single case can be righted and we can move along the path to investigating and right other dimocrat takeovers of Catholic Charities.

[Salvation]

**“Rosaries IMHO brought down the USSR. Surely they can clean up the USCCB.”**

Great suggestion........perhaps we should dedicate one day a week to pray for the bishops. Or do they need more?

We must also pray fervently for Pope Benedict who is dealing with the lenient U. S. bishops.

[livius]

It'll take a lot more rosaries to clean up the USCCB than it took to bring down the USSR.

I'd be laughing if it weren't so true.

[livius]

They really need to examine all the Catholic “human services” organizations. There’s apparently a couple of (”Catholic”) hospitals in Texas that were just revealed to have been doing a land-office business in sterilizations.

The bishops have to get serious about this. The problem is that so many of them are left-over lefties that it’s very hard to get much unity from them on the idea of addressing the situation.

[ELS]

The problem is that so many of them are left-over lefties that it’s very hard to get much unity from them on the idea of addressing the situation.

Given it is the Pauline Year, we can pray that they have a conversion like St. Paul's. I doubt human persuasion will work on some of them.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

..... consider the most distressing pas­sage in the bishop’s letter ......he describes his “ particular concern that some members of MRS staff ..... were not suffi­ciently aware of Catholic teaching” to stop the abortion.

... Apparently, employees of Catholic Charities are not familiar with Catholic teaching ........ His Excellency must be shocked, shocked! that this could pos­sibly be true.

...we are shocked, shocked!!!... I tell you.

[Mad Dawg]

I was the one who suggested rosaries. Or I didn't exactly suggest them, I went and said a full rosary for DiLorenzo.

I think Prayer Warriors saying at least 5 decades a week for the USCCB is an awesome idea!

[livius]

This was petronski's comment from another thread:

Take off and nuke it [the USCCB bureaucracy] from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

I wish they would dismantle the whole thing. It does nothing but protect bishops behaving badly. And it prevents the good ones (many of whom have little to do with the organization) from having as much impact because it makes them look isolated and not part of the "official" club.