THE WINNOWING BEGINS

As the USCCB, the national Progressive bishops organization, continues to issue weak statements followed up with no action at all, local Bishops are beginning to take the lead in clearing the chaff from the wheat. This is subsidiarity in action.

I wonder; are the local Bishops receiving support and guidance from Rome? After Archbishop Burke spoke out against the CHA last week one has to consider the possibility of a Vatican end run around the USCCB and the Bishops that control it.

I believe that the Church is about to act. I think Rome has had enough with the dissent and abuse so prevalent here in America and around the world. I think we're going to start to see statements and actions in the near future that basically draw a line in the sand, telling the members of the faith, "You're either with us or against us." Those that refuse to accept and live the teachings of the Church will be asked to leave and if they refuse they will be forcibly removed.

And I say it's about time.

"At least two U.S. bishops have taken actions to indicate their disapproval of the support some women's religious communities and the Catholic Health Association gave to the final version of health care reform legislation. Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt of Greensburg, Pa., has directed diocesan offices, parishes and the diocesan newspaper not to promote the "vocation awareness program of any religious community" that was a signatory to a letter urging members of the House of Representatives to pass the health reform bill. In Providence, R.I., Bishop Thomas J. Tobin asked the Catholic Health Association to remove the diocesan-sponsored St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island from its membership rolls, saying that CHA leadership had "misled the public and caused serious scandal" by supporting health reform legislation that the bishops opposed. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was against the measure because its provisions on abortion funding and conscience protections were morally unacceptable. When the bill passed, the bishops reiterated their decades-long support for providing access to health care for all but expressed regret that health care reform came with the possibility of expanded abortion funding and urged vigilance that an executive order by President Barack Obama would, as promised, ensure no federal funds will be spent on abortion. Some Catholic groups reacted with enthusiasm to the passage of health reform and Obama's executive order, and others said the order would have no effect on abortion funding."
Georgia Bulletin