Catholic bishops work during the morning session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2004 Fall General Assembly held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington November 17, 2004. Today marks day three of the four day meetings.
Posted on 11/17/2004 8:42:16 AM PST by NYer
WASHINGTON - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to join a new alliance that would be the broadest Christian group ever formed in the United States, linking American evangelicals and Catholics in an ecumenical organization for the first time.
The alliance, called Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., is set to kick off next year. It would also include mainline Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and black and other minority churches, though with about 67 U.S. million members the Catholic Church would be the largest denomination.
"It's not to create some kind of megabody or megachurch," said Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the ecumenical committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "It is a forum for participation so that we can pray together, grow in our understanding together and witness together our faith."
The vote came as the bishops' worked to wrap up business at their fall meeting, which ends Thursday.
It is considered a biblical imperative for Christians to find ways to build unity among their different denominations. Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II has made such efforts a priority of his pontificate.
The bishops approved the proposal 151-73. Blaire, of Stockton, Calif., called Wednesday's vote "important and historic."
The Catholic Church has ongoing ecumenical dialogues with many denominations. However, some evangelical and Pentecostal churches have resisted participating. In the floor debate Wednesday, New York Cardinal Edward Egan noted those churches were worried that such talks risked "watering down their faith."
In fact, the evangelical Southern Baptist Convention, which has more than 16 million members and is the largest Protestant denomination in the country, has so far not agreed to fully join Christian Churches Together.
Blaire said that among the evangelicals who have agreed to participate are the Salvation Army and the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.
Later, the bishops will consider launching a multiyear initiative that would strengthen marriage, as the divorce rate remains high and gays lobby for the right to wed, which the church opposes. Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was also expected to give a presentation on his task force on the moral obligations of Catholics in public life.
Does anyone know where we can find the actual voting results - who voted for what, when, where?
Orthodox ping!
No, cause they are voting electronically now, so their is no paper trail anymore.
Regretably they neglected that advice of one or two bishops not to join this organization because it treats the Catholic Church just like another denomination/family of churches which Raymond Arroyo characterized as a "newlogism" or something wherein denomination has become family. Kinda disheartening. This has not been a good conference.
We really would be doing a lot better without an episcopate you know... :-)
Oh.
Plus it probably requires an entirely new branch in the usccb. They should just hire someone like Sr. Joan Chittister and get it over with.
Let's give the bishops credit for having accomplished a lot in this meeting:
1. They elected as their president a notorious pedophile-protector who recently bankrupted his own diocese.
2. They elected as liturgy director a notorious liturgical-wreckovator-poofter who dissents from even the mildest of restrictions on abuses in the New Mass.
3. Now they have voted to destroy any last fig leaf of pretence that they represent anything but another protestant denomination.
The excuse, "These guys are irrelevant," just doesn't cut it. These guys are your bishops. Bishop is a very important position of authority to a Catholic. If you still attend the New Mass, these guys are your spiritual leaders. The men who voted to join a protestant ecumenical association are your "shepherds." You take your spiritual direction from them.
And the bottom line is: They don't believe in the Catholic faith. They are apostates. They are protestants at best. Many of them don't even have the faith of your garden-variety evangelical. In addition, they are liars, thieves, and perverts. And not just a few -- the whole bunch.
Anyone who is still waiting for the cavalry to ride to the rescue from Rome, don't hold your breath. Every single one of these bishops was installed by the current hierarchy in Rome. They are only implementing the program of the pope. As the article says,
"Pope John Paul II has made such efforts a priority of his pontificate."
Haha, great picture. Looks like the boys are having a regular blast.
Goodbye Novus Ordo. Hello SSPX!
Again, your hyperbole undermines your case.
Could you substantiate for us how Fabian Bruskewitz or Charles Chaput are "perverts"
There is a very large division among the bisops and it is appearing more and more.
Spare us any pontificating on marriage from pervert apostates, please. The document on marriage these same bishops approved 2 years ago represents the very worst of feminist propaganda, and was entirely lacking in any shred of Catholic faith. (The vote on that document was 249-2. So don't try to tell me that your bishop is better than any of the others. They're all equally bad.)
Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was also expected to give a presentation on his task force on the moral obligations of Catholics in public life.
Talk about hubris! Next we'll have Benedict Arnold give a presentation on patriotism, and Quisling of Norway will give a talk on resistance to opppression. Everyone knows what a traitor McCarrick is just from his public actions. But I recently was told some stories by a priest who was a seminarian in Newark that would make your hair stand on end. There are good reasons why McCarrick won't buck the national news media. And for this he got promoted to the most visible position in the US Catholic Church!
If you want to lay the blame for Mahoney clones on JPII, you have to thank him for Bruskewitz and Co., too.
Whether one interprets the doctrine strictly or not, this type of allegiance is an insult to our doctrine, tradition and the memory of the saints and martyrs who gave all for the Church.
On a recent episode of EWTN's The Journey Home, a caller asked Alex Jones, a convert to the Catholic Church, a question that simply amazed me. She claimed that those seeking to convert to the catholic faith at her RC parish and others as well, are being told that conversion is no longer necessary.
The program host, Marcus Grodi and his guest, were both surprised by this and clarified the matter. Still, I am truly beginning to wonder just how far some of these prelates have slipped from authentic teaching and how many sheep are being misled.
I do not attend the Novous Ordo Meeting. These men are imposters and heretics. There mission is to destroy the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Rome has lost the faith. I enjoy being on this Ping List as it provides me with the reasons and proof that Validate their Heresey.
I generally don't comment on the articles, because they do not directly effect me as yet. I pray for my ill informed Catholic brothers and sisters, hopefully they will see the light and demand that these heretics are removed from office and are replaced with a Pope and bishops that will
annusl Vatican II and all of the herretical laws, practices and impositions that have been placed on the church and the people. Then the Pews will fill up again, the Tridentine Mass will Prevail throught the Church, for the Greater Glory of God his House will be put in Order.
I admit that I was using hyperbole. But don't believe that Bruskewitz or Chaput are exceptions. For Bruskewitz, try reading this article:
http://www.geocities.com/militantis/bruskewitz.html
And for a summary of his attacks on traditional Catholics, you can read this one:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/polemics/bruskewitz.htm
Regarding Chaput, one only has to know that he has personally foisted Christopher West upon the Catholic world, "Mr. Naked without Shame" himself. That sorts of sums up the position of the Catholic bishops, doesn't it, "Naked without Shame." Chaput's pastoral letter on Humanae Vitae was atrociously bad, and revealed incredibly muddled thinking combined with complete ignorance of theology combined with modern psycho-babble combined with a turgid writing style. Perhaps it was the muddled thinking, lack of theology and psycho-babble approach to the Catholic faith that led him to acts like "inculturating" Native American spirituality into the Catholic Mass:
Whew. Rome has lost the faith? Heretical doctrine coming from the Pope? Yikes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.