[See also Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel’s decree removing Deacon Scott Peyton’s faculties to function as a cleric and declaring him excommunicated.]

Toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus uses unsparing language in his condemnation of certain religious leaders of his era. He concedes the leaders’ authority, telling the people gathered that they should listen to their leaders’ instructions. “But” he adds, “do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.”

He continued: “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. …They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ “

That reading comes easily to mind with the recent news from the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, where a permanent deacon…