Requiring profession of faith from those who serve in the Church

You can probably guess where I fall on this issue, but I note with interest that the good Bishop Robert Vasa, recently named coadjutor of the Santa Rosa, California (good St. Rose!), requires a profession of faith from all those who serve in any role in the churches of his diocese – from lectors and (un)extraordinary ministers of Communion to catechists and teachers, which includes:

This includes declaring such things as: I believe in God, the virgin birth, the existence of purgatory, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. I also accept the Church’s moral teachings, such as the evil and sinfulness of contraception, homosexual activity, and adulterous behavior

Woot!  While that may not be everything you might want to see in a profession of faith, it’s a heckuva start!

Some more Vasa gold, from the Catholic World Report interview.  On national conferences:

It is easy to forget that the conference is the vehicle to assist bishops in cooperating with each other and not a separate regulatory commission.” He added, “there may also be an unfortunate tendency on the part of bishops to abdicate to the conference a portion of their episcopal role and duty

True dat, and more so, it’s important to recognize that even where a bishop may have yielded some authority to a unanimous decision of the conference, it is always within his right to take that authority back, as he is the ONLY person responsible for the Faith in his Diocese, and bears an awesome responsibility.  On to CCHD:

While I trust the bishops on the committee itself, I have many concerns nationally about how we as the Catholic Church interact with elements of our society that do not share our values. It is one thing to interact with those who do not share our values, but it is quite another to financially support agencies, individuals, or agendas which are absolutely, diametrically opposed to our principles and values.Unfortunately, there are multi-layered corporations seeking funding that might have 90 percent of their activities perfectly in accord with the teaching of the Church, and they’re working in many areas and on issues for which the Church has a passion. Unfortunately, those same corporations may have a spin-off group that they fund which supports, say, population control, artificial contraception, and abortion. This would, in my mind, disqualify them from any support.

No disagreement here.  I think that’s what many orthodox Catholics have been saying for years.  You should read the whole interview at Catholic World Report.  It’s very good.  I pray for many more men like this in the episcopate, who elucidate the Faith in such a forthright manner.  I will continue to pray for this good bishop.