Getting Harder To Be Catholic

When secular American culture unraveled after the 1960s, I took comfort that the Catholic Church seemed to anchor traditional morality. Now, however, I’m cheering the secular authorities investigating corruption in the Catholic Church because the Lavender Mafia controlling both the Vatican and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) continues to bury it. Attorneys general in more than a dozen states have begun investigations into cover-ups of sexual predation and coverup by Catholic bishops similar to the one reported out by the  Pennsylvania AG last summer. In just the past month, two federal investigations began and two lawsuits were filed in federal court as well.

Under this cloud, the USCCB met in Baltimore last week. Its president, Cardinal Archbishop Daniel DiNardo of Houston, Texas wanted that body to vote on a measure that would do two things: form a lay Catholic commission to investigate the Cardinal McCarrick scandal, and petition the Vatican to release documents on McCarrick's case. DiNardo knows how angry ordinary Catholics are that the pope and the Vatican hierarchy continue to cover for homosexual predators in their midst and that US bishops have either cooperated in this or remained silent. He knows grassroots Catholics want action now.

Cardinal DiNardo

But it was not to be. Pope Francis pulled the rug out from under DiNardo as the conference began when he brazenly ordered that no vote be taken! The pope’s toadies in the USCCB like Cardinal Cupich of Chicago and others cheered this move and suggested the USCCB vote should be taken next spring instead — after still another “conference” with the pope in Rome. They want to kick the can of corruption down the road yet again.

Written under Henry Sire's pen name

Humiliated by this action from The Dictator Pope (the title of Henry Sire’s devastating book on Pope Francis I just finished reading), Cardinal DiNardo moderated a debate over an obsequious motion that would only suggest the pope do these things. Unbelievably, even that vote failed 137-83. That means there are still 137 American bishops who think they can just drift along as they always have and ordinary Catholics in the pews will sit back and let them.

They’re wrong. Millions left the church after the 2002 Boston Globe Spotlight Series exposed widespread corruption. Many who remained have been further sickened by the revelations this past summer that hierarchical corruption was only covered up yet again. Worse, Archbishop Vigano, the former papal ambassador to the United States, has testified that the corruption extends to the Chair of Peter itself and calls on Pope Francis to resign! Vigano also accused US Cardinals Cupich and Wuerl of lying about it all. Another resolution in support of Vigano’s testimony was debated at last week’s USCCB Conference. Although it too failed, at least 43 bishops voted in favor.

Does that mean nearly a quarter of US Bishops believe Pope Francis should resign? Do they also believe many of their fellow bishops and cardinals are lying? It appears that way. What does this say about the spiritual condition of the Catholic Church in the United States and around the world? Locally, Maine’s Bishop Robert Deeley and Manchester, New Hampshire’s Bishop Peter Libaski were among the 83 voting for an investigation, but sadly, neither voted in support of the Vigano testimony.

Foreign Affairs Magazine calls this is the worst crisis in Catholic Church since Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” in 1517 and precipitated the Protestant Reformation. Others claim it’s the worst since 1054 AD when the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches split.

Whether it’s the worst in five centuries or the worst in a millennium, it’s getting harder to be a traditional Roman Catholic these days. I understand those who have been steadily leaving since 2002, but I choose to stay and fight. However, if last week’s USCCB meeting was a battle, traditionalists like me appear to be losing. Polarization in the Catholic Church is widening and there are many suggestions about how to participate in the struggle for its soul.

According to Market Watch, some of us protest with our wallets. We don’t put money in the collection box or have severely cut back on what we used to contribute. When attending mass in nearby New Hampshire, I’d be sickened seeing a photo of former Manchester Bishop John McCormack on the wall of the narthex and I wasn’t about to put anything over $5 in the collection box if he was going to get any of it. I know I was not alone.

My wife and I attend mass at several different parishes depending on where we are on any given Sunday. Given the performance at last week’s bishops’ conference in Baltimore, I’m not inclined to raise my contribution anywhere in New England. Instead of money, some Catholics have begun putting a signed note in the box protesting both the pope and the USCCB. Maybe that will shake things up enough for real reform. Nothing else has worked.