The USCCB and the National Catholic Reporter have finally parted ways

So notes the National Catholic Reporter

Cycle after cycle they have promulgated the same message: Abortion trumps all other issues and the only credible approach to fighting abortion is voting for candidates who express a wish to overthrow Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Imagine Catholics using this argument in Nazi Germany. Advancing Hitler as vehicle of social justice and poo-poohing his position on federally protecting the legal license used to kill 50 million and counting.

Mass murder is, always has been, always will be, a dirty little secret that is culturally tolerated.
Thankfully, not by all.

To the point of article and grievance against the US Bishops - over 110 Bishops have spoken up this election cycle on the preeminence of the right to life.

Instead of a thoughtful discussion of the political options, the Catholic community has been overwhelmed by shouting from the most extreme ideologues and partisans. Among the bishops it is easy to spot -- and hear -- the most imprudent. There are exceptions, of course. It is the extremes, however, that drive the news and the general impressions of the Catholic community. No one among the bishops has had the courage to stand up to such misuse of office and distortion of the documents that the bishops themselves have promulgated over several decades.

Bishops who hold that a legal ban is the only approach to the abortion issue, as one observer put it, damage the church and the pro-life cause.

Certainly the conduct of many of the bishops this election cycle has diminished the significance of abortion and undermined the importance of the rest of the Catholic social agenda by turning the abortion issue into a partisan rallying cry. Their conduct further erodes the legitimate authority of an already beleaguered episcopal conference.

"No one among the bishops has had the courage to stand up"


With 110 Bishops putting the teachings of the Church in context and not a single one daring to step out of tune with the Pope, you'd think they'd get the hint.

The moral of the story is, perhaps it is time to lobby Bishop Finn of Kansas City to prevent the newspaper from misusing the word "Catholic". The faithful has the ownership of that word and the legal right to stop it from being used fraudulently. Bishop Finn is a good and faithful shepherd. Let's approach him, shall we?