Another Unfaithful Bishop

By now, I suspect that many of you have heard about the kerfuffle in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina. Apparently the new Bishop is seeking to implement some changes that have caused quite a stir. Most have to do with forbidding various traditional practices (veils for women, altar rails, ad orientem, the St. Michael prayer); essentially a number of things that we at St. George practice and love. These practices are all well established here at St. George, and when you connect that to our traditions in the Ordinariate and our wonderful Bishop who believes and holds to the Catholic faith, there is no reason to doubt that we are secure in what we do.

Yet, when we hear a story like that, it is hard not to be upset at that Bishop. You should be upset, but you should not allow it to stop there. Righteous anger is supposed to lead us to proper action. That means a few things. First you should pray for the soul of that Bishop; ask God to convert him to the Catholic faith. Second, you should pray for our faithful brothers and sisters who are under his authority. Third, you should ask God to protect the rest of us from leaders who want to make the Catholic Church into another protestant denomination. Finally, you should pray that we do not get complacent about our security, or lax in our faith. Even with a good Bishop, we can still be persecuted by the world, and in this sinful world we should not let our guard down.

Lastly, I want to point out a positive response other than prayer (which is always the best response). I encourage you to examine our traditions and be sure you know why we do them. Why do we genuflect to the tabernacle? Why do we use holy water? Why do women wear veils in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Why do we only have male altar servers? What is the altar rail for? These, and many other things, are important to know. The reason people like the Bishop mentioned above head down that road of spiritual suicide is because they do not love the Church. Either they were taught the wrong thing from the beginning, or they fell into grave sin and turned their backs on our Lord. You must guard your heart. You must do the work necessary to know the faith, love the faith, practice the faith, and not fall from it. Christ is there to help through the ministry of the Holy Ghost; stand fast.