Names of Bishops Calling for Plenary Council Revealed

Catholic World News (sorry, no link!) | 8/7/02 | Antoninus

[Antoninus]

According to a Catholic World News article, the following are the names of the Bishops who are calling for the Plenary Council:

Archbishops Oscar Lipscomb of Atlanta, Georgia; John Vlazny of Portland, Oregon; Daniel Cronin of Hartford, Connecticut; and James Keleher of Kansas City, Kansas. Also signing were Bishops Raymond Burke of LaCrosse, Wisconsin; Robert Morlino of Helena, Montana; Daniel DiNardo of Sioux City, Iowa, and Detroit auxiliary Allen Vigneron.

What do we know about any of these guys? I don't see Bishop Bruskewitz on here, so I'm immediately suspicious.

[ELS]

Deal Hudson said that the signers were from across the Catholic spectrum. Perhaps the more orthodox ones have been lurking under the radar. As one poster mentioned, having Burkewitz and/or Chaput sign it may attract the wrong kind of attention. Does anyone here really doubt that Burkewitz and Chaput don't support the idea?

[ELS]

Apparently, these eight were among those at the recent Bishops' conference who supported Bruskewitz' amendment to address dissent and homosexuality as root causes of the crisis.

[ELS]

Yikes, I haven't had my coffee, yet.

Burkewitz should be Bruskewitz.

[ninenot]

Bp. Vigneron of Detroit is SOLID AND TERRIFIC!!--thus says a good friend with whom I had a lenghty conversation last week. Of course, he has to operate carefully--Detroit is the home of Dearden's Call to Action movement--but the Seminary, under his Rectorship, has been renewed (in the most Catholic sense.)

Burke, of LaCrosse, is similarly inclined--by no coincidence he sends his seminarians to Detroit (Sacred Heart Seminary.)

Lipscomb is another thing entirely. Heavy-duty liturgical "reformer," but politically astute enough to understand that he must keep his "guiding hand" on potential reform/renewal movements. With his statements, you must parse carefully--as with Clinton X42.

[american colleen]

When I didn't see Bishops Bruskewitz' name, my cynical mind started formulating reasons why this might have been brought forward...

That was my first thought, but then I thought about it. I believe Bishop Bruskewitz is a "lightning rod" - and a lot of the "dissenters" (I don't like using the word liberal when it comes to the Church) have a knee jerk reaction towards him. My own parish priest says Bruskewitz is from the Dark Ages. Anyway, if Bruskewitz had signed the Plenary letter, it may have been dismissed out of hand by many, if not most of us (well, not exactly us here on FR, I mean Catholics in the USA) and you know the media would have followed Bishop Bruskewitz' name with "the ultra-conservative Bishop" - with the eight names currently signed on, it is hard to label the letter anything at all.

"They want to have this council to reaffirm all the things the pope has been teaching, not change them," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit who is the editor of America magazine. "This council is not being called to start a revolution, but to reaffirm current teaching and practice in the church."

Every single day I am going to recite the St. Michael Prayer and make some sort of sacrifice until this letter is fleshed out and the above words are put into action.

[american colleen]

How did you find that out?

I am very optimistic about any letter publically published that espouses affirming Catholic teaching according to Rome.

[Catholicguy]

Every single day I am going to recite the St. Michael Prayer and make some sort of sacrifice until this letter is fleshed out and the above words are put into action.

excellent suggestion. You noted your priest thinks Bruskewitz is from the Dark Ages. I agree and even though that is too modern for me, I am willing to stick with him :)

[Catholicguy]

Does anyone here really doubt that Burkewitz and Chaput don't support the idea?

Good points. maybe they are just being "wise as serpents"

[ELS]

I said "apparently." I don't know for a fact, but it would seem so.

[american colleen]

LOL!

Thanks for the laugh. If my priest mentions Bruskewitz in that light again, may I steal your line?

[NYer]

RCF maintains an extensive database on any and all bishops who have any connection, whatsoever, to sex abuse cases. I chose to look there for anything on each of the bishops named. Here are the results so far.

Oscar Lipscomb - nothing

John Vlazny of Portland -Roman Catholic Faithful recently conducted an investigation into the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota. The investigation continues, but the results thus far illustrate the soft underbelly of yet another Amchurch diocese that withers on the vine as Modernism, liturgical abuses and sex scandals rip at the heart of the Church.

For the ten year period ending in December, 1997, John Vlazny was bishop of Winona, a small diocese in rural Minnesota. Vlazny was previously an auxiliary bishop in Chicago, and liked to point out that he was one of the earliest bishops ordained by Cardinal Bernadin. At the time Vlazny took over in Winona, the Diocese had been in the national news because of a $1 million damage award assessed against the Winona diocese and the archdiocese of St. Paul as the result of the pedophilia of Fr. Thomas Adamson.

ANOTHER BERNARDIN LEGACY

... more to follow

[cebadams]

SpiritDaily.com" posted more of the story from CWNews.com.

The 8 bishops, in their July 17 letter to all of the US bishops, asked for their proposal to be put on the agenda for discussion at the regular meeting of the US bishops' conference in November. They also asked other American bishops to join them in the call for a Plenary Council.

Bishops Vigneron and DiNardo contributed a five-page background paper explaining the reasons for a Plenary Council, and the steps that would have to be taken by the US bishops' conference to convene the meeting.

[NYer]

Well, I feel better having looked around.

Final results of my search at RCF ....

Bishop Cronin - nothing

Bishop Keleher - nothing

Bishop Burke - nothing

Bishop Morlino - nothing

Bishop DiNardo - nothing

Bishop Vigneron - The best news is that Sacred Heart Seminary is now being run by Bishop Allen Vigneron who is proving to be a man of considerable courage and holiness. He is the successor of Bishop John Nienstedt, who ran the seminary for about seven years, and also earned a reputation as being in line with the Magisterium.

Personally, I am consoled to see that these bishops, who are not well known, had the courage to take a stand on an issue that we all know to be the root cause of so many problems in the catholic church. Does anyone know what the next step in this phase will be?

[Polycarp]

Does anyone know what the next step in this phase will be?

My cynical side says the next step in this phase will be silence from the rest of the bishops. Hope springs eternal tho...

[Askel5]

That's good to know ... thanks.

Please do flag me as you post more (if you have a ping list, I'd like to be on it).

[Askel5]

Thanks for the link.

I shall keep them in my prayers ... I do feel more hopeful the group's a good one.

[american colleen]

My cynical side says the next step in this phase will be silence from the rest of the bishops.

Who among them [the rest of the bishops] would be willing to speak against a Plenary Council espousing what the eight signers are asking? Now, that should be interesting...

Silence is a tacit "go ahead" as we have learned in the past 8 months or so.

[Polycarp]

Yes, the paperback was published first by Aquinas Publishing and then Regnery picked it up and published the hardcover version.

Also the paperback contains the forward by Alice Von Hildebrand, which was left out of the hardback version.

Von Hildebrand's forward is absolutely superb, and worth the effort to obtain the paperback version.

[Sock]

I am not optimistic about any of this including the players.

The database is here

[Catholicguy]

certainly :)