LifeSiteNews.com
reported on September 22, 2010:
The authority of the Catholic bishop within his own diocese
trumps the national bishops’ conference and "no bishop has an obligation" to
adopt the conference’s documents, asserted Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon
in a landmark talk last week.
"Such documents do not become normative for a particular
diocese unless the bishop, either explicitly or implicitly, recommends them,” he
told the 2010 InsideCatholic Partnership Award Dinner last Thursday.
Catholic bishops who boldly promote life and family in their
diocese have often been condemned for acting more strongly than the national
conference of bishops (USCCB), for example by refusing Communion to pro-abortion
politicians. Similarly, pro-life and pro-family advocates have long
complained that conference statements are vague and confusing, even misleading.
Deal Hudson of InsideCatholic said Bishop Vasa is the first
U.S. bishop he is aware of to tackle “the prevalent misunderstanding” over the
relation between the authority of the individual bishop versus that of the
USCCB. Judie Brown, president of American Life League and a member of the
Pontifical Academy for Life, agreed. “Having been involved in this for
over 35 years, I can tell you that this speech is long overdue,” she said.
According to Bishop Vasa, statements from bishops’
conferences necessarily tend to be "flattened" and "vague," allowing certain
teachings to "fall by the wayside through what could be called, charitably, a
kind of benign pastoral neglect."
While some call this compassion, “in truth, it often entails
a complicity or a compromise with evil,” he says. “The harder and less
popular teachings are left largely unspoken, thereby implicitly giving tacit
approval to erroneous or misleading theological opinions.”
"I fear that there has been such a steady diet of such
flattened documents that anything issued by individual bishops that contains
some element of strength,” he says, “is readily and roundly condemned or simply
dismissed as being out of touch with the conference or in conflict with what
other bishops might do."
This matter has often come up in the realm of life and family
issues. For example, during the 2008 U.S. federal election campaign Bishop
Joseph Martino of Scranton was forced
to assert his episcopal authority within his diocese after a liberal group
used the USCCB document on voting (Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship)
to argue that Catholics can vote for a pro-abortion candidate.
“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” he insisted,
telling them they should have discussed his own pastoral letter where he
insisted that Catholics must vote pro-life.
Likewise, while the USCCB has allowed distribution of
Communion to pro-abortion politicians – contrary to a letter sent them by
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the time of their deliberation – numerous bishops,
such as Archbishop Raymond Burke, when he was in St. Louis, have forbidden it.
According to Bishop Vasa, pastoral documents “are open to a
broad range of interpretation and misinterpretation. ... A charge could be
brought that such documents are intentionally vague and misleading.”
“While I have had an occasional suspicion of this myself, it
would be a serious defect of charity on my part to speculate about whether this
is actually the case,” he continued. “I would say that the vagueness,
whether intentional or not, has occasionally been a cause of concern and even
consternation.”
While he says the conference is “both practical and
desirable” for communication and joint efforts such as liturgical translations
and disaster relief, Bishop Vasa notes there is “room for concern about the
tendency of the conference to take on a life of its own and to begin to replace
or displace the proper role of individual bishops, even in their own dioceses.”
“It is easy to forget that the conference is the vehicle to
assist bishops in cooperating with each other and not a separate regulatory
commission,” he added. Further, he noted that “there may also be an
unfortunate tendency on the part of bishops to abdicate to the conference a
portion of their episcopal role and duty.”
Compared to the “flattened documents” that often result from
"the search for consensus,” statements from individual bishops, he says, "are
often stronger, bolder, more decisive, and thus more likely to be criticized as
harsh and insensitive."
Gentle appeals have their place, he says, “but when constant
appeal produces absolutely no movement toward self-correction, reform or
conversion, then reproving and correcting, become necessary.”
“At some point, there needs to be a bold resistance to the
powers of the world in defense of the flock,” he continues. “The fear of
offending one contemptuously dissident member of the flock often redounds to a
failure to defend the flock. It can redound to a failure to teach the truth.”
“Fortunately, courage is contagious,” he notes, pointing to
the examples of courage provided by prelates such as Archbishop Raymond Burke,
and Bishops Joseph Martino, Thomas Tobin, Thomas Olmsted, and Fabian Bruskewitz.
“These men all encourage you, and they encourage me as well,” he says.
“On the issues of life and marriage, many Catholics want a
strong voice and one that is prophetic,” said Deal Hudson. “They don’t
want the voice of some committee trying to be diplomatic to everybody.”
Judie Brown said Bishop Vasa has sent “a cannon over the bow
of the USCCB,” putting the conference bureaucracy “in the proper perspective.”
“They aren’t teachers of the Catholic faith, they are not shepherds, and they
are literally destroying the Church by misrepresenting Catholic teaching,” she
said.
Find the full address at the InsideCatholic
website
here.
Our Lady of
the Roses Bayside message:
These messages came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica
Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.
THE GREAT APOSTASY
"Do not accept the fallacy that any man upon earth and mankind are gods. There
is but one God. And no man shall set himself above his Master. O My children,
cannot you recognize the signs of your times? The great apostasy is upon you!" -
Our Lady, December 7, 1976
USING RANK TO DESTROY
"Those who have the highest places in My Son's Church are now using their rank
to destroy the truth. You cannot build on the carnal nature of mankind, the
fallen nature of mankind.
"You must now, My children, read the direction given you by Saint John. He
was given the prophecy of your times. You are in those days, My children, the
days of apostasy." - Our Lady, October 6, 1975
THE SWORD
"Mankind shall feel a sword upon his world. The Eternal Father has endured your
apostasy, your arrogance, your heresy much too long! As an errant and ungrateful
generation given to sin and abominations of the flesh, you shall be forced to
your knees by trial." - St. Michael, July 15, 1975
SISTER LUCY
"I wish at this time, My children, to repeat again the need to write, to speak,
to meet with the Holy Father in Rome, and plead with him to have Lucy come
forward and tell the Third Secret word for word, as I give to you each evening
on My appearances upon the grounds of Bayside, and Flushing Meadows." - Our
Lady, June 18, 1986
SCORNED, DISCARDED, HIDDEN
"Many years have gone by, My children, since I tried to warn you at Fatima.
My message was scorned then by many, discarded and hidden from the world, but My
message now cannot be discarded or kept hidden, for you have reached now a point
in your life, My children, your lifetime upon your earth, when your days are now
being counted." - Our Lady, February 10, 1977
FATIMA
"My child, how many warnings have I sent upon the world, and yet they go
unheeded.
"I wish that you make known, or refresh the memory of My children with My visit
to the land of Fatima." - Our Lady, April 13, 1974
THIRD SECRET
"My child, they converse of the secret that I gave at Fatima. It is a simple
explanation. It could not be fully revealed because of the drastic nature of My
message. How I warned and warned that satan would enter into the highest realms
of the hierarchy in Rome. The Third Secret, My child, is that satan would enter
into My Son's Church." - Our Lady, May 13, 1978
"YOU DID NOT LISTEN"
"My Mother came to you at Fatima warning that unless man stopped his path to
perdition, Russia would spread her errors throughout your world causing misery,
sufferings, and death and enslavement. My children, you did not listen and act
upon Her counsel then, just as many now do not listen and act upon Her counsel.
It is a part of human nature to exercise too free a will to reject. And this, I
say, falls also onto My pastors who are scattering My sheep in My House." -
Our
Lady, May 27, 1978
CAST ASIDE
"My warnings at Fatima were cast aside as they are being cast aside now, My
children. It is a failing of human nature, My child, that that which does not
give pleasure to the carnal nature of man is not accepted. Man shall blind
himself to the truth, as he does not wish to face the truth. And those who seek
to bring him the truth are cast aside and do much penance, My child." - Our
Lady, September 13, 1975
THE FIGHT FOR POWER
HAS BEGUN
"The
forces of evil are gathering. 666 now controls all the world, and sad to say,
My children, 666 has entered upon Rome, and the fight for power has begun. Pray
for your Vicar. Pray for all men of sin, and above all, My children, pray for
your children, for many parents shall shed tears of great remorse—too
late!" - Jesus, September 28, 1976
IN THE YEAR 1972
"Satan, Lucifer in human form, entered into Rome in the year 1972. He cut off
the rule, the role of the Holy Father, Pope Paul VI. Lucifer has controlled Rome
and continues this control now.
"And I tell you now, My children, unless you pray and make My counsel known
to all of the ruling fathers of the Eternal City of Rome, My Son's Church, His
House, will be forced into the catacombs. A great struggle lies ahead for
mankind. The eventual outcome is for good of all, for this trial in My Son's
Church will be a true proving ground for all the faithful. Many latter-day
saints shall rise out of the tribulation." - Our Lady, September 7, 1978
HIGHEST REALMS OF
THE HIERARCHY
"My
child, they converse of the secret that I gave at Fatima. It is a simple
explanation. It could not be fully revealed because of the drastic nature of My
message. How I warned and warned that satan would enter into the highest realms
of the hierarchy in Rome. The Third Secret, My child, is that satan would enter
into My Son's Church." - Our Lady, May 13, 1978
Directives
D127
-
Vatican II
PDF
D129
-
Third Secret Explained: Part 1 - 666 in Rome
PDF
D130
-
Third Secret Explained: Part 2 - Satan entered
the Church in 1972
PDF
D131
-
Third Secret Explained: Part 3 - Satan entered
the highest realms of the hierarchy
PDF
D132
-
Third Secret Explained: Part 4 -
There shall be bishop against
bishop and cardinal against cardinal, as satan has set himself in their midst.
PDF
D161 -
The Great Apostasy 
PDF
D169
-
Stigma of a
Fallen Hierarchy, Part 1
PDF
D170
-
Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 2
PDF
D171
-
Stigma of a
Fallen Hierarchy, Part 3
PDF
Bishop Vasa: Individual Bishops Trump Conference Every Time
Vatican
II
World
Monetary Crash
Deception
of the Century
Third
Secret Fabrication
The
Miraculous Story of Bayside
A
Pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Roses Shrine
Jacinta's
Third Secret vision: She saw Pope Paul VI