11 Comments
Jun 10, 2022Liked by Ed. Condon

Excellent reporting. Question: where might I see some of these stats such as ordinations by diocese that you quote? Is that avail on CARA or the USCCB website? I couldn't locate with a google search....

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Wikipedia reveals a very strange story on the resignation of Celestine V in 1294. He was a monk and founder of the Celestines which was an offshoot of the Benedictines. This was a large order with lots of monasteries. ---There was an impasse for the election of a new pope. He became frustrated after two years and wrote the cardinal supervising the election which was pre conclave. The response was to make him pope.---He was ill equipped for the job and forced by the emperor to reside in Naples away from the Curia. After five months, he resigned. His successor then threw him in prison as a threat to become an anti pope. He died in prison after some 18 months and there were whispers that the pope had ordered him executed.

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Could not agree more with your analysis of the Kavanaugh situation, and the hypocrisy of left-liberals on this. I shudder to think of the unstoppable flood of apocalyptic coverage were the tables reversed and pro-life activists to picket the homes of Sotomayor or Kagan - let alone one of them being the target of an assassination plot.

(I would insert a shameless plug on how this is all a perfect illustration of liberalism writ large as a tyranny, but I will leave it for another day).

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On Dolan’s appointment...terrible bishop and McElroy minion...hates the TLM and TLM faithful. When our community was banished to the beloved peripheries, Dolan was incensed at the number of faithful attending the Motu Prprio meeting with McElroy, calling away the pastor saying noon mass at the time to chastise him for permitting all of these people attending. An old retired priest reacted when Dolan was named bishop in 2017. He shook his head and said. “Poorly formed priest.”

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I don’t buy that Francis “isn’t the resigning type,” and I think the publication of Pr.ev. is a sign of a papacy whose major objectives have been addressed. A resignation in the next 12 months seems unlikely, but he’s at least preparing in case his health worsens, and I can’t imagine he’ll be pope at 90 or even 88.

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New subscriber here, hoping to contribute to the conversation.

https://onthismountain.substack.com/

I really appreciate all the work you guys do. You’re both tremendous reporters but with a faithful perspective. Cheers!

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In 2019, there were more human lives aborted/murdered ( 629,000 plus) than all of the gun shot and car accidents combined. And that 629,000 plus number might be low.... Who is next? Grandma?

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The Catholic Diocese of Christchurch New Zealand has been blessed with quite a few dedicated priests from Vietnam. They gave up their lives in Vietnam to become permanent residents in New Zealand. After passing rigorous English language exams they went on to seminary then ordination.

They are extremely intelligent, have great senses of humor and are dedicated to the church.

There are two main reasons why they can't just become priests in Vietnam.

One is that Vietnam is a Communist country, the government hates Christians and limits the number of ordinations. Another reason is that it is very expensive for a seminarian to study for seven years.

Maybe the American dioceses severely short of priests could check how to arrange for Vietnamese men to study and become priests.

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