Friday, April 16, 2004
Open Request of our Bishops
Please don't embarass us this year.
I remember having to explain to my interfaith colleagues in small town America your collective collusion and silence in the face of scandal. I had nothing to say to defend you then. No words have come since.
When the Patriarch of Nebraska (TM) Bishop Fabian "I run a clean diocese and hell no I won't comply" Bruskewitz starts bringing up excommunication (yet again) as a pastoral tool, I cannot help but think how much better it might be if he would just run off to Pius XIII or something. Gentlemen, it's time to face facts.
1. Even a Court-packing president is not going to end Abortion-as-we-know-it.
2. Mr Kerry, for whatever failings his position has, is not going to nudge abortion statistics up to Auschwitz levels.
3. Kerry's views on abortion rights, while repugnant, are just about irrelevant to an issue that effectively been decided years ago.
4. It will take societal change on the scale of decades to reverse Roe v Wade.
5. Bureaucrats and bishops do not tackle societal change, prophets do.
6. While it is not inconceivable for a bishop to become a prophet, it's going to take personal sacrifice.
7. Clinic protests notwithstanding, no bishop has been a hero of the Pro-Life movement. Not even close. The real heroes are those who counsel troubled women effectively, facilitate adoptions, take care of people, and who practice the alternative of adoption. Also in the hero category are those who work for opportunities for poor and undereducated women.
Having faced these facts, there seems to be a clear path of heroism for bishops excluding excommunication. The path includes keeping quiet on Mr Kerry. The path includes fewer press releases and less talking. The path involves more action. Sacrificing some creature comforts might be a start.
I'm hoping you'll not embarass Catholics this year. But I'm not counting on it.
