Stand Alone Pages on 'Musings of an Old Curmudgeon'

27 March 2023

#CupichCannotDeliverUs

The National Schismatic Reporter is now issuing orders to Francis. 'He’s their lap dog, a tool for them to get all their pet sins approved and nothing more.'

From One Mad Mom

Pope Francis, you have two years to remake the US hierarchy. Get to it.

BY MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS

March 22, 2023

Wow! Can’t you just see him snapping his fingers? They are all saying the quiet part out loud now. I guess they figured it worked for Germany, so why not? Pope Francis should understand this is really how the hypocritical Catholic left really sees him. He’s their lap dog, a tool for them to get all their pet sins approved and nothing more. “Get to it, Pope!” Again, wow. I wonder if, some days, Pope Francis thinks, “I totally sided with the wrong people”? Would he rather have this: “The sending of the letter to His Holiness Pope Francis by four cardinals derives from a deep pastoral concern.” or this: “Pope Francis, you have two years to remake the US hierarchy. Get to it.”?

I’ve been saying this for a while: Pope Francis has been told that Cardinal Cupich can deliver us. However, I’m sure he is in enough of a papal bubble to not know how much Cardinal Cupich is disliked by us, or even why. He’s quite polarizing. He’s literally such a tyrant that many of the run of mill pew sitters finally had their eyes opened. How do I know? I get notes from them all the time. They just want to go to Mass. They’re doing their corporal works of mercy like they’ve been doing for decades, and then they get whacked on the head by something their bishop says. They don’t want to think negatively about their bishops but, sadly, they can’t ignore the atrocities anymore. That’s a bad thing and, yet, not a bad thing. Being from California, I know they can fight against it and win, but they need to know that, too. And, yes, bishops/cardinals can be evil. Let’s all remember McCarrick and those who championed him, especially almost all of our current cardinals. Let’s remember Cardinal Mahony and his ilk. It’s time to whip out the old saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We need all good men. We need to listen to St. Catherine of Siena: “WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH EXHORTATIONS TO BE SILENT! CRY OUT WITH A HUNDRED THOUSAND TONGUES: I SEE THE WORLD IS ROTTEN BECAUSE OF SILENCE.” Now is the time, people. Don’t let others tell you that you must be silent, that you’re a big meanie or schismatic. Believe me, they will. The Catholic left, who will tell you that in a heartbeat, clearly isn’t silent. I think the message should be made very clearly – #CupichCannotDeliverUs. Wouldn’t it be fun to see that trending?

On with the command from the almighty Michael Sean Winters!

When will Pope Francis start making some legacy appointments in the U.S. church? When will he, and those who can help him, throw long, aim for the end zone, in naming new bishops? Those are the questions beneath the surface of my colleague Brian Fraga’s article about the many dioceses and archdioceses that are coming open in the next few years.

In Canada, the pope just threw long, naming 51-year-old Bishop Francis Leo as the next archbishop of Toronto, the largest diocese in the country. Leo had only been a bishop for five months when he was named to replace Cardinal Thomas Collins. That is more than throwing long; that is placing a big bet.

I don’t really know much about Bishop Francis Leo. He’s in the Mariological Society of America and seemingly big into the Virgin Mary (It’s amazing how little liberals speak of her), so I’m going to hope she guides him. He also wrote the words that liberals now loathe to hear when he was working for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops:

The Catholic Church is a decentralized structure. Each Diocesan Bishop is autonomous in his diocese. Although Roman Catholic Bishops relate to their national Conference of Bishops, they are not accountable to it.” https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Information_from_CCCB_-_House_of_Commons_and_Senate_of_Canada.pdf

Ouch! We used to call it “collegiality.” They claim to want it this way and they claim it’s happening under Pope Francis, but yet they whine endlessly when bishop after bishop stands up and disagrees with, say, Cardinals Cupich and McElroy. Then? Then those who say they believe the Catholic Church is a decentralized structure then talk about sowing division. Which is it, gentlemen? It’s only true when it goes your way? Of course.

In the United States, Francis has made major appointments. His 2014 decision to elevate Bishop Blase Cupich to the archbishopric of Chicago was the first that clearly indicated a new direction for the U.S. hierarchy. Cupich had long been a voice of sanity at meetings of the U.S. hierarchy, for example, opposing efforts to deny Communion to politicians based on their voting records and other culture war approaches.”

Wait? What?! Sanity??? Oh yeah. That’s the first thing I think of about Cardinal Cupich – especially when he locked people out of churches for the Triduum and discouraged pro-lifers, including priests and seminarians, when he was a bishop. Sane as any tyrannical ruler, I guess. Sanity is clearly in the eye of the beholder.

Appointing Bishop Robert McElroy to San Diego the following year and transferring Archbishop Joseph Tobin from Indianapolis to Newark, New Jersey, in 2016 sent a similar signal: The pope passed over more conservative candidates and, in all three cases, sources tell me the decision was made in spite of the urgings of the apostolic nuncio at the time, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.

All three appointments were also named cardinals, Cupich and Tobin in 2016 and McElroy in 2022, further demonstrating the pope’s confidence in them.”

Yeah, Archbishop Vigano snuck in a few great appointments, but once Cardinal Cupich was elevated, he could no longer pull it off. Cardinal Cupich can come off as such a great yes man. He’s a master manipulator, but the mask slips quite a bit at times. He usually just taps his media buddies to do his dirty work. If he’s confronted, well, he just loses it. He’s probably even having Cardinal McElroy do his dirty work so that he can keep his halo all shiny. The problem is, Cardinal McElroy is really bad at it. Whatever is happening, Cardinal Cupich is definitely in charge of the three-ring cardinal circus. The problem is, he’s still having a lot of trouble delivering the rest of the bishops and faithful. He didn’t even stay at the last USCCB meeting. The prior one was pretty ugly for him because he and Cardinal McElroy got schooled.  Really, everyone has pretty much had enough. He can’t even post his calendar for fear people will be there to protest (and they should), which is why he’ll be off to Rome soon enough. This is also why Winters is begging to make a slam of liberal appointments. The show of “collegiality” is usually the sticking point. Hard to look like you’re being collegial when you are, say, appointing auxiliary bishops who the current bishop doesn’t want. And, by the way, people have started noticing the lack of auxiliary appointments where there are faithful bishops. For instance, Archbishop Gomez in the largest diocese in the country has two, while Cardinal Cupich with half the diocese has eight. No punishment going on there. https://www.cal-catholic.com/only-two-active-bishops-in-l-a-nations-largest-diocese/

The decision in 2019 to transfer Archbishop Paul Etienne from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seattle showed a similar determination for a different style of episcopal leadership. Retiring Archbishop Peter Sartain had requested a coadjutor and many anticipated it would be Bishop Robert Barron, a close friend of Sartain. But the pope selected Etienne, a man whose charisma matches that of the telegenic Barron, but whose ecclesiological leanings are more obviously in line with those of Francis. Etienne has never done a dog-and-pony show with Jordan Peterson, for example.”

“Ecclesiological leanings?” That’s an interesting term. Can you define that Mr. Winters?

Other appointments showed the pope’s desire for more pastoral, less culture-warrior prelates. Sending Archbishop Wilton Gregory to Washington in 2019, and then naming him cardinal, guaranteed there would be no showdown over denying Communion in the nation’s capital.

Huh? The liberal club of cardinals are all culture warriors and anything but pastoral. They’re literally fighting for the culture, not souls.

Similarly, the appointment of Bishop Shelton Fabre last year to the venerable see of Louisville, Kentucky, indicated that same preference for pastors over bomb-throwers. And replacing Bishop Thomas Olmsted with Bishop John Dolan in the nation’s fastest-growing city, Phoenix, was another great appointment.”

Great appointments if you don’t want people to understand the Catholic faith.

There is an old saying in the Vatican diplomatic corps about how to remake a hierarchy in the face of opposition: “Two for us, one for them.” The idea is that the church is a large ship, and people stake their souls on its practices and beliefs, so if you wish it to move in a new direction, you must turn it slowly.

Pope Francis has been pope for 10 years and, in an unprecedented way, many U.S, bishops refuse to get on board. It is time to turn decisively, not slowly, by selecting new bishops who are not stuck in the past.

Get on board with what? And pick bishops not stuck in the past?!?! We’re looking at the 70’s revisited with some recent appointments and, quite frankly, it’s likely to have the same effect. Plummeting church attendance and sexual abuse.

Last fall, the U.S. bishops selected Archbishop Timothy Broglio as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. There were a variety of reasons for the choice, and some bishops whom I think of as being very pro-Francis did not realize that they had chosen someone with a history of bad blood with Francis, nor were they aware of his sketchy connection to the late Cardinal Angelo Sodano, with all that implies.

I’m sorry. What does that imply? First of all, a guy dies and then accusations are hurled at him. Next, a secretary of his who leaves that post long BEFORE accusations were hurled is somehow a protector of abusers? Slander much? Let’s just state the facts, he turned out to be a little too faithful to Catholicism for you, so now he must be destroyed.

Broglio showed his indifference to the task of uniting the conference when he published a sermon he recently delivered in Washington. In it, he contradicts McElroy without mentioning him, quoting from an article by E. Christian Brugger in The Catholic World Report. The Brugger article repeatedly misrepresented McElroy’s argument, a fact Broglio ignored.”

Uniting the conference in what??? Liberalism and heresy? Uniting for the sake of unity would be stupid. If unity is the be all and end all for the USCCB, how about Cardinals McElroy, Cupich, Tobin, etc., etc., get on board with the rest of the bishops? Cardinal McElroy somehow didn’t consult them. Please, the only ones trying to blow the whole thing up are Cardinal Cupich’s dancers.

I was not surprised to find Broglio was unsympathetic toward the position staked out by McElroy, but I was surprised to find out he had found a way to be, at the same time, divisive in attacking McElroy and cowardly in not naming him. We should expect more from the president of a bishops’ conference.

And yet you seem to know who he was talking about perfectly well. If he had thrown out his name, as you are, you’d be whining about that too. Deal.

The recent election of Archbishop Alexander Sample to the executive committee of the U.S. bishops’ conference only confirms the anti-Francis sentiment of the U.S. bishops. Sample has distinguished himself mostly for his active support for the Tridentine rite, even suggesting that all seminarians should learn to perform the old rite.

Unity! Remember? You’re adorable. Far more bishops were on board with this than against. Again, jump on the unity train. This is why you’re freaking out about appointing as many liberals as possible. It’s not for unity’s sake. It to stomp on anyone you perceive to be an enemy. Might these bishops be worrying about the flocks of their dioceses which THEY know well and you do not?

Still, it was a different election at last November’s meeting of U.S. bishops that showed why the nuncio, the Dicastery for Bishops and the pope himself must really scrutinize their candidates for the episcopacy carefully, and be willing to take some risks.

No. For unity, wouldn’t he want to appoint more just like them? Let’s just admit unity was never your concern. Your concern was pretty much giving the Eucharist to anyone who wanted it and the notion of sin to go away. Well, at least if it’s a sin you’re OK with.

In selecting a new secretary for the conference, the bishops last year chose Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley — who had issued a statement of support for Viganò when Viganò called for the pope to resign — over Tobin by margin of 130-104. Coakley has never retracted his encomium to the now-disgraced former nuncio. He is also the “ecclesiastical adviser” to Tim Busch’s Napa Institute, the place where Catholic social teaching goes to die. Yet Coakley beat Tobin by 26 votes.

Whoa! Catholic social teaching goes to die there? Wow! I’m wondering how much the attendees dole out to charities every year? I’m sure it’s a wee bit more than Michael Sean Winters.

But let’s talk about that election. If your liberal favs can’t get elected, doesn’t it show you where the rupture lies? It’s with them, not the rest. The reason you guys are so driven to get liberals into the episcopacy is because, well, again, Cardinal Cupich looks like he looks to the rest of the U.S., ridiculous. Can’t have Pope Francis know that he’s not delivering.

Twenty-six votes need to be flipped within the next three years so that, in 2025, the U.S. bishops can select a new president who is committed to that most basic understanding of Catholic ecclesial life: The unity of the Roman Catholic Church is founded on communion with the bishop of Rome. Period

Oh my goodness, man! This is not politics. For one whose ilk denounces playing politics (unless it helps them, of course) you are in it to win it. This is the FAITH. I feel like you’re bucking for some job Cardinal Cupich might get you someday and you’re trading political favors. Stop. It’s super unbecoming.

That is why for the next few years the motto cannot be “two for us, one for them.” Now it must be “30 for us, nothing for them.”

Us and them?! This is a very, very sick way to look at the Church. “Crush your enemy into the ground. They get nothing!” Your slip is showing, Michael. Again, this shouldn’t be a problem if Cardinal Cupich is all you guys make him out to be. He’s not. He never was. While German faithful may fold, we’re Catholics in America. We are scrappy and we will fight for the Faith.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.