Greetings in Christ, all!
I’m writing you this bulletin a bit late; I wasn’t able to get it in until Wednesday for a lot of reasons, but I think I see the Lord’s hand in the timing.
Since the last bulletin I sent you all, two very significant events happened in our Church and I think it important to walk you through it. To be clear, what is happening in our Church is an event that will be written about by historians due to its significance. Yesterday, while praying, I was struck by the Chinese blessing: “May you live in interesting times”…
So, what happened?
First, Cardinal Carlo Maria Vigano. Cardinal Vigano was appointed by Pope Benedict to serve as Papal Nuncio for the US. He served in that capacity until 2016. Last Sunday, he released an 11 page letter that he described as a “Confession”. I really don’t have the space to go into it, but the shortest way to summarize is this: Cardinal Vigano alleges that Pope Francis knew that Cardinal McCarrick was an active, predatory homosexual and “an utterly corrupt man” when he appointed McCarrick as “his trusted counselor” who then was responsible for getting Cardinal Blasé Cupic and Archbishop Joseph Tobin appointed, as well as some other Bishops.
Cardinal Vigano asked the Pope to step down, along with other Cardinals who knew of McCarricks behavior. Vigano further encouraged the leadership in Rome to take the world wide abuse scandal more seriously.
The Holy Father and Cardinal Cupich responded to the letter in the following ways:
Pope Francis: “I read the statement this morning and I must tell you sincerely that, I must say this, to you and all those who are interested: read the statement carefully and make your own judgement. I will not say a single word about this.”
Cardinal Cupich described the letter as a distraction from the “bigger agenda” for the Church. “We have to speak about the environment, about the poor, we have to reach out to people who are marginalized in society. We cannot be distracted at this moment.” He further seemed to muse that this was a symptom of a personal and/or ideological battle within the Church and that some of it was based on a dislike because “[The Pope] is a Latino.”
So…why am I covering all this? Because its important. We have some American Bishops coming out firing both in support of Cardinal Vigano and some in support of Pope Francis: I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime.
I tell you this because I believe you need to know; I don’t want to hide this family fight.
I tell you this so you will have enough information to do whatever research is necessary to go beyond my little summary here.
I’m trying not to make judgements about who is telling the truth, but I certainly offer you my judgement/opinion about the response: I don’t like it at all. It’s not a time for our Holy Father and Cardinal Cupich to be cute, dismissive or clever; but to simply tell us the truth.
So, what do we do?
Please do a couple things:
Pray for the victims of clergy abuse. Pray God heal them. Pray for God to clean the Vatican and the Church out: to drive away from us and from Rome any evil that is getting in the way of God’s work and our holiness.
Support Bishops (like ours) who have been clear in their commitment to fighting this evil and standing for what is right: they need our support and our prayers.
Most of all, DO NOT GIVE UP. Jesus has already won this fight and I am proud of how many people have affirmed their love of and commitment to the faith, not in any specific person. This is a Church by, for and about Jesus and He will guide us, protect us and help us be the people God made us to be.
We currently live in exciting times and, as dark as this all is, the Church has gone through much, much worse. For this generation of Catholics, a lot has been and is being asked of us. I urge each of us in our heart to ask ourselves the question:
Why Am I Catholic?
If, like me, you discover that the answer is “because it is true” then we have nothing to fear. No lies, no cover ups, no darkness can obscure the Truth.
I conclude by assuring you, my Two parish families that I love you, that I am committed to you and that I will continue to pursue holiness with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
In Jesus,
FJK