We Catholics in America regularly find ourselves in the national news. A 1996 Pulitzer Prize was awarded for a series of articles in Newsday on St. Brigid’s Parish, Westbury, New York. The Catholic Common Ground Project, covered nationally, focuses on the polarization of the “American Catholic Church.” The We Are Church referendum fizzles despite early … Read more
The year 1996 whirled Catholic Americans in a gathering storm. In early spring, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Nebraska issued a canonical warning of excommunication to guard his flock from “perilous” groups. May witnessed a rebuttal with We Are Church, a dissident Catholic petition drive denounced by Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of the NCCB as “divisive.” … Read more
The Catholic Left, includes, among other groups, the following organizations that are committed to ecclesial and political action. Exact numbers are difficult to assess, as memberships frequently overlap. Spokesmen do not give membership figures or rosters. A reliable estimate is that fewer than 3 percent of American Catholics belong to, or are sympathetic with, any … Read more
The Association of Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) wants your signature on a referendum. ARCC proposes that the Vicar of Christ be replaced with a General Council co-chaired by an elected pope and layperson. Led by ARCC, the We Are Church coalition of twenty dissident groups is seeking a million signatures to present … Read more
Speeding toward the final national election of the millennium, the battle for the future of American culture is debated and defined from primary to primary, from whistle-stop to town hall meeting. Acknowledging abortion, welfare reform, and pro-family issues as preeminent concerns, candidates have sought to engage the Catholic community eye to eye. But who speaks … Read more
The call to build FutureChurch was the rallying cry of 3,500 Catholic dissidents at the 1995 Call to Action conference held in Chicago this past November. For an orthodox Catholic taking a firsthand look at this subculture that threatens to form an “American Catholic Church,” the open, aggressive rebellion unleashed in session after session is … Read more
There is a Catholic crisis among Evangelicals. Some Evangelicals believe their brethren should be converting Catholics, not collaborating with them. The signing of Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium in March, 1994 has revealed deep divisions in the evangelical movement, and among the dissidents, a strong disregard for Catholic faith. … Read more
