Bella Dodd Bishop Fulton Sheen Alice von Hildebrand
The year 1953 saw Bella called up by a Congressional committee investigating the infiltration of Communists in the high places of the United States government. Her newfound faith strengthened her to face this ordeal with courage and determination. She swore before the Senate Internal Security subcommittee that there were a number of Communists in legislative offices in Congress and in a number of groups advising the President of the United States. She also testified to the Communist takeover of labor unions in the country and of her personal experience securing posts for members of the Party in the unions.
Perhaps most frightening of all was her testimony that during her time in the Party, “more than eleven hundred men had been put into the priesthood to destroy the Church from within,” the idea here being that these men would be ordained to the priesthood and progress to positions of influence and authority as monsignors and even bishops. She stated that “right now they are in the highest places in the Church” where they were working to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. These changes, she declared, would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” A few years later, in a conversation with a new Catholic friend, Alice von Hildebrand, Bella told her that there are four cardinals within the Vatican “who are working for the Communists.” This was twelve years before Vatican II. The reader can draw his own conclusions.
Shortly after her conversion, Bella had great hope for the youth of America. She saw goodness and a giving, missionary spirit in the young Catholics she worked with. Bella died in 1964 at the age of sixty.
Bella Dodd did much harm to her country and her Church. It is a great blessing that she repented of those sins. We can pray that she has paid her reparation and is now with the saints in Heaven. If she is not yet, our prayers may help her to arrive Home soon.
via Bella Dodd — From Communist to Catholic | Catholicism.org.
Servus Fidelis ~ The Faithful Servant 
I am glad Bella converted before she died. As for the rest, I don’t know what to make of it. It certainly seems to be truth that the Church had a flood of priests, at least here in America, who certainly seemed to be all about the watering down of the faith. I remember reading an article that had been written back in the forties or fifties, and the author thought there seemed to be a conspiracy on the part of seminaries around the country to discourage students who had real zeal for the faith from going on to become priests, and promote those whose faith was lukewarm at best to go into the priesthood.
However, looking back at history, there were other times when the Holy Mother Church was at a low point. Then, as now, all we need are priests and laity with real fire and zeal to step up and get the Church back on track. Ultimately, the gates of Hell will not prevail. The current crisis is but a challenge that has been tossed into our lap.
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Precisely right that ultimately they will fail. In the meanwhile we must be wide awake to practices and teachings that are not orthodox: being in a Church named after a Saint is not protection enough from the spread of unorthodox teaching and practice. Satan desires the Church and especially Her leaders: pray for them and stay vigilant.
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That’s a horrifying thought about the Communists, but why not, they infiltrated elsewhere?
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I just commented on your blog to say that we must see that they have been successful in changing substantially the Gospel that we are now teaching throughout Christendom. It does seem to be in concert with those in political office and the unions as well.
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Alas, that is so true.
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Yes, secularism and secular humanism abounds in our midst and we equate it with the Gospel teachings: perverting the faith with worldly goals and ideals.
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That’s a major part if the problem, I fear.
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Indeed so. To me it boils down the failure of Vatican II and the slide of all Christianity into the mundane. Is there any reason that Catholics have abandoned the Churches in Europe en masse? I’m afraid we face the same fate here in the U.S. if we don’t take a stand and put an end to the charade.
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If we are to judge by the fruits, it is hard to say otherwise, my dear friend.
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They gather as we write to try to find an answer to how they are going to re-evangelize the world. The question I hope they consider is how it got un-evangelized in the first place, so that we do not continue to do the wrong things.
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Yes, always good to find what went wrong before you fix it 🙂
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I would certainly think so. But now there you go again using your “un-common” sense. 🙂
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Yes, there we all go again 🙂 x
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🙂 x
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One big question is what can we as the laity do to help reverse the trend begun after Vatican II?
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I’m not sure what we can do except hold on to the faith that we have come to believe. We are a Theocracy, with Shepherds who are there to guide us. But if they start acting like hirelings, or even worse, wolves, it is up to the Real Shepherds to take steps to get them away from the sheep.
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