Roman Catholic Bishops

"The people of Chile have repeatedly proven to be up to the challenges it has to face. We have the opportunity to make bold and decisive steps towards building a more equal and inclusive society for everyone, especially for those who have historically been left on the sidelines. Let’s not miss this wonderful opportunity that the Lord is giving us."

"O! how beautiful is Christian charity! How truly is it called Catholic! It makes no distinction of nation, language, or person; but takes all men into one family! And, not without motive, does it teach us to address all by the tender name of brother!"

"There was everything in his character of a good, laborious, and devoted bishop. And look upon him in his ordinary life, in the ordinary intercourse with the world! He was gentleness, his heart was full of love. It warmed with love unto every one. But there was nothing in him of the guile of earth. His heart was pure; he felt the duty of the application of Christian charity to all mankind."

"When I was born, my mother laid me on a bed of straw, and I desire no better pallet when I die, asking only to be in the state of grace and worthy of salvation."

"There is a certain Kemalist secularism which relegates religion to the private sphere, is not very desirable for us. On this point, too, we must break away from certain trivializations. In Europe, the total secularism of the state is considered a value, but there are controversial situations and questionable aspects. A government that takes into account the religious sentiments of the people is in any case desirable for us. We cannot accept a religion simply relegated to consciences."

"The crisis Indonesia is currently experiencing has many faces. One could say that it is a combination of different crises: a moral crisis, a crisis regarding respect for the law and the rule of law; there is a crisis of political leadership that is very distant from the interests and aspirations of the people. These problems are not new, but in the last 25 years, after the fall of the Suharto regime, the Indonesian people would have wanted improvements on various levels: economic, political, and social."

"Let us be guided by the words of our national anthem. Let us ensure that justice is our shield and our defender, and that we may live together in unity, peace and freedom."

"This good pastor, ready to lay down his life for his flock, remained at his post, seeking after those whom the pest had attacked, and actuated solely by the desire of gaining souls to Heaven."

"I would prefer to close my eyes upon even a considerable fault, rather than impair my charity for the delinquent."

"The Word of God translated into a local language can be better understood by people. The ultimate goal of translating the Bible into an indigenous language like Cuyonon arises from an innate desire to relate more deeply to God. The Lord speaks to each one of us through his Word. By listening to it in our mother tongue, it will now be easier for us to understand his will, follow him and be his disciples."

"I see in the Church and among Christians a constant effort to evangelize the people at different levels of society, and this is a positive sign. On the other hand, the mission must be adapted to cultural changes: the advent of social media and the great influence of mass media can also be seen as an obstacle to the mission. The immediate availability of diverse information, in fact, tends to marginalize the Christian vision of life and Christian teachings. This dynamic is most evident in urban areas and less in rural areas. However, the Philippine population still gives much importance to Christian values and strongly participates in the life of the Church."

"The conflict in Mindanao is very complex, full of variables and dense in social, economic, cultural, and religious phenomena that are intertwined with one another. What is certain is that the ordinary people want peace, and must start afresh from here. Interreligious dialogue can help overcome the social and ethnic fragmentation of Mindanao."

"Scores of Catholics lived in this territory over thirty years and reared families without sacraments, Mass or priest. The losses to the Faith in Wyoming, as in neighbouring states, have been appalling. Vicars Apostolic, afterwards bishops, had no funds for educating or supporting missionary priests. It would seem that in 1887, as indeed for nearly a decade after, Wyoming's need was not so much diocesan organization as travelling missionaries."

"The fact remains that the Catholic home is the great nursery of faith. Religion is engaged in the work of character forming and childhood is the period of character formation. The stronghold of childhood must then be the citadel of the Church's hope."

"A characteristic feature of western Catholicism is manifest here as in other western dioceses, that is the ardent desire of the people for parochial schools wherever it is possible."

"By great application joined to an unusually brilliant mind and an extraordinarily retentive memory he accumulated such a vast store of knowledge that his contemporaries styled him the wonder of the world."

"Respect for the decisions of the Church, veneration and the most pure singleness of affection are too deeply rooted in your hearts that any foreign or presumptuous sentiment should mar the integrity or tarnish the brilliancy of your allegiance or even suggest any grounds to fear these and the like calamities. You will submit in all cheerfulness and humility to the decisions which have been come to you"

"We have a contemporary documentary portrait of a great Gallo-Roman ecclesiastical legislator and reformer whose Christian code aimed at and obtained two things, a firm but merciful and humane discipline of clergy and people, and stability and decency of ecclesiastical life both clerical and monastic."

"The aggressive promotion of the commercial side of Christmas has seen a shift where some people are even unaware of its Christ origins."

"Gifted with keen foresight, Bishop Guigues formed a diocese with the slender resources at his disposal."

"We can continue what the first Bishop of Timika, John Philip Saklil, has already begun. Our relations must be based on love, friendship, and human exchange. We are called to open doors for one another."

"The first bishop was Don Pedro Barajas, who spent most of his episcopal life in exile. The second and third bishops had very brief episcopates The present (and fourth) bishop, Don Ignacio Montes de Oca y Obregón, rules in more peaceful times, and has been able to build a large seminary, where not only Mexican subjects, but also some students from the United States and Canada, receive a solid education, imparted by a choice staff of professors."

"The first task that must arise from the moral upheavals of our time is to begin again to live for God, turning to Him and in obedience to Him. From this springs love for our neighbour who, as St Thomas teaches, is our neighbour: for an Italian, this is first and foremost the poor Italian. Otherwise, one gives the impression of being involved in politics."

"Bishops should...know the social doctrine of the Church and teach it correctly. Another teaching is also to teach the contents clearly and also to hierarchise them. Developing democracy in Europe is less important than defending life and the family. The truth about God, man and the world is the non-negotiable principle of order and social good. This is our way of knowing, loving and serving God."

"He was later given charge of various districts on the island of Hawaii, and, animated with a burning zeal, his robust constitution allowed him to give full play to the impulses of his heart."

"In a de-Christianised world, without Jesus, without God, it is useless to defend “values”, as they derive from the encounter with Christ. Dostoevsky said that if God does not exist, everything is permissible. There is no ethics without ontology, there are no values without Christ – they would be like Christmas decorations without a tree – and today, said Don Giussani, “the Church is ashamed of Christ”."

"To be a Bishop in Vietnam means being a person ready to dialogue with everyone, a bearer of the values of freedom, justice and solidarity, build relations of charity also with non Christians, with atheists and communist. We live among the people in a spirit of charity and friendship, open to atheists and non believers. Our Church, a small minority in our country is engaged in pastoral of dialogue. We have good relations with everyone, followers of other religions, with the government, while remaining fully loyal to the Pope and the Church of Rome."

"God knows, I am very unequal to the task, destitute of all spiritual talents, void of all acquired knowledge, and unprovided with any Brother Laborers to carry on the work I wish to begin. But, as with the grace of God all things are possible."

"The Orthodox – Eastern Christians separated from Rome – are so called precisely because they emphasised the primacy of the true faith as a condition of the true Church. Otherwise, the Church ceases to be the pillar and foundation of truth. Consequently, those who do not defend the true faith fall from every ecclesiastical office, patriarchal, eparchial, etc."

"Interviewer: In the case of heresy, just as a heretical Christian ceases to be a member of the Church, does the pope also cease to be pope and head of the ecclesial body, and lose all jurisdiction? Mgr. Bux: Yes, heresy undermines faith and membership in the Church, which are the root and foundation of jurisdiction. This is the thinking of the Church Fathers, especially of Cyprian, who had to deal with Novatian, antipope during the pontificate of Pope Cornelius (cf. “'Lib. 4, ep. 2”'). Every believer, including the pope, separates himself from the unity of the Church through heresy. It is well known that the pope is at the same time a member and part of the Church, because the hierarchy is within and not above the Church, as stated in Lumen Gentium (n. 18)."

"The Church is not just any people, but the people gathered from the four winds, those who recognise God as Father, confess the Son Jesus Christ, and have been baptised in the Holy Spirit. That is why it is called the ‘people of God’. The Church must be concerned above all with souls, inviting them to conversion in view of eternal salvation. This is the work of Redemption."

"St. Basil in his “'Moralia”' opens with a strong recommendation to ‘those who believe in the Lord’ to do penance. He states that those who do not comply with this fundamental duty will suffer a more severe punishment than those who lived before the proclamation of the Gospel: he is convinced that the transition from the Old to the New Covenant entails an increase in responsibility for those who profess to be Christians."

"In the Church, except for the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing is irreversible, because it is ‘semper reformanda’ (always reforming). This allows us to proceed with zeal and without fear of obstacles."

"The Church is worldly when it follows the fashions of thought and action of the world in various areas of human life, rather than orienting the world toward eternal realities. What is worldliness, after all, if not conforming to the mentality of the present age?"

"Is it not clearly visible the succession of words and actions of priests who contradict other priests, of lay people who oppose other lay people, encouraged by the division among bishops on what constitutes the Catholic faith and morality? For a growing number of Catholics, the magisterium is no longer a sign of unity: it is well known, in fact, that one cannot invoke magisterial authority unless one first adheres to Catholic truth."

"God had spoken many times and in many ways... finally, He spoke through His Son Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, who is the only one through whom man can be saved. The Church must return to celebrating the Holy Sacrifice, not a festive dinner, in order to have the authority to admonish man to make sacrifices. The world is an altar on which the sacrifice of Christ is offered every day, to which are added the sufferings of many, especially the innocent. The antidote to moral collapse is sacrifice."

"(Regarding Summorum Pontificum for Holy Mass and the liturgy in Latin) What person of common sense would think that following traditional cuisine is contrary to innovative cuisine? Yet ideology is such that it denies reality: many young people and adults are rediscovering the faith (often discovering their vocation) by participating in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. This evidence is denied: it is always ideology. Anyone who wanted to annul the motu proprio would find themselves facing a great movement of resistance, an antagonistic Church, a growing and irrepressible reality, for the simple fact that it experiences the reform of the liturgy as a rebirth of the sacred in hearts, not as a spasmodic search for novelty drawn from current fashions."

"Several journalists and opinion leaders have attacked the Church, accusing it of interfering in matters that do not concern it. But how can they ask us not to deal with people's problems? It is hard to deny that what we say is true. In addition, almost the entire population is with us and approves of the position of the Church, because it is in direct contact with the people and knows their suffering"

"The authentic unity of the Church is achieved in truth. The Church was established by its Founder – He who said, ‘I am the truth’ – as ‘the pillar and foundation of truth’ (1 Tim 3:15)."

"A man's worth is within him. It is in his mind and heart. It is in his sympathies, his loves, his motives, his aims and ambitions. It is in the truth of his words, in the nobility of his thoughts, in the rectitude of his conduct. It lies in his courageous obedience to conscience, doing always that which he knows to be right."

"Interviewer: Better atheists than Christians who hate? Mgr. Bux: I believe that the problem arises when the Pope strays from the script prepared for him and looks up at the audience. My feeling is that certain statements, in addition to a certain self-satisfaction, stem from the annoyance he feels towards the Church. Pope Francis prefers a vision of the Church as an indistinct people rather than one understood in the true sense. He does not realise, however, that he is slipping into a contradictory and Peronist vision, a schizophrenia that clashes with the very idea of mercy that is so widespread and followed. [...] Certain assertions, if they fall on weak or uninformed groups, are dangerous and have deleterious effects. We risk emptying the churches even more."

"Can the Pope propagate his private ideas over those of perennial Catholic truth? No. He is not a private doctor, and it is unthinkable to modify at will or give versions that clash with Catholic doctrine and the deposit of faith, which is not a museum, and even here there would be much to say."

"Interviewer: If there is no confrontation? Mgr. Bux: I fear that apostasy will deepen and the schism will widen. [...] The definition of “anti-evangelical” in relation to the death penalty: this definition was made, in a questionable manner, by changing an article of the Catechism of the Catholic Church according to a decidedly historicist view, and it raises a number of problems."

"Arm yourselves not with a party panga, but with your NRC and voter's Card. Your vote and not violence is what will be count at the end of the day. As you line up to vote, remember the millions of Zambians who are not able to vote because they are under-age. If you put your selfishness before the future of those not yet able to vote, you shall be held responsible"

"Before you vote, ask yourself: how are my neighbors economically and socially doing? Each of you should not look to your own interests, but to the interests of others."

"It seems strange to us now, but it is a fact that the disciples never seemed to have realized the mission of their Master. To the last they hoped He would redeem Israel, not from its iniquities, but from the rule of a foreign power. When He died their faith in Him died too. It looked as if His cause was lost forever. Is it not strange that the enemies of Jesus remembered better than His followers the words He said? Yet, is it not the way of the world? The hatred of an enemy outlasts the love of a friend."

"You will certainly allow that there exists a God, and this God cannot be indifferent to the conduct and actions of his creatures."

"Much of the early history of Manchester is bound up in the records of the Diocese of Portland, of which it formed a part for twenty-nine years. Mass was first celebrated in New Hampshire as early as 1694, but the real history of Catholicity can hardly be said to begin until a century and a quarter later. So few were Catholics at first, that up to 1822 there were not enough families in the entire state to warrant the appointment of even one resident priest."

"Berlanga sent to the crown a description of what he saw, a brief and unvarnished report from the standpoint of a cool-headed observer. His mission was well intended, but practically impossible. Pizarro had artfully removed the other party to the proposed arbitration, and Berlanga was too honest to yield to insinuations of a one-sided investigation."

"The German language abounds in rich homiletic and catechetic literature for students and pastors of souls. But for the English-speaking clergy there is a dearth, much felt."