UNITED STATES
Question from a Ewe
How to determine if clergy listen humbly and learn…
Soon to retire Cardinal George of Chicago said before last week’s US bishops’ annual fall meeting that he doesn’t get what Pope Francis wants him to do. “He says wonderful things, but he doesn’t put them together all the time, so you’re left at times puzzling over what his intention is… What he says is clear enough, but what does he want us to do?”
I don’t know… Maybe follow the gospels? Maybe imitate Jesus’ effusion of inclusion, love and mercy?
It’s a bit ironic that a 77 year-old self-acclaimed career Jesus-expert suddenly becomes confused when asked to imitate that very guy. Maybe thoughts like this are rattling through his and other clergy’s heads these days, “The last two popes were so much easier…. You just really couldn’t go wrong with mindless regurgitation of their words and ruthless expulsion of people who disagreed with them…perennial Vatican crowd pleasers…like serving cake at a wedding reception. It certainly got me where I am today, anyway… ”
It seems sumptuously dressed Cardinal Raymond Burke is also confused. Before his recent removal as head of the powerful Apostolic Signatura, Burke said, “At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder”.
Ray, a ship heading in a direction you don’t like is not a rudderless ship. It’s a ship going in a different direction than you want. Getting a new job during a corporate reorganization is not the work of Satan. Shifting power from you to another albeit most likely less stunningly dressed prelate is not grounds for a delicately worded public temper tantrum. Calm down. It’s still a bunch of guys in gowns who live in rarefied environments running the show. I realize Francis’ focus on Christ-like simplicity might threaten your penchant for donning fancy threads and bejeweled mitres but as Jesse J sings and I think Francis is trying to say, it “ain’t about the ba-bling, ba-bling…”
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