PopeWatch: Francis Bishops
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Those who vehemently persist in denigrating the pro-life cause at its greatest moment of triumph, who water down the term itself so that it no longer has any meaning or, worse yet, redefine it so that it becomes almost synonymous with the political positions held by the enemies of life that all good can only come from government programs, these people cannot really claim to respect life.
Do they oppose those things? Or do they simply believe there are better ways of achieving those things. It appears the good bishop is confusing morals and political platforms.
Who is this Bishop Stowe?
Supposedly a Franciscan Friar, but employed as a diocesan apparatchik for 13 years. Why?
By the way, he’s a booster of ‘gay rights’ laws and he’s the tool who slandered young Mr. Sandmann and his confederates. Talleyrand (‘dung in silk stockings’) was a bishop, too.
Stowe took a break from talking about gay issues?
That’s remarkable.
Really, it’s the tone of the clubbable gents like Stowe that gives the game away: if they really, genuinely thought abortion was a moral horror, they would at least occasionally denounce the godawful persons who use the knives and vacuums.
Instead, all their disdain is directed towards those fighting against the godawful people who use the knives and vacuums.
The short of it is that Catholics are going to have to get used to an episcopate of mitred apparatchiks who increasingly take the side of an ever-more-pagan state and society. If you have a good bishop, you are a heartbeat or retirement from being on your own.
Your Eminence, FYI: You don’t get much in Bishop Annual Appeal donations because of such heterodox detritus.
Which brings to mind the most vital movie quote of the past 100 years. “Everything that guy just said in BS.”
Different people have different apostolates. I’m not going to badmouth Mother Teresa for not being a military chaplain, or Francis Xavier for not trying to convert the Americas. When you start doing things like that, you’ve probably lost the picture.
His apostolate is apparently to people who bash pro-lifers. His accompaniment of them is pitch perfect.
“he’s the tool who slandered young Mr. Sandmann and his confederates.”
That’s right. IIRC, he was notable in that he blasted Sandmann after it was shown Sandmann wasn’t guilty of the trumped up charges. If I’m remembering the right person, it was Bishop Stowe who shocked many with a sort of ‘don’t matter if he’s innocent, he wore a MAGA hat so deserves what he gets’ attitude.
I wish his apostolate was to those who bash pro-lifers. That’s a group that desperately needs outreach. But whatever may interest him, he’s currently a bishop, and that requires leadership and support for all those who are serving God in different ways, and undermining…(double-checks notes) none of them.
I once got into a discussion with someone over the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision to not make cakes for same-sex “weddings.” He said that the owner was obviously not “really” doing this because of his Christianity, since if he was he would have refused to make other cakes before that. I pointed out that in fact the owner Jack Phillips had long refused to make Halloween cakes due to objections over pagan imagery.
This started a long discussion where the guy I was talking to kept pulling up reasons for what Phillips had to do to show that he “really” was a Christian. Some of these he had actually done, some were things that we had no reason to believe he wasn’t doing (ex. “pair his workers a fair wage”) and some were unbelievably petty (ex. “buy fair trade chocolate from a specific company that this guy happened to like.”) But even with the petty stuff, he wasn’t able to prove that Masterpiece Cakeshop did not do them.
So after a long conversation I pointed out “He may really be doing everything that you said he would need to do in order to be ‘really’ acting out of a Christian motivation. Will you stop condemning him for refusing to bake a cake for same-sex weddings?” He responded “Oh, no. He should treat everyone equally and it is unloving to exclude homosexuals that way. The government should bring the full force of the law down on him, even to the point of jailing him. But I might believe that he is honestly mistaken and so my personal opinion of him won’t be quite as bad as it would have been otherwise.”
I’m getting a similar vibe from the statement of this bishop, and from how the “new pro life” movement acts in general.
But whatever may interest him, he’s currently a bishop, and that requires leadership and support for all those who are serving God in different ways, and undermining…(double-checks notes) none of them.
He needs a good, swift kick in the rump from all faithful Catholics. Faithful Catholics also need an apology from the Vatican for appointing such a malign doofus.
Rudolph,
Re: businesses. Businesses are not required to do things they do not want. The US thinks (on the Treasury Direct website) 95% of banks redeem its savings bonds. National banks are chartered by the US government and are members of the Federal Reserve System. Yesterday, I tried to redeem EE Savings Bonds at my national bank – where I have all my deposits. They don’t do it. Would I sue them? No, I went to the nearest bank and opened a savings account with the bonds.
Pretty soon all my money and bank business will be in the ‘new’ bank.
Our hours and days are numbered . You wasted too much on a useless dog.
I would have cut him off and asked the evil numbskull why the sodomite didn’t simply find another baker to bake his cake?
That’s right. IIRC, he was notable in that he blasted Sandmann after it was shown Sandmann wasn’t guilty of the trumped up charges.
I don’t remember it that way. I remember a reflexive response and then a backtrack. The reflexive response was damning enough.
I’m getting a similar vibe from the statement of this bishop, and from how the “new pro life” movement acts in general.
There is no ‘new pro-life movement’. Every few years there’s a new posture / talking-point bundle floated by the Regime and it’s choir of writers and bloggers. Remember ‘Spiritual Friendship’?
I would have cut him off and asked the evil numbskull why the sodomite didn’t simply find another baker to bake his cake?
Spot on. The world is shot through with simpering frauds, including the person described.
“I don’t remember it that way. I remember a reflexive response and then a backtrack.”
Perhaps it was another fellow then. I remember some individual within the Church coming out after the videos had been debunked, insisting it was his MAGA affiliation that was the problem, regardless of the truth of the initial accusations or not. That’s what set the comments ablaze. It reminded us of so many who said the point wasn’t whether or not Kavanagh was guilty.
Pro-lifers do all those things that Bishop demands of them. Good try at deflecting from the issue he is responsible for advocating.
I’d pose the same question to him- who are the organisations that provide support for women in pregnancy crisis besides the pro-life ones. If he can name one pro-choice, abortion organisation which provides post-abortion care, counselling and support? Just one. He can’t because there are none- they kill the baby and send the mother on her way with a packet of pills with no duty of care to her well-being afterwards.
When a Christian finds themselves on the side of these guys, you might want to re-consider your position.
Stowe did not back away from his initial position. https://thenewamerican.com/one-ky-bishop-apologizes-for-denouncing-covington-catholic-boys-a-second-doubles-down/
Stowe did not back away from his initial position. https://thenewamerican.com/one-ky-bishop-apologizes-for-denouncing-covington-catholic-boys-a-second-doubles-down/
My regrets. I confused the Bishop of Covington with the Bishop of Lexington.
Really, deflection and distraction are all the evil [expletive-deleted] have.
Recently, they deployed the 6 January Capitol frat boy prank to shut down discussion of the 2020 election theft.
Let’s see what nonsense they employ to deflect attention from the multiple, massive failures of the corrupt, China-controlled junta.