Thursday 5th December 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

The Seitz Syndrome

August 19, 2017 Frontpage No Comments

By CHRISTOPHER MANION

The Wanderer reported last week that Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso treats pro-abortion Catholic politicians with kid gloves even as he harshly condemns pro-life officials who oppose Obama’s amnesty for illegal aliens. Within days of our report, the bishop doubled down, insisting that, since Jesus agrees with him, anyone who opposes amnesty “cannot call himself or herself Catholic” because they don’t express “the compassion of Jesus.”
On the other hand, seen through the complex lens of the Seitz Syndrome, the bishop’s congressman, state senator, and state representative can call themselves Catholic, even though they are 100 percent pro-abortion “rights.”
In Bishop Seitz’s alternate reality, supporters of abortion “express the compassion of Jesus,” but opponents of amnesty defy the love of our Lord and have no place in His Church.
Bishop Seitz has made his position clear. But does the Catholic Church agree?
When we asked, Bishop Seitz told us that he will no longer speak to The Wanderer. Nonetheless, our questions, based on Church teaching, canon law, Vatican II’s Constitution on the Church, the USCCB’s Faithful Citizenship directive, the Catholic Catechism, and the Ten Commandments are too important to put back on the shelf awaiting his change of heart.
Each of the fundamental Catholic teachings addressed in our questions merits consideration in its own right. After all, we have learned with chagrin that, while precious few bishops are brave enough to teach those elements of the faith, most prelates seem to treat them like a well-kept secret.
In coming weeks The Wanderer will address these fundamental questions, and, in doing so, shed light on the kaleidoscope meanderings of the Seitz Syndrome, a malady that has infected dioceses far beyond his own.
We begin with a simple question the bishop refused to address:
“In his May 18, 2011 letter to Cong. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.,), Archbishop Timothy Dolan, then-USCCB president, writes that ‘we bishops are very conscious that we are pastors, never politicians. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, it is the lay faithful who have the specific charism of political leadership and decision (Lumen Gentium, n. 31; Apostolicam Actuositatem, n. 13).’
“Your Excellency: regarding your advocacy of President Obama’s DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program: Are the faithful ‘bound to adhere; to your view with the same ‘religious submission of mind’ as we required to adhere to the teaching of Humanae Vitae (viz. canon 753)?
“Or is your advocacy merely a personal opinion with which the laity have not only the right but often the duty to disagree (viz. Lumen Gentium, especially nn. 31-37)?”
Bishop Seitz’s lips are sealed, but his condemnations ring like a clanging cymbal.
They call to mind the words of Fr. George Rutler, prolific author, pastor of St. Michael’s Church in New York City, and possibly the most eloquent member of America’s Catholic clergy:
“In the margin of a public speaker’s manuscript was the notation: ‘Weak point. Shout’.”
Fr. Rutler intended his observation to be humorous. But the pseudo-biblical blast of Bishop Seitz is no joke. Like me, he grew up on Simon and Garfunkel: “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest” (The Boxer).
And there’s a lot of the “rest” that the bishop disregards.
Consider the fundamental distinction between magisterial truth and prudential opinion. Must Catholics support amnesty or leave the Church?
Addressing this point some time back, Fr. Rutler quietly pops the Border bishop’s balloon:
“Such is the rhetoric of those who place emotion over logic and make policy through gangs rather than parliaments. In Athens 2,400 years ago, Aristophanes described the demagogue as having ‘a screeching, horrible voice, a perverse, cross-grained nature and the language of the marketplace.’ That marketplace today includes the biased media and the universities that have become daycare centers.
“The recent action of our government’s executive branch to protect our borders and enforce national security is based on Constitutional obligations (Art. 1 section 10 and Art. 4 section 4),” Fr. Rutler continues.
“It is a practical protection of the tranquility of order explained by St. Augustine when he saw the tranquillitas ordinis of Roman civilization threatened. St. Thomas Aquinas sanctioned border control (S. Th. I-II, Q. 105, Art. 3).
“These are facts ignored by demagogues who speak of tears running down the face of the Statue of Liberty. At issue is not immigration, but illegal immigration. It is certainly manipulative of reason to justify uncontrolled immigration by citing previous generations of immigrants to our shores, all of whom went through the legal process, mostly in the halls of Ellis Island. And it is close to blasphemy to invoke the Holy Family as antinomian refugees, for they went to Bethlehem in obedience to a civil decree requiring tax registration, and they violated no statutes when they sought protection in Egypt.”
In the narrative according to Bishop Seitz, we see tears running down the face of illegals — all of whom are quite legal in their home countries, by the way. And so are their extended families. In fact, candidates running for president of Mexico routinely campaign in the U.S. because all those of Mexican descent — even if they are U.S. citizens eligible to vote here — are also eligible to vote in Mexican elections. That’s Mexico’s law, not ours.
But these facts are elements of prudential analysis and argument, leading to a variety of conclusions on which good Catholics can, and often do, disagree. Cardinal Dolan did not opine on the merits of Cong. Ryan’s legislation. He acknowledged that such issues belonged in the realm of the laity. Good Catholics could agree with Ryan, and good Catholics could disagree.
Nor does Fr. Rutler insist that his position is the only Catholic one. He quietly acknowledges that good Catholics — even good bishops — can disagree. While their evasion of his arguments is not admirable, it is certainly permissible.
In fact, the last thing opponents of amnesty should wish for is that Bishop Seitz support them. Such an intrusion into the realm of the responsible laity would be most unwelcome and untoward.
But that’s an unlikely prospect. Bishop Seitz will not acknowledge that Catholics — or anyone of good will, for that matter — can disagree with him on amnesty and still be moral.
So we might ask: When he becomes aware of the above heresy propounded by Fr. Rutler, will the bishop demand that the good pastor cease calling himself a Catholic?
Will he even have the temerity to obey his own logic and condemn Cardinal Dolan as he condemned the pro-life Catholic state officials?
These questions address vital fundamentals of the faith, truths which Bishop Seitz does not convey, either to his flock or to the public at large. He admits that he was “angry.” But his studied intemperance, combined with his decision to remain silent, could well leave Hispanics with the unlovely notion that Americans who oppose unlimited illegal immigration “don’t love Jesus” and “can’t call themselves Catholic.”
After all, El Paso boasts countless legal Hispanic residents whose families have lived there for several generations. Should those among them who dare to oppose DACA head for the booming Bible megachurches because their bishop says they “can’t call themselves Catholic”?
And do these harsh, judgmental words befit a shepherd whom USCCB President Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, archbishop of Houston, has called on to join with his brother bishops to “work for unity and harmony in our country and in our Church”?
The Wanderer will continue to explore these questions, in the case of the bishop of El Paso and beyond.

+ + +

(Christopher Manion, Ph.D., writes from the Shenandoah Valley. He is a member of the Order of Malta and can be followed on Twitter @realchrismanion.)

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Trump CDC Nominee Dave Weldon Protected Pro-Life Doctors From Being Forced to Do Abortions

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the reason the government doesn’t give money to entities that discriminate against pro-life health care providers. In 2005, then-Rep. David Weldon, R-Fla., first proposed the Weldon Amendment, which prohibits Department of Health and Human Services funds from going to entities that discriminate against providers that don’t pay for, provide, cover, or refer for abortions. The amendment has been readopted in every HHS…Continue Reading

Donald Trump elected president in decisive win over Kamala Harris

(LifeSiteNews) — Republican former President Donald Trump has won this year’s election to become the 47th president of the United States, defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Fox News called the 2024 presidential race for Trump around 1:50 a.m. EST on Wednesday after declaring him the winner of swing states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Associated Press has since called the election for Trump.

This week at the Synod on Synodality — revolution or much ado about nothing?

Perhaps it is in the very nature of the Synod on Synodality to take steps back after having taken several steps forward. But the tone of the opening days of the synod’s final general assembly makes it apparent that, for the moment, there is no talk of revolution within the Church.  That tone was set days before the gathering got underway this week at the Vatican, when in his speech in Belgium on Sept. 27, Pope Francis…Continue Reading

Wyoming doctor fired by GOP governor for opposing child ‘sex changes’ asks to be reinstated

(The Daily Signal) — Wyoming’s governor removed a doctor from the state’s board of medicine because the doctor supported a law banning “gender-affirming care” for minors. The doctor is suing, and his lawyers are filing a motion Tuesday asking the court to reinstate him on the medical board. His legal team also revealed that more than 5,000 Wyoming residents have signed a petition asking the governor to reinstate him

Pro-life leaders express disgust with ‘fully booked’ mobile Planned Parenthood unit at DNC

(LifeSiteNews) — Planned Parenthood was “fully booked” with 25 appointments to dispense abortion pills at a mobile center on Monday and Tuesday during the Democratic National Convention (DNC). “Twenty-five innocent human beings whose lives are being ended at the DNC. And this is done as a political statement,” pro-life activist Lila Rose remarked Tuesday on her podcast.

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)