About time some bishops become militant about this! Not just about prompt, open expression of support for the Pope, which very few cardinals and bishops think to do when the occasion presents itself, as it has so often in the past several months, but also about the open defiance of the Pope - to me inexplicable, except out of sheer selfishness and an almost diabolical commitment to an erroneous post-conciliar ideology of rupture. Can they still consider themselves to be 'men of God'?
(I have yet to post an account of the unbelievable opposition being mounted by the Archbishop of Cagliari - whom Pope Benedict XVI visited last September - not just against any celebration of the traditional Mass in his diocese, but even against participation in a proposed convention on the traditional Mass with invited speakers from other parts of Italy and from Spain....
P.S. I see Rorate caeli posted an update of the Cagliari scandal yesterday. Please read.
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/
Cardinal Ouellet calls out brother bishops
for their lack of support for the Pope
by John-Henry Westen
PHOENIX, August 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a short but stunning talk before some 90 Bishops, eight Cardinals and 1000 Knights, the Primate of Canada, Quebec City Archbishop Marc Cardinal Ouellet, addressed the subject of unity at the 127th annual Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus last night.
Ouellet spoke of the "hard winter" Pope Benedict XVI had to "suffer" this past year as he was "harshly criticized both within and outside the Church and was not adequately defended by those who share his ministry."
The two biggest controversies that sparked criticism of the Pope in recent months from the liberal, mainstream media, and even from some in the Church hierarchy, were the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and the Pope's remarks against the use of condoms.
Although Cardinal Ouellet mentioned by name only the Pope's "effort to bring back the schismatic group of the Lefebvrists to full communion," he noted the Pope was criticized "for this and various other reasons."
Only one other controversy - that of the condom comments - caused an international outcry against the Pope, even from some within the Church.
AIDS "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems," the Pontiff said to reporters aboard the papal plane on March 17 this year.
The comments were followed by heavy criticism from world leaders, including Catholic leaders, and even veiled criticism from bishops in Portugal, Germany, and Canada. Two cardinals, one retired and one active, were among those who were unsupportive.
While there were various cardinals and bishops who defended the Holy Father on the matter, the defense of the Pope was far from widespread.
"At every level of leadership in the Church, unity with Peter and solidarity with him has not been a great achievement in this past year," said Ouellet in his address.
In a rousing call for unity with the Pope and also an affirmation of his teaching authority, Cardinal Ouellet said:
"It is fully time to take action and stand with our Holy Father who is himself so admirably peaceful and coherent in fulfilling all his duties. We are greatly blessed by the quality of his teaching."
The Quebec Cardinal congratulated the Knights on their theme for the convention:
"We stand with Peter in Solidarity with Our Bishops and Priests."
"Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us all to give stronger witness to our loving loyalty to the Church and its Chief Shepherd, successor of Peter," he said. "Unity in the Church is the key to the realization of its mission."
The Primate of Canada pointed to dire hardships in the Church as the fruit of disunity with the Pope. "When there is a lack of unity within the Church we quickly see a decline in vocations and in Church attendance and disintegration of family life," he said.
Concluding, Cardinal Ouellet said: "Let us stand with Peter's successor, our Pope, at this challenging time courageously taking up our Christian duty of building unity and solidarity everywhere."
To watch the Cardinal's full address begin at 24 minutes in this video (place mouse in bottom of video window and video controls will show):
www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=136&vid...
This reminds me that I have been remiss in posting reports about the annual KofC convention. OR today has an account of Cardinal Levada's opening address to the Knights. I will try to make up.
In any case, Cardinal Ouellet proves himself once more to be Benedict XVI's highest-ranking loyal disciple in North America (two others would be Fr. Augustine di Noia, now #2 at the Congregation for Divine Worship, and Fr. Fessio, publisher of Ignatius Press and recently fired a second time from Ave Maria University).][Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/08/2009 16:13]