Posted on 11/15/2004 2:54:03 PM PST by JesseHousman
WASHINGTON - Catholic bishops, burdened by abuse costs and internal divisions, are beginning their fall meeting today for their U.S. conference.
Two dioceses have declared bankruptcy in the face of millions of dollars in clergy sex abuse claims, and a third plans to file at the end of this month. More dioceses are expected to follow.
The presidential election exposed deep divisions among bishops over how they should respond to Catholic politicians -- and to all Catholics -- who are at odds with church teaching on abortion and other issues.
SULLIED BY FALLOUT
And as the meeting opens today, the customarily routine transition that occurs every three years in the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been sullied by fallout from the molestation scandal.
''The bishops are very anxious,'' said Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the bishops' conference. ``A number of dioceses are in pretty perilous financial positions at the present time, and what's happened so far may not be the end of it.''
Church leaders have cleared many hurdles in the sex abuse crisis, which erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston in January 2002, and has had effects on every American diocese. The bishops' plan to prevent abuse and remove offenders from parishes is largely in place, despite resistance from some church leaders, and is undergoing review.
But many dioceses say they now are buckling under the financial impact of multimillion-dollar abuse lawsuits. Dioceses in Tucson, Ariz., and Portland, Ore., have declared bankruptcy, and the Spokane, Wash., diocese says it will file at month's end.
''I think the bishops will be talking about bankruptcy over lunch and dinner and coffee,'' said the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit magazine America. ``I think the financial cost is really bearing down on them now.''
The Spokane bankruptcy has drawn special attention because its leader, Bishop William Skylstad, was in line to succeed Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., as president of the bishops' conference during this fall meeting.
However, church observers say the bishops may wonder if he can run his diocese while leading the conference.
Skylstad is named in several lawsuits that accuse the Spokane Diocese of hiding wrongdoing by priests, and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will be in Washington to oppose his candidacy.
The conference president, among many other duties, serves as chief spokesman on the bishops' efforts to protect children and restore trust in church leadership.
A DAUNTING TASK
It will be a daunting task for whomever is elected. In a recently released poll by Dean Hoge of Catholic University of America and James Davidson of Purdue University, 72 percent of lay people said the failure of bishops to stop predator priests was a bigger problem than the molestation itself.
Beyond the abuse crisis, bishops gave a rare public glimpse of their differences during this year's controversy over whether dissenting Catholic politicians should be denied Communion.
Last month, Pope John Paul II, without specifically addressing the Communion issue, told visiting U.S. bishops that they should build greater unity within the conference.
''The Vatican is very concerned with the appearance of disunity among the bishops,'' said David Gibson, a former Vatican newsman and author of The Coming Catholic Church.
"The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of evil bishops" - St. Cyprian.
Amen, Wideawake!
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
Looks like it's working.
The USSR ordered infiltration of the Roman Catholic Church in 1950. When the homosexuals saw a chance to enter seminaries, be ordained and get their perverted hands on the kids they worked in concert with the commies!
Voila! Today we have the New World Order and the Novus Ordo Catholic Church!
IOW, the legacy of Antonio Gramsci and then the Frankfurt School at work.
I would like to see some documentation of that history. Do you have a reference? Do you have correlation of Skousen's list to Gramsci's writings?
Ping
"The presidential election exposed deep divisions among bishops over how they should respond to Catholic politicians -- and to all Catholics -- who are at odds with church teaching on abortion"
I'm not fond of how this sentence was worded. If you're "pro-choice" then you aren't Catholic - it's as simple as that. Too bad few bishops have the balls to say so. I'm not expecting any major changes in the American hierarchy for a long time. We need to wait for these effete liberal bishops to basically die out and be replaced by the younger generation of more orthodox clergy. Because that's the only thing that will make a difference - these current dinosaurs just don't get it anymore while the Church crumbles around them :(
Seems to be a popular saying:
Saint Athanasius - Apostle of Tradition:
"The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."
Saint John Eudes and St. John Chrysostom tells us:
'The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops'.
This is a take on Saint Athanasius' original statement.
St. Catherine of Siena to Pope Gregory XI: "You are in charge of the garden of the holy Church. So uproot from the garden the stinking weeds full of impurity and avarice and bloated with pride. I mean the evil pastors and administrators who poison and corrupt the garden. . . . Use your authority, you who are in charge of us!"
The gates of Hell may not prevail but they're certainly giving it their best shot!
What do you know about Bishop Skylstad. He hasn't been Bishop of Spokane for that many years, Maybe 8 or 9 years.
I know Bishop Skylstad and he is a very nice and humble person. He confirmed my children and has been to my house for dinner.
The only reason I can see why his name has been mentioned in a lawsuit would be because he happens to be the current Bishop.
I know he sent a letter to the Catholics in his diocese defending a pervert priest and in doing so referred to a sinful pornographic business as an "adult book store". I know the man doesn't want to "use Eucharist over political matters." (Note his lack of "The" before speaking of Our Lord's Precious Body and Blood. The man is a liberal and a coward. He is hiding behind the bankruptcy lawyers.
- O&T's wife
They've created this mess themselves by allowing homos, heretics and leftists to run the place, now they have the nerve to wonder why the faithful won't put their family's money into their corrupt hands.
In less than half a century Vatican II via the destructive manipulators who've rode it for all it's worth has nearly destroyed what took 2 millenia to build.
Only the bewildered and uninformed will do as their told.
You and I have been on the same wavelength for some time now, AAA!
In a nutshell.
It couldn't be any simpler than that for true Christians.
Insofar as the complicity in the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church by the homosexuals is concerned, that is slightly more recent history and is, of course, easily documented.
Well then, please provide those sources and references. I'd like to study them further.
Go to http://sgg.org/. Do some reading for yourself and you'll learn about what's been happening for the past 40+ years.
This isn't going too fast for you is it?
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