During a telephone conversation with a caller last week, Rush Limbaugh spoke truth to how the Catholic hierarchy swallowed the socialist koolaid. He echoes a point that this blog, and many others, have been making over the years. I link to the transcript
here and encourage its full reading. Here is a key statement of his:"
One of the things that I learned was the reason the Catholic Church (all the way back to the days of FDR) got roped into the liberal socialist agenda is that they became convinced that welfare was charity, and churches are big on charity. And they thought that it would sound good for them to support massive government wealth-transfer programs, welfare programs, under the guise that it was charity. So the Catholic Church and its hierarchy in this country slowly but surely migrated to socialism, in terms of its political preferences."
I believe that is true for the majority of Catholics. But there were some nefarious elements who noticed this shift and took full advantage of it - folks like Father Hesbergh, Msgr Jack Egan, etc who saw in this shift the perfect opportunity to use the Church as a tool to advance socialism. I give credit where credit is due - they executed their strategies well. I'm not sure who's to blame more: these not-so-covert socialists or those naive Catholics (who, by the way, forgot all about the principle of subsidiarity) who basically slept while the former had their way.
Limbaugh seems to think that the hierarchy is waking up. I wish I could share his optimism. Some are, but too many show signs of remaining obdurately in the progressive camp. One sad sign emanates from the Archdiocese of Washington. I refer of course, to their disgraceful treatment of Father Marcel Guarnizo, formerly of St John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg, MD. Here is a priest who understood his call to proclaim the truth "in season and out of season". The chancery, in its apology to the lesbian who received Communion sacrilegiously, not only punished a good priest but completely abdicated their own duty to "admonish the sinner" for the sake of her own soul.
Let's look at the Stand for Religious Freedom Rallies, that occurred in at least 140 cities today. If you were relying solely on the website of the USCCB for your information, you would have learned nothing of them. In fact, take a look at their
calendar. Do you see any mention of the nation-wide rallies on March 23? Nope! But what do you see on the USCCB calendar for this weekend? Why, it's the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress! According to this
Lifesite News report, this year's dissent-fest features a bevvy of speakers who advocate for Obama, gay priests and all manners of sexual vice. That's par for the course for this LA conference; such has been the diet they've been serving for years. So why, oh why, does the USCCB shill for this and remain silent on the Stand for Religious Freedom rallies? Because the progressives who run the USCCB insist on ramrodding it down the path to socialism.
If the bishops are truly starting to get serious about being bishops, they need to dismantle the USCCB. Then they need to rediscover the principle of subsidiarity and start obeying Canon 915.
