www.Restore-DC-Catholicism.com

(Note: please visit our sister blog, http://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com)

We are Catholics within the Archdiocese of Washington who are loyal to the Pope and to the teaching Magisterium of the Church.  We consider ourselves Roman Catholics as opposed to American Catholics.  We are concerned about the obvious decline of the Catholic Church in our country that has occurred over these past sixty or so years.  Today, the average Catholic is just as likely as the average American to embrace such aberrations as:  1) disbelief in God and eternal life, 2) laxity in moral beliefs and behavior, 3) abortion, contraception and euthanasia, 4) homosexual behavior, including same-sex marriages/unions, 5) rampant materialism, 6) denial of the reality of sin and the subsequent need for the Sacraments, 7) lack of belief or respect for the Real Presence, and 8) erroneous belief that “all churches are the same”.

Furthermore, we are greatly distressed that many occupying positions in the Church hierarchy in this country are not raising their voices against these evils and for the truth as they have been charged by Jesus Christ Himself.  They have taken unacceptable positions of passivity in regards to lack of fidelity in its teaching institutions, to the embrace of harmful sex education programs within its very walls, and the open coddling of prominent Catholics who flagrantly disobey and oppose Church teaching in the public arena.

With the outbreak of the clergy sexual abuse scandals over the past several years, it now appears that our bishops have not only refrained from addressing these serious issues.  Indeed, many of these bishops may very well have caused these most serious maladies within Catholic life in the United States.

To address these ills, particularly as they occur within the Archdiocese of Washington, we have banded together and formed "Faithful Catholics of MD/DC, Inc."  We seek to have our bishops address these matters in a forthright manner to bring our Church back to a healthy state. 

In May 2006, Cardinal McCarrick submitted his resignation.  Pope Benedict XVI accepted it. Bishop Donald Wuerl, formerly of Pittsburgh, was installed on June 24, 2006 as Cardinal McCarrick’s successor. It was at this point in time that we of Faithful Catholics became involved in other matters and let the maintenance/update of this website go into abeyance. Now in November of 2007 our time has freed up considerably and we will be attending to this site more diligently to keep one and all abreast of events that will be glossed over by “mainstream media”, both secular and Catholic. Below we recite a brief synopsis of these events; we will give sources for further research and where appropriate, we will suggest action.

Regarding Archbishop Wuerl, we were pleased with his “The Light is On” initiative last Lent to encourage Catholics to frequent the Sacrament of Confession. Recall that His Excellency directed the pastors to reserve Wednesday evenings for Confessions, as well as to expand Confessional hours in general. As we ourselves went to Confession, we saw something that we haven’t seen in quite a while – long lines at the Confessionals. Of course, this meant we had to wait, but so what? If there are “problems” to be had, this is a good sort of “problem”. People were receiving sacramental graces that many haven’t received for too long. Happily the trend does seem to be continuing.

Not all has improved, however. Archbishop Wuerl seems to be intent on following Cardinal McCarrick’s dismal dereliction of duty when it comes to the enforcement of Canon 915. For an absolutely dismal response to a Catholic’s query about this matter, click here. Moreover, he has met with silence our protests regarding the honoring of pro-abortion “Catholic” public figures at Catholic institutions: Nancy Pelosi at Trinity College in January 2007, John Kerry at Catholic University in September 2007 (fortunately the public outcry did suffice to effect the cancellation of that planned debacle), the lionization of the dissident Robert Drinan at his funeral. We also look askance upon his silence at the outright dissent that now spurts regularly from the mouth of his predecessor, Cardinal McCarrick.

For so many reasons stated throughout this website, we welcomed news of Cardinal McCarrick’s resignation. We continue wish him blessings in his retirement years. However, his statements of late have been even more troubling than his words and deeds while he was archbishop. Could it be that now he no longer fears Vatican discipline? That we cannot ask, but the emergence of outright dissent is too obvious for us to ignore. For that reason, you’ll now see to the left a link to a page called “McCarrick Watch”. We regret the need for such an endeavor, but he still wields influence, even though he is ostensibly retired. We urge you to watch this page, as well as the “current events” page. In those pages we will suggest information and action. We are also initiating a page called “National developments”. While we won’t report on all items, we will mention those of significance; most notably we will touch upon the terrible statement issued by the Connecticut bishops allowing abortifacients to be distributed at Catholic hospitals.

We pray that Archbishop Wuerl will place his responsibilities as “shepherd of the Church” first before any political or financial considerations that might tempt him to give an impression that dissent can be tolerated. We of “Faithful Catholics of MD/DC, Inc” will be vigilant in this regard. We ask you also for your prayerful vigilance. Should it ever become clear that dissidents will continue to receive “red-carpet” treatment from the Chancery, we ask you to advise us and to make your own concerns known to His Holiness. The Pope’s contact information is:

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI

The Apostolic Palace

00120 Vatican City

Europe

Additionally, such letters can be emailed to His Holiness at: benedictxvi@vatican.va. We are calling on each and every faithful Catholic to do his/her part.