Advice for your bishop

In an article entitled "Helpful Hints for the Household of Faith," John W. Blewett recently observed:

Of the 65 million Catholics in the United States, seeminly the only ones who do not realize that the Catholic hierarchy in our country is in major trouble are the American bishops themselves. In the midst of ever-expanding sexual scandals, the relentless proliferation of the taking of innocent human lives through abortion and abortifacient contraception, and a crisis of ignorance and misunderstanding of Catholic teachings among the Faithful, the shepherds of the Catholic Church in America are conducting their affairs as though all is well, excepting a few problems which can be corrected with appropriate committee study and recommendations.

Consider the Novermber 2004 meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the pemirf "good ol' boys club" and model of oppressive bureaucratic government. The bishops' first aganda item was to elect a liberal bishop as president of the Conference to succeed another liberal bishop, who is presumably being rewarded for his service to the USCCB with his appointment as Archbishop of one of America's larger archdioceses....

The next order of business for the bishops following the election was to approve their massive 2005 budget. Perhaps the only thing more mystifying than the misplaced priorities of the bishops is the willingness of Catholics in America to financially support the agenda of the USCCB....

In the November 2004 meeting no resolution was reached on how bishops should deal with Catholic public officials whose policies contradict Catholic teachings on fundamental issues such as abortion. There was a discussion about joining a new ecumenical association, Christian Churches Together in the USA .... Nor was there any reported discussion of the diabolical sex education programs promoted by many bishops, the closing of churches and schools against the wills of the parishioners and the glaring problem of homosexuality among hierarcy, priests and seminarians. To summarize, the bishops do not seem to realize that they have lost their moral authority and credibility.... Their agenda is superficial and does not address the real problems that confront them and their charges. They thrive in the anonymity of the faceless bureaucracy and they build their own structures to prevent interference or communication with the laity and the clergy. Their mishandling of the sexual abuse scandals is a scandal in itself.

Without making light of the scandals occurring in the American Catholic Church, it is important to remember that the bishops are, like ourselves, all-too-human. More than anything else, perhaps, what they may really need, suggested Blewett, is to simplify their lives, to return to the basics that are fundamental to their appointment as successors to the apostles--namely, to teach, to govern, and to sanctify. On this note, Blewett offered a number of suggestions in the form of advice for his readers to pass on to their bishops. Some of them were:

1. Drop your membership in the USCCB [United States Converence of Catholic Bishops] and in your Country Club. You will imeediately find more time for prayer, spiritual reading and correspondence with orthodox, grass-roots Catholics who support you and respect your office.... Your diocesan bureaucracy will also shrink, when interfacing with USCCB bureaucrats and their committees is no longer necessary....

5. Throw out every sex education program in your diocese and disband the offices of Peace and Justice and Liturgy. If you're not connected with the USCCB, you won't need them anyway. Review your Religious Education programs and eliminate any heresy, dissidence or ambiguity contained therein, and fire the Director if he or she disagrees with you.

6. Go to confession once a week for a few months to different parish priests in your diocese. It will reinforce your role as servant of the humblest and you will soon know if this Sacrament is allive and well in your diocese. Spend some time with your priests and hear their concerns; they welcome sound counsel.

7. Ask your priests, religious and laity in your diocese to pray for you. You deserve their prayers and they deserve yours. Christ placed you in your position and the grace of office is yours for the asking.

[John W. Blewett is Managing Editor of The Latin Mass magazine. His article, "Helpful Hints for the Household of Faith." appeared in Spring, 2005 issue of The Latin Mass magazine, pp. 62-63.]