Your Excellencies:
It seems almost like yesterday that, among all the bishops scattered about the globe, it was everywhere understood that care of the soul was the principal function of your office; that God had given you no greater nor more essential task than getting souls into Heaven. “What must I do to assist the souls entrusted to me—souls for whom God Himself suffered and died—to prepare them for a life of unending glory?” That was the question every honest bishop needed to ask himself.
Alas, like the snows of yesteryear that will not return, it seems no longer to be the case. Other and very different marching orders appear to have been issued. Nowadays, the Church sees herself primarily as a service organization, the ecclesiastical wing of some of the most progressive elements in the country. The Democratic Party, for instance, whose woke fixations might almost be informing her job description. No longer is it the business of the Church, her most sacred and necessary work, to lead the People of God through the world to God Himself.
It’s as if the Letter to the Hebrews had never been written. Which is why, in reading the sentence, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come” (13:14), we more or less shut our eyes to the fact. It is no longer the City of God we are urged to seek but the City of Man—where there is no salvation but only the fleshpots which lead to death.
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