True Collegiality is Union with Peter

John Mallon writes about an issue which should cause consternation and concern for faithful Catholics - that of a false understanding of "collegiality".

Clearly, one of the worst ideas swirling around the conclave scuttlebutt is the notion of making the Church "less centralized" "more democratic" and "more collegial" with more authority given to local bishops' conferences.

What a nightmare.

In the United States alone the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been a source of constant exasperation and humiliation to fauthful Catholics with documents being issued at times by the heavily left-wing bureaucratic staff. This has even happened without the approval of the bishops themselves. Two examples spring to mind: The Many Faces of AIDS of 1986 and Always our Children, both of which flew in the face of Magisterial teaching, and requiring rewrites.

Ask yourself: Do you really want the crowd that brought us the 2002 sex scandals tying the hands of the Pope? Can you imagine if the brilliant encyclicals and Apostolic Letters of John Paul II tied up in committees as things are at the USCCB?

Spare us, O Lord!

In a nutshell, you have the cause of most of the social evils of the present day, all because the Magisterial teaching of Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae was treated as a scoff law in most of the world, including those responsible for teaching the Faith..

Do I want more collegiality between the Pope and those bishops who failed or refused to support Papal teachings? Not a chance.

This article is one which all should read...John points out, rightly, what has been done (or not done). Article is here for April 17.