World Over - 2018-12-27 - Full Episode 2018 Year in Review with Raymond Arroyo

[Music] tonight the papal posse will run down the biggest stories of 2018 father Gerald Marie and Robert royal are here for a very special world over a year in review plus we'll announce our picks for the best and worst persons of 2018 and later some Christmas memories with musical legends Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams the world over year-in-review 2018 starts right now [Music] now from Washington DC Raymond Arroyo a very warm welcome to all of you joining us in the United States and the world over I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with your families and on this our last show of the year I wanted to take a look back at the major stories of 2018 and put the last twelve very tumultuous months in perspective from the worldwide crisis of abuse to the Vatican deal with Communist China we've got a lot to cover and we'll announce the best and worst persons of 2018 that you can't guess what those are now who better to walk us through the year that was than the papal posse here in studio is canon lawyer and priest of the Archdiocese of New York father Gerald Murray and editor-in-chief of the Catholic thing dot org Robert Royal gentlemen thank you both for being here so glad to end this year with you it seems appropriate that we end and begin the new year so buckle up the tone of 2018 was set pretty early during Pope Francis's trip to Chile in January of 2018 when he dismissed accusations against Archbishop one batos as slander now the bishop was accused of covering up the abuse of a priest father Fernando Kadima the Pope later apologized for his defense of Baros writing I have fallen into serious mistakes of judgment and understanding in the situation especially due to a lack of truthful and balanced information now I ask pardon of all those that I have offended and I hope to be able to do so personally in the coming weeks in meetings that I will have with representatives of the persons who were interviewed by archbishop Shi Luna now this was a letter he sent to the the bishops of Chile now in this case Posse the Pope sent in the leading expert on clerical sex abuse Archbishop Charles Chu noona to investigate that Chilean situation he later denounced what he called a culture of abuse and coverup there why haven't we seen this kind of response to allegations of bishops abuse in other parts of the world it's a good question and I think the prior question is it's good that he recognized this and I think was a very generous and an open admission of a problem but he was getting very bad advice he said a lack of lack of balanced information which means some people very close to him we're giving him some very bad advice about that situation in Chile I think in a way the same thing is operative here here in the United States which I would point to is the probably the most sensitive of the various national problems because America is influential yeah its influential in a secular sense but the church in America which is still a very solid Church in a very important Church the fact that we have not dealt more expeditiously with the problem here I think also reflects some lack of appreciate the appreciation of the urgency in Rome that yeah this American situation be dealt with as this damaged the church irreparably father Marie in your estimation I mean you see it on the parish level what are you hearing from people what are you seeing and hearing from your fellow priests about this and and do we need this kind of decisive action from the Vatican that we saw in Chile Cardinal DiNardo certainly thought so because he went to Rome back in August to ask that the Pope send an investigator very similar to what archbishopric Luna did in Chile right and the Pope decided not to take that advice and put it into effect personally I think what he did in Chile was good he needs more information you know a question has to be asked who in the Vatican or who when the Chilean Bishop was misinforming him why didn't I have a whole picture given that that happened in one country maybe that's happening elsewhere I think the United States is a case where we do need more vigorous Vatican involvement in the reform effort because bishops on the answer to the Pope right public pressure by the laity and others is good but bishops answer to the Pope and I think the Pope needs to send an investigator here now in this situation in May the Pope met with the Chilean Bishops in Rome he accepted the resignations of seven of the 34 is this a harbinger of things to come for the Murray well that was very dramatic the entire Chalian Chilean hierarchy was in Rome and they all put their mass resignation in I don't think that was a great idea because not every bishop was involved in brighter ups and all the rest of it I don't believe in collective responsibility for the acts of individually bad bishops now on the other hand we can say this the Pope read the riot act and identified that causes have to be dealt with including homosexuality in seminaries and Chile specifically spoke about that and you know to say to the American hierarchy I want similar results I want people to admit bishops they do who did wrong I want them to come and tell me and if not we're gonna have to send investigators to find out yeah it's a it's a really complicated but necessary move we have to do more investigation and then act on them yeah the Pope did that in Chile yeah in June of this past year Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had been removed from priestly ministry the the Cardinal had been accused McCarrick of abuse of a minor now the curious thing was a statement from the diocese of Metuchen it read this way in the past there have been allegations that he McCarrick engaged in sexual behavior with adults this diocese and the Archdiocese of Newark received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago two of these allegations resulted in settlements why the passivity Robert royal when it came to concerns over a bishop having sexual relations with an adult wasn't that a kind of alarm that he may be doing other things as well yeah I think that this really reflects an unfortunate culture in among the bishops that existed at one time I don't think it exists any longer I think they're pretty much all on the record that that this sort of thing can't happen again in the future but look the important thing at this point going forward is to figure out why there wasn't that sense of urgency and why mckarrick despite these these egregious ways that he behaved was was allowed to progress up the food chain so to speak from Bishop to Archbishop in Newark and then to become Archbishop a Cardinal Archbishop of Washington DC there's been it's in my judgment there's been a lot of resistance in Rome to even taking the the barest steps toward looking into that he recalled it before our bishops are American vicious meant in in November one of the items on the agenda was to urge the as as early as possible to release the documents that were relevant to the McCarrick case and even that that they're meeting eventually was was sort of spun to look like it would have been a slap in the face to Rome to say that we've urge you to release these documents so there's still this resistance and there's still a reluctance to recognize that the only thing that is going to restore trust and and all of this is beginning to erode the trust of the American Catholic people in the American people more generally in the church the only thing that's gonna restore that trust is a very vigorous open process father Jerry Murray you heard what Bob said there was clearly a push by the American bishops they wanted an investigation of how McCarrick progressed up the hierarchical chain that was denied to them why is there no not even a canonical trial that we know of anyway why don't we hear more about a canonical trial and should he be removed McCarrick from the clerical state given what we know based on the evidence that I've read which is in the public domain he should be removed from the priesthood he used his authority as a bishop as a priest and then later bishop to lure victims and then to commit horrendous crimes against them those victims need to have the vindication that the church is not going to passively sit by and let this man retire quietly now why isn't there a canonical process the Pope said there will be a canonical process so right now the investigatory stages is in place and they are the spokesman of the Archdiocese of New York Joseph swilling has said that the Archdiocese of New York is investigating the second accusation concerning sex with a minor mr. James grind he came out in public and he he accused mckarrick and that's being investigated my question is that's it's six months now since mckarrick was first accused in June then in July he was identified as having abused a second minor yet we've had no announcements from the Holy See about when the trial is going to be convened I think the Holy See has to recognize that canonical legal processes are not private matters they're matter of public justice in the church and public just involves a good of all so we as faithful priests and laity we have a right to know that justice is being administered in a timely manner I gotta get to this one of the biggest stories of 2018 in August the Pennsylvania grand jury dropped a report that released and identified 300 priests who had molested over a thousand minors over the past seven decades now some of these were allegations others were proven Cardinal Donald Wuerl was mentioned many times in that report and implicated in the cover-up of an abuse of priests and when October Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Wuerl following criticism of his handling of sex abuse cases in Pittsburgh the Pope also praised the Cardinals leadership as of today world is still in Washington DC he serves as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese is that the proper message to send to the lady Robert royal for me it's a problem others may see it in a different way but I think the the pressure for Cardinal Wuerl to step down in this particular case came from his own priest you may recall the Holy Father said he keep the consult he was free go back and talk with your priest and they pretty much said to him look you've in several ways you've been a great guy for us but you're just in an untenable situation it doesn't work again I repeat that the the slowness and what appears to be a lack of a sense look these are children in a lot of cases this is homosexual abuse but there's also as in the case of McCarrick underage children who have been abused and whatever else you think about the way the process ought to proceed the people of the United States and people around the world want to see their church as taking this very seriously if we can't get this right what else are we can we get right in in the world so the fact that he still has lingered on it gives the impression that in spite of the fact of the criticism of this former clerical ists culture that existed in the past somehow it persists in ways that it shouldn't and if the a person in as exposed a position as the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington DC remains after these very serious allegations what else is going on I think we have to ask father Jerry I'm gonna let you tie that story to this one thirteen states are now investigating how the Catholic Diocese is treated and handled sex abuse in those respective states now there's no doubt there seems to be a pattern here an investigatory pattern that we're gonna see reach right into 2019 tell me about this case in LA and auxilary Archbishop Salazar there were charges against him he's been removed but the Vatican statement on this was very quiet near the end of the year they basically said you know he's the Poli father's accepted his resignation the case of Salazar is very interesting to say the least because it just this news hit right before Christmas and what has been revealed so far is not satisfied me that we know the whole story Archbishop Gomez issued a statement to the people of LA saying that the Vatican has retired him because based on a second investigation of behavior in the year 2002 he had been accused of sexual abuse of a minor and at the time the dart the diaster decisis said we only knew about in a 2005 after this man had been promoted to be auxiliary bishop I read in the Los Angeles Times that the Pasadena Police said they contacted people in the church in 2002 so I'd like to know who's telling the whole story here was Archie Gomez fully informed about what the Pasadena Police told someone who's working for the archdiocese at the time but then secondly the question is after he was identified in 2005 as having committed these crimes or accused of the crimes Cardinal Mahony went to the Vatican the Vatican then took the case the Vatican said this man has to be given more or less private punishment he cannot be exercising pastoral ministry so he was put into an administrative role in the diocese but no one knew that ha ha he was given this penalty private very similar to what happened to Cardinal McCarrick so we have a system here that is really not functioning well no and now he's removed and now we're not quite sure when who knows what when I mean well there's this Archer of silence we're seeing this pattern of a culture of silence from diocese to diocese the Illinois AG claiming that in Chicago and other dioceses in that state they did not release all 500 there were 500 additional names that they're claiming they have within their files having reviewed the files of these diocese what are we being told here and what do you make of the image of this when when the Texas Rangers broke busted into the the houston/galveston diocese just weeks ago what are we seeing here Robert royal well in that Illinois report I think the most striking line in there was the the the sentence that said this indicates that the bishops are incapable of policing themselves and we have actually seen a couple of cases that I think three of them now Stephen White who writes for us at the Catholic thing getting a column last week and what she laid out how the fact that certain lay board's independent slightly independent at least from the the typical operation of the diocese identify a problem with the bishop and in at least three cases and I think the solace our case is one of them this led to some action on the part of the church Archbishop Gomez eventually going to Rome and then a more serious action being taken even if it was put very passively that is a his resignation has been accepted so there are ways that we can move forward and reconfigure the institutional ways that the bishops will be held responsible but looking back it's a pretty horrifying thing father Jerry the Illinois report is devastating because it reveals there was they found by reviewing the files 690 complaints were received by the different diocese and in about 500 cases the diocese decided not to pursue those they decided they were not credible or they decided that they shouldn't investigate because the priest had died or because it was a member of a religious order or apparently because it was only one accusation in other words there is seems to be no criterion which gives favor to listening to an accuser and taking him seriously I mean we know from the conviction rates based on what's happened in 2002 it's not 3/4 of the charges of false and only 1/4 true so out of 690 cases 500 and whatever was are not dealt with or ignored this is an example of why people don't trust the hierarchy and it's really let's be honest as a priest I hate to say this but it's to our shame when it's a secular Authority who comes in to tell us you're not taking sin and crime seriously enough yeah they're gonna do it for us that's really a shame yeah and we've got to talk about the big whistleblower I think of 2018 in August Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano the former nun CEO here in the United States wrote an 11-page testimony accusing several senior prelate of complicity in covering up the sex abuse of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick he claimed that Cardinal Donald Wuerl McCarrick successor knew of McCarrick Smith's deeds how significant was the vegan au letter in the fall of Donald Wuerl well I mean it'd be hard to overestimate what with that did and I think that the mere fact anybody who knows archbishop vegan oh and I know him slightly when he was here in Washington can attest that he's a very modest man he's a very truthful man he also occupied a position in the Vatican in which he received reports about these sorts of things from all parts of the world so he's very knowledgeable and experienced in dealing with these things and it just beggars belief I think one of the reasons why the we just said earlier one of the reasons why the DC priests regarded Cardinal whorls position is in untenable any longer is not only it would happen that we saw through the report in Pennsylvania but it's also the fact that it's just beggars belief that he didn't know about and care about the mckarrick situation we could go into the specifics where mckarrick was told not to appear in right seminaries which has had been a sort of reading some private penalties against had actually been living in one and was told not to do that so it's the the indirect evidence is that of course cardinal world knew about this stuff and to know about that and to do nothing and it just seems that there are also figures involved at the highest levels in the Vatican who operated in this similar way so and and this is the next part of the viga no testimony I'll read you this little clip Archbishop viga no claims in June of 2013 he met with the Pope here's the quote immediately after the Pope asked me in a deceitful way what is Cardinal McCarrick like I answered him with complete frankness and if you want with great naivete Holy Father I don't know if you know Cardinal McCarrick but if you ask the Congregation for bishops there's a dossier this thick about him he corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance the Pope did not make the slightest comment about those very grave words of mine and did not show any expression of surprise on his face as if he had already known the matter for some time and had immediately changed the subject but then what was the Pope's purpose in asking me that question what is Cardinal McCarrick like he clearly wanted to find out if I was an ally of mckarrick or not father Jerry your take on this and the lingering impact of this narrative it's four months now since the Vega no memorandum was published he's published some subsequent memorandums let's just say this his credibility as a witness to what happened in general based on what he said has not been impune basically the truth of his claims has been manifested the Pope has not responded he said he wouldn't at the time he learned a bit back in August on the airplane ride back from we have that we're gonna good we'll get to that but the interesting thing is four months later no response the question mark in people's might hasn't gone away did the Pope know about McCarrick being penalized by Pope Benedict and if he did why did he drop those penalties and send mckarrick to China as a diplomat and to other things of that sort why was mckarrick being favored by the Holy See in the pontificate of Pope Francis it's a legitimate concern and I said on the show a number of months ago I was in Rome at the time we should have the PO asked the Pope with all due respect to hold himself to the same standard he would hold any other bishop or Archbishop in the Catholic Church if the Archbishop of ex Ville had favored a Monsignor in his diocese knowing that he had had a canonical penalty imposed by a pope for sex of his ex abuse and then kept it quiet and then sent to you know forgot about the Pope was in wait a minute you know if my predecessor did something I got a follow through so questions is still there I hope the Pope of course he can answer anytime he wants I hope he does well here was his response you alluded to it ago and this really overshadowed his entire trip to Ireland he said this he's speaking in Italian I'll translate I will not say one word on this I think the statement speaks for itself and you have sufficient journalistic capacity to reach your own conclusions it is an act of trust when time will pass and you'll draw the conclusions maybe I will speak but I'd like that you do this job in a professional way now bishops asked for an investigation but what do you make of the continued silence and the lack of interest in these allegations in Rome Robert well if there hasn't been exactly silence because we know that Cardinal will that true yeah head of the catalyzation for bishops kind of replied but he didn't as father rightly said he didn't he didn't go to the substance of what Vigo know raised he nibbled around the edges and then also I I think it's very regrettable that the Holy Father started to talk about accusers in the church that there are people who are seeking to divide the church in her accusers I don't believe that vegan though was seeking to divide anybody I think we can know who not only had that brief conversation that you just described with the Holy Father but later at the Holy Fathers invitation he spent an hour one-on-one with him and told him in much greater detail about the problems with with McCarrick so this had to be the Pope had to know about this the the charges that are laid out there in the number of people that he that he he identifies as being involved in in this process this can be this can be worked out those documents can be traced he's told us where the documents are they can be looked at there should be records of all of these things if we have an honest and open investigation of the these things I think it'll put people's fears to rest the longer that the silence or the the misdirection and we could even call it goes on I think the more suspicions people have and rightly so yeah no hope told the journalists to do their job and we know from what journalists have written they started calling people on the list right Cardinals and other officials about what happened nobody wanted to answer any questions I think the Pope has to recognize that the journalists can't do his job which is to get to the truth of the matter and the Pope admitted in the Chilean case that he made a mistake if the Pope said I made a mistake about mckarrick I was too trusting or I was forgiving I think most catheters a Holy Father we understand you were acting as a shepherd please accept you know from our point of view that's a mistake to avoid in the future but we understand happen instead that the stonewalling if I can use that word by saying I will not say a word most people say no wait a minute the shepherd is getting asked a question by the Sheep let the Sheep have an answer el and it also promotes the narrative that there's a conspiracy of silence in the Catholic Church which is a bad narrative to confirm at the highest levels I mean just as a PR initiative it seems somebody should should be on this case and and and make the public aware of it just to clear the air just to get if anything shoot holes in vegan OHS account but no one's been able to do that whatever reason it's been held up he's at different things he said documents have shown it he's uses logic to prove that the critics don't take his point seriously you know vegan o is an honorable man we in America whistleblowers are not enemies of the state whistleblowers in government are viewed as providing us an opportunity to find out if it's before being subverted by Malafaia if if their allegations prove true yes and then that's why we have whistleblower protections but also investigations right if the Pope announced an investigation of this we're documents and witnesses and everything was held I'd be the most happy priests in the world because I'd say you know it makes sense now things are clear the Pope is has as much inches that I do that this kind of thing doesn't go on in the church rather than what it seems to be well they've authorized some kind of review of files but again where's the accountability who's the luckiest people say in the secular sphere justice not only has to be done it has to be seen to be done so perhaps in the old days it was possible to have a procedure that was more or less secret you especially have priests and bishops involved you want to keep a certain decorum about the process but these days we need to see sort of constant reinforcement that something is being done and the fact I think it was very shocking it was shocking to me and I'm sure was shocking to a lot of other people when our bishops who seem to want to at least take some steps to do the right thing you know we're in November we're told not to do it in fact before they met the Holy Father incidents suggested that they go on retreat rather than have their regular November meeting and and which was specifically intended to deal with holding Bishops accountable and to also put together a moral code for how people ought to act now they are going to have a retreat in Illinois in January and then I mean we're not only six months into the McCarrick case but then there'll be another month before in February we'll have a meeting of the the precedents of bishops conferences from around the world which by the way is being billed as largely listening to a bunch of experts about an abuse crisis so it doesn't even what's come out doesn't seem to express a sense of urgency about a very serious but you've jumped ahead a little bit but it's good yeah we were gonna talk about the November meeting they wanted to take these concrete steps father Jerry and let's face it they were kind of toothless steps but at least they were in unison that they would make a statement and the public would say they're committed to this there's very little they can do because as I learned as the audience learned when we had Cardinal Muller sitting where you're sitting the former head of the Congregation for the doctrine of faith only the bishop only the Pope can investigate a bishop and deliver penalties upon a bishop that's where we are that the CDF can't do it the congregation of Bishops can't do it only the Pope can do it so my question is this when the Pope said don't do anything don't take action has that built up unrealistic expectations of the February meeting and what do you think we're gonna see there the February meeting is unknown at this point cuz no agenda has been published but we do know they've now submitted a questionnaire that's gonna be sent to the different hierarchies back to the November meeting the one provision that I really liked that was not voted on of course that the Holy See's request is that there be a mechanism to report either sexual abuse by a bishop or abuse of authority which would then be forwarded to it would you central a committee we then forward it to the nun see oh I like that because expertise is being used to analyze what's coming in it's true the Pope is the one who decides but you know the operates with the curia he's got court system and all the rest needs to make use of Bob's point is very true justice has to be seen not just operating behind this now what Bob told me sparked my remembrance of this the Pope made another surprising announcement regarding this meeting in February he appointed Cardinal Blaise Subic of Chicago to be part of the organizing committee now when the sex abuse crisis was getting heated up last year especially after the vegan OH testimony came out supe schwoz asked what he thought about the sex abuse crisis and the vegan OH charges here's what he said the Pope has a bigger agenda he's got to get on with other things of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church we're not going to go down a rabbit hole on this quite frankly they also don't like him because he's a Latino given that the Illinois AG is now calling out the diocese is in Illinois for withholding the names of priests given what we know about other Affairs in Illinois including it's now going to be the site of this retreat is Cardinal soup which the man to shape this critical meeting in February well if we put this in the context of the problem in Chile that we started out with there again seems to be there there's there are rumors that McCarrick was influential in getting supa chin to Chicago and Cardinal Tobin into Newark again we seem to see that there's a kind of a network still operating here and that the the Holy Father instead of relying on more independent sources is actually going to certain figures who at least for now I we don't have any evidence of this but at least we have to have some suspicions those allegations on the table of what's happening now to say that the more important issues are environmentalism and immigration and whatnot this seems to me to get entirely wrong the the urgency of what the church needs to do there are plenty of secular outfits that are going to be handling Environment and immigration questions the church has got to get its own house in order this may very well be the the key defining issue for this papacy and for the church for some time to come and so to set up what already is a week meeting of a lot of Bishops who don't really care about this issue it's much it's primarily a European in a American and Australian issue there are some latin-american cases by the way I think it's a slander to say that people don't like the Pope because he's a Latino I think lots of people like him because he's he's a lucky I think this is just one way again to not deal with what is the most pressing issue for the church at this time father Jerry your reaction I was surprised that Cardinal Subic was named to this post because the meeting concerns presidents of Bishops conferences and he is not the president of the American Bishops Conference Cardinal DiNardo is and it's quite clear that this meeting was called in response to what happened with the Meharry case plus the Pennsylvania Attorney General report now the Pope has his advisors who pick is one of them obviously and I'm sure he can can give good advice but my question here is why wasn't Cardinal DiNardo picked because he was he's actually gonna be at the meeting I'm sorry will be at the meeting I assume because of his position on the organizing committee look everybody's going to make their opinion known either directly or through the media and what should happen let's hope that they have a power to put something together at this meeting that will actually have teeth so that we can get to this problem well look in one way maybe it's good that Cardinal Gennaro is there and his his role as the president of the Bishops Conference and it's not part of the organizing committee which is probably a different thing but why not have Cardinal Malley of Boston involvement Cardinal O'Malley is the head of the committee Commission that the Holy Fathers set up himself for the protection of young people and so that Commission is has specifically been dealing with this for several years now right and Cardinal Matt O'Malley is very respected guys a part of the the Pope's c---nine the the special 9 Cardinals that have been selected to give him advice it would have made a lot more sense to pick someone who is from a more neutral corner and then let him bring that experience that he has expertise that he has to the the crafting of what's going to happen in this meeting and the people that I respect in Rome will have had some kind of look into the what they're thinking about they talk about lectures being given by experts on child abuse and not getting down to the nuts and bolts and maybe that's a good thing too because if our bishops our American bishops are left free to come back and after that discussion craft some more effective means on their own maybe that's better than waiting for Rome to come up with a universal canonically they can't do anything so I don't care that's why as Cardinal Burke said on the show last week we don't need any more documents everything's in place make use of the the trial process as well as the penal process that exists today you don't need any other documents speaking of documents I have to mention Bishop Robert Morley know who is a regular on this show he passed away this year but not before writing a letter that really galvanized I think the attention of so many people not only in the United States but around the world here's what he said about the subculture within the church as he looked at the sex abuse crisis we'll put it up on the screen for you he said to be clear in the specific situations at hand we are talking about deviant sexual almost exclusively homosexual acts by clerics we're also talking about homosexual propositions and abuses against seminarians and young priests by powerful priests bishops and Cardinals we are talking about acts and actions which are not only in violation of the sacred promises made by some in short sacrilege but also in violation of the moral natural moral law for all to call it anything else would be deceitful and would only ignore the problem further father Jerry Murray the impact of that letter Bishop Morlino who is much regretted his early death is certainly cause of sorrow but that statement that he made that letter he wrote to his people is absolutely on target the problem that we have in the Catholic Church right now regarding sexual abuse largely concerns homosexual activity by priests and there have been networks of seminarians some of whom then got ordained who are involved in sexual activity homosexual activity and seminaries this the mckarrick thing really blew the lid off it because payoffs were made to protect his reputation even though those diocese were convinced that he had sexually abused two males so the answer to this problem is truth get to the bottom of what's happening morally no did that in his letter this doesn't mean hatred for homosexual that's usually a debating technique that's thrown against anybody who criticizes homosexual activity homosexuality is against God's law to call people to repentance is to do the essential mission of the church and that's in love act of love I mean the apostolate that we have in the Archdiocese of New York courage offers hope to people of a homosexual problem in their lives covering up pretending is not wrong that's not what needs to be done Bishop Morlino was prophetic okay I want to move on to some big doings of the Vatican where teaching was adapted a bit and the the major international news really of the year the Vatican signing an agreement with China that would essentially allow the Chinese government to pick bishops that they think should be appointed and the Vatican would then have the final say to approve or turn those down your thoughts on this agreement and what can be done at this point Robert royal well I'm very worried about it I'm very worried about it because China in general is a worrying thing in the modern world but I don't see what the benefit has been we the court has remained secret that has not been published so we don't know specifically what it says however you can see what's happening in China and it's not only happening to the Catholic Church it's happening to the Protestants there's repression churches are being closed just look at the images we have the images on the screen just at the end of the year some of the Protestant churches some of that what they call house churches there's no furniture churches hundreds of them are being closed and being a major leader major bajas pastor just arrested and look we know what the nature of communism is and then it's the nature of communism to want to control everything within the society to give a different view of the human person and it's not the human person has made an image and likeness of God it is the human person made for the purposes of the state and it every attempt to reform so-called reform or check it's sinus eyes they call it the church's this is really to try to make the church more amenable to what the state wants to do in China I don't see what the benefit has been to the church I see what the benefit is to the Chinese government and we already see the two underground bishops who have been very courageous were asked to step down by the Holy See so that government-appointed bishops could become they would become auxiliaries where the government appointed bishops would become the the ruling bishop in in those areas to me this just smacks of further and further concession to a regime that is not going to stop in what it wants from from the church and I don't know what the church gets back as a result what did you make of Monsignor chaley from the Vatican going and actually delivering the letter from Cardinal parolin to that underground bishop saying you know the Pope wants you to step aside we've got a man approved by the communist government he's going to be taking your place and what can the guy do he didn't he in obedience step down it's an unbelievable thing that this would happen to bishops who have basically been so loyal to the church that they've either in prison or risk being imprisoned for their loyalty now I think we have to step back and ask a prior question why does the Chinese government want to have any involvement in the naming of Catholic Bishops is it because their interest in the evangelization of the people in China not at all they view the church as a political entity that they want to control and by agreeing to that on our part we're agreeing to their premises this is not the way the church should operate there are two quick issues I have to get to before we run out of time earlier this year the Pope made a change to the Catechism regarding the death penalty I'll put up the old teaching first and then the new he said the traditional teaching this is the old catechism the traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty if this is the way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor the cases in which execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare if not practically non-existent now here's the new updated version it reads today however there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes consequently the Church teaches in light of the gospel that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the in volubility and dignity of the person and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide Robert Royal father Jerry very quickly if the Pope can change the catechism here could a future Pope change it back to change other things because obviously this is based on some reading of human history that says we are somehow morally more advanced than our ancestors worth we are not I think in a lot of ways we may actually have gone backward and just to cite abortion as one possibility where 50 60 million children can be executed in a country like the United States I think this is very worrisome it's a clear contradiction of what the church is taught of since its its beginning if you go back to a Gustin or Aquinas or any of the great thinkers I think this is not a development I think this is a contradiction father Jerry you know the Pope has the power to change was written in the Catechism but he cannot changed her church teaching on this matter the death penalty is not immoral per se the church has never taught that is taught just the exact opposite and it is not a violation of human dignity to kill people who are guilty of certain crimes or people who are in the process of committing a crime or waging war you know if putting someone to death violates they're in but they're human dignity well then should we disarm police should we surrender armies you know the church is teaching on this is much richer than simply inflicting vengeance on someone that's not what this is all about or we'll be watching all of that in 2019 thank you both for being here thank you as always as we bring this year in review portion of the show to a close I thought we'd be remiss without naming the world over best and worst persons of 2018 first the best person of 2018 is Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano his testimony clearly changed the dynamic of the year his charges helped internationalize awareness of the corporate silence that permitted malefactors to rise through the ranks of the church the questions he raised still have not been answered but the effects of Egon OHS testimony will be felt well into 2019 and now for the worst person this one was tough because there were so many contenders but the winner is say that Theodore McCarrick he became the face of corruption in 2018 his scandalous behavior and the questions about how he rose to such prominence when so many in the church knew of his indiscretions continue to confound and answers really do need to be provided well that does it for the best and worst of the year but since we're still in the thick of the Christmas season I wanted to end tonight with some Christmas memories from two of my favorite musical guests between them they really are the voices of Christmas I had the privilege of sitting down with both of these legendary performers to talk about the meaning of Christmas and they kindly graced the show with their music here are some incredible moments from my Yuletide conversations with Johnny Mathis and the late Andy Williams enjoy [Music] tonight two hearts are thrilling inspired of a chilly weather love knows no season love and those little climb romance can blossom any old time here in the open will walk in and open together together sleigh bells ring are you listening in the lane snow is glistening a beautiful spot for happy to learn walking in a winter wonderland far away is the Bluebird did say is a new bird singing a love song as we go along walking in a winter wonderland in the meadow we can build a snowman and pretend that he's a circus clown we all have lots of fun with mr. snowman the tule other kitties knocking down [Music] you know to play the Eskimo way walking in a winter wonderland walking in and went into Wonderland went to wonder one to Wonderland when - when to wonder one [Music] let's talk for a moment about Christmas and your favorite Christmas song do you have one or have you become so accustomed to singing those Christmas songs that you just go you know like Santa Claus I'm gonna put the costume on I'm gonna go out I'm gonna do this and then I can't wait for January to come is there a little bit of that because the songs are like candy you you in bed did it go the way and so the gravity did it's that way because a lot of them are and I say this in a nice way trivial singing not really singing just kind of a song you sing right and for years and years Christmas music kind of that way but I mind some old Bing Crosby songs that he sang it because it's time it's the most wonderful time of the year wonderful song written by L sure or the director of The Tonight Show I think but that Christmas songs have gotten much better what is your Christmas wish for everyone watching this Christmas this New Year's I'm sending you a little Christmas to remind you of how I'm waiting for you praying for you I forgot the words I love that this is so special to me because of the music of course but because I'm able to to share it a little bit more well I'm thankful for your spirit and how you imbue the holidays in this music as you said these songs can be pretty trivial but in the hands of the right people they're filled with life and love and joy and you do that now can I have a Christmas request he's a little tiny request yes can I sing with Johnny Mathis for a minute yes what shall we sing just hear those sleigh bells tinkling tink tink tinkling to come along it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you outside the snow is falling and friends are coming yeah come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you and you and you get a yep giddyup giddyup let's go let's look at the show we're riding in a wonderland of snow giddy up giddy up giddy up it's grand just holding your hand we're driving along with a song of a wintry fairy dance part of that song to sing rosy and comfy cozy well Merry Christmas thank you thank you Andy thank you so much you're welcome we're glad to be here it is a great honor and I want to get into some of the book but I want to start with Christmas why do you think you're so identified with Christmas what is it about your voice your persona I mean I can think of only one other artist Nat King Cole that I think of as being so identified with Christmas well I guess it would have to be because I've done so much television you know over the years I've had my own show for nearly ten years and so there's a Christmas show involved there every year and then I've stayed on after this the series went off the air I still did I think three years of Christmas shows after that so I don't have six Christmas albums so I guess I'd better be known well let me tell you I've wasted a lot of time no no you're a staple at our house and a little bit later you'll be singing for us and I thank you for agreeing to do that you were born in Wall Lake Iowa and you you started singing with your brothers but this wasn't this was a pretty difficult moment in your life I mean it was real poverty and rough well we were poor but my father was my father was working anyway mm-hmm he was a railway mail clerk a guy that searched sorts mayil on a train as it's moving you know between all towns and so so he we weren't destitute but we were quite quite poor and but none of the kids knew it you know everybody everybody could eat yeah everybody wore hand-me-downs you know from somebody else he'd even barter for your shoes on occasion well he did he was great at that uh-huh he would take us into when we moved to Des Moines we needed shoes so he took us into a Florsheim shoes shop and he got us all fitted for I said now let's talk about how we're gonna pay for he there was another phrase that he repeated to you that lingered long in your memory when he said you have to practice harder because you're not as good as others out there he told you and your brothers that I said you're not as good as the others so you have to work harder and that's a terrible thing to say to a little kid I was seven years old when he got us all together and put our hands together and and said one for all all for one and you've got to work harder because you're not as good as the others so I took that to heart you know I don't know whether my brothers did that much mm-hmm but I did and I so all my life I never thought I was as good as the others so I had to work harder and in the long run I guess it was good because I didn't work harder and I didn't give up what I you know ordinarily people would give up if they had a problem getting going as I did what was he singing alone I'm talking about that what was Christmas like during those years of struggle well I was great and in wall Lake Iowa so small that everybody's door was open and they would even strain lights from one house to another you know it was just a big communal Christmas you sort of see that in the Christmas specials throughout the year I you had it was the community was always coming together at Andy's little cottage or house or wherever you work yeah it was a it was a lot of fun doing those shows it really was because I had my brothers hadn't sung with him in a long time so every Christmas with saying my wife and children were growing up during that time right so people I think liked to watch the show year after year to see the children go you know what do they look like now yeah now tell me how do you warm up how do you take care of this voice we I don't do anything I don't love at all no oh my before I go on I do some mousse mmm to get the sound up into the mass they got it get this moving a little bit the larynx and the vocal cord and that's it that's the warmup Moo oh that's depressing I can move all day and I won't be able to sing that well it'll get everything loosened up tonight hmm tell me about your Christmas wish this year what is your Christmas wished for your fans for those watching us tonight well I just wish everybody have a happy Merry Christmas you know and and don't think the world is coming to an end there's still hope there's still hope that's that's what we want to get across could you before I let you go can you fulfill a huge Christmas wish of mine now what would that be could we sing I wish you a Merry Christmas you want to say I wish you American you and me I'll gather we wish you a Merry Christmas we wish you a Merry Christmas we wish you a Merry Christmas [Music] harmony with man thank you you've made my Christmas well you I think this is a lot of fun it's the most wonderful time [Music] we'll the kids in your belly and everyone telling you be of good cheer it's the most wonderful time it's a happy happy season Oh where those holiday breathing's and gay happy meetings when friends come to car it's aha happiest season there be parties forcing marshmallows for toasting they'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases hello it's the most wonderful time there'll be much mistletoe parts will be glowing when lovers Ernie it's the most wonderful time of the year [Music] every party's my hosting marshmallows for toasting in the snow no booth scary ghost stories and tales it's Christmases morrow Oh it's a most wonderful time there'll be much mistletoe parts will be glowing when lovers are near it's the most wonderful time yes the time it's a must Oh [Music] [Music] that is all the time we have for now until next week the show continues on Facebook and Twitter like me on Facebook you can follow me on Twitter the links are at Raymond Arroyo dot-com remember book three of the will Wilder series is coming this February in the meantime the first two books will Wilder the relic of perilous Falls and the law staff of Wonders are available with bookstores everywhere including the EWTN catalog be sure to join us next week for an encore of the world over Christmas special we're still in the Christmas season after all until then we'll be scouting the world over for all that is seen and unseen on behalf of the staff and crew of EWTN news I'm Raymond Arroyo have a blessed Christmas season and a very happy new year all the best for 2019 [Music] you [Music]

Channel: EWTN

Views: 20,586

Rating: 4.8333335 out of 5

Keywords: ytsync-en, wot06038, wot

Id: 9_lKu80giCs

Length: 55min 0sec (3300 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 27 2018