. . . and “get on with devising responses to this crisis [of open warfare waged by “Rome”] that are within their authority, and that address the legitimate demands of the Catholic people of the United States for reform.”
As I read this piece from the Denver Catholic, I’d forgotten who was saying this, was thinking it was a bomb-thrower — and that’s not always a negative designation — but a distinguished commentator and book author of notable intellectual weight.
The crisis, of course, is American Catholic morale in the face of outrageous sex abuse and covering up by bishops, capped most recently by the outrageous last-minute shutting down by “Rome” when they, the bishops, had the dastardly nerve to take steps on their own to repair their own omissions and take steps to do something about it.
The open warfare is diplomatic, war by any other means, with Quislings in their midst facilitating the latest nasty move by the ruling party.
Hear what Weigel says about the U.S. and its enemies:
I recently spent almost five weeks in Rome, during which I found an anti-American atmosphere worse than anything I’d experienced in 30 years of work in and around the Vatican.
A false picture of the Church’s life in the United States, in which wealthy Catholics in league with extreme right-wing bishops have hijacked the Church and are leading an embittered resistance to the present pontificate, has been successfully sold.
By whom? we have to ask.
And in another offense against collegiality, this grossly distorted depiction of American Catholicism has not been effectively challenged or corrected by American bishops enjoying Roman favor these days. [emphasis added]
Cupich and Wuerl, to name two.
Context of Weigel’s “temper deference” quote:
Mainstream media reporting on the bishops’ recent Baltimore meeting generally got it right: the U.S. bishops tried to do the right thing and got bushwhacked by Rome, which Just Doesn’t Get It on sexual abuse and episcopal malfeasance. But the story cannot be allowed to end there. Nor can the Church afford to “wait until after February.”
Cardinal DiNardo and the majority of the bishops are determined to get to grips with the awfulness that has come to light, for the sake of the Church’s evangelical future. The bishops’ challenge now is to temper their ingrained deference to “Rome” and get on with devising responses to this crisis that are within their authority, and that address the legitimate demands of the Catholic people of the United States for reform.
I much appreciate Weigel’s intervention here and look forward to what DiNardo and his majority come up with to move the ball along before February by way of “devising responses . . . that are within their authority.”
Can I hold my breath that long?
