The U.S. Bishops Have Become Strangers To Their Flocks

(Editor’s Note: A few weeks ago, The Wanderer published a front-page editorial calling upon the Holy Father to appoint a papal legate to the United States to begin cleaning the Augean stables of the U.S. Church. Many readers have responded with thoughtful letters. The following "open letter" to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, from Miriam Dapra, a reader from Hartville, Wyo., is one we can heartily endorse.)

I have read your letter addressed "To All Catholics in This Country" that was reprinted by your fellow shepherd, Bishop George Niederauer, in The Intermountain Catholic (Diocese of Salt Lake City). In your letter, you ask us, the members of the laity, to pray for our bishops "during the coming weeks that [y]our decisions on behalf of children and youth will be wise and effective and for the well-being of the whole Church."

This is a noble thing to pray for, and I want to say that I keep the bishops in my prayers on a daily basis, and will continue to do so.

But my heart is heavy, and I feel a need to unburden myself of some of the things that have occurred to me in that past few months as I hear about the scandalous behavior of some of our priests, bishops, and, yes, even cardinals. What is the laity to think? Or, to borrow some of your language, how are the laity to come to recognize — and follow — the voice of our shepherds?

I lived once in a diocese which was without a bishop for more than a year, and when one was named for us, I decided to see what canon law says about bishops. It was an eye-opening and humbling experience, making me grateful that I am not and can never be a bishop; the responsibility is overwhelming, and has eternal ramifications. Please allow me to quote some of it:

"In order for a person to be a suitable candidate for the episcopacy it is required that he be: 1) outstanding for his solid faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence, and human virtues and endowed with the other talents which make him fit to fulfill the office in question" (canon 378).

"In the exercise of his pastoral office a diocesan bishop is to show that he is concerned with all the Christian faithful who are committed to his care regardless of age, condition, or nationality, both those who live within his territory and those who are staying in it temporarily; he is to extend his apostolic spirit to those who cannot sufficiently make use of ordinary pastoral care due to their condition in life and to those who no longer practice their religion" (canon 383.1).

"The diocesan bishop is to attend to presbyters with special concern and listen to them as his assistants and advisers; he is to protect their rights and see to it that they correctly fulfill the obligations proper to their state and that means and institutions which they need are available to them to foster their spiritual and intellectual life" (canon 384).

"The diocesan bishop is bound to present and explain to the faithful the truths of the faith which are to be believed and applied to moral issues, frequently preaching in person; he is also to see to the careful observance of the prescriptions of the canons concerning the ministry of the word, especially those concerning the homily and catechetical formation, so that the whole of Christian doctrine is imparted to all.

"Through suitable means he is strongly to safeguard the integrity and unity of the faith to be believed while nevertheless acknowledging a rightful freedom in the further investigation of its truths" (canon 386.1, 2).

"Since the diocesan bishop is mindful that he is obliged to set a personal example of holiness, in charity, humility, and simplicity of life, he is to make every effort to promote the holiness of the Christian faithful according to each one’s own vocation; since he is the foremost dispenser of the mysteries of God, he is constantly to endeavor to have the Christian faithful entrusted to his care to grow in grace through the celebration of the sacraments and both understand and live the paschal mystery" (canon 387).

"Since he must protect the unity of the universal Church, the bishop is bound to promote the common discipline of the whole Church and therefore to urge the observance of all ecclesiastical laws.

"He is to be watchful lest abuses creep into ecclesiastical discipline, especially concerning the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and devotion to the saints, and also the administration of property" (canon 392.1, 2).

Clearly, the office of bishop carries tremendous responsibility; the bishop is accountable, not only for his own soul, but for the souls of all the faithful in his diocese. Is it any wonder that he is prayed for each time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in his diocese?

In your letter, Excellency, you say of the bishops that "we are asking ourselves, ‘Has our voice become the voice of strangers? Do people now no longer recognize our voice?’"

May I humbly submit that the answer to that question, for some of the faithful, is "yes." Yes, you are strangers; you are no longer recognized as shepherds, as leaders; your voice has become "as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:2). But why should this be? There was a time that Catholic bishops, individually and as a group, were recognized, even by non-Catholics, as having a voice of moral authority.

What has happened? When was that moral authority lost? I do not know; a specific date certainly cannot be pinned down. It is, perhaps, not all that necessary to find out when your moral authority was lost, although it is important to find out how it was lost, in order to regain it. If I, a lowly layman with no credentials (other than being a cradle Catholic and having stayed in the Church despite grave misgivings at times about the actions of some of her priests), have been so bold as to quote canon law to you (in what will undoubtedly be seen as an attempt to tell you how to do your job), may I also be so bold as to suggest some ways to regain your authority (in other words, to tell you how to do your job)?

In talking about the current crisis in the Church in America occasioned by the scandals caused by the behavior of some priests, start naming the sin! Do not shy away from calling their behavior "homosexual" or "sinful" or "criminal"! Do not take too literally St. Paul’s admonition — "But immorality and every uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becomes saints" (Eph. 4:3). Paul did not want them named, because first and foremost he did not want them practiced! Name these sins that are causing such an upheaval, and then prescribe the medicine necessary to heal the wounds being inflicted on the Body of Christ.

Be strong! Be courageous! Face the truth squarely and unflinchingly! Call sin "sin," and then remind your priests that they have the power to withhold absolution from those who persist in grievous sins, especially sexual sins!

Do you want a sure way to prevent offending priests from offending again? Turn them over, promptly, to the proper law enforcement agency. If they are convicted, their time in jail will be spent completely isolated from potential victims; they will be unable to commit those heinous crimes.

You write, Your Excellency, that our Holy Father, John Paul II, "has offered us [the bishops of America] whatever assistance we need in addressing this issue" (emphasis added). Please, I beg you, take him up on his offer! And make your request of him specific:

"Holy Father, we have messed up royally over here, and we confess that we are and have been unable to put an end to dissent of all kinds, and so find ourselves in a terrible crisis.

"We have allowed bad or nonexistent catechesis of our people on all levels, from preparing children for first Holy Communion to preparing men for the priesthood in our seminaries.

"We have fallen prey to the prevailing societal and psychological worldviews that deny the Kingship of Jesus Christ, and have thus abdicated our responsibility to make sure that ‘the whole of Christian doctrine is imparted to all,’ both from our pulpits and in colleges and universities.

"We have opened the doors of our seminaries, not to men who exhibit ‘solid faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence, and human virtues,’ but rather to men who dissent, implicitly and quietly, or explicitly and noisily, from the truth, both theological, doctrinal, and moral.

"We have opened the doors of our seminaries to men who are afflicted with homosexuality, and have neglected to demand, in Christian charity, that they live faithful, celibate lives in accordance with the teachings of the Church.

"We have failed to ‘correctly fulfill the obligations proper to [the] state’ of our presbyters, particularly in regard to celibacy. We have failed to ‘foster their spiritual and intellectual life’ — otherwise, they would not have the gnawing loneliness inside that leads them into ‘improper relationships’ with their people that lead to sexual sins.

"We have failed to ‘explain to the faithful the truths of the faith which are to be believed and applied to moral issues,’ especially on the grave matters of contraception and abortion.

"We have ignored or failed to carry out the ‘prescriptions of the canons concerning the ministry of the word, especially those concerning the homily and catechetical formation,’ which has resulted in the most egregious liturgical abuses, and the loss of nearly two entire generations of improperly educated children and adults.

"We have failed, in our misguided zeal for ‘academic freedom’ and in the spirit of American ‘democracy,’ to ‘safeguard the integrity and unity of the faith,’ thus allowing the wide dissemination of false and faulty teaching and outspoken dissent.

"We have failed, in how we ourselves live, to ‘to set a personal example of holiness, in charity, humility, and simplicity of life’ and failed ‘to make every effort to promote the holiness of the Christian faithful according to each one’s own vocation.’

"We have failed to ‘promote the common discipline of the whole Church and . . . to urge the observance of all ecclesiastical laws.’

"We have failed in our sacred duty to safeguard the faith and the sacraments, thereby letting ‘abuses creep into ecclesiastical discipline, especially concerning the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals, the worship of God and devotion to the saints,’ and so, too many priests (and one is too many) have thumbed their noses at celibacy; too many priests and religious have thumbed their noses at moral teaching; too many priests have decided that they can do whatever they wish in the celebration of Holy Mass and the Sacrament of Penance; too many of the faithful are denied the opportunity — the right! — to gather for devotions outside of Holy Mass.

"Holy Father, we have failed, and failed miserably. Since we have proved ourselves unable to follow canon law, let alone enforce it, please send us a papal legate, endowed with the power to do the following, as exhorted by The Wanderer in its front-page editorial published April 25:

"1) Remove all bishops who failed to expel from the priesthood homosexual and pedophile priests who abused children and teenagers;

"2) Close seminaries infected with heresy and homosexuality for one year and then start all over again with a new faculty and student body;

"3) Shut down the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for ten years; and replace it with a caretaker office of one bishop, a secretary, and two assistants;

"4) Demand that Catholic colleges and universities follow canon 812 and Ex Corde Ecclesiae within one year; those who do not, will be publicly branded as no longer Catholic;

"5) Set up a completely new system for the selection and appointment of new bishops, since the current system, whatever it is, is not working.

"Holy Father, we believe that would be a good start toward atoning for our shortcomings, our failures, and our sins against our people and the Church. In your mercy and compassion, please do not reject our plea for help!"

That, Your Excellency, is what I hope I would say in June if I were in your shoes. Since I am not, I will continue to pray for you and your fellow bishops. I am well aware that some of them know, strive to follow completely, and perhaps even read daily to remind themselves, the canons relating to them. May God bless them mightily and increase their number!

Please take careful note: "The protection of children and youth" is not the only issue at stake here. It is critical, to be sure, that our children are protected from sexual predators. You have as well a responsibility, a sacred duty, to safeguard the faith of all the faithful, which is being shaken to its foundations these days. Will you help us to be faithful? Will you help us to strive for personal holiness? Will you implement the changes needed both to stop the current abuse and to prevent it in the future? If you do so, you will do well. If you do not desire this, then heed well the prophecies of Ezechiel (34), Jeremiah (25:34-38), and Zechariah (10:3; 11:3-17)!

What would you suggest?

A few weeks ago, The Wanderer published a front-page editorial calling upon the Holy Father to appoint a papal legate to the United States to begin cleaning the Augean stables of the U.S. Church.

I have to laugh at this "papal legate" foolishness.

It is THE VATICAN showing the most resistance to a zero tolerance policy.

It is THE VATICAN which questions the need to turn each and every offender over to civil authorities.

We'd be better off if the Vatican simply allowed the bishops to implement a zero tolerance policy, forward and backward.

The idea that the pope has any inclination to start firing bishops is absurd.

"It is THE VATICAN showing the most resistance to a zero tolerance policy. "

I'm in the dark about this. Got any links? thanks,

As long as the bishops have legal ownership of the school systems which the laity depend on there isn't much the laity can do. Unless they want to send their kids to the pathetic public school system

that was based on American Bishop pressure - the Vatican wanted to fire them all.

Do you have inside sources? Or are you speculating? Or assuming that the Vatican would naturally want to do what the rest of want to?

Thanks, I checked out the link. It was sort of an 'inside baseball' report. But has the Vatican officially said anything publicly? Probably a good number of the Bishops have been appointed during the watch of current Rome leaders. But who is making the recommendations needs to be answered.

The Jesus teaching that the greatest are to serve rather than be served, should be reborn in the hierarchy.

The news reports from the summit focused on tensions between Vatican hardliners who wanted the US to clean up or else and American bishops who pleaded for a chance to fix things themselves rather than having it imposed from Rome, avoiding further scandal. The US bishops don't get it, have'nt gotten it for a very long time. The Church is still a sacred place but not in my country, sad to say. Freaks like to say this happens all over but in Mexico, Poland, etc. Christ's church is living pretty close to home and would not permit this kind of heresy, let alone the other political kinds that we've suffered over here for my lifetime.

"The U.S. Bishops Have Become Strangers To Their Flocks"

Well, of course! It comes from priests "interacting" with choir boys and altar boys as the shepherd does with his sheep.

Probably a good number of the Bishops have been appointed during the watch of current Rome leaders. But who is making the recommendations needs to be answered.

I think quite a few bishops most deeply involved were appointed by Paul VI (but raised to cardinals by John Paul II). As I understand it, the American bishops are proposed to the Pope by the miscreants in the National Council of Catholic Bishops -- someone on another thread gave the numbers, and there are just too many for the Pope to know personally; the recommendations are generally accepted and acted upon.

"The U.S. Bishops Have Become Strangers To Their Flocks"

I have come to the conclusion that a great many bishops and priests in my Church are actually evil men. And a great many more are active sinners who show not the slightest inclination to repent for their sins. It is not just the smoke of Satan that has seeped into the Church, but Satan's own pride and love of sexual depravity (and the misery that inevitably accompanies it). A battle needs to be fought, and a goodly number of our Church leaders and priests are the enemy. They have turned the American Catholic Church into the Church of Sodom.

"I have come to the conclusion that a great many bishops and priests in my Church are actually evil men. And a great many more are active sinners who show not the slightest inclination to repent for their sins."

Unfortunately, I share your belief but about my own denomination, the Episcopal Church. You have a at least a good shot at cleaning house, but we will not, I fear.

"A battle needs to be fought, "

Fortunately I do not know the priests that fit your description. But the matter is out in the open, so let the games begin. Too many Bishops, down-sizing is in order. A remnant will survive and restore. "But above all things, Truth beareth away the victory."

Freaks like to say this happens all over but in Mexico, Poland, etc. Christ's church is living pretty close to home and would not permit this kind of heresy, let alone the other political kinds that we've suffered over here for my lifetime.

Hide and watch. Of course, in Mexico, a large number of the priests live in open concubinage, but at least they're messing around with adult women.

"As long as the bishops have legal ownership of the school systems which the laity depend on there isn't much the laity can do. Unless they want to send their kids to the pathetic public school system"

There is something they can do....Catholic Home Education and Catholic Co-operative Education...the time is Now!!!!

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