Monday, June 14, 2004

U.S. bishops strangled by their own bureaucracy

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is a "good ol'boys club," says John Blewett, a group choked with bureacrats who have pre-empted the authority of the bishops and use the organization to further their own agenda.
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In our country today, it is becoming more and more obvious that our bishops, with few exceptions, suffer from two great handicaps. First, they have an "identity crisis" and have forgotten or never did understand correctly their individual roles as the apostles’ successors; for if they did understand correctly, they would not be involved in the careerism, political ambition, and status seeking that consume so many of them, and they would see the wisdom in giving up their palaces and their perks for a simpler, holier life.

The second big handicap affecting most bishops today is that they suffer from a "communications gap" which they have created themselves, perhaps unwittingly. They have lost touch with the needs of the faithful, and, most tragically, with the faithful themselves. The grass roots Catholic, the Catholic in the pew, cannot penetrate the bureaucracy surrounding his bishop, nor is it easy for the bishop to break through this same stifling bureaucracy so that he can know the true mind and needs of his flock. The bishops have sold their birthright for this bureaucracy and they lack the courage to deal with the militant feminists, homosexuals and others with dissenting agendae who dominate it.
Cruxnews Article.

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