It's official: Bishop R. Walker Nickless is awesome

Proof?

Ecclesia Semper Reformanda - his first pastoral letter published yesterday.

Some favorites:

"It is crucial that we all grasp that the hermeneutic or interpretation of discontinuity or rupture, which many think is the settled and even official position, is not the true meaning of the Council. This interpretation sees the pre-conciliar and post-conciliar Church almost as two different churches. It sees the Second Vatican Council as a radical break with the past. There can be no split, however, between the Church and her faith before and after the Council. We must stop speaking of the 'Pre-Vatican II' and 'Post-Vatican II' Church, and stop seeing various characteristics of the Church as 'pre' and 'post' Vatican II. Instead, we must evaluate them according to their intrinsic value and pastoral effectiveness in this day and age."

And,

"It seems to me that in many areas of the Church’s life the 'hermeneutic of discontinuity' has triumphed. It has manifested itself in a sort of dualism, an either/or mentality and insistence in various areas of the Church’s life: either fidelity to doctrine or social justice work, either Latin or English, either our personal conscience or the authority of the Church, either chant or contemporary music, either tradition or progress, either liturgy or popular piety, either conservative or liberal, either Mass or Adoration, either the Magisterium or theologians, either ecumenism or evangelization, either rubrics or personalization, either the Baltimore Catechism or 'experience'; and the list goes on and on! We have always been a 'both/and' people: intrinsically traditional and conservative in what pertains to the faith, and creative in pastoral ministry and engaging the world."

My brothers and sisters, let me say this clearly: The 'hermeneutic of discontinuity' is a false interpretation and implementation of the Council and the Catholic Faith. It emphasizes the 'engagement with the world' to the exclusion of the deposit of faith. This has wreaked havoc on the Church, systematically dismantling the Catholic Faith to please the world, watering down what is distinctively Catholic, and ironically becoming completely irrelevant and impotent for the mission of the Church in the world. The Church that seeks simply what works or is 'useful' in the end becomes useless."

He also seeks to:

1. "renew our reverence, love, adoration and devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament, within and outside of Mass,"

2. "strengthen catechesis, beginning with and focusing on adults."

3. "protect, build up and foster holy families"

4. "foster a culture where young people can more readily respond to the radical calls of ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life."

5. "embrace the missionary character of the Catholic Faith and the vocation of all Catholics to be, not only disciples, but also apostles."

Read the whole thing, folks. It's good, as in "Dear Lord, please make this man a cardinal" good.