Manifesto: A wish list of essentials for the ordinary of every diocese

With the following wish list, Ole Q is not seeking to place impossible burdens on any ordinary, or to imply that many bishops are not already doing many of the things suggested below.

We have many wonderful bishops. But we all know that big problems remain in our Church in America. So I think it's fair to suggest some things that could help.

Now, obviously, no bishop can do these things all by himself. But they can enlist a lot of help if they can point the clergy, the religious, and all the lay Catholics in the right direction and seek a genuine change in the way we have been doing things in the Church in recent decades.

So, with that in mind:

Would it be too much to wish that the bishop, archbishop or cardinal in charge of every diocese or archdiocese -- and while we're at it, the superiors of all the religious orders -- would:

Constantly teach and emphasize to all the Christian flock the astounding reality and majesty of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist, and the reverence and praise and thanks we each owe Him

Constantly teach, and emphasize to, all the Christian flock the astounding reality and treasure of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and what really takes place in it, and all the graces in it

Teach the Christian flock the dignity and glory of the Catholic priesthood, and the calling to it, and the prayers and kindness we owe every priest of Jesus Christ

Teach the Christian flock the necessity of imitating Jesus in being a sign of contradiction, a witness to the Faith and morality in contrast to the evils of our time

Teach the flock that the most important thing on Earth is the salvation of your soul and mine and our neighbor's -- that love, holiness, sanctity, and closeness to God and Our Lady are what count

Constantly emphasize the necessity of prayer, including Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and the necessity of penance as Our Lady of Fatima has asked

Reform and overhaul catechesis so that all of it teaches the actual truths of the Faith, and only those truths, not dissent and irrelevancies

Teach the flock that there is absolutely no such thing as a "spirit of Vatican II" that did away with everything in the past

Admit to the flock that much of what was done and taught in the last 40 years was defective

Do as Pope Benedict XVI has asked, in his Motu Proprio, and institute a widespread comeback for the "Extraordinary Form" Latin Mass

Do what Pope Benedict XVI said in Sacramentum Caritatis (click on this post's title), para. 62: "I ask that future priests, from their time in the seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute Gregorian chant; nor should we forget that the faithful can be taught to recite the more common prayers in Latin, and also to sing parts of the liturgy to Gregorian chant"

To encourage reverence for the Real Presence and the Mass, and respect for the priesthood, have priests and deacons be the ones to distribute Communion at Masses, and make the use of lay extraordinary ministers truly extraordinary, not ordinary as it has become

Constantly teach and emphasize the necessity of the Sacrament of Confession, and all the graces it confers, and have priests institute more hours for Confession

Teach and encourage true Catholic family life, love for children, openness to having children, and the evil of artificial contraception, sterilization and aborting babies

Lead the clergy and laity in being -- actively, publicly and constantly -- prayerful and effective anti-abortion baby-savers, in every parish

Move out of any elaborate bishop's residence, turn it into a home for unwed moms, and find smaller quarters

Learn, and teach the Christian flock, all the pro-life, pro-family, pro-chastity truths in Pope John Paul II's Evangelium Vitae

Remind the flock, as Jesus does, that "Adulterers and fornicators will not see the Kingdom of heaven"

Constantly teach the flock that the Roman Catholic Church is the one, true, Catholic and apostolic Church that Our Lord Jesus Christ founded and has given to us

Actively and pervasively teach the truths of the Faith, counter the errors and lies of the denominations, sects, cults, and new age, and reach out to bring back the fallen-away

Reach out to the newly arrived, so they will stay in the Church

Actively keep "gays" out of all seminaries

Not ordain "gays" to the priesthood

Cut expenses by slashing the size of the chancery staffs

Devote resources not to building new cathedrals and churches but to keeping venerable traditional churches open

Devote resources to making Catholic schools truly affordable for families

Foster homeschooling

Devote more resources to poor parishes

Eliminate the influence of dissent and radical feminism in the chancery and the parishes

Teach the glory and beauty of the calling to the women's religious orders, and promote those vocations; and do the same for vocations to men's religious orders

Admonish pro-abortion, pro-homosexual-agenda politicians, avoid appearing with them, and excommunicate the reprobate ones

Recommend, as candidates to become new bishops, the truly worthy ones, not cronies or members of any "old boys' club"

Remember and absorb the words of Jesus, "sicut parvuli" -- "[unless ye become] as little ones" -- and seek to truly discourage the influence of money and power in the Church

All right, this is a long list, and a tall order to follow. But who can deny that doing these things would save souls and help our Church? It is up to each of us, you and me, to swing into action.

Jesus, King and Center of All Hearts, have mercy on us! Our Lady, Mother of the Church and Help of Christians, pray for us! Amen.