Read this first...Back already? Fast reader.
So, basically, well done Metropolitan Archbishop Nienstedt!!
In case you didn't read the article from US Catholic, you really should. Fr. Z's commentary is, as usual, the spoonful of sugar that let's you finish the article, so that you can understand the wrong-headedness that abounds.
Seriously, though, I was so proud to be Catholic when I heard about this! I know that we've had our issues with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from time to time, wondering if they really toed the Vatican line, wondering if they were being pastoral, or just wishy-washy.
Whatever the case may have been at any point in time, we have Bishops that we can be proud of, and Archbishop Nienstedt is one of them!
Look at this man! This here is a true pastor, laying down the comfort of popularity and approval for his sheep, who have strayed from the fold.
I mean, first off he causes 400,000 DVDs with instruction on the Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality and gay marriage to be sent around his diocese for the education of the faithful.
Assuming he got a good discount, we're still talking 10¢-20¢ apiece for these, meaning raw material cost is going to be over $40,000!
NB: Say what you will about "That money could have gone to the poor!", it did. The Western Church is STARVING for truth. I think American Catholics might define the poor in spirit, though not quite in the way Jesus meant... Unless the European Catholics do...
So first he commits tremendous resources to this project, and then he's out celebrating a student Mass at a college parish in his diocese, and the story gets interesting.
Really people? Really? In case you missed it in the article, one of the students denied communion attempted to GRAB the host!! What disrespect!! Receiving Our Lord in Holy Eucharist is not, never has been, and never will be a right. It is the most wonderful gift of His Very Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity, and we are to come HUMBLY before him, begging Him to make us worthy to receive Him.
They should really read Theology of the Body for Beginners by Christopher West, because then they might understand both why homosexuality is wrong, but (and more grievous in my mind) why their grasping was wrong.
Pray for Bishop Nienstedt as he faces the onslaught that his spine has brought him. May the Lord give him strength as he performs his duties as Bishop, successor of the Apostles, beating the wolves of decadence and immorality back from his beloved sheep.
