It wasn't too long ago that only a handful of bishops would stand up to dissidents- at least publicly. Granted, just as a parent should discipline a child in privacy to preserve their dignity, a bishop will always work privately with someone who is out of line.
The tide is shifting and not only do many more bishops have the mind of the Church, they are willing to endure persecution for the sake of Truth. By this, we know that the Holy Spirit has come to rest on them. In charity, please pray for them daily, and for their missions.
The dissidents - that is, those who want Catholicism to have as many truths as there are people who hold different views of the same thing - are in a panic. They want to make Catholicism into a designer religion whereby everyone gets to decide their own version of truth. The articles at places like the National Catholic Reporter are getting more ridiculous and laughable. Relativism and consequentialism permeate the works there. Much of what is found in op-ed pieces, can be refuted with the Compendium of the Catholic Catechism.
For example, Canon Lawyer, Ed Peters just analyzed one such article that came out a few days ago in which the editors attacked the US bishops for a draft of their Pastoral Letter on Marriage which was leaked to them. Obviously, it was leaked by someone who did not like what they were reading, otherwise, why would it be leaked to a dissident paper like NCR? It is an unvirtuous act to begin with - to leak a working document intended to be between bishops to an online magazine - in particular to one with a reputation for distortion of Catholic teaching. As an aside, I must say, that any time the NCR has gotten their dander up over something bishops are doing, there's a pretty good chance that humble, loyal Catholics will value the work and study it.
When the editors of NCR can't get a basic Catholic fact straight, how serious can you take the rest of their argument? Go read: The NCRep's "simple fact" about marriage is simply wrong by Ed Peters, J.D., J.C.D.
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
