On the Federal Government, Martyrdom, and the Bishops

A couple of excellent quotations attributed to Francis Cardinal George by Fr. Z:

"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square."

That one may be apocryphal, but the next one is better documened, and it speaks very nicely to the problem of dissent by Pelosi, et al. and their "People's Catholic Church," as I am wont to derisively call it:

This is the first time in the history of the United States that a presidential administration has purposely tried to interfere in the internal working of the Catholic Church, playing one group off against another for political gain.  What isn’t always understood is that the Bishops of the Church make no attempt to speak for all Catholics; they never have.  The Bishops speak for the Catholic and apostolic faith, and those who hold that faith gather around them. 

For Catholics who find themselves attacked for their faith--attacked by their so-called fellow Catholics, which I have been more than once--this is a good quotation to remember, and in line with John 6:66-70. We can blame the past 50 years of American bishops (with exceptions, of couse) for this, too--because they have failed and refused to teach and defend the faith, now we, the orthodox laity, are put in that position of having to do so to so-called Catholics, faced by silence from the bishops and charges of bigotry and narrow-mindedness from so-called Catholics. Thanks a heap, Your Excellencies. In your groovy 1970s jargon, I just feel so affirmed and empowered by your ongoing and deafening silence, which allows me to twist in the breeze with the rest of the faithful remnant. I hope God is more merciful to you for your gross failures than he is likely to be to me for my strong words here.