Cardinal Wuerl, although technically no longer archbishop of Washington owing to his complicity in covering for the now-disgraced pederast bishop McCarrick, still carries on like he did nothing amiss. To the disgust of faithful Catholics, he was the main celebrant at Christmas Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He is now slated to take center stage at the Youth Rally and Mass that usually occurs before the March for Life in January. A petition is afoot to ask the archdiocese of Washington to rescind the invitation to the cardinal for that event. Truth be told, I don't know how that can fly for Wuerl is still the administrator for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Some important comments about the "youth rally". These have been going on ever since the archdiocese began to support the March for Life (yes, there was a time when the archdiocese ignored the march - surprise!). When I first became involved in pro-life work, I attended those things (at the time, held at DAR Constitution Hall). I soon stopped attending them.
- They occurred during the same time that the main rally was happening on the Ellipse. That prevented the Catholics at DAR from being included in the Park Police's crowd size estimate.
- When I pointed that out to diocesan pro-life officials, it was admitted to me that the bishops didn't want Catholics to listen to some of the speakers that Nellie Gray and others had invited. He specified that the now-deceased Jesse Helms was one such speaker.
- For many of the clergy, including the prelates, the rally was the only time during the year that they uttered one peep about abortion - nothing for the rest of the year. In other words, they could use the rally as their token "pro-life activism" when we would chide them for their silence during the rest of the year.
- The rally and the Mass took an incredible amount of work and expense to throw together. The pro-life office was staffed with good people, but they were ordered to waste many months on what was essentially a dog-and-pony show. That time could have been better spent in providing leadership, goals, etc for parish pro-life groups that literally foundered and atrophied for lack of guidance.
Therefore, my advice is to eschew that extravaganza at the Verizon Center. One can find a Mass at a local parish and be at the general rally - the entire rally.
Enough of that sad history - back to the present. Cardinal Wuerl is going to strut through that rally as though nothing is amiss and pretend that he prioritizes pro-life matters. Catholics are rightly outraged.
A priest of the Companions of the Cross, Father Mark Goring, put up a very fine video expressing what many of us believe, and urging us to take action. Well, lo and behold, he was forced to take it down. I regret that I did not get to it soon enough, for I would have downloaded it to prevent it from fading; I hope that other faithful Catholics were able to do so. Church Militant has an account of his video, and some snippets of Father's address are quoted therein. Father put up another video explaining why he removed that video, and I did archive that. Listen very closely; I'll offer comments below that.
Notice how he said - repeatedly - that he removed the video out of obedience to superiors. As a priest and religious, he is vowed to obey his superiors, provided that the ordered action is not inherently immoral. Never did he say that he agrees with their reasoning.
Now what else is going on this week? YES! The bishops are holed up in a seminary, supposedly on retreat to focus on how badly they botched up with their own sexual misbehviors! Father Goring is director of the Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston TX (Wanna bet how long that will last? But I digress!) That is DiNardo's diocese. We all know how he got railroaded at the USCCB meeting last month. Either he contacted the superiors of the Companions of the Cross, Cupich and/or Wuerl beat on DiNardo to do that, or the two contacted the CC superiors themselves. Father Goring repeated said the order came from his superiors; he mentioned no bishop.
Father Goring's facebook page is quite revealing. It appears that he has issued several videos that detail the sad and sordid truth of episcopal scandals within the Church, all the way up to Pope Francis. Scroll down the page and notice how many of those videos have been removed. They've been removed at the behest of his superiors.
While Father Going is indeed vowed to obedience and had no choice but to assume silence, we the laity are under no such constraint. Indeed, silence for us is NOT a morally valid option. We must speak out, we must write, we must picket. In short, we must make errant clergy squirm with discomfort on account of them dragging Holy Mother Church through the mud and scandalizing poor souls into hell.
To protest the treatment of Father Goring and the suppression of truth, contact:
Enough of that sad history - back to the present. Cardinal Wuerl is going to strut through that rally as though nothing is amiss and pretend that he prioritizes pro-life matters. Catholics are rightly outraged.
A priest of the Companions of the Cross, Father Mark Goring, put up a very fine video expressing what many of us believe, and urging us to take action. Well, lo and behold, he was forced to take it down. I regret that I did not get to it soon enough, for I would have downloaded it to prevent it from fading; I hope that other faithful Catholics were able to do so. Church Militant has an account of his video, and some snippets of Father's address are quoted therein. Father put up another video explaining why he removed that video, and I did archive that. Listen very closely; I'll offer comments below that.
Notice how he said - repeatedly - that he removed the video out of obedience to superiors. As a priest and religious, he is vowed to obey his superiors, provided that the ordered action is not inherently immoral. Never did he say that he agrees with their reasoning.
Now what else is going on this week? YES! The bishops are holed up in a seminary, supposedly on retreat to focus on how badly they botched up with their own sexual misbehviors! Father Goring is director of the Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston TX (Wanna bet how long that will last? But I digress!) That is DiNardo's diocese. We all know how he got railroaded at the USCCB meeting last month. Either he contacted the superiors of the Companions of the Cross, Cupich and/or Wuerl beat on DiNardo to do that, or the two contacted the CC superiors themselves. Father Goring repeated said the order came from his superiors; he mentioned no bishop.
Father Goring's facebook page is quite revealing. It appears that he has issued several videos that detail the sad and sordid truth of episcopal scandals within the Church, all the way up to Pope Francis. Scroll down the page and notice how many of those videos have been removed. They've been removed at the behest of his superiors.
While Father Going is indeed vowed to obedience and had no choice but to assume silence, we the laity are under no such constraint. Indeed, silence for us is NOT a morally valid option. We must speak out, we must write, we must picket. In short, we must make errant clergy squirm with discomfort on account of them dragging Holy Mother Church through the mud and scandalizing poor souls into hell.
To protest the treatment of Father Goring and the suppression of truth, contact:
- Cardinal Daniel DiNardo at 1-713-659-5461 (Bishop of Galveston-Houston)
- Very Reverend Allan MacDonald CC, General Superior of the Companions of the Cross, 1-613-728-3175
- Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the US, 1-202-333-7121
UPDATE: None too surprisingly, the video is gone - but only from Father Goring's page, that is. I have a copy. Once something is posted on the internet, it never really goes away. I will explore ways to promulgate it myself. The truth will NOT be suppressed.
UPDATE AS OF 1-13: Indeed the truth is not suppressed, as I found the video elsewhere.
UPDATE AS OF 1-13: Indeed the truth is not suppressed, as I found the video elsewhere.
