What is the sin of Bishop Finn?

[Matilda]

What is interesting about this article, and what it's really about, is what it has to say about the hierarchy in
general.

"Finn got where he is in the organization by not growing up, by remaining a boy whose apple-cheeked ambition was to become a bishop some day, bringing the news home to mother as he once did his gold starred report card.

Ambition, attention to unimportant details, a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the system in return for a good seat in the hierarchical skybox: These are the elements that, in the wonderful Roman phrase, allow a man to “make a career in the Church.”

(snip)

The Finn case is really part of a larger story, that of the collapse of the hierarchical system that is taking place all over the world at this time. That is what is occurring in Ireland where the aftershocks of the generations of sexual abuse scandal have sent football field-size fissures through the foundations of the hierarchy, leaving bishops scrambling to survive and wrecking the once unquestioned entente between Church and State,

The same buckling of hierarchical structures can be observed in the European countries once called Catholic; it is easy to observe in the priests who are organizing and confronting their bishops all across that continent. It is only a question of time before the earth opens in other places in the universal Church.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/bulletins-human-side/what-sin-bishop-finn


In line with this, the sacking of Bishop Morris in Australia is still causing disquiet amongst Catholics, and it's hard to see how the Vatican can possibly expect to ever have bishops of quality if they continue to appoint only bishops who will think and act in lockstep with the Pope. Bishops will become more and more a bunch of second-rate yes-men.

Yesterday I was the Reader at 10.30 Mass, and I did the first reading with great feeling ("Priests, this warning is for you!") Afterwards in the sacristy, the acolyte told me I'd read very well, and I replied, "Well, the first one was easy - I just thought of the Vatican". He laughed and said, "Yes, they're so sadly out of touch - by about 800 years."

If people who have a strong commitment to the church feel this way, it's no wonder so many who are less enthusiastic to start with are falling away.

[rug]

1. He is a good example of all that is bad about the minor seminary system.