Posted on 09/20/2014 3:51:38 AM PDT by NYer
Pope Francis has given a new direction to the American Church by appointing the bishop of Spokane, Blase Joseph Cupich, 65, as the ninth archbishop of Chicago.
The archbishop-elect is a highly-talented leader, a pastor with vision, together with long, varied and successful pastoral and administrative experience in two dioceses and a college. He is totally committed to the culture of encounter, does not engage in confrontation, has a zero-tolerance line on child abuse, and is deeply committed to the poor and marginalized.
He succeeds Cardinal Francis George who has governed the archdiocese – the third largest in the country with 2.3 million Catholics and the largest Catholic charities, health care and school systems - for the past 17 years. Earlier this year, the cardinal who is combatting cancer asked the Holy See to appoint his successor.
The Vatican confirmed the news of Bishop Cupich’s appointment at midday (Rome time) Saturday, seven hours ahead of the Chicago press conference called for the same purpose.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, on 19 March 1949, one of nine children of Croatian-American parents, after finishing high school, Blase Cupich (pronounced ‘Soupich) entered the College of St Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota, as a student for the archdiocese of Omaha. He gained his B.A. degree in Philosophy at the university there in 1971. Sent to train for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome (1971-75), he gained degrees in theology from the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University, and was ordained priest in 1975. Later, in 1987, he gained his doctoral degree in Sacramental Theology from the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.
Back in his home diocese, he served in a parish (1975-78) and held liturgical and youth roles (1978-81) before being called to work as Secretary at the Apostolic Nunciature, Washington D.C. (1981-87), under Archbishop (later cardinal) Pio Laghi. Two years later, he was appointed Rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio (1989-96).
After more years as pastor in a parish, John Paul II appointed him as bishop of Rapid City diocese, South Dakota, (1998-2010), one of the smallest and poorest dioceses in the USA. There he considerably reduced the diocesan debts, built a home for retired and elderly priests, related well with priests and lay people, and made friends with the native American Lakota people who called him “White Thunder”.
Over the years he served on several committees of the Bishops’ Conference including the ones dealing with child abuse and the safeguarding of children. He was Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Children from 2008-13 and in this role gave good leadership and insisted on ongoing reform in this area. Perhaps because of his experience in this field, Benedict XVI sent him to the diocese of Spokane in 2010, which was beset by abuse claims and bankruptcy, which claims he helped resolve through mediation. Recently he just published a four-year plan for that diocese based on local consultation and Pope Francis’ programmatic document, “The Joy of the Gospel”.
When asked by the New York Times after the plenary meeting of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference last November, what the papal nuncio had told them about the kind of bishop the Pope wants, Bishop Cupich said, “Pope Francis doesn’t want culture warriors, he doesn’t want ideologues, that is the new paradigm for us, and it’s making many of us think”.
One thing is certain the new archbishop is “neither a culture warrior nor an ideologue”, a source who knows him well but did not wish to be identified told Vatican Insider after the news of his new appointment became public.
He recalled that Bishop Cupich once said, “It’s very easy in today’s polarized world to leave civility behind. But we must be able to speak of difficult issues in ways that don’t tear our communities apart”.
Various sources describe the new archbishop as “a generous, compassionate and prayerful man” with “a simple lifestyle” who is convinced that the Church in the USA has to give greater attention to the poor, the marginalized and the question of poverty in a wider agenda for life than the one that has prevailed up to now. “He is a pastor, who embodies the spirit and aims of Pope Francis”, one Vatican source added.
People are not obligated to kneel? And no one sees an issue with this? More Protestantization of the Liturgy. More New Religion.
Of course He would be opposed to Francis.
There have never been any rubrics that direct the people to do anything in particular during the Mass—in the old Mass or the new.
So are you trying to tell me that before Vatican II, the laity wasn't expected to kneel at the consecration? They could "do as they pleased"?
They have never been OBLIGATED to do so. The Missal contains rubrics, but they are addressed to the priest, and to a deacon, a lector, or a server.
Of course, it was expected, and it still is, and it’s still the normal thing to do.
I got the impression that someone was feeling GUILTY for not kneeling because it was painful.
For good or for ill, Francis is pope. I get that. When I say rosaries, I pray for his intentions and I also pray that his intentions be consistent with God's intentions. I know that he will not eclipse the track record of such predecessors as Alexander VI.
I am giving him and Bishop Cupich the benefit of the doubt by presuming that they are motivated by a desire to suck up to folks in the megadonor class and that they do not actually believe in the substance of many of the things they say and do. Does Francis really mean it when he asks as to practitioners of homosexual perversions: "Who am I to judge?" Of the 7 billion people on this earth, he is the very first in line with a right and a DUTY to judge. That comes with the power of the Keys.
Does the overcooked linguine spined Cupich REALLY believe that it is a sensible policy for a Catholic bishop to require that his priests and seminarians not pray outside Planned Barrenhood baby-killing mills? Or is it that judging homosexuals and confronting America's leading purveyor of infanticide just sooooooo embarrassing when chatting up the thoroughly liberated Mrs. Gotmegabucks for a contribution to ministries that she finds more "respectable" and politically "correct." "Some more Beluga caviar, Mrs. Gotmegabucks?"
I take second place to none in my admiration for St. John Paul II but, in appointing such disgraces as Joseph Cardinal Bernardin to Chicago and Roger Cardinal Mahony to Los Angeles, even St. John Paul II was prone to occasional prudential errors. If Pope Francis in his capacity as Pope Chatty Cathy I in his relations with reporters, does not learn to stifle his misplaced enthusiasm to be quoted promiscuously by every reporter with a notepad or a tape recorder, he will make many more. Likewise the appointment of the likes of Blaise Cupich to sees like Chicago and to receive the inevitable red hat.
Having lived through John XXIII and Paul VI with my Catholic credentials intact, I never panic. I do remain firmly rooted in reality observed.
If the Holy Ghost has anything to do with the selection of Francis or of Cupich, it must be that He knows we are in dire need of some collective punishment for our sins and that Chicago is worse in that respect than most American venues. The good news is that Francis is about to be 78 years old and Cupich is 65 and required to resign in ten years. Maybe Chicago can then get another Catholic like Francis Cardinal George.
It occurs to me that Judas was chosen to remind future generations of Catholics that, If our Savior's choices turn out to be as bad as Judas, then we can endure the Bernardins, the Mahonys, and the Cupiches.
OTOH, Francis Cardinal George made a series of predictions in his archdiocesan newspaper earlier this year. He said that he expected to die in bed, that his immediate successor would die in prison and the next successor would be martyred in the public square. I hope Cupich is up to the challenge.
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