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Something must have been in the water last night, because it is Chicago auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki (as I guessed last night) for the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois! I have heard nothing but high praise for him.

And yes, Wenski too:

Appointed Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Miami (area 12,836, population 4,299,000, Catholics 860,000, priests 397, permanent deacons 119, religious 415).

Appointed Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Chicago, U.S.A., as bishop of Springfield in Illinois (area 39,195, population 1,176,000, Catholics 164,000, priests 157, permanent deacons 23, religious 661).

I find it odd that the Bulletino did not have biographies of the two men. Nonetheless, this was a very strong showing for the poles today!

Props to the Diocese of Springfield for having the website ready (then again, they also have Facebook and Twitter accounts). I guess Miami has been spending its days at the beach…

Tuesday is the traditional day for new Vatican appointments of bishops to dioceses in the United States. There is a higher-than-usual possibility that we’ll have a new bishop (or two) announced this Tuesday (or Wednesday). In order, these are the dioceses I think are most likely to have a replacement named soon:

1. Diocese of Springfield, IL  - under a diocesan administrator since June of 2009, some buzz
2. Archdiocese of Indianapolis, IN  - Abp. Buechlein is in poor health, may have submitted his resignation
3. Archdiocese of Miami  - I blogged why last week
4. Diocese of Lafayette, IN  - Bp. Higi was to retire in August of 2008, but is still waiting to be relieved
5. Diocese of La Crosse, WI – vacant since Bp. Listecki was appointed to Milwaukee last year

A good place to check-up on the current vacant & overdue dioceses is this page on my father’s website.

Have you heard any speculation about an arch/diocese about to receive a new head? Discuss in the comments or drop me a line!

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said the White House and the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives have been pressuring him not to speak out on the “compromise” abortion language in the Senate version of the health care bill.

�They think I shouldn�t be expressing my views on this bill until they get a chance to try to sell me the language,� Stupak told CNSNews.com in an interview on Tuesday. �Well, I don�t need anyone to sell me the language. I can read it. I�ve seen it. I�ve worked with it. I know what it says. I don�t need to have a conference with the White House. I have the legislation in front of me here.�

We should remember this harsh lesson the next time we are tempted to believe the arguments of liberal Catholics who are more guided by their political views than their Catholic moral principles.

Kathleen Sebelius, meanwhile, the pro-abortion head of the deparment of Health and Human Services who will receive huge, sweeping powers if the current health care bill is approved, as FRC reports, “in a new video uncovered today, [she] praises Nelson’s language, because, according to the woman in charge of these reforms, it ensures that everyone will pay for abortion–no matter how the funds are divided up.”

The American bishops, for their part, have sent a second letter to members of Congress saying the current health care bill is “deficient” and should not move forward without “essential changes.”

I know it is not up to me to decide these things, but I think this is a very important post, so please bear with me.

“Failure to exclude abortion funding will turn allies into adversaries and require us and others to oppose this bill because it abandons both principle and precedent.�

As I have said, two more votes are required, one in the Senate, and one in the House, before this health care bill goes to President Obama’s desk.

Today Pelosi is trying to get enough votes together to approve her deeply-flawed health care bill.

Over a month ago, I started compiling a list of bishops who have written or spoken about the current health care reform proposals being debated in Congress. This list quickly grew to 44 bishops.

I’m literally about to step into a car and drive to Ft. Collins, CO tonight, where I will be presenting a speech to young adults on “Catholic Principles of Health Care Reform” (encore performance tomorrow night in Denver, details have been posted), but wanted beforehand to update AmP readers on an important development.

From time to time AmP has compiled (with the help of readers like you) summaries of statements by the American heirarchy on important current issues.

There is now a growing list of bishops across the United States who have preached or written about their prudential opposition to the current health care proposal in Congress.

I will update this post as time goes on….

1. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, PA
2. and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, NY
3. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, CO
4. Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, CO
5. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, NY
6. Bishop Walker Nickless of Sioux City, IA
7. Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, ND
8. Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, IA
9. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, KS
10. and Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO
11. Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN
12. Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, VA
13. Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, SC
14. Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland, OH (PDF)
15. Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, NC
16. and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh, NC
17. Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse, WI (PDF)
18. Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, SD (PDF)
19. Bishop Donald Trautman of Eire, PA (PDF)
20. Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, PA
21. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, CT
22. Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, IL
23. Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, NJ (part II here)
24. Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock, AR
25. Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, WI
26. Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, KS
27. Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio, TX
28. and Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Antonio, TX
29. Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, NE
30. Bishop Alex Sample of Marquette, MI
31. Bishop Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, FL
32. Bishop David Choby of Nashville, TN
33. Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino, CA
34. Bishop Peter Sartain of Joliet, IL
35. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, TX
36. Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, IL
37. Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Lousville, KY
38. Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas, TX
39. Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore, MD (PDF)
40. Bishop Joseph Galente of Camden, NJ
41. and Bishop John Smith of Trenton, NJ
42. Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse, WI (PDF)
43. Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, FL
44. Bishop James Johnson of Springfield – Cape Girardeau

Ple
ase send me tips at “thomas [at] americanpapist.com”. Thank you!

You may also consider respectfully asking your bishop to preach or write about health care if he has not already done so. This is an important issue and we ought to hear what our pastors have to say about it!

[photo credit - CNSNews.com]

ACORN, the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, is in the news a lot these days (and much more now that the mainstream media outside of Fox News has decided they can’t ignore the story anymore).

Most recently, the Senate chose to de-fund 169 million dollars earmarked for ACORN by a vote of 83-7 (I’d like to see the seven names that still supported this corrupt organization).

ACORN has long been in the inside track of democrat community activism, and until recently was even going to play a role in the 2010 census – a process which is often used for political expediency by activist organizations like ACORN, whose employees have already been convicted multiple times for registering dead people and cartoon characters to vote in elections. Seriously.

Back in October and November (twice) of last year I did a series of posts pointing out that our own Catholic Campaign for Human Development (which operates out of the US Bishops’ office) funnelled Catholic contributions to ACORN.

That’s right, money given by Catholics in the pew has been going to an organization that was caught on film telling pimps in New York City how to hide money from loan sharks by burying it in the backyard before they go apply for a government mortgage for their home under an assumed name. Seriously.

From everything I’ve heard and read so far, CCHD is just bad news. The fact that it funded ACORN for so many years (and continues to fund highly-questionable organizations) simply proves the leadership of CCHD is completely at-odds with responsible Catholic social activity.

Mary Ann Kreitzer has an extended article on CCHD’s misdeeds published at Spero News. She also writes about “thirteen news stories designed to tear back the curtain on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), or as I call it, Catholic Cash Helping Democrats.”

Papists, money is tight these days. With our government (finally) de-funding the state-sponsored corruption at ACORN, we Catholics need to de-fund the Catholic-sponsored corruption at the CCHD.

What can we do?

Every year around Thanksgiving time there is a second collection taken for CCHD at Masses in the United States. Here’s what I’d like to do:

1. In the next weeks I will search for the dioceses that have chosen to opt out of this second collection for CCHD (you can help me by emailing me if you know this has happened).
2. I’d will publish these dioceses here on AmP, and keep the list updated.
3. Then, I’d encourage you to (respectfully) write your bishop (if his diocese is not on the list) and ask that he also instruct his parishes to opt out of this second collection.
4. Put that extra money you would have given to CCHD in the collection basket of your own parish, where it will do some actual good.

If an organization has proven to be a bad steward, the Lord will find new stewards. We can help.

update – not to get distracted, but an AmP reader writes in:

Of the 7 senators who voted against pulling funding from ACORN:
- 1 is Baptist
- 1 is Episcopalian
- 1 is Jewish
- 4 are Roman Catholic

Wonderful.

From the Scranton Times:

“Bishop Joseph F. Martino is expected to resign as head of the Diocese of Scranton next week, sources within the diocese confirmed to The Times-Tribune today.

Speculation about the bishop’s future began earlier this week when The Times-Tribune reported that his belongings were being moved from the rectory adjacent to the diocese’s mother church, St. Peter’s Cathedral, to a retreat in Dalton.”

More from local WNEP 16:

“When the bishop does step aside, Newswatch 16 has learned, that Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, will be in charge of the Scranton diocese on an interim basis until a new bishop is named.”

The Times Leader has more background. The communications office at the Scranton diocese doesn’t appear to be doing its job very well. Bishop Martino is only 63 years old, so typically he would have 12 more years of episcopal service before being allowed to retire.

I’m very saddened by this news and urge readers to pray for his health. Bishop Martino is a real firebrand who has been passionately defending the principles of our Catholic faith in his diocese, as previous AmP posts detail.

Bishop John M. D’Arcy, who was very involved in the Notre Dame scandal of earlier this year (which AmP covered extensively), breaks his long silence about what the Notre Dame situation was about, and what it wasn’t about, in a reflection written for America magazine (odd that he chose to publish for this publication, considering their editorial position on the affair – maybe he considers it mission territory).

For skimmers, I’ll excerpt Bishop D’Arcy’s concluding questions to Catholic universities:

Stop the presses….

If you are a Catholic engaged in our nation’s debate about health care, you need to read Bishop R. Walker Nickless’ in his latest column.

…. My brother bishops have described some clear �goal-posts� to mark out what is acceptable reform, and what must be rejected.

First and most important, the Church will not accept any legislation that mandates coverage, public or private, for abortion, euthanasia, or embryonic stem-cell research. {contined}

Second, the Catholic Church does not teach that �health care� as such, without distinction, is a natural right. {continued}

Third, in that category of prudential judgment, the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care. {continued}

Fourth, preventative care is a moral obligation of the individual to God and to his or her family and loved ones, not a right to be demanded from society. {continued}

Within these limits, the Church has been advocating for decades that health care be made more accessible to all, especially to the poor. Will the current health care reform proposals achieve these goals?

The current House reform bill, HR 3200, does not meet the first or the fourth standard. As Cardinal Justin Rigali has written for the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-life Activities, this bill circumvents the Hyde amendment (which prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortions) by drawing funding from new sources not covered by the Hyde amendment, and by creatively manipulating how federal funds covered by the Hyde amendment are accounted. It also provides a �public insurance option� without adequate limits, so that smaller employers especially will have a financial incentive to push all their employees into this public insurance. This will effectively prevent those employees from choosing any private insurance plans. This will saddle the working classes with additional taxes for inefficient and immoral entitlements. The Senate bill, HELP, is better than the House bill, as I understand it. It subsidizes care for the poor, rather than tending to monopolize care. But, it designates the limit of four times federal poverty level for the public insurance option, which still includes more than half of all workers. This would impinge on the vitality of the private sector. It also does not meet the first standard of explicitly excluding mandatory abortion coverage.