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1. Silence from the pulpit
2. Bishops Refuse to Discipline “Catholic” Apostates and Heretics
3. Why not excommunicated?
4. Priests in the confessional and pro-life seminary training
5. Bishops and Sex Abuse
6. Fr. Euteneuer’s three-point survey for screening new bishops

1. Silence from the pulpit
Q: Can you tell me why a lot of our bishops (not all maybe, but some) aren't more outspoken on the subject of abortion? (Sent by M.J.) See Answer »

2. Bishops Refuse to Discipline “Catholic” Apostates
and Heretics
Q: My concern is what to do about the unwillingness of the Church hierarchy to speak out on matters of faith and morals that affect the lives of everyday Catholics. For example, in [State X], we have a "Catholic" governor who supports unrestricted access to abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and same sex marriage. I believe that, because of her prominent position in the state, she gives great scandal to the Church. Neither the bishop of [Diocese X] where the governor resides, nor the bishop of the archdiocese of [X], where she makes her permanent home, has spoken out about her positions on these issues. In addition, the pastor of her parish in [City X]…supports her wholeheartedly and welcomes her participation as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist! …In our parish, throwing trash out the car window onto the highway, supporting war or the death penalty, and giving only our "used" clothes to the poor will more surely lead us to Hell than committing adultery or participating in abortion. What to do? (Sent by M.M.) See Answer »

3. Why not excommunicated?
Q: When a practicing Roman Catholic (incumbent) politician takes part in legislation and/or public policy that are in direct opposition to our church teachings, why are they not ex-communicated? (Sent by B. and D. S. from OH)

A: Questions 1-3 can be answered as one. I regret to say that this scenario of clergy silence and negligence on fundamental matters of faith and morals is extremely common and is just devastating to the faith lives of people. I hear this complaint in every country of the world. Allow me to give several reasons why I think this is so and then a couple of things that we can do in the face of it.

The first reason why this happens: most bishops and priests lack moral courage. It takes a great deal of that inner strength to enunciate the truths of our Faith in the public forum and even more so to stand up and engage in a high-profile fight with a pagan public official or an apostate so-called “Catholic” politician, even though it is their moral duty to do so. Lack of moral courage to enforce doctrine is truly a deficit in the modern priesthood and hierarchy, and the abysmal state of “Catholic” politicians and universities is a testimony to that. “Catholics” in public life are getting away with murder—literally.

Second, most bishops and priests are infected with the Father Nice Guy mentality of church governance, a theory of authority which is found in no biography of any canonized cleric or bishop. The Good Shepherd carries both “a rod and a staff that give [us] courage” (Ps 23:4), and churchmen are supposed to imitate Him in His office of protecting and guiding the sheep. His rod drives away external threats to the sheep, namely, wolves, with the understanding that the shepherd loves his sheep and will protect them up to the point of sacrificing himself. The staff with the hook on the end of it brings back wayward members of the flock—sometimes gently, sometimes like a theatre hook—but the fact that the shepherd carries these instruments and is willing to wield them when necessary is itself an indication of his authority and his protective vigilance over them—his office is for their wellbeing. The writer of Psalm 23 was inspired by that Shepherd’s authority when he needed it most: walking through “the valley of the shadow of death.”

What can we do about the silence and negligence of the clergy?

First and foremost we must pray for the conversion of the clergy and hierarchy. This is a prayer that our consecrated leaders live fully their vocations to service in the Church Militant. Any agenda for change is only politics if it is not rooted in Christian charity. We may hate the sin but not the sinner even if he is abusing or neglecting his God-given authority. Prayer still does move mountains, even when those mountains seem to wear ecclesiastical garb. Prayer is the starting point.

Secondly, we must confront abusive or neglectful clergy in Christ’s way. Gone are the days where Catholics had to just submit to objectively wrong behavior on the part of clerics and keep quiet about it. We cannot be quiet about sin or evil among our clergy, but we must follow the provisions in Matthew 18 which require a three step process of addressing in-house problems. Step one is to go to the sinner himself and address it. “If you win your brother over,” the Gospel says, then the problem is solved. This rarely happens! If not, take two or three witnesses to confront him. If this does not work, then take it to the Church. Presumably this means the “chain of command” in the Church. Many times things can be worked out with respectful and professional presentation of problems and appeals up the chain of command.

The last option is to treat him “like a tax collector.” This means that in the face of total repudiation of legitimate complaints professionally presented up the chain of command, or criminal negligence, then the only recourse to redress the ills is to secular power. Priests and bishops have a religious duty to be responsive to the needs and righteous complaints of the faithful, and if they don’t, well, sometimes the only ones they will listen to are newspaper editors, cops and judges. We pray that things will never have to reach that point, but our recent church history in this country has shown that God can also use the pagans to discipline the Church.

4. Priests in the confessional and pro-life seminary training
Q: Can you tell me if priests are taught about abortion? Many years ago I heard from one of my clients that the priest had shut the door of the confessional when she confessed an abortion. I am interested to know if this is a psychological tool. A friend looked into it more on my behalf and told me her priest friend had no training at all during 7 years in a seminary. (Sent by T.J.)

A: This topic is difficult to answer categorically. I think the situation described about the priest in the confessional would be a highly extraordinary one nowadays. Abortion is so common that priests unfortunately hear it all the time in Confession and no priest I know has ever treated a woman like that. It is however, unfortunate that your friend had that experience, and I pray that she is not driven away from the church by the bad example of one isolated priest.

Regarding abortion, in general the bishops give priests faculties to absolve the sin and the excommunication of abortion. Canon law reserves the absolution of this censure to a bishop, but bishops simply cannot deal with all the cases and delegate the matter to their priests which is correct pastoral care for suffering women and men. Given the huge number of women and men involved in abortions in modern society it is wise to make this spiritual authority available to as many as possible so that they may be healed and reconciled.

The question of teaching about abortion in seminary is a matter that depends entirely on the individual seminary. I went to seminary from 1984-1989, a full 15+ years after abortion was legalized in the US, and I hardly heard a word about it. I think the pro-life movement is “producing” more young men nowadays who are more astute at the Church’s teaching on the life matters, but the amount of teaching on it will vary from seminary to seminary. One thing is for sure, the new priests are not getting anywhere near enough teaching on all the aspects of the problem. Indeed, it is not spoken about in the seminary, and this is exactly what helps motivate me to travel a hundred thousand miles a year—HLI recognizes that we need to go to the seminaries—to the root of the problem and head it off before we again flood our churches with priests who are afraid to speak about abortion or do anything about it.

5. Bishops and Sex Abuse
Q: Is it any wonder why many Catholics have lost their confidence in Rome, the Pope, some Bishops and some of the priests?...Your comments via the newsletter are more in keeping with what we have learned and believe. Please explain when will our Faith as we knew it return? Today on ABC’s “The View” a priest and a cardinal’s sex abuse and cover up were discussed on national TV. Parents of an abused girl were featured. Why are this priest and Cardinal not in jail? Will this ever stop? What a beating the Church including the Pope took today on ABC “The View.” (Sent by J.D.L.)

A: The sex abuse problem is just one of the many manifestations of clergymen and members of the hierarchy who have been feminized and lost their courage to both speak the truth and enforce discipline. The fact that the “sins of the fathers” are now being reviewed in front of audiences of millions by lesbian-activist types like Rosie O’Donnell is in itself a real irony, but as Monsignor Ronald Knox used to say, for some people “any stick to beat the Church will do.”

Today’s church scandals require us to have a character of faith that we may never have thought ourselves capable of: heroic faith. These times call us to become heroes and saints. This is not just a time to believe in God. We must believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that He gave us with the very fiber of our being, from the very depths of our souls, with every breath we take and with an undying spirit of optimism.

He really meant what He said when He promised that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Mt 16:18) and “the one who holds out to the end will be saved,” (Mt 24:13).

Now is not the time for anyone to bail out of the Church with the inadequate excuse that “the weakness of men” is a cause of scandal – remember, the weakness of men is a given! Today’s weaknesses are only a variation on a theme. The greater scandal, however, is that the faithful should abandon the Church in her time of need. Judas bailed, and we all know what happened to him. Peter however, fell—and picking himself up from his fall he became the Apostle that he was meant to be.

The Lord allows these tests of our faith to purify us and the Church so that our faith, hope and charity will not be superficial. This is the time to make a wholehearted and even sacrificial commitment to the true Church and stand in solidarity with those who are living their vocations, both laity and priests, with virtue.

6. Fr. Euteneuer’s three-point survey for screening new bishops
Every priest who aspires to be a bishop aspires to a worthy thing according to 1 Tim 3:1. However, the test should be tough because the job is tough. Bishop-aspirants should be required to submit the following information to the Vatican for review of their qualifications for the Catholic episcopacy:

• List the titles and subject matter of your last three years of sermons and a full inventory of letters of protests, walk-outs, personal threats and loss of collection revenues that you have sustained in that period of time;
• List the number of engaged couples that you have effectively convinced to stop fornicating and living together before marriage, or alternatively list how many couples have scolded you in preparation courses with the line about “this is the 21st century, etc.”; then indicate how many of the remaining couples have persevered in the Sacrament through their seventh wedding anniversary through your pastoral assistance;
• Please indicate the number of “Catholics” in your diocese that you have rebuked for public scandal to the Faith; please submit hard copies of your letters to them and the threatening letters from their lawyers or actual lawsuits that have been generated by your actions. No fewer than a dozen such letters will suffice for this application;
  • One other minor item will assist the Vatican Congregation for Bishops in its evaluation of your fitness for high ecclesiastical office: please provide proof that you actually have been banished to the most destitute parish or dead-end assignment in your diocese because of your orthodoxy.