I’m starting to think the bishops don’t really like trads. It’s just a feeling but I’m beginning to connect some dots here and it’s kinda’ sorta’ painting a picture.
The FBI memo says that Catholic traditionalists are white supremacist hate mongers and the FBI should infiltrate them to prove it.
This is the wolf at the door. This is one of the greatest threats to religious liberty we’ve seen (and we’ve seen plenty) and what do our shepherds do?
Our shepherds have turned their backs on their sheep while the wolves circle.
The Federalist: The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops is a powerful organization, with a 2018 budget of more than $200 million, much of it from federal grants and contracts. It also has not cowered from inserting itself into heated national political discussions in the past.
The USCCB produced multiple condemnations of former President Donald Trump’s executive orders to enforce U.S. immigration laws and require foreign countries to address their own citizens’ needs. It also publicly criticized the former president for withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement that would lead to more poor Americans lacking food and heat, and issued several doomsday climate statements to boot.
The USCCB took an inflammatory stand during the massively destructive George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020, as well. Floyd was a convicted felon who died in police custody while resisting arrest with a “fatal level” of fentanyl in his system. According to USCCB President José H. Gomez, however, Floyd’s “killing” was “senseless and brutal” and a “sin that cries out to heaven for justice.” Gomez heavily insinuated Floyd’s death was racially motivated, adding that he shares in the outrage of the “black community and those who stand with them in Minneapolis, Los Angeles and across the country.”
Of course, it’s not only about what the USCCB does say, but also what it doesn’t. In November 2021, the conference famously failed to refuse Holy Communion to “Catholic” President Joe Biden and other Democrat politicians who support killing the preborn and elderly.
The bishops’ silence on the FBI report attacking traditional Catholics likely has to do in part with Church Militant — the only media organization named in the report. The FBI’s association between Church Militant and so-called violent white supremacists was unfounded and embarrassingly badly sourced, and it would be easy for the Catholic hierarchy to come to their defense.
But Church Militant is known for stridently reporting on the corruption, sexual abuse, and wokeism infecting the USCCB. Anyone familiar with the USCCB’s disdain for Church Militant knows the bishops are more likely to revel in its slander than to rebuke it.
Then there’s the Vatican, which under Pope Francis vilified the Latin Mass long before the FBI did. More than a year ago, Pope Francis implemented unprecedented and harsh restrictions on Latin Masses, prompting left-wing bishops, including liberal Cardinal Blase Cupich in Chicago, to suspend Latin Masses and even shutter church doors in the name of Francis’ new guidelines.
Latin Mass-attending Catholics tend to be traditional in their values as well as the liturgy. These are the devout Catholics who represent everything the Vatican has tried distancing itself from as it panders to left-wing globalists.
The pope was applauded by the World Economic Forum for aiding the infamous “Great Reset.” He held a secret meeting with the CEO of Pfizer and has hosted events featuring Malthusian population control organizations, anti-lifer Chelsea Clinton, and disgraced chief medical advisor to the president Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Both the Vatican and the USCCB have become complicit in U.S. government-attempted persecution of traditional Christians. They don’t want to upset their supposed allies on the political left by defending their Christian brothers. Indeed, they likely share in the left’s disdain for them.
What the corrupt members of the church hierarchy will soon realize, though, is that the cultural Marxism the United States has spiraled into has no tolerance for Christianity, traditional or otherwise. No true Catholic will be immune to what happens when the regime decides to dispose of the church.
You can read the whole thing at The Federalist.
One lone bishop, Bishop Barry Knestout did speak out against this. He said:
“People of all faith groups have long found refuge in the constitutional protections of our great nation. We all seek to share in God’s gift of life, enjoy the fruits of liberty that our nation offers, and assist one another in ensuring the common good.
“I was alarmed to read the reports written late last week about the contents of the internal memo created by the Richmond Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I was also surprised to learn of the mention of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), a religious order, which celebrates the traditional form of the Catholic Mass. FSSP has served with devotion for many years the parishes within our Catholic community and to the faithful of our diocese who appreciate this form of the Catholic Mass in our diocese.
“The leaked document should be troubling and offensive to all communities of faith, as well as all Americans. I am grateful for the Virginia Attorney General and 19 attorneys general who have called upon the government to publicly release all materials related to the production of this memo. If evidence of extremism exists, it should be rooted out, but not at the expense of religious freedom. A preference for traditional forms of worship and holding closely to the Church’s teachings on marriage, family, human sexuality, and the dignity of the human person does not equate with extremism.
“Religious freedom is an important matter acknowledged every June by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in which my brother bishops and I value and celebrate Religious Freedom Week. Most recently, on Jan. 16, 2023, the U.S. celebrated Religious Freedom Day with USCCB Chair for Religious Liberty Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, noting “there is no freedom without the truth.” It is my hope we get to the truth of the memo published last week.
“Our faith and our Church instruct us to be a people of peace and to uphold human dignity. We do not condone violence. As Pope Francis wrote in his 2017 letter for the celebration of World Day of Peace, ‘Violence profanes the name of God’ and ‘the name of God cannot be used to justify violence. Peace alone is holy.’
“I call on all national representatives from the Commonwealth of Virginia in the House and Senate to exercise their role of oversight, to publicly condemn this threat to religious liberty, and to ensure that such offenses against the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion do not occur again. Racism, religious bigotry, violence, and discrimination have no place in our Church or teachings.”
The one phrase that he threw in there as a caveat disturbed me a little bit. By writing “if evidence of extremism exists, it should be rooted out…” That could be seen by those in the FBI as a go-ahead. But other than that, kudos to him for speaking out.
The USCCB has essentially chosen a side with its silence. They have chosen the power of the deep state over standing with faithful traditional Catholics. They are a corrupt, worldly, and political organization. We should not look to the USCCB for help. Pray that in the future more singular bishops will stand courageously alone against the rising tide of anti-Catholicism.
