The bishops’ statements.
November 14, 2006, 4:13 pm
Posted by Grant Gallicho
Press releases and approved statements from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting are available here.
I am flabbergasted that noone has commented on this thread – lots of comment on the homosexuality document here and in the media.
A friend of mine in labor relations always started the initial meeting by asking each side, ‘What’s your goal?” it seemed to me that the Bisjhops were concerned to lay out traditional teaching about a number of basic areas in which there has been controversy and to do some managerial cleanup of their organization. The statement by Skylstad on Iraq came across as an post-election afterthought and was sufficiently bland not to upset anyone.
I think the Bishops met their goal for the most part – but failed.
They started off in a precarious position, due to loss of moral authority in their minimal; acceptance of responsibility in handling the sex abuse crisis. The Tom Roberts editorial in NCR lays out that problerm clearly.
Now they’ve decided to move away from being a great voice on moral issues that face the nation and turn inward to reasserting their internal authority.
While the documents on marriage/contraception, Eucharist and homosexuality are clear statements of the traiditional view and make (especially in the last) an attempt at understanding there are complexities to be dealt with, it is not likely that many who are in opposition will be convinced by mere restatements. the discussion of marriage notes little or nothing of the complexities of the difficulties of marriage today that we’ve discussed in previous threads – it is so focused
on family planning as the center of marriage that it will strike many well intentioned as awfully simple,
I think that the Eucharist policy paper is not only a tightening of the screws that those who ignore now will simply continue to ignore, but also a lost opportunity – acontinuation of the awful problem of divorced and remarried Catholiocs that we’ve talked about too here.
As was noted on NPR this morning, despite good intentions, the homosexuality paper might distance many in the gay community further.
I even found the streamlining somewhat depresing -especially the folding of service offices to minorities into one. My experience with the JPII Church is a continuing diminishment of service to the poor by the clergy – just the opposite, I’d suggest, of what Jesus did and said.
And that’s the nub of the problem from my angle: the hierarchy – already wounded – have behaved like buisness managers issuing policies and making budget decsions – but not really behaving like shepherds or pastors. In emphasizing teaching, they seem to forget (as many beaurocrats do) that merely stating where we’re going is not going to engage the troops; teachers must treat students (especially the well educated Catholic of today_) with appreciation of the complexity of the issues before them.
At the end of today’s NPR reporet, a bishop is quoted as saying that the Church will hang in with folks despite the difficulties they encounter – I thought he got it backward: the people in the pews wil hang in with the church, despite the difficulties of their leaders.
The only comment I can make is that I shall not waste my time reading the Baltimore statements. As you’ve noted, Robert, these are just restatements of the “same old” policies.
My question to any bishop(s) reading this thread: When will you just say “NO” to any further invites to travel to such meetings and waste our money in the process? Hmmm?
Signed,
Billpayer tired of episcopal crap
Robert:
I think Joe has a point here. I tried reading a couple of the documents, but found nothing inspiring or fresh that merited comment. That’s not to say that I consider the teachings contained in these documents useless bilge water. It’s just that it was poorly presented.
I wonder whether the bishops really believe that the average Catholic in the pew will even know how to get hold of these papers, let alone find the energy to wade through them. Is this the best they can come up with? Surely there are better, more effective ways to get their message out. The whole thing leaves me with the impression that either they are woefully unaware of what it means to be a pastor of souls–or that they’ve just plain stopped trying. How sad.
It is not hard to figure out why this item has drawn little comment.
The op-ed document on Iraq was safely late, repeating things many commentators have been saying in the past few days.
The document on ministry to homosexuals was painful to read. If this is the Bishops’ idea of promoting outreach, they might think about whether they are in the right line of work.
The document on married love and the gift of life restated familiar clerical positions that have not been found persuasive by the vast majority of married Catholics. If there was anything novel in it, it was the stress on how to seek the unitive end of marriage without striking “a false note,” the Bishops presuming to know more about this matter than mere husbands and wives.
The document on the Eucharist managed to be both threatening and defensive. Footnote 18 citing Lumen Gentium on the authority and respect their words OUGHT to be given signals instead how insecure they are about their credibility problems.
This was not a good week for the Bishops, but it hasn’t been their year, either. I think the kind souls here at the Commonweal blog have just been averting their eyes charitably from the latest episcopal embarrassment.
You are so right, Susan. Was it Rocco Palmo who said that Rome dictated all the documents” Wonder if the Vatican filtered through their American fiasco, Bernard Law?
The Vatican and American bishops do deserve credit for the stance on Iraq which gave them trouble with their beloved theocons and neocons.
The American church could come to life again if all the bishops resigned and parishes were allowed imput in selecting new bishops known for their solidity in the Spirit.
At the coffee hour after mass this morning at my parish (www.mhr.org …. commercial time) I brought up the subject of the recent bishops’ statement about us intrinsically disordered folks. Most of the people I talke with hadn’t even heard of the pronouncement. Those that did simply shrugged and the general attitude was: why do they bother? We stopped worrying long about about what the bishops have to say about us. We guessed that the statement was made to the bishops could punch (again) their “we did something at this meeting” ticket and then go home to feel self-satisfied.
Yes, there will be many Catholics gays and lesbians who don’t bother with things Catholic any more (and they are many!) and who will simply laugh off this latest missive. And there will be some young folks who will take this as the final nail in their church casket. But, us older folks will simply shrug or laugh or yawn. Our parish will continue to be our church, with or without episcopal sanction of our “lifestyles.” Life will go on and we will continue to worship our God surrounded by our friends and the bishops will continue to feel real good about themselfes.
Ho, hum.