The American Catholic Bishops: Their New god

One of the most gross – defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as – “glaringly noticeable usually because of inexcusable badness or objectionableness”,

divisive – defined as – “tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people” and

hypocritical – defined as – “The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense”

_” happened on June 1, 2020, hardly more than a year ago but which seemed to have happened eons ago, when Trump made his way through Washington’s Lafayette Park, which had just been cleared of protestors using tear gas,  followed by his entourage among whom were his daughter carrying a large Max Mara handbag in which she held a Bible, the U.S. Attorney General William Barr and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley so that Trump could stand in front of St. John’s Church for approximately ten minutes holding a Bible while having his photograph taken.

Trump was the president that believed the Third (or Fourth depending on how they are grouped) Commandment stated: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep playing golf.”

He also having never attended a school where he had the opportunity to familiar himself with Latin never bothering to understand the phrase “E Pluribus Unum”. This baboonish demonstration showed more that he preferred the Latin term: “America est omnis divisa in partes duo“. Trump holding up the Christian Bible in front of a Christian Church – which fortunately was boarded up so that it would not witness this despicable action – was telling all that he as president represented a Christian nation and not the United States where Article VI of the Constitution declares that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust – “

That is the way Trump governed by pretense and a wink and nod. Truly that action of walking to St. John’s Church protected by police and security officials at every step acting as if he was taking a bold action fit the definition of inane.

Enter the Catholic bishops under whose tutelage its: “membership has dropped nearly 20% in the past two decades.”  To quote Reuters: “June 17 (Reuters) – “A divided conference of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops announced on Friday that they had voted to draft a statement on Holy Communion that may admonish Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden, who support abortion rights.

The 168-55 decision to draft a teaching document on the Eucharist, a holy sacrament in the Roman Catholic faith, came after two hours of debate at the virtual assembly of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Thursday, in which the bishops weighed the merits of reaffirming church teachings against the possibility of sowing partisan division.”

The purpose of the bishops is to call to task Biden, a Catholic and Democrat,  described as, “arguably the most observant U.S. president in decades and his faith is a core part of his identity. He rarely misses Mass. He crosses himself in public. He quotes scripture, he cites hymns and he clutches rosary beads ahead of key decisions.”

How does a Church abandon its own in favor of a man who is in his third marriage having cheated on his three wives, is vile, irreligious and uses Christianity as a prop. There is an answer to this mystery. It is by violating the First Commandment. That reads, in part: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.”

It seems the bishops have placed a god before God. Their god is manna. Recall the Israelites when leaving the land of Egypt and journeying through the wilderness were miraculously supplied with food called manna.

That word has another definition: “a usually sudden and unexpected source of  gratification, pleasure, or gain.” That is why the bishops act like they do. They found in Trump a source of manna that otherwise was not available to them. He furnished them with between 1.4 billion and 3.5 billion dollars in American taxpayer funds.

They have driven away 20% of their membership and seem Hell bent on adding to that number. What a tragedy. A beautiful faith being destroyed by greed and politics.

And, by the way, today is Father’s Day. My daughter who invited the family over for lunch asked what special food I would like. I told her pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers. Is there really any better gift than that?