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Guest
While the issues that have come out in Boston are particularly egregious, and there seems to be little question that Law knew what was going on (the smell of blackmail still hangs in the air), I find that most people have little perspective on the sexual abuse issue. Much, if not most of the abuse took a long time coming to the surface. Reactions came at a time when sexual abuse simply wasn’t discussed; and certainly not in public. We are Monday morning quarterbacking an issue that in many cases occurred 30, 40 or 50 years ago. Have the bishops failed us? Undoubtedly. Did they try their best, given the times, the knowledge, the advice from professionals, to make the right decision? Many did. We know for sure that it wasn’t the right one. But some of the moral outrage is over the top.
Bishops have one of the most thankless jobs there is. I suspect many, if not most would respond with at least a nod of acceptance to the revision “You can please very few people most of the time”. We expect bishops be perfect, and for each person there seems to be a different definition of perfect. We expect them to be omnicient. We expect them to agree sith us in terms of our version of what good, or correct, or perfect rubrics amounts to; we demand that they agree with us in every theological position we hold, because “that’s what the Church teaches”, in spite of the fact that often our opinion is limited, and biased, and sometimes just plain ill-informed.
For example, Greg, who started this thread, bemoans that there are no sermons on contraception. But the priest is not to give a sermon, he is to give a homily, which is to break open the Scripture readings of the day. Perhaps one or more of the Scripture readings could be expanded upon by the topic of contraception; and perhaps that same reading coud be expounded upon by two or three other topics and who knows how many approaches? To react that the priest is failing to teach what the Church teaches seems more than just a little harsh. And how many prenuptual classes has he taught to how many people who just plain don’t want to hear about it? And perhaps he has put it in his homily, and been told that people have heard about that enough (is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard what the Church teaches about contraception?). Maybe he has fought the good fight, and lost too many times, and is trying to find something, anything, he can do to save souls, to draw them closer to Christ. Maybe he doesn’t do a very good job of it. Has Greg supported him in any way, or just sat there condemning him with faint praise?
And given that Greg is a convert, is there an issue here of wanting his pastor to mimic a more Protestant approach? Preaching and singing are so important in the Protestant realm, because they don’t have the Sacraments.
Oh, enough. There are more flies drawn to honey than to vinegar. I suspect that most bishops could fill several library shelves with letter of complaints.
So when, as Catholic Christians, are we going to stop waiting for the priests and bishops to do the right thing, and start evangelizing? Are we going to quit bemoaning the sinfulness of our priests and bishops, and start addressing our own sinfulenss?
Bishops have one of the most thankless jobs there is. I suspect many, if not most would respond with at least a nod of acceptance to the revision “You can please very few people most of the time”. We expect bishops be perfect, and for each person there seems to be a different definition of perfect. We expect them to be omnicient. We expect them to agree sith us in terms of our version of what good, or correct, or perfect rubrics amounts to; we demand that they agree with us in every theological position we hold, because “that’s what the Church teaches”, in spite of the fact that often our opinion is limited, and biased, and sometimes just plain ill-informed.
For example, Greg, who started this thread, bemoans that there are no sermons on contraception. But the priest is not to give a sermon, he is to give a homily, which is to break open the Scripture readings of the day. Perhaps one or more of the Scripture readings could be expanded upon by the topic of contraception; and perhaps that same reading coud be expounded upon by two or three other topics and who knows how many approaches? To react that the priest is failing to teach what the Church teaches seems more than just a little harsh. And how many prenuptual classes has he taught to how many people who just plain don’t want to hear about it? And perhaps he has put it in his homily, and been told that people have heard about that enough (is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard what the Church teaches about contraception?). Maybe he has fought the good fight, and lost too many times, and is trying to find something, anything, he can do to save souls, to draw them closer to Christ. Maybe he doesn’t do a very good job of it. Has Greg supported him in any way, or just sat there condemning him with faint praise?
And given that Greg is a convert, is there an issue here of wanting his pastor to mimic a more Protestant approach? Preaching and singing are so important in the Protestant realm, because they don’t have the Sacraments.
Oh, enough. There are more flies drawn to honey than to vinegar. I suspect that most bishops could fill several library shelves with letter of complaints.
So when, as Catholic Christians, are we going to stop waiting for the priests and bishops to do the right thing, and start evangelizing? Are we going to quit bemoaning the sinfulness of our priests and bishops, and start addressing our own sinfulenss?
