Bp. Gumbleton Descends To New Lows

For a guy who has been sustained by the sweat and blood of Catholics for most of his life, Bp. Gumbleton has, ah, chutzpah when he makes this statement:

"I think of World War II as an example where our church failed in the face of a tyranny and an evil that was unbelievably evil -- the Nazi tyranny. The church in Germany failed to speak a prophetic word to that tyranny. Why? Because they had entered into an agreement with the Nazi dictatorship in 1933. Hitler would allow the church to have its schools if the bishops of the church would agree they would not allow their priests to preach any so-called political message. And so the Church became virtually silent during those years. There were a few exceptions -- a peasant in Austria, Franz Jägerstätter, and a few others like him said, “No! I won’t serve in Hitler’s army,” and he was executed. A whole group of young people connected with the universities called the White Rose group -- the same thing -- they spoke the truth; most of them were executed. The church refused to listen. It was more concerned about its institutional structures than about God’s Word. So we failed.

Other than the fact that this is COMPLETELY false, there's no problem. Mit Brennender Sorge, a papal encyclical written in German, condemning the Nazi racism, was read in ALL German Catholic churches by order of the Pope (Pius XII.)

The 1933 'agreement' was merely an accomodation-note. By no means did the Church "agree" with the Nazi philosophy.

HT: Cafeteria is Closed