Great roundup as always. I don't think that you and Ed need to apologize for not treating on God's Providence and the Holy Spirit in your analysis of the US episcopate. For one, God's Providence is unsearchable. For another, God has already done all that He intends to do to correct the evils of the world: the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, I think we tend to be prone to some degree of magical thinking in trying to discern hidden messages from God in what are messy, fallible human affairs. Jesus has died, risen, and is coming again. Apart from that, I believe that God simply allows all of us, whether Pope or layman, to reap the fruits, good or ill, of our own actions and decisions.
Good piece on the McElroy elevation and the possible meaning. You've painted this about as fairly as you can, but it's cold comfort for observant Catholics who are being served regular servings of heterodoxy via Rome. Storm clouds ahead but I take comfort in the words of St. Thomas More about having all the Saints and Doctors of the Church as solace.
My comment is regarding VOS ESTES. This has been an attempt to hold bishops accountable.How do you hold a bishop accountable for anything when in many cases as I have personally seen he is merely a figurehead? He surrounds himself with those who tell him what a great job he is doing and those in the pews have no idea what is going on nor do many care.
Those in the pews who attend Mass and the Sacraments should have a say in the process of choosing their bishop. Much of what I have seen and read over the last three years and I have read much,this has been connected to what is termed abuse or boundary issues. Abuse is pretty clear,boundary issues not so much, especially when a priest can be destroyed by someone who just has an axe to grind.The bishop will in many cases work to cover himself now so that no aspersions are cast on him. Sad situation.
I partly agree with your assessment of +McElroy not "covering up" McCarrick, and partly disagree. It seems as if he might have done all he had the authority to do. But if I know serious allegations about someone influential and important -- allegations regarding a scandal that has rocked the entire US Church, led to mass distrust and dismay among the faithful and attacks from secular authorities -- and the most I do is hand the allegations to my superior and continue as if nothing has happened, I don't see how that is not part of a coverup if the allegations turn out to be true and the accused continued in the same behaviors. It's not as if he were an usher in a parish who heard it from his uncle, whose friend's son was a seminarian... How much he actually could have done, however, I don't know, and so I don't know how much more culpable it's reasonable to consider him.
However, the number of men associated with McCarrick who are now cardinals is itself noteworthy. If it were only one, a normal reaction would surely be "He's lucky that Pope Francis values him so much that he'll overlook a connection to that scandal!" and (if one is charitable) to assume that his work and character were so exemplary they weren't tainted by it. But this many??? It's hard not to conclude that Pope Francis is not at all troubled by McCarrick's actions. Connection with McCarrick is a plus for him. Why???
Passing over Abp Gomez in favor of Bp McElroy is a very clear message to American Catholics that traditionalists are getting short shrift under Pope Francis, and that the deck is being stacked for future popes to be reflective of him, and much less than St. JPII and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The best we can do is attend Mass, receive the Eucharist and pray a lot.
Not sure about you, I keep seeing parallel developments in USA and The Church. In this case, the addition of Pope Francis' new Cardinals is entirely parallel to Joe Biden's stated desire to "Pack" the Supreme Court with new Justices sympathetic to the Progressive perspective.
Love the "brought to you by" section!! Seton Home Study School is amazing and affordable! Our last child is graduating this year and we could not have done it without Seton!! Wish you were going to be the Graduation Speaker this year.
Re: McElroy's claim, reported in the 2018 article in America, that the materials he had received had been forwarded to the Vatican. Is this something that ought to appear in the McCarrick Report? The McC Report includes a number of alternate examples of materials by Sipe being sent to nuncios in the United States, but McElroy's name does not appear.
Thank you especially for the section on Bp. Okpaleke. Some of my former Catholic ESL students are Igbo and it's good for us Westerners to have a better sense of what the Church is like outside of "the West." We often hear that the future of the Church is in Africa (and Latin America, though most of us are more familiar with Latin America) without making much of an effort to understand what the Church is like inculturated into cultures different from our own -- and we are poorer for it.
"I’m not sure what else the bishop was supposed to do"
I think this sentiment comes from spending too much time around canon law. You mean "I am not sure how he could be held legally liable for his inaction." In reality, I am sure you can think of 50 things he could have done. 100 things you would have done as a father if it came to protecting your children. 1000 things he might have done if he cared half so much about the Church as he cared about his position in the hierarchy. Are we supposed to imagine that good bishops receive information like McElroy received from Sipe that is false and then ignore it because they have too much respect for the truth to descend into slander? If Sipe dropped that report off with you today, would you really just forward it to Rome and forget about it? And you are not even a bishop with fiduciary responsibility for the Church.
But perhaps he decided to play the slow game. He did not do anything to protect the victims when he was merely a bishop with solid accusations who could have investigated further and used his public position to condemn McCarrick (that would have been a news story). I am sure that now, if a new Sipe came to you with a whole portfolio of accusations against Tobin, you would recommend that he just take it to Cardinal McElroy who is surely now in a position to achieve more.
Spadaro was the one who said that in theological terms two plus two can equal five.
Great roundup as always. I don't think that you and Ed need to apologize for not treating on God's Providence and the Holy Spirit in your analysis of the US episcopate. For one, God's Providence is unsearchable. For another, God has already done all that He intends to do to correct the evils of the world: the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, I think we tend to be prone to some degree of magical thinking in trying to discern hidden messages from God in what are messy, fallible human affairs. Jesus has died, risen, and is coming again. Apart from that, I believe that God simply allows all of us, whether Pope or layman, to reap the fruits, good or ill, of our own actions and decisions.
all communists... ready to eviscerate the teachings of the Church.
Good piece on the McElroy elevation and the possible meaning. You've painted this about as fairly as you can, but it's cold comfort for observant Catholics who are being served regular servings of heterodoxy via Rome. Storm clouds ahead but I take comfort in the words of St. Thomas More about having all the Saints and Doctors of the Church as solace.
My comment is regarding VOS ESTES. This has been an attempt to hold bishops accountable.How do you hold a bishop accountable for anything when in many cases as I have personally seen he is merely a figurehead? He surrounds himself with those who tell him what a great job he is doing and those in the pews have no idea what is going on nor do many care.
Those in the pews who attend Mass and the Sacraments should have a say in the process of choosing their bishop. Much of what I have seen and read over the last three years and I have read much,this has been connected to what is termed abuse or boundary issues. Abuse is pretty clear,boundary issues not so much, especially when a priest can be destroyed by someone who just has an axe to grind.The bishop will in many cases work to cover himself now so that no aspersions are cast on him. Sad situation.
I partly agree with your assessment of +McElroy not "covering up" McCarrick, and partly disagree. It seems as if he might have done all he had the authority to do. But if I know serious allegations about someone influential and important -- allegations regarding a scandal that has rocked the entire US Church, led to mass distrust and dismay among the faithful and attacks from secular authorities -- and the most I do is hand the allegations to my superior and continue as if nothing has happened, I don't see how that is not part of a coverup if the allegations turn out to be true and the accused continued in the same behaviors. It's not as if he were an usher in a parish who heard it from his uncle, whose friend's son was a seminarian... How much he actually could have done, however, I don't know, and so I don't know how much more culpable it's reasonable to consider him.
However, the number of men associated with McCarrick who are now cardinals is itself noteworthy. If it were only one, a normal reaction would surely be "He's lucky that Pope Francis values him so much that he'll overlook a connection to that scandal!" and (if one is charitable) to assume that his work and character were so exemplary they weren't tainted by it. But this many??? It's hard not to conclude that Pope Francis is not at all troubled by McCarrick's actions. Connection with McCarrick is a plus for him. Why???
Passing over Abp Gomez in favor of Bp McElroy is a very clear message to American Catholics that traditionalists are getting short shrift under Pope Francis, and that the deck is being stacked for future popes to be reflective of him, and much less than St. JPII and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The best we can do is attend Mass, receive the Eucharist and pray a lot.
Not sure about you, I keep seeing parallel developments in USA and The Church. In this case, the addition of Pope Francis' new Cardinals is entirely parallel to Joe Biden's stated desire to "Pack" the Supreme Court with new Justices sympathetic to the Progressive perspective.
Love the "brought to you by" section!! Seton Home Study School is amazing and affordable! Our last child is graduating this year and we could not have done it without Seton!! Wish you were going to be the Graduation Speaker this year.
Dear Holy Trinity, Watch over the Catholic Church and the USA.
Re: McElroy's claim, reported in the 2018 article in America, that the materials he had received had been forwarded to the Vatican. Is this something that ought to appear in the McCarrick Report? The McC Report includes a number of alternate examples of materials by Sipe being sent to nuncios in the United States, but McElroy's name does not appear.
Thank you especially for the section on Bp. Okpaleke. Some of my former Catholic ESL students are Igbo and it's good for us Westerners to have a better sense of what the Church is like outside of "the West." We often hear that the future of the Church is in Africa (and Latin America, though most of us are more familiar with Latin America) without making much of an effort to understand what the Church is like inculturated into cultures different from our own -- and we are poorer for it.
"I’m not sure what else the bishop was supposed to do"
I think this sentiment comes from spending too much time around canon law. You mean "I am not sure how he could be held legally liable for his inaction." In reality, I am sure you can think of 50 things he could have done. 100 things you would have done as a father if it came to protecting your children. 1000 things he might have done if he cared half so much about the Church as he cared about his position in the hierarchy. Are we supposed to imagine that good bishops receive information like McElroy received from Sipe that is false and then ignore it because they have too much respect for the truth to descend into slander? If Sipe dropped that report off with you today, would you really just forward it to Rome and forget about it? And you are not even a bishop with fiduciary responsibility for the Church.
But perhaps he decided to play the slow game. He did not do anything to protect the victims when he was merely a bishop with solid accusations who could have investigated further and used his public position to condemn McCarrick (that would have been a news story). I am sure that now, if a new Sipe came to you with a whole portfolio of accusations against Tobin, you would recommend that he just take it to Cardinal McElroy who is surely now in a position to achieve more.
Come, Holy Spirit, do not be afraid. Peace