Some Random Thoughts

I have not felt like writing much lately. There is not too much big church news. But I feel that I should write something to stay in the habit. I am still very impressed by Benedict's Peace Day Message: If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation. Benedict has taken the lead with filling out our Catholic Social Teaching by addressing the issue of sustainability. He has definitely earned his reputation as the Green Pope, especially in comparison to previous pontiffs. Protecting creation seems of particular importance at this time of the year in Milwaukee. It's raining, snow is melting, and one wonders if raw sewage is being pumped into Lake Michigan.

In any case, I hope to have a more interesting post in the near future.

A Faithful Catholic

Listecki's Legacy for Milwaukee

Here is Milwaukee Archbishop Listecki's first homily text.

A few thoughts...

Listecki first defines a bishop as "the link between the particular church which is entrusted to him in hierarchical communion with the Universal Church." This is a distortion of Vatican II teaching and early Catholic thought (e.g. St. Augustine). As with our previous archbishop, Listecki sees himself, basically, as a papal representative. Although there is obviously a meaningful unity with the Church of Rome, Vatican II stressed the individual bishop, more in partnership with Rome and less as a link in a chain of command. This is another step backward for our Church and for our Archdiocese.

In his homily, church teaching was equated with papal teaching. This raises numerous questions about who is the Church and how can we be so certain that the Pope is always right? Vatican II wanted to engage the world: Listecki pauses before the great divide between the secular and the religious realm. The sexual abuse scandal and the numerous cover-ups should make clear that the religous realm is not as distinct from the secular realm as Listecki would like to think.

Lastly, he stated, "His Holiness, Benedict the XVI has made his selection and I accept his decision as God’s will." Equating the Pope's decision with God's will without any good reason is a scary proposition. Listecki, himself, states that there are many others more qualified to be archbishop of Milwaukee. Was it God's will that Benard Law go to Boston? Or for you conservatives, Was it God's will that Weakland spend over two decades in Milwaukee?

I will try my hardest to give Listecki a chance, but arrogance is a terrible thing. I do not usually get along with people that KNOW God's will.

A Faithful Catholic

Bishops, Profit, and Land Speculation

A week ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an article, informing their readers about the incoming Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki's land dealings with a friend who had defrauded the Archdiocese of Chicago while Listecki was a priest in Chicago. The article seemed more concerned about his relationship with the thief, who Listecki believes was wrongly accused. My greater concern as a Catholic reading the article was why a Chicago priest and now bishop is involved in land speculation. It is this sort of land speculation that is partly responsible for the current economic crisis.

In addition, a priest is taken care of for life with a suitable salary, health care, and all the rest. Why is a priest involved in this activity? The article also mentioned that Portland Archbishop John Vlazny was involved with Listecki in land speculation. Why are bishops involved in land speculation? They are even better taken care of than priests... just ask Cardinal Law. The other half of the equation... if we assume that priests do not make enough to support themselves, why are they still involved with these economic dealings after they become bishops, as the article indicates is the case?

This whole scenario also begs the question, can the bishops involved in such dealings be moral authorities for the economic sphere? How many more bishops are involved in this type of activity that we are not aware of because no fraud was involved. I find these dealings very troubling and do not think that bishops should be involved in profiteering.

A Faithful Catholic

Pope, Sustainability, Peace

I probably neglect sustainability (or environmental issues) too often on this blog. Thankfully, Pope Benedict seems to be keeping up with the issue. His peace day message for January 1st was released to the press yesterday. His theme this year is the environment and our proper stewardship of it, which has been greatly lacking. As Catholics, we are told that we cannot sit idly by and pretend that issues of climate change, desertification, erosion of farming lands, pollution of rivers and drinking water, loss of biodiversity, and deforestation are not our responsibility. As Church, we have a responsibility to protect the environment because it is God's gift to us that needs to also sustain future generations.

The name of this document is: "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation." Here is a link to it. It also has great terms like "intergenerational solidarity." It is really a wonderful document that stresses the special relationship between God, humanity, and the rest of God's creation. He states that the current neglect of this relationship is leading to a loss of human dignity with such things as environmental refugees and will lead to future violent conflicts if we do not change our current practices.

Good job Benedict. We need this document right now.

A Faithful Catholic

Young Catholics that Still Care about Being Catholic...

I was very surprised tonight to see a segment on Channel 6 news about a group of young Catholics, aptly naming themselves, Young Catholics for Choice, announcing that they had partnered with Wisconsin based Family Planning Health Services to make commercials stating their belief that they can be Catholic and use Emergency Contraception.

These commercials will start airing in the Milwaukee area any day. Fox 6 even had an interview with soon-to-be Milwaukee Archbishop Listecki, who stated the incompatibility of abortion with Catholic thought. He did not mention the views of Augustine and Aquinas about the soul not entering the embryo until weeks after conception. Although aborting the fetus immediately after conception was not viewed as a positive, it was not viewed as murder.

It will be interesting to see these commercials. It is also great to know that young Catholics that disagree with the Church's teaching on birth control and abortion are not simply leaving the Church or giving up religion. They are obviously passionate about their faith. I'm very proud to call these young people fellow Catholics.

A Faithful Catholic

Christ the King

Who is our King? It seems that all to often in the Catholic Church we point to the Pope or the Magisterium or a bishop or priest or nun. Our king is Jesus the Christ. Within many Protestant churches they will place kingship in the Bible, as do some Catholics. But our king is Jesus the Christ.

When we pray, we should be fostering our relationship with the Christ. When we attempt to live lives dedicated justice and peace in the world, in our country, in our city, in our home, and in our Church, we should be fostering our relationship with the Christ. Although it is an added bonus if we foster relationships with Pope, bishop, priest, friend, enemy, children, family, etc., what is most important is the Christ.

He is the pearl of great price and the treasure for which we will sell all we have to acquire him. I would hope that all reading this blog could agree on this point. If we cannot agree on this, then there are more problems within the body of Christ than I previously thought.

Let us praise our King as we prepare for his coming!!!

A Faithful Catholic

Initial Thoughts about Milwaukee Archbishop "Elect"

On Saturday morning the news was spreading: Bishop Listecki of La Crosse will be the future archbishop of Milwaukee - news conference at 10:00am. I watched to see what our future archbishop would say. He did not surprise me, much. Although I can appreciate someone who is Church-centered and Christ-centered (shouldn't we all be), it makes all the difference in the world how one interprets those terms.

Listecki constantly referred to the Church during his press conference. It was clear from the context that in almost every instance, Church = hierarchy. Not very good Vatican II theology. As to how his Christ-centered talk will come to fruition in his policies will be interesting. We did see an example of how papal infallibility can be misused. Listecki, multiple times, equated the Pope choosing him for Milwaukee with the movement of the Holy Spirit. When people think they have the Holy Spirit on their side, they think anything they do is Holy Spirit-inspired. In other words, they have a mandate to do what they want. Hopefully, I am wrong in this assessment, but I am nonetheless uncomfortable with that language.

Listecki's comments on politics were interesting. He basically stated that his involvement in politics was an involvement in our political system. Real lawyer talk, which makes sense because he is a lawyer. He did not state that his past political (abortion) comments were an attempt to address a society of death. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. I'm intrigued.

A Faithful Catholic