Sorry, academics in the US have no rights to censorship. And denying the breath and movement of the Holy Spirit in the church is not virtuous in my lay apostolate opinion.
I choose not to respond to Mr. Witkowski but endorse your comment 100% I live in the Diocese of Lincoln and we have a history of great bishops of which Bishop Bruskewitz is not the exception. Mr. Witkowski has the right to any misinformed opinions he wishes to promote but I find them offensive. And yes, I'll get over it.
Joe, I think a fellow commenter exhorting you to expressing yourself more charitably is hardly censorship. It's fraternal exhortation, in the spirit of The Pillar's commenting policy.
Perhaps the Holy Father should be afforded the same charity by commenters as the only one of 195 bishops who refused to sign the USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
My concern was with calumny against one bishop by associating him with scandal regarding another. A la "I hope you aren't like your brother. Has he stopped beating his wife?"
Poor choice of wording. Originally I was referring to + Bruskewitz’s Neo-Traditionalism and seeming disdain for reforms of the Vatican II, which was the coverage of Charles R. Morris’ book and mentioned as well in Thomas Bokenkotter’s “A Concise History of the Catholic Church”. Bruskewitz’s autocratic style worked well for sheep, but not for post-Conciliar Catholics. E.g. without female altar servers my parish would have few to no altar servers. I had to go back to Ed’s 2021 article before I remembered that Bruskewitz had other challenges. Sorry for contextual error.
I would love to see my Archbishop, whom I respect highly, get a leadership slot. (Sample) But JD is correct, he is absolutely and unapologetically supportive of Latin Masses and worse (in the eyes of certain prominent Cardinals) very much a traditionalist socially. I see him losing again, sadly.
I crossed paths with a Portland Priest a couple years ago, and asked him if Archbishop Sample was as great as I hoped he was. He replied that "We have the best Bishop in the country". That speaks a lot, coming from one of his Priests. God bless you all out there!
That's so awesome to hear. I've been impressed since my return and feel so lucky to have a good shepherd for our region despite its reputation for being anti religious.
It’s encouraging to me that we seem to have so many competent, orthodox, fraternal bishops. Sometimes the news (and this isn’t a dig on the Pillar, you all publish positive stuff too!) would have me believe the vast majority of American bishops are not up to scratch. And it seems like there’s still room for improvement in both pastoral and administrative care. But all these races sound like they have two good candidates, and that is nice to hear.
Nearly all of JD's reasoning amounts to whether Bishops are progressive or conservative. I'm not saying that wouldn't be a factor but it seems like a very American take especially when compared with Ed's reasoning.
Why oh why couldn't you have something where you are following election day things today? Not candidates but issues, especially abortion things. In Missouri we have a fierce vote on Amendment 3 which is trying to really open up abortion (and other "reproductive" issues) which the bishops are trying to rally the state against. Would be awesome if you rounded up all those type of things and let us know how they are going as results came in.
I hope Bishop Hicks does not win to lead the clergy and vocations committee. I live in his diocese and I have had a few priests there call him the "hide and seek" bishop. Unlike the previous bishop of Joliet, who gave out his phone number to all his priests and was always helpful to them, Bishop Hicks has restricted his phone and priest only see "private" when he calls them. They have no way to contact him directly. He has also learned from his mentor, Cardinal Cupich, to call his priests mostly to threaten them. He has restricted or punished several priests simply because in their homilies they call homosexuality sinful or guided the faithful away from sinful acts such as contraception, divorce, or living together without marriage, which upset some parishioners who complained to the diocese. Such priests have been demoted to administrators instead of pastors (meaning the bishop can remove them at any time) and even sent for retraining so they can be more "pastorally sensitive". Meanwhile, I cannot attend Mass at the closest two parishes because it is ok for the pastors to restrict Communion to on the hand only. Also, several good, orthodox seminarians have left the seminary recently. How could such a bishop direct USCCB policies on priests and vocation is beyond my understanding.
This is an outrageous comment. Please consider deleting it.
Sorry, academics in the US have no rights to censorship. And denying the breath and movement of the Holy Spirit in the church is not virtuous in my lay apostolate opinion.
I choose not to respond to Mr. Witkowski but endorse your comment 100% I live in the Diocese of Lincoln and we have a history of great bishops of which Bishop Bruskewitz is not the exception. Mr. Witkowski has the right to any misinformed opinions he wishes to promote but I find them offensive. And yes, I'll get over it.
Joe, I had a long, cantankerous response written. I reflected and prayed before I posted.
I decided that in Christian charity that it would be best that I delete what I had written.
Please do the same. Pax.
For you and your sensibility, I deleted it. The US Church is broken so in the interest of “charity” I’ll acquiesce.
Thank you, Joe! I'm glad you're here with me and that we get to converse.
I’ll let the editors address those trying to censor from within their academic/seminary bubbles. Besides, I can’t get a refund of my subscription.
Joe, I think a fellow commenter exhorting you to expressing yourself more charitably is hardly censorship. It's fraternal exhortation, in the spirit of The Pillar's commenting policy.
I suspect you realize that her concern seemed to be the manner in which you spoke, and not the subject of your comment.
Perhaps the Holy Father should be afforded the same charity by commenters as the only one of 195 bishops who refused to sign the USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/nebraska-ag-report-details-clergy by Ed. Condon
I'm in way too late to see what the original comment was but yes, that refusal deserves to be a huge black mark on Bruskewitz's legacy.
No
My concern was with calumny against one bishop by associating him with scandal regarding another. A la "I hope you aren't like your brother. Has he stopped beating his wife?"
Poor choice of wording. Originally I was referring to + Bruskewitz’s Neo-Traditionalism and seeming disdain for reforms of the Vatican II, which was the coverage of Charles R. Morris’ book and mentioned as well in Thomas Bokenkotter’s “A Concise History of the Catholic Church”. Bruskewitz’s autocratic style worked well for sheep, but not for post-Conciliar Catholics. E.g. without female altar servers my parish would have few to no altar servers. I had to go back to Ed’s 2021 article before I remembered that Bruskewitz had other challenges. Sorry for contextual error.
Clever play on Election Day coverage! 🫡
Bait and switch at its finest!
The Pillar resorting to clickbait, what are we coming to?
lol. We prefer to think of this as earnest analysis wrapped in a winking troll. the rick-roll of news coverage.
And I for one am here for it lol
Oh same, some much needed levity for today
I almost didn't read it because i've had it up to my eyebrows with the election. So glad that I clicked through anyway!!!
I was taken aback for a moment by the title, but then I remembered The Pillar's never gonna let me down.
Never gonna run around and desert us
I would love to see my Archbishop, whom I respect highly, get a leadership slot. (Sample) But JD is correct, he is absolutely and unapologetically supportive of Latin Masses and worse (in the eyes of certain prominent Cardinals) very much a traditionalist socially. I see him losing again, sadly.
I crossed paths with a Portland Priest a couple years ago, and asked him if Archbishop Sample was as great as I hoped he was. He replied that "We have the best Bishop in the country". That speaks a lot, coming from one of his Priests. God bless you all out there!
That's so awesome to hear. I've been impressed since my return and feel so lucky to have a good shepherd for our region despite its reputation for being anti religious.
But mistaken. That title should belong to Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend.
Hey, I'm just thrilled that people love their Bishop, whoever and wherever that might be!
It’s encouraging to me that we seem to have so many competent, orthodox, fraternal bishops. Sometimes the news (and this isn’t a dig on the Pillar, you all publish positive stuff too!) would have me believe the vast majority of American bishops are not up to scratch. And it seems like there’s still room for improvement in both pastoral and administrative care. But all these races sound like they have two good candidates, and that is nice to hear.
Yea as someone who has only lived in LA and ADW, hearing about so. Many. orthodox faithful shepherds really gives me so much hope 💚
Nearly all of JD's reasoning amounts to whether Bishops are progressive or conservative. I'm not saying that wouldn't be a factor but it seems like a very American take especially when compared with Ed's reasoning.
I've been following the conference for a long time. Bishops vote tribally.
these are, bear in mind, very american bishops.
Why oh why couldn't you have something where you are following election day things today? Not candidates but issues, especially abortion things. In Missouri we have a fierce vote on Amendment 3 which is trying to really open up abortion (and other "reproductive" issues) which the bishops are trying to rally the state against. Would be awesome if you rounded up all those type of things and let us know how they are going as results came in.
I hope Bishop Hicks does not win to lead the clergy and vocations committee. I live in his diocese and I have had a few priests there call him the "hide and seek" bishop. Unlike the previous bishop of Joliet, who gave out his phone number to all his priests and was always helpful to them, Bishop Hicks has restricted his phone and priest only see "private" when he calls them. They have no way to contact him directly. He has also learned from his mentor, Cardinal Cupich, to call his priests mostly to threaten them. He has restricted or punished several priests simply because in their homilies they call homosexuality sinful or guided the faithful away from sinful acts such as contraception, divorce, or living together without marriage, which upset some parishioners who complained to the diocese. Such priests have been demoted to administrators instead of pastors (meaning the bishop can remove them at any time) and even sent for retraining so they can be more "pastorally sensitive". Meanwhile, I cannot attend Mass at the closest two parishes because it is ok for the pastors to restrict Communion to on the hand only. Also, several good, orthodox seminarians have left the seminary recently. How could such a bishop direct USCCB policies on priests and vocation is beyond my understanding.
Final tally: JD 5-0-1. Ed 3-3