America's great bishops
When you reflect on Catholic America's long heritage of great bishops, many beloved names from the past come to mind -- heroic defenders of Faith and flock.
No doubt you have your own list of super-shepherds. For me, just some of the ones named John make up quite a sample: John Carroll, John Lancaster Spalding, John Ireland, John Lamy of New Mexico and "Dagger John" Hughes of New York. These giants of the Faith built up the Church in the face of hardship and anti-Catholicism.
And yes, my heroes of the hierarchy include our own James Francis Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles. May we see his like again.
Now, to my point: What do you think these noble Catholic bishops would say about, and do about, the recent absolutely surreal spectacle of Cardinal Mahony's Religious Education Congress keynote speaker telling an audience of tens of thousands to understand homosexuals and to do so by watching obscene entertainment?
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But on this Holy Saturday, good night, and may the Light of Christ always inhabit our souls and guide us aright. "Resuscito, resuscito...He is risen, alleluia!"
No doubt you have your own list of super-shepherds. For me, just some of the ones named John make up quite a sample: John Carroll, John Lancaster Spalding, John Ireland, John Lamy of New Mexico and "Dagger John" Hughes of New York. These giants of the Faith built up the Church in the face of hardship and anti-Catholicism.
And yes, my heroes of the hierarchy include our own James Francis Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles. May we see his like again.
Now, to my point: What do you think these noble Catholic bishops would say about, and do about, the recent absolutely surreal spectacle of Cardinal Mahony's Religious Education Congress keynote speaker telling an audience of tens of thousands to understand homosexuals and to do so by watching obscene entertainment?
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But on this Holy Saturday, good night, and may the Light of Christ always inhabit our souls and guide us aright. "Resuscito, resuscito...He is risen, alleluia!"
posted by Quintero at 5:20 PM
14 Comments:
A blessed Easter to you, Quintero!
Happy Easter Quintero!
(pstt...you forgot to mention Abp. Sheen)
PPius13: Huh? Maybe I'm thick headed, but I don't get it.
I tend to think that it's obvious that those bishops would indeed have spoken words of "fraternal correction."
At the least.
PPius13:
I understand that this won't happen TODAY, but Quintero was asking if it would've happened with some of the great bishops of the past. I believe it would have, in the past.
But I have to unfortunately agree with you cynicism as to our present status. Rome has been known to intercede (Arinze and Benedict XVI himself, before he was pope have both been known to speak out against some things done by renegade bishops) but it doesn't happen often.
Call me idealistically cynical. I believe that it SHOULD happen, even that it COULD. But I've begun to think it won't. At least not until things get even worse.
Off topic, but FYI:
At the Commonweal Blog, on the LA congress
I understand that there is bill in Calif. requiring the public schools to teach Gay History. It is beyond me what that means. In my mind the Bishops do not understand what is going to be released on the culture in the next generation. I do not think they are prepared for the depravity that will be the result.
I have seen young people ears pop up to hear what our church leaders have to say about homosexuality. Their world is going to be quite different than mine. I do think the wisdom of the ages which comes from the family will be harder and harder to access.
If by Bp. Ireland you are referring to the Mn/St.Paul Bishop who caused a Pope to send a letter warning about "Americanism," then perhaps that Bp. should be removed from your post...
Happy Easter!
Dad29....why should Bishop Ireland be removed from the post? Catholicism would seem to transcend "Americanism", sometimes maybe in conflict with it other times in line with it. Why would this be an issue....Catholicism isn't about nationalism. I'm not trying to be a smart ass, just wondering why that in and of itself would be a problem...or if you could maybe give me some insight into Bishop Ireland's letter.
Dear Angela,
Thanks for mentioning Bishop Sheen! Yes, if there were a U.S. bishops' hall of fame, he would head the list or be near it.
He'll be canonized one day, too, let's pray.
Dear Friends,
Happy Easter to each of you, too!
Dear PPius13 and Jared,
Yes, I was speaking of what the great bishops of the 18th and 19th centuries would have said and done.
Back then, it would have been unheard of, unthinkable, for any archbishop to host a speaker who would even mention homosexuals, let alone urge Catholics to become sympathetic toward them by viewing obscene entertainment.
Something would have been done; such an archbishop would have been forced into early retirement and urged to repent and make amends.
Dear Dad29,
You are a good historian. I think and hope he was not a full-fledged Modernist and was not anywhere near as bad as many today are.
I think what we can say about him is that even the most "liberal" of bishops of his time would have been thunderstruck, dumbfounded, at the Cardinal Mahony-Father Radcliffe fiasco and would have admonished the two of them in private and sought to have them be retired and silenced.
Dear Anonymous and Baron,
Yes, "Americanism" in that sense was not American patriotism but a tendency toward solving problems such as Catholic education less as the Pope wanted them and more toward finding more secular-type solutions.
That is a partial definition, anyway. I don't think Archbishop Ireland went over the edge.
Thanks Anonymous for the FYI at Commonweal ,I read to much surprise, because I am the woman pushing the stroller, whom Grant published in the Commonweal blog on his experience outside Cardinal Mahony's Religious Education Congress. I suggest people commenting in here go over to commonweal blog and login and post comments. Oh my! what a small world we live in. Susan
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