By Fr. John A. Perricone, Crisis Magazine, Dec. 23, 2025
Fr. John A. Perricone, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of philosophy at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York. His articles have appeared in St. John’s Law Review, The Latin Mass, New Oxford Review and The Journal of Catholic Legal Studies. He can be reached at www.fatherperricone.com.
Our bishops continue to offer stones to the faithful who are simply asking for bread.
One by one, as though on a conga line for the Democratic National Committee, our bishops last November recited a scripted Instagram paean to illegal immigration. Moreover, at the end of their recent November meeting, it was reported that they also, by overwhelming majority, huffed and puffed: “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of peoples.”
For greater effect, they should have hired a better costume director. Except for one or two, they looked like unmade beds. Of course, this is part of the episcopal Spirit-of-Vatican-II look: casual, unkempt, pedestrian. All of which contributes to their “we have nothing important to say” message, joined to “we are simply here to listen to you.” The unspoken caveat: “you are listened to if you are the right you.”
Seems as though our good bishops have perfected the art of irrelevance. …
