The Good Bishops (Updated list)

N/A | 27 May 2004 | myself

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

This is a new updated list, I have taken the original posted list, a list compiled by Saradippity and submissions of other Catholic Freepers. I have done my best to verify each and every one, but for a few, I am relying on the submitee.

Good Bishops: Bp. McManus of Worcester****, Bp. Sheridan of Colorado Springs**, Bp. Burke of St. Louis**, Bp. Aquila of Fargo**, Bp. Smith of Trenton**, Bp. Hughes of New Orleans**, Bp. Galante of Camden**, Bp. Carlson of Sioux Falls**, Bp. Bruskewitz of Lincoln**, Bp. Chaput of Denver**, Bp. Tobin of Youngstown, Bp. D'Arcy of South Bend, Bp. Olmsted of Phoenix****, Bp. Myers of Newark**, Bp. Jenky of Peoria, Bp. Wuerl of Pittsburg, Bp. Curtiss of Omaha, Bp. Barbarito of Palm Beach, Bp. Doran of Rockford, Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, Bp. Demarzio of ?????? (could not verify), Bp. Coleman of Fall Rivers (could not verify), Bp. Donaghue of Atlanta, Bp. Vigneron - Coadjutor of Oakland, Cardinal George of Chicago****, Bp. Brunett of Seattle****, Bp. Dolan of Milwaukee, Bp. Weigand of Sacramento**, Bp. Levada of San Francisco (could not verify), Bp. Lori of Bridgeport, Bp. Murphy of Rockville, Bp. O'Malley of Boston, Bp. Allue of No. Andover, Mp. Buechlein of Indianapolis, Bp. Galeone of St. Augustine, Bp. Kelcher of Kansas City**

** - Strong Stance on Pro-Life issues (communion warnings or bans) **** - Strong Stance on Gay-Marriage issues

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

For Your Consideration

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Update Ping!

God Bless

[Salvation]

Hope you don't mind if I relist them this way:

Good Bishops:
Bp. McManus of Worcester****,
Bp. Sheridan of Colorado Springs**,
Bp. Burke of St. Louis**,
Bp. Aquila of Fargo**,
Bp. Smith of Trenton**,
Bp. Hughes of New Orleans**,
Bp. Galante of Camden**,
Bp. Carlson of Sioux Falls**,
Bp. Bruskewitz of Lincoln**,
Bp. Chaput of Denver**,
Bp. Tobin of Youngstown,
Bp. D'Arcy of South Bend,
Bp. Olmsted of Phoenix****,
Bp. Myers of Newark**,
Bp. Jenky of Peoria,
Bp. Wuerl of Pittsburg,
Bp. Curtiss of Omaha,
Bp. Barbarito of Palm Beach,
Bp. Doran of Rockford,
Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia,
Bp. Demarzio of ?????? (could not verify),
Bp. Coleman of Fall Rivers (could not verify),
Bp. Donaghue of Atlanta,
Bp. Vigneron - Coadjutor of Oakland,
Cardinal George of Chicago****,
Bp. Brunett of Seattle****,
Bp. Dolan of Milwaukee, Bp. Weigand of Sacramento**,
Bp. Levada of San Francisco (could not verify),
Bp. Lori of Bridgeport,
Bp. Murphy of Rockville,
Bp. O'Malley of Boston,
Bp. Allue of No. Andover,
Mp. Buechlein of Indianapolis,
Bp. Galeone of St. Augustine,
Bp. Kelcher of Kansas City**

** - Strong Stance on Pro-Life issues (communion warnings or bans)

**** - Strong Stance on Gay-Marriage issues

[Salvation]

Bishops listed by states

Bishops, alpha order

Bishops by Dioceses

[cebadams]

While it might be easy to recognize a "bad" bishop is there something more than the two tests you mention (pro-life and pro-marriage) that defines a "good" bishop?

I'm wondering what other criteria has been applied to generatie this list.

[Maximilian]

These should not be called "good bishops" but rather "bishops who have ever done even 1 good thing." Clearly these names are on the list because these bishops at some time or another did something that seemed comparativley conservative. But most of them have an equal or greater number of terrible actions. Some that immediately leap to mind with events that have happened in recent memory:

Bishop Burke: Starts his tenure in St. Louis by demanding the deed of a church that has belonged to the polish congregation for over 100 years and which they've spent millions of dollars renovating.

Bishop Aquila: North Dakota is the state where the bishops recently intervened to make certain that legislation making abortion a crime was DEFEATED. The bishop's spokesman came and gave testimony at the statehouse stating that the Catholic Church absolutely does not want abortion to be against the law.

Bishop Chaput: Just this week he opened a new seminary for the horribly heretical group "Neo-Catechumanal Way." His pastoral letter on Humanae Vitae was an intellectual train wreck. He is the episcopal sponsor of the egregious Christopher West, "Mr. Naked without Shame."

Bishop Wuerl: He is the one using heavy-handed tactics to try to force homeschooling parents to put their children into diocesan sex education programs.

Cardinal George: Entire books could be written about him. Before putting him in your "good bishops" list, maybe you should take a look at what Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful has to say about him. And isn't he also the bishop who has allowed pro-abortion black politicians to preach from the pulpits of his inner city parishes?

Bishop O'Malley: Try checking out the postings on FreeRepublic for today alone. He is closing one fifth of all the parishes in Boston. And just last month at Easter time he quickly back-pedaled on his statement about only men having their feet washed on Holy Thursday and how feminism was bad.

Bishop Buechlein: Once again, you don't have to read beyond TODAY's headlines. This is the bishop who is assigning as pastor of 3 parishes the priest who was arrested 6 months ago for soliciting homosexual acts at a highway rest stop. The same priest who has in the past been caught stealing money to support his "lifestyle" and who counseled Timothy McVeigh (but not to repent).

The rest of the bishops I don't know much about. But then again, I don't read The Wanderer. I prefer ignorance about the various scandals, but sometimes they are so ubiquitous that you just can't avoid them.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

These should not be called "good bishops" but rather "bishops who have ever done even 1 good thing." Clearly these names are on the list because these bishops at some time or another did something that seemed comparativley conservative. But most of them have an equal or greater number of terrible actions

Max is right. O'Malley is a disappointment and Archbishop Levada does NOT belong on any list of good bishops. Read the book "Priest, Where Is Thy Mass" described on my homepage. Levada is worse than I ever guessed.

[lrslattery]

Bishop Burke: Starts his tenure in St. Louis by demanding the deed of a church that has belonged to the polish congregation for over 100 years and which they've spent millions of dollars renovating.

I believe you may have been given some misinformation. The canonical process was begun while then Archbishop Rigali was here. Part of what Abp. Burke detailed recently was this:

In recent weeks, there has been much conversation and publicity regarding my meetings with the board of directors of the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, with the priests assigned to the parish, with the parish Pastoral Council and with the parishioners. A number of the faithful of the archdiocese have written to me, expressing their concern about the situation as they perceive it. A common perception is that the archdiocese is demanding a change in the civil incorporation of the parish, in order to be in a position to suppress or close the parish and, then, to take the parish’s funds to use for other purposes. As you can imagine, such a perception is a source of scandal for the faithful.

In order that you have a correct perception of the situation, I offer a reflection on the situation itself, in the context of the Church’s understanding of the relationship of a parish to the diocese or archdiocese, and to the universal Church. The reflection both seeks to heal any scandal in the matter and provides us all a good occasion to reflect on the gift of our life in the Church at the parish, diocesan and universal levels.

I'm not sure if the article is archived at the St. Louis Review but I posted Archbishop Burke's entire reflection here so that any misconceptions might be cleared up.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

I added some of these based on another Freepers compilations. I researched them as much as possible. I think I put question marks by Levada cause I was confused as to why he was on the list. But I recognize the legwork put into it by Saradippity.

[visualops]

I've heard alot of good about our Bishop Robert Baker here in SC (Diocese of Charleston). I found out it was he who brought back the Latin Mass to SC after receiving lots of letters on the subject.

[saradippity]

When I started keeping score in about 1998,I was very upset with what I considered to be a bunch of rogue bishops. Over the years,I watched how they handled the abuse cases,I read columns they wrote in their diocesan newspapers and in various Catholic publications and looked for orthodoxy or heterodoxy. I read editorials and letters to the editor in Catholic publications (approximately 12 to 15 monthly)running the gamut from the most liberal to the most conservative and traditionsl and watched carefully for the stances taken for or against certain B/bishops.I watched the committees they sat on and followed the reports and dispositions, I took every oppurtunity to watch them on TV and hear and see the texts of their talks and study their body language. I checked who offered their Installation Mass and who concelebrated it. I searched to see who vetted them and who sat in decision making postions.

I know my list of the heterodox or bad bishops is right on. In the process of trying to figure oout just how bad the shape of the Church in the U.S. was,I noticed some Bishops,who just seemed to be Catholic so I started tracking them,I looked at the number of priests,the seminaries they used,increase or decrease in percentages of Catholics in their diocese. I had a pretty good idea aboout some of them because in watching for the bad ones,I would also run across some that seemed to be very much in union with the Pope and Magisterium,so I started ticking them too. Of course I put all the info somewhere and am still looking for it but since I can't link and have a hard time typing,I don't know what good it would do. I believe that I am a little concerned about four that were on my second grade of good list (Buchlein,Levada,O'Malley,Dolan))but I am willing to bet that three out of the four are going to turn out just fine. Again,the bad ones are bad,guaranteed. They are little(c) catholics;progressive,marxist,leftist,homosexual or homosexual sympathizers.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Dolan? You have doubts about Dolan, wow. He's struck me as very Orthodox, massive improvement from Weakland.

[Maximilian]

I believe you may have been given some misinformation.

The information that I got was on the front page of the St. Louis Post Dispatch with an extended article and a big color photo. I'm sure that Bishop Burke is trying to spin the situation with his "reflection," but the numerous members of the congregation who were interviewed for the article sounded like they were unlikely to have their minds changed by any "happy talk." Are they going to keep the deed to their property, or are they not? Does Burke's "reflection" come right out and give a straight answer to that question? Not according to your excerpt. But kudos to Burke for recognizing that yes, indeed, this is "a source of scandal for the faithful."

[Maximilian]

Dolan? You have doubts about Dolan, wow.

I should have included Bishop "Cheesehead" on the list of those who are not as orthodox as they seem. Report in Dolan's own newspaper of his installation Mass, "Briefly exchanging his miter to "debut a new miter" during his homily, Dolan donned a bright yellow cheesehead, and told the roaring crowing that he understood the Packers were victorious earlier in the afternoon."

BTW, I haven't heard anything recently, what disciplinary actions were imposed on the Milwaukee priests who signed the protest letter?

[johnb2004]

Thanks for correcting the tilt. I agree with much of your post. I cringe when I see some of these names. They pretend to be conservative, but act like left wing politicians more than Shepherds.

[saradippity]

No,I don't have doubts about Dolan. He is quite orthodox and very smart. Unfortunately,he succeeded one of the worst ever bishops,Weakland,so he has to work through webs, layers and entanglements which means his progress in righting the diocese is considerably hampered.

I believe that it is important to know the enemy and not get blindsided and be careful to not waste time attacking good successors of the Apostles,there are too few of them. Although they are increasing and we must continue to pray for them.

[Campion]

Bishop Aquila: North Dakota is the state where the bishops recently intervened to make certain that legislation making abortion a crime was DEFEATED. The bishop's spokesman came and gave testimony at the statehouse stating that the Catholic Church absolutely does not want abortion to be against the law.

Something's muddled about this, because the anti-abortion law was in South Dakota, not North Dakota, and Bishop Aquila is indeed the bishop of Fargo, North Dakota. Your choices for Bishops in South Dakota are Cupich of Rapid City and Carlson of Sioux Falls. I can't find anything about either one of them opposing the abortion bill.

[Desdemona]

Word on the street is that the Poles are going to go private, but I can't confirm that.

[Desdemona]

"Briefly exchanging his miter to "debut a new miter" during his homily, Dolan donned a bright yellow cheesehead, and told the roaring crowing that he understood the Packers were victorious earlier in the afternoon."

Minor social nicety. He learned well in his youth here. It was a gesture, nothing more, and probably warmed more hearts on the spot than almost anything else he could have done did. It makes the people open to the message this man teaches. It also shows that he has a sense of humor, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Dolan's orthodox. I have no doubts on that considering the people here who didn't like what he had to say.

[Maximilian]

Something's muddled about this, because the anti-abortion law was in South Dakota, not North Dakota, and Bishop Aquila is indeed the bishop of Fargo, North Dakota.

There were 2 separate laws, one in North Dakota in 2003 and one in South Dakota in 2004. As far as I know, the South Dakota bishops supported the more recent bill. Although in that case, the National Right to Life jumped in to make sure that it was defeated. Heaven forbid that abortion should actually be made a crime. That would be bad for NRTL fund-raising efforts.

However, there was a separate bill in 2003 in North Dakota which made abortion a crime. At that time Bishop Aquila opposed the bill. Here is an excerpt from the testimony offered by a representative of the American Life League:

I have attempted to prove that the policy of the North Dakota Catholic Conference and the Catholic bishops of North Dakota is not only counterproductive to achieving their own stated goals (and positive duty before God) of "overturning Roe v. Wade" and "building a culture of life," but violates the objective moral principles of the of the Church to which they have given their lives to advance and defend. The Bishops' policies clearly violate the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and contradict the established principles of moral theology as reflected in canon law.

http://www.all.org/news/030212a.htm