I have no claim to the title of “Expert On Catholicism in the UK”. I lived there for a year and was not involved in pastoral life. I was a student at Oxford. So I went in, did what I had to do and was out (did a little sight-seeing too
).
But I would say this. It is a confusing statement. I don’t think the man intends to sanction gay marriages. He has said that there is no such thing as a gay marraige. I stand by what I said before, I wish that he would say a little more so as to be better understood.
As to the strength and weaknesses of bishops, we all have to learn one thing. There is always a tendency among us to demand and expect that a person in certain positions have certain qualities and abilities. In an ideal world, that would be true. But in the real world, we work with the deck God gives us.
Bishops are human beings and most of them try very hard to do a very difficult job and get very little approval and a great deal of criticism and coaching from those of us, including me, who wouldn’t know where to begin doing their job and who probably wouldn’t want their job. I for one know that I would make things worse rather than better.
These are men who were called by Christ to the Order of Bishop, not because they were perfect, the most competent or even the holiest, but because they fit into Christ’s plan for his Church in some way unknown to us. In othe words, they are a piece in a puzzle that God is putting together. They were free to say no. No one is ever obliged to accept the election as bishop. They respond out of obedience to the Will of God, even though they may be afraid, feel unqualified, and many times are faced with situations and conditions that they rather not deal with. It would be much easier to live a quiet life in a monastery or in some country parish. Just saying “Yes” to the call to be bishop requires great humility and trust that God will lead the way through the darkness. God does not call just those who are strong like Cardinal O’Brien. He also calls very mousy men.
Like our Holy Father Francis, I always take the position that a bishop is a person to be respected, supported, obeyed, helped and at times just tolerated with all of his faults and limitations, because at the core of all the weaknesses that we see, there is a man who just wants to serve God. As St. Francis and St. Teresa of Avila always said, none of us knows who can do a better job and all of us are worse sinners than they are. In dealing with the weaknesses of the bishops of his time, Francis always added that the key to great sanctity is to look away from the weakness of the bishop and focus on the weaknesses in my life.
He made it a habit of imposing great penances on the religious and laity when they complained about their bishops, because he said that it was far more productive to do penance than to complain. There is a rather interesting story of a town where the people were in an uproar over the bishohp. Francis and Dominic were so upset with the people, that they closed the churches and pulled their friars. They refused to come back until the people started to do penance. Apparently, the bishop was a rather interesting person. The two great fathers were not interested in that. The message was loud and clear, do penance and things will begin to change.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF :christmastree1:
