“Several other writers have argued that so long as these high-profile Catholics carry out anti-Catholic policies and remain in apparently good standing in the Church, many Catholics will conclude that, whatever the noise about these issues, it must be all right to be a Catholic and take positions contrary to what the bishops and Church seem to hold.”
I’m not sure how anyone can argue against this. Any sane first grade teacher knows you can’t teach without public discipline, but not most bishops. Think about this—they are actually bringing a case against the state yet haven’t yet used public discipline on those public Catholics that facilitated and continue to promote the other side in a public manner. It’s like managers that allow some of their players in the home uniform to bat for the visiting team in front of the home crowd. Just gives the impression that how the ball game turns out must not be too important to them.
Freegards
Anyone with common sense also knows that once a child is spoiled it’s too late to invoke parental authority.
It still has to be done but it won’t unspoil the child.
A parent, at least, can physically throw the spoiled child out of the house (and go to jail, I suppose). But a bishop cannot physically do that and anything he says to the spoiled CINOs will wash over them like the proverbial water off a duck’s back.
It’s too late. The children are spoiled. Their unspoiled siblings will hear the words but they already know their content. The ones who need to hear won’t.
The bishops should excommunicate anyway.
But it won’t unspoil the children. Sorry, it won’t. To think that it will is a pipedream and we have much more important things to focus on.