Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Bishop Blaire: Salt of the Earth?

jumpin' joe sent a link of Bishop Stephen Blaire's Homily for Ordination to the Priesthood which occurred on May 19...In it he advise the new priests to be "salt of the earth" rather than "pillars of salt", as many are today, it seems:

Here are those who need to 'get a life', if I may paraphrase the bishop, those whom the new priests should not become:
There are some in the Church today who do not look forward in hope with the eyes of faith but tend to be preoccupied with looking back in some kind of nostalgia for a Church they never experienced prior to the Second Vatican Council. . .

The triumphalist wants to exercise authority through aggressive condemnation and excommunication and believes that the Church not only has the truth but also all the answers to every modern dilemma.
I believe she does...doesn't every Catholic? Apparently not...

The juridicist searches out laws new or old to justify personal positions or ideologies in the Church. Especially they like to focus on liturgical practices. They incline to creating unnecessary hoops for people to jump through.
I think this was a typo and that he actually meant "liturgist" rather than "juridicist". . .

The clericalist exaggerates the authority of the priest creating a new authoritarianism. The clericalist operates as if the priest is entitled to special status and privilege in the Church and in society.
A priest is, indeed, special - by virtue of his sublime ordination and the power he has been given to serve our Lord and His Church as "alter Christus." Who would deny a priest this honor - a priest really is, to some of us, quite special.

Faithful Catholics, repent, especially if you fall into one of these three categories, even if you do "look forward in hope with the eyes of faith."

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