Catholic Sensibility

The Right Rejoices for Richmond   As a former resident of the Richmond diocese, I follow goings-on there, as does my wife. (We met in far reaches of Roanoke thirteen years ago this month.) I met the former bishop, Walter Sullivan, during my job interview. I knew of him from my membership in Pax Christi, of course. I'm sure that a peace-activist bishop being assigned a diocese with a major military facility was a mutual burden at times. (Maybe the Congregation of Bishops thought it an anti-American move at the time.) Sullivan asked very insightful questions. But I didn't like him as much as other bishops I've met. My colleagues criticized his less-than-average leadership skills. I didn't think the diocese had a discernable direction, and it didn't strike me as being very progressive.   Sure, there were flaming liberals here and there in parishes and one or two in the chancery. You find them everywhere; they keep the Church afloat. It was a different experience being in a place where Catholics were only 5% of the population. I think sensible Catholics there have concerns other than orthodoxy and heterodoxy.   So I'm amused at the glee over the DiLorenzo era beginning in Virginia. St Bloggers talk about Fr Russell Smith being appointed "diocesan theologian." My wife tells me he's a pastoral, gentle man with a sharp mind and he plays a mean flute. Some pastor (I forget his name this moment) sounds off about the ordination and the St Blog's pile-on commences. Anita knew him, too. He's always been a radical. It would have been news if he didn't criticize a bishop. She also said that when the last bishop was ordained they used the cathedral for that one too, and parishes only got two tickets each. My wife and our maid-of-honor scored those two seats, by the way.   The reality is that a bishop cannot do it alone. Wise pastors know this. It takes about ten hours to drive from one end of the Richmond diocese to the other. That's without potty breaks or stopping to see the magnificent scenery in the Blue Ridge. Virginia Catholics seemed most concerned with living as Catholics as a cultural minority. Catholic identity is a heck of a lot more than getting the right beliefs on diocesan commissions. Diocesan commissions do not institute theology. They attempt to work Catholicism deeper into the bones of the faithful and into the ambient society. (The ones that do their jobs, that is.)   Any schlep can fire people once he gets the big chair. Heck, even Donald Trump can do it. The real trick is gathering and inspiring good people to work for you once you're in place. So I say cheer all you want. But somehow I don't think there's a gospel passage in which Jesus suggests, "Fire their butt if they don't agree with you."