Vivificat gives background and summary of the heterodox group Call to Action and an analysis of their reaction to the Vatican approval of Lincoln, Nebraska’s Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz’s excommunication order for members of the group.
In essence, CTA says that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s letter does not carry the force of an authoritative ruling, but their legal analysis is flawed because you don’t need a court ruling to uphold the simple recognition of the fact that a bishop is sovereign in his diocese. It’s supremely ironic that CTA is appealing to the authority of the Church when it is the rejection of that authority that got them in this situation in the first place.
They are also apparently engaging in a variant of “Oh yeah, well, I’m telling mommy on you!” by saying that they are writing a letter of protest to the USCCB and Bishop William Skylstad because Bruskewitz has not implemented the USCCB-mandated “safe-environment sex education” programs. Bruskewitz has made no bones about his contention that as sovereign ordinary of his diocese, he is under no obligation to implement particular programs for use in his diocese nor to submit himself to external audits by the bishops’ conference. Does CTA think it is applying some kind of pressure on Bruskewitz or engaging in some kind of retribution? Bruskewitz’s actions are already well known at the USCCB. If nothing has been done against him yet, who will move against him at the instigation at such infamous heterodox dissidents?
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