A lot of the problems we have today are enhanced simply because Good People do nothing and evil is allowed to prevail. Pointing this out and questioning the response from our church leaders is woefully lacking these days. It’s apathy and political correctness that’s strangling the “Good”.

On a more positive note… just read a GREAT article from Bishop Robert J. Hermann …. http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012707.html

CATHOLIC JOURNALISTS: BEAR WITNESS TO THE VALUES OF FAITH

VATICAN CITY, 27 JAN 2009 (VIS) – Benedict XVI has sent a message to participants in the national congress of the Italian Catholic Press Union (UCSI). The congress, held last week, commemorated the institution’s fiftieth anniversary.

“Half a century after the foundation of the UCSI many things have changed”, writes the Holy Father. This change has been “more visible in areas ranging from science to technology, from the economy to geopolitics; less perceptible but deeper, and more worrying, in the field of modern culture, in which respect for the dignity of the individual seems to have notably diminished, along with a sense of such values as justice, freedom and solidarity, which are so essential for the survival of a society”.

The work of Catholic journalists, says the Pope, “anchored in a heritage of principles that have their roots in the Gospel, … is even more arduous today. To your characteristic sense of responsibility and spirit of service, you must add an ever great professionalism, and a capacity for dialogue with the ‘lay’ world in the search for shared values”.

After telling the journalists that “you will be listened to more readily when the testimony of your own lives is coherent”, the Holy Father assures them that “no small number of your ‘lay’ colleagues expect from you the silent witness – not only in appearance but in substance – of a life inspired by the values of faith”.

Benedict XVI writes of his awareness that they are committed to “an ever more demanding task, one in which spaces for freedom are often under threat, and economic and political interests often take precedence over the spirit of service and the criterion of the common good.

“I encourage you”, he adds in conclusion, “not to make compromises in such important values but to have the courage of coherence, even at the cost of personal sacrifice. Serenity of conscience is a priceless quality”.

MESS/…/UCSI

History tells us that about 90% of the bishops supported the Arian Heresy in the 4th century! Great Saints, like St Athanasius were exiled for a time. However, Athanasius became a Saint by holding firm to the truth and vociferously defending the divinity of Christ. Because of Saints like him, we have a Trinitarian Christian faith as professed in the Nicene Creed.

We are in danger of becoming a Church lead by bishops who follow the Gnostic Heresy, in my opinion. They would separate the soul from the body and allow evil to be done by/to the body without it affecting the soul. Pope John Paul II refuted this heresy in Theology of the Body. He is the prototype of a bishop and Saint for our times, as he imitated Christ in all things.

We must recognize that word choice reveals the thoughts of the man. Heresy is insidious. No bishop would willfully succumb. However, without fraternal correction infused with love, bishops may be blinded to the darkness before them.

Thanks Mary, for this article which, hopefully, helps us see ourselves as we are too.

As for it being different, from the way folks on this site talk about the bishops and how much they’re falling down on the job and all I guess I didn’t really see any difference in expectations. Has the USCCB really given us that much hope that they’d have more backbone? From the sounds of most of the comments, no!

The difference is huge. I expect the pro-abortion politician to act as he promised he would and I expect the bishops to preach the Gospel in season and out.

I am outraged at the President.

I am disappointed in the bishops.

A senior Vatican official on Saturday attacked US President Barack Obama for “arrogance” for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.
It is “the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.

Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See.

“What is important is to know how to listen… without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death,” he added.

Obama signed the executive order cancelling the eight-year-old restrictions on Friday, the third full day of his presidency.

The so-called “global gag rule” cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counselling, referrals or post-abortion services.

“If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path towards disappointment will have been very short,” Fisichella said.

“I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team,” he added.

The order won Obama praise from Democratic lawmakers, family planning and women’s rights groups but drew angry condemnation from pro-life organisations and Republicans.

More than 250 health and human rights organisations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy “which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls.”