Monday, November 14, 2005
US Bishops in Washington This Week
USCCB meetings are growing more and more secretive, despite an official policy to be open to the laity and the press. They're afraid of ugly confrontations, perhaps. It still sends a bad message, no matter how tidily preemptive they see it.
First, it might well be that they should listen to the laity. Church teaching makes it out duty to inform our pastors. It is their duty to listen.
Second, on a similar tone, genetics and communications work in the same way. Just as close family inbreeding can produce unhealthy offspring, communicating in isolation can reinforce ideas that might well need a dose of freshness and common sense. The bishops, whether they recognize it or not, are still under a "Prove It!" interdict from the laity. Business as usual means a business of abiding mistrust.
Third, there's the unspoken message that if they don't want us to hear them, then maybe they really don't want us to hear them, if you catch my drift.
