Several attendees of the sit down with Wilton Gregory on September 8, 2003 have concluded that the US Catholic Bishops are wimps: hopelessly frozen in the headlights, too scared and ignorant to get out of the way of the oncoming truckload of pagan culture set to turn them, and the Catholic Church, into road kill. Forty Catholics were invited by CRISIS magazine publisher Deal Hudson to meet with USCCB President Wilton Gregory and four other bishops in Washington DC.

Attendees were especially critical of the pro-abortion Catholics like Leon Panetta who had been appointed to the National Review Board (NRB) investigating sexual abuse reforms. While attendees agreed that the meeting was productive, attendees willing to speak were not optimistic about the future of the Catholic Church regarding disciplining dissenters or improving the state of the Church.

Whether or not any productive, long term changes come as a result of the meeting is questonable. “Nothing will change,” said attendee Leon Podles. But if the Catholic faith is anything, it is about faith, and hope, both of which inspire us to charitable thoughts and actions. St. Theresa inspires all of us to take on the world in a little way, and if Catholics follow her example, millions of little ways to holiness can quickly add up to a lot of good grace – hopefully, enough to confront the difficulties besetting the church in America and the rest of the world.