Go here to read the story. Priests aren’t stupid. They realize that the vast majority of bishops will happily toss them to the wolves rather than experience any negative media coverage. They also understand that being a good priest and becoming a bishop are often mutually exclusive goals. It brings to mind this poem by Kipling:
“My son,” said the Norman Baron, “I am dying, and you will be heir
To all the broad acres in England that William gave me for share
When he conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little handful it is.
But before you go over to rule it I want you to understand this:–
2
“The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow – with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, ‘This isn’t fair dealing,’ my son, leave the Saxon alone.
3
“You can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your Picardy spears;
But don’t try that game on the Saxon; you’ll have the whole brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest chained serf in the field,
They’ll be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are wise, you will yield.
4
“But first you must master their language, their dialect, proverbs and songs.
Don’t trust any clerk to interpret when they come with the tale of their wrongs.
Let them know that you know what they’re saying; let them feel that you know what to say.
Yes, even when you want to go hunting, hear ’em out if it takes you all day.
5
“They’ll drink every hour of the daylight and poach every hour of the dark.
It’s the sport not the rabbits they’re after (we’ve plenty of game in the park).
Don’t hang them or cut off their fingers. That’s wasteful as well as unkind,
For a hard-bitten, South-country poacher makes the best man-at-arms you can find.
6
“Appear with your wife and the children at their weddings and funerals and feasts.
Be polite but not friendly to Bishops; be good to all poor parish priests.
Say ‘we,’ ‘us’ and ‘ours’ when you’re talking, instead of ‘you fellows’ and ‘I.’
Don’t ride over seeds; keep your temper; and never you tell ’em a lie!”
One problem with our bishops is that they are largely insulated from any accountability for their failures. Imagine for a moment that our sad USCCB instituted a policy that made consideration for moving up the ladder to a prestigious diocese or chairing a powerful Conference Committee, or even having a vote in USCCB proceedings contingent on performance. Why should a bishop with a good golf game and a knack for office politics (but a diocese he’s running into the ground) chair a USCCB committee, while a solid bishop of a healthy diocese sit on the back bench, ignored?
What if bishops were expected to produce a certain number of vocations each year? And based on the number of Catholics in the diocese, what if a certain number of Catholic weddings and baptisms was expected? Would they be more interested in evangelizing if a certain number of converts was demanded? Would they give less attention to the liturgical ideologues who give us clown Masses and cringeworthy liturgical abuses, and more concern for the average Pew Meat that just wants simple reverence and sound teaching, minus the condescension and PC?
What if their raison d’etre was growing their diocese by reasonable metrics, and not simply managing decline and selling off real estate?
If such a fantasy were to come to pass, maybe bishops would be more inclined to treat priests less like lackeys and fall guys, and more like colleagues, confrères, even sons.
I am not Pew Meat. I am a person. So, go tell the bishop.
Bishops are just Catholic politicians. And the Peter Principle applies here too. Maybe more so since we can’t elect a replacement when they do some crazy thing. Subsidiarity applies here too. Be close to the priest and ignore the bishop. Including Diocesan Appeals.
“…….you must strengthen your brothers.”
-of what other purpose is there!!
Ah yes. The bishops still allow the criminal deviant marko rupnik to move freely about the land.
No sense of urgency…no urgency at all.
what a pathetic sad lot most bishops are.
Episcopal bishops where I grew up managed an annual visit to every parish in the diocese. Those with a large mass of tiny small town parishes managed biennial visits. Unimpressive men, but not physically isolated from their parishioners. Catholic bishops should be making the rounds like this.
==
You’ll recall Fr. Paul Shaugnessy’s suggestion that a revival of ascetical practices would be a key component of cleansing the priesthood. He said you look around a rectory and you see a well-stocked liquor cabinet and slick magazines, you can wager the priest’s life of chastity is disordered. One of the scandals in recent years was the New Jersey bishop who diverted diocesan funds to construct a retirement mansion for himself.
So long as bishops are moved about from suffragan to suffragan, from one Metropolitan to another, they will never ever give a damn about the priests or laity in their charge. We become an interchangeable constant to their careerist ambitions. And since those who pick bishops followed the same path to their success, they will pick like minded and like minted men as themselves.
Bishops are no different to middle management. You don’t really need them except to keep things in order once in a blue moon.
[…] Brief:USCCB Honors 4 Pro-life Advocates With ‘People Of Life’ Award – Catholic World NewsBeing a Good Priest & Becoming a Bishop are Often Mutually Exclusive Goals – D.R. McClarey, J.D.FBI: 63 Hate Crimes Against Catholics Reported In 2024 – Catholic […]
Ezabelle-
I agree, that’s how they act.
It is NOT what they *are*
They should be prevailed upon to remember that they are successors of the apostles and charged with the maintenance of an orthodox and holy diocese of priests.
I also agree with Bill – they might have an easier time remembering their pastoral work if we stopped moving around clergy like a bored housewife’s furniture!
In Heaven, St. Ignatius must be shaking his head in disbelief at today’s corruption of the Episcopacy.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the SmyrnaeansChapter 8
See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.
[…] Daniel Esparza at Aleteia7. Thank You for Doxxing Me – Katy Faust at Them Before Us8. Being a Good Priest & Becoming a Bishop are Often Mutually Exclusive Goals – D McClarey JD9. Survey: We are Losing 9 Out of 10 Cradle Catholics – M.W. Rota, Ph.D., […]
I don’t understand why we are so surprised at our lack of good bishops. Christ asked if there would be any faith on earth when He returned. I believe He meant His bride, the Church.
When Henry VIII demanded the Catholic bishops of England assent to his Oath of Succession— which declared that henceforth the king and not the Pope was Head of the Church— only one of the seventeen English diocesean bishops refused to apostatize. That one bishop was of course the martyred St. John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, who was beheaded for remaining Catholic.
In other words, when the going got tough, only ~6% of England’s bishops chose Christ’s Church over political expedience (and physical well-being). To be fair, the Apostles themselves didn’t perform much better on the night Christ was betrayed, with only St. John staying close at the foot of the cross.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised when the majority of our bishops— successors to the Apostles— are weak, fickle or inconstant. There is certainly ample historical precedent…
If the bishops are to be the generals of the Church Militant, it is no surprise that the Enemy would try to take them out by snipers, poisonings, honeypots and bribery.
Our job it to run interference and lay down suppressing fire – with prayer.
If they have turned and ARE our enemies, then all the more so!
“One of the scandals in recent years was the New Jersey bishop who diverted diocesan funds to construct a retirement mansion for himself.”
The bishop in question was Abp. John J. Myers, previously Bishop of Peoria, Ill. from 1990 to 2001, when he was appointed Archbishop of Newark. In his early years in Peoria Bp. Myers was seen as something of a great conservative hope; he published a pastoral letter on voting and pro-abortion politicians which categorically stated that “There is, and can be, no such thing as an authentic pro-choice Catholic”. He also ordained record numbers of priests, regularly outpacing far larger dioceses (one year there were 11 ordinandi for Peoria and only two for the Archdiocese of Chicago). He even got a full page story in Newsweek in 1992.
That said, one of the notable controversies of his Peoria episcopate was his extensive renovation of the cathedral rectory to include a rather ornate private chapel and a bathtub with Jacuzzi-style jets (erroneously referred to in news stories as a “hot tub”; he said it was to relieve back pain). The diocesan staff, which I was part of at the time, were annually invited to Christmas parties at the rectory and it was obvious that no expense had been spared on the surroundings or the food. (In very sharp contrast, the previous Bishop, Edward W. O’Rourke, never shook off his Central Illinois farm-boy roots and chose to live in a tiny ranch house in an improverished Peoria neighborhood where he grew his own vegetables in the back yard.) So it wasn’t too surprising to discover that Abp. Myers apparently adopted an even more affluent lifestyle in Newark.
Myers would have been more fortunate I think Elaine if had stayed in Peoria. He was an object lesson that starting out good is usually much less important than finishing good.