UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Robert Mickens | Jun. 22, 2015
Certain Catholics love to repeat ad nauseam that the church is not a democracy, especially when it comes to decision-making and the selection of leadership.
And thank God it is not.
Nor should it aspire to be if the democratic model is the dysfunctional political and electoral system at work in places like the United States.
But that doesn’t mean all is well with the way the Roman church makes its pastoral-administrative decisions, discerns the call of the Spirit, or chooses its bishops.
Quite the contrary.
The inadequate leadership displayed by too many bishops in the United States and other parts of the world the past couple of decades has made that point painfully clear. One wonders how some of these men were ever put in a position of such weighty responsibility.
The most recent case that has American Catholics scratching their heads is that of Archbishop John Nienstedt.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.