Tuesday, July 13, 2004
More priests on the loose
The bishop calls
this a "prank," but folks in the bloggerhood are hot over it.
Prediction: the bishop(s) will take more heat for this than the seminarians involved. And I think he should, not just because he's a noted conservative.
In general, seminaries have problems. Big problems. They do not appear to form candidates for the priesthood. They do a better job forming young men for clericalism and the clerical culture. Catholics don't need that. We need real leaders: priests who take initiative, who are self-disciplined and spiritual, who can lead by example. Over-emphasis on Church as a hierarchy does a grave disservice to the real needs of Catholics, both young priests and laity.
Is anyone else getting the idea that "orthodoxy," or whatever your PC term is for conservative isn't the solution to the sex abuse and cover-up crisis? Turn the clock back to 1950 and what would we get? More sex abuse, most likely. And bishops who think sexual cavorting and child porn is a "prank?" The "boys will be boys" mentality of this bishop (and others no doubt) is just burying us.
