While it is true that many of us want to protect the Church and see the right thing done, it is also true that our desire to be faithful must include our tradion of respect for all people, especially for clergy and religious.
The same holds true to what we say about Bishop Morino. We may disagree or question his relationship with the School of the Americas or the local YMCA, but I have to be honest and say that I cannot bring myself to post about him in a way that sounds as if I have little respect for him. He is still a bishop, a successor to the Apostles.
I’m always reminded by something that our holy father Francis wrote into our rule and his last testament. We were commanded to be humble before bishops, priests, deacons and religious. We were to be humble before all men, but we were to show a special humility toward this group of people, because of what they are and what they represent to the Church.
Just as I have nothing but the highest respect and affection for the Benedictine monks, because they played such an important role in the history of the Church and of my Franciscan family, I also have a respect and affection for the clergy and other religious because of the role they have played in the Church and salvation history.
Are we to be blind in order to be humble? No. That is not the same thing. Humility and obedience are always rational, not thoughtless.
Are we to be arrogant and dismissive toward religious and clergy? No. Disagreement and hostility are not the same thing. Hostiity toward an ordained or consecrated person, regardless of how much we may believe that they are in error, is unjustifiable. Even in error, the consecrated person or ordained person continues to be in an intimate and more intense relationship with the Father than the average person.
My conclusion, let’s look at the facts of the article and be truly traditional in showing respect for religious and clergy.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
