Last week, I posted a link to an interview that Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, gave in 2004 to Catholic World Report on his concerns about the US bishops’ National Review Board. Now he’s given a new interview to The Wanderer, specifically about the latest statement by the board calling on the US bishops to give “fraternal correction” to Bruskewitz for failing to cooperate with the board. (Mind you, they haven’t called for “fraternal correction” for bishops who actually coddled molesters and perverts.) Here’s the beginning of the interview:
[Thanks to Peter Vere for the link.]Q. On March 30, Mrs. Ewers, who heads the USCCB’s National Review Board, urged your brother bishops to give you some fraternal correction. Do you feel adequately corrected?
A. Sometimes you have to react. If I’m attacked, they are going to get a mouthful of porcupine quills. And it wasn’t just me. They attacked my diocese . . . the people who serve on that board. Some Board members support abortion very strongly, such as Leon Panetta. Paul McHugh, a Kinseyite from Johns Hopkins University, has supported human cloning. This is publicized in some of the USCCB’s own publications like Origins.
Q. What prompted your response to the published letter from Mrs. Ewers to Bishop Skylstad?
A. I was speechless with indignation, and I refuse to be bossed around by these people. It was explicit in a published report that was put on the Internet, an attack on the Diocese of Lincoln.
Q. Have you experienced any efforts since then of fraternal correction from Bishop Skylstad or others?
A. Not even the slightest negative, although several bishops have communicated positively.
Now, if there were just some way to detach our parishes from their bishops and incorporate them into the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, we could have some hope for the future.
In any case, it’s grand to read the interview in the Wanderer, if only to know that there is still such a thing as a bishop who will defend the faith. They are so rare.
One of the refreshing things about Bishop Bruskewitz is his directness of speech. He doesn’t mince words but tells it like it is.
He was “speechless with indignation…” Another bishop might have hemmed and hawed that he was “er, concerned” or “um, perturbed” – but not Bishop Bruskewitz! He deals from strength and has the creds to back up his assertions.
God bless the man!
I’m still trying to convince Melanie that she’d like living in Lincoln. They also have, IMHO, the best congressman in the House.
At some point in the interview, the Bishop mentions that “there are other dioceses that don’t have altar girls, but they do not want it to be known.” How do these jurisdictions not know who they themselves are, and what is the value of keeping it a secret (assuming you can)?
David, I wondered the same thing myself.