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[Catholic Caucus] The Key to Restoring Catholic OrthodoxyIt is well known that the “Spirit of Vatican II” changed the Catholic landscape, undermining the orthodoxy that resulted in the pre-Vatican II golden age of Catholicism. What is not well known among Catholics is this: For the past five decades instruction in most if not all of our Catholic seminaries and universities has been undermining the faith, in particular that of our seminarians. It casts doubt on the evangelists — including eyewitness-apostles Matthew and John — as writers of the Gospels, attributing them instead to unknown individuals writing a generation later. Superior...

[Catholic Caucus] USCCB seminary norms won't include proposed background databaseA U.S. bishops’ conference draft policy update on seminary formation does not incorporate a call to build a national screening database of applicants to seminaries and religious orders. Advocates say a database could help flag problem seminary applicants before they are accepted, by tracking rejected applications from seminaries or religious orders, along with those applications deferred or withdrawn.The database was proposed to the U.S. bishops’ conference by an Ohio seminary nearly six years ago, but there has been no apparent move toward adopting it. It has not been included in the...

Prominent US bishop leads Catholic group prayerfully protesting Communion for pro-abortion politiciansBishop Joseph Strickland has regularly joined Catholics outside meetings of the USCCB, praying the rosary with them on his knees. Bishop Strickland praying in Baltimore BALTIMORE, Maryland (LifeSiteNews) – Faithful Catholics were joined by Tyler’s Bishop Joseph Strickland during the U.S. bishops fall meeting recently, as they gathered in the city to prayerfully protest against the “scandal” of the bishops not protecting the “integrity of Church teaching on worthy reception of the Eucharist.”While the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered in Baltimore November 15 through 18, for...

‘A Better Kind of Politics’US bishops' latest campaignTRANSCRIPTChurch of Nice leaders launched a new campaign for being "nice" in current political discourse. The latest brainchild of the U.S. bishops' conference appeals to the pope's encyclical Fratelli Tutti and includes a website where Catholics can pledge to play nicely. Church Militant's William Mahoney has some of the details of the pledge.The American bishops' new initiative is called "Civilize It." Visitors to the website are greeted by a byline: "A polarized Church. A divided nation. Pope Francis calls for 'a better kind of politics.' How will you respond?"One can respond by taking...

[Catholic Caucus] After 14 Years, Pontifical North American College (Rome) cancels all Traditional Latin Masses, and all TLM training Announced today to the NAC community -- the PNAC is the National College of the United States in Rome, and the most influential American seminary in the world. It is under the direction of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).This is a very important piece of the puzzle of the systemic cultural genocide Francis is imposing on Traditional Catholics. Our only options are to resist or to die and disappear.Please, mention Rorate when reporting this piece of news.

Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, former general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference, announced his resignation Tuesday, after The Pillar found evidence the priest engaged in serial sexual misconduct, while he held a critical oversight role in the Catholic Church’s response to the recent spate of sexual abuse and misconduct scandals. “It is with sadness that I inform you that Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill has resigned as General Secretary of the Conference,” Archbishop Jose Gomez wrote July 20 in a memo to U.S. bishops. “On Monday, we became aware of impending media reports alleging possible improper behavior by Msgr. Burrill. What was shared...

International Religious Freedom Summit takes place in Washington, DCThe first ever International Religious Summit takes place in Washington, DC, with the support of the US Catholic Bishops' Conference.Washington D.C. is hosting the first ever International Religious Freedom Summit (IRC) this week. The event, which was announced in April by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), started on July 13 and runs through to July 15 , in a mixed format, bringing together more than 40 organizations of different faiths and countries committed to upholding religious freedom across the world.The USCCB's supportThe IRC Summit is co-sponsored by the...

[Catholic Caucus] What St. Junipero Serra shows about Eucharistic coherenceWhat does an 18th-century Franciscan missionary have to do with a 21st-century debate about abortion and communion? Bear with me, and I’ll explain.First let me make a confession. I’ve been working full-time as a Catholic journalist for nearly 40 years now, and I still don’t know what bishops do all day.Oh, I don’t mean that quite literally. I know what fills the hours: meetings, mostly. I’ve even seen some bishops’ daily schedules. Running a diocese, like running any large organization, requires a lot of time and effort.But what are they doing...

Leftist media is politicizing the bishops’ meeting — not the other way around. And their almost every interpretation of the meeting is misguided and blatantly false.Last week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to advance a document that will discuss “Eucharistic coherence,” which Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila called an “opportunity for me and all bishops to recommit ourselves to an unapologetic preaching of Jesus Christ.” In the aftermath, corporate media once again proved themselves to be arbiters of hypocrisy, with headline after headline criticizing the church for allegedly politicizing the Eucharist.Among others, NPR reported “Bishops Vote to Rethink...

Will the church view the culture war through the gospel, or will it view the gospel through the culture war? One approach is biblical. The other is deadly.Thanks to a communion controversy being clarified by the U.S. Catholic bishops and a continued insistence by President Joe Biden that his public actions are actually deeply personal matters, abortion is the issue of the day — and with it, questions of religious faithfulness.Corporate media are teaming up with nominal Catholics to smear the faithful as bad-faith political actors, while traditional Catholics work to convince an unconvinceable political class that their deeply held...

Rep. Ted Lieu went on a rant this weekend against the Catholic Church calling U.S. bishops "hypocrites" and "nakedly partisan" for seeking to update Communion guidance that could rebuke politicians like President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi for supporting abortion policies. The Catholic California Democrat called out several Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Attorney General William Barr, for seemingly violating the beliefs of the Catholic Church, but not being threatened with Communion denial like pro-choice Democrats. Lieu said such hypocrisy could doom church membership. Lieu then dared the church to deny him Communion for his political...

ROME – On Friday the U.S. State Department confirmed a European tour for United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken next week that will include stops in Italy and the Vatican, where he is expected to meet with top Holy See officials. According to the State Department’s June 18 communique, Blinken’s tour will last from June 22-29. He will first visit Berlin and Paris before coming to Italy, making stops in Rome, the Vatican, Bari, and Matera. While in Rome, he will co-chair a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS alongside Italian Foreign Minister Luigi De Maio, and...

VATICAN CITY — Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said a letter he sent in late May to the president of the U.S. bishops' conference was simply "a letter of acknowledgment" of the receipt of communication from him. Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, read from Di Noia's letter June 16 at the U.S. bishops' meeting. Di Noia said he thought the letter was read "in order to demonstrate the collaborative relationship between the CDF and the USCCB, in order to counter...

New fossils reveal one of the largest land mammals ever found Monica Lewinsky responds to viral HBO intern's mistake: 'It gets better' More than 20,000 Christians have signed an online petition urging U.S. Cathholic bishops to "stop partisan politics," pushing back against their efforts to rebuke President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians that support womens' reproductive rights. U.S. Catholic Bishops voted on Thursday to approve the drafting of a "teaching document" that would rebuke Biden and other Catholic lawmakers for receiving communion while supporting abortion. The result of the vote was announced on Friday, with a 168 in favor...

The Lies and Reality of the USCCB VoteAs I’ve been saying ever since the letter trying to squash the forming of a document on “Eucharistic Coherence”, the loud crowd is in the minority. There is no “split down the middle.” Let’s look at the vote on drafting that document: 168 yea, 55 nay, and 6 abstentions. The club that wants to give Communion to whoever walks up to receive didn’t even retain their supposed 67! I don’t know why a bigger deal hasn’t been made about that, but more than one person who supposedly signed said they didn’t at all....

In a story June 14, 2021, about Joe Biden and Pope Francis, the Catholic News Agency, based on information provided by a source, erroneously reported that the U.S. President would meet with the pope on June 15. According to Vatican sources June 15, there is no meeting currently scheduled between Pope Francis and President Joe Biden. (snip) The President’s entourage had originally requested for Biden to attend Mass with the pope early in the morning, but the proposal was nixed by the Vatican after considering the impact that Biden receiving Holy Communion from the pope would have on the discussions...

Update: Vatican Refused June 15 Meeting, Morning Mass No Longer on the AgendaThe President's entourage had originally requested for President Biden to attend Mass with the Pope early in the morning, but the proposal was nixed by the Vatican Pope Francis and Joe Biden at the White House on September 23, 2015. (photo: David Lienemann / Public domain) Vatican June 15, 2021 Editor's Note: According to Vatican sources June 15, there is no meeting currently scheduled between Pope Francis and President Joe Biden. The story has been amended in light of this breaking news.VATICAN CITY — President Joe Biden's...

US bishops’ conference denies any wrongdoing in ongoing Peter’s Pence lawsuit, blames parishionersWASHINGTON, April 28, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In an ongoing case regarding the use of Peter’s Pence donations, lawyers for the U.S. bishops have asserted that parishioners were aware (or at least ought to have been) that their money could be used by the Holy See for any purpose, despite their own advertisement to the contrary.The Peter’s Pence lawsuit was originally filed in January 2020 against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) by the Stanley Law Group based in Dallas, Texas, representing a Class Action brought by...

[Catholic Caucus] US bishops to vote on plan for Eucharist and pro-choice Catholic politiciansThe U.S. bishops’ conference could be given a vote this June on whether to draft and publish a document addressing the question of administering the Eucharist to pro-choice Catholic politicians. The document could be finalized and approved as early as November, sources tell The Pillar. Credit: Lawrence OP via flickr. CC BY SA 2.0ShareThe USCCB’s administrative committee discussed on Tuesday a path forward for a proposed document on “Eucharistic coherence,” several sources within the bishops’ conference told The Pillar. A plan to develop the statement had the...

The working group, formed in November, met twice and produced two recommendations by the end of the year 2020.WASHINGTON — A source at the U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) has disputed the notion that a special working group formed to deal with new President Joe Biden was terminated prematurely this week. Reports earlier this week at the National Catholic Reporter indicated that the USCCB’s working group on dealing with new President Joe Biden was “disbanded,” just three months after it was formed in November after the presidential election. According to a USCCB source with knowledge of the situation, however, it is...