Dec 6, 2012 -- 7:18PM, jane2 wrote:

Dec 6, 2012 -- 1:25PM, gilg wrote:

An update on Bishop Finn, Bishop's annual appeal:

Back in Kansas City, Finn revives the bishop-as-victim theme by noting, in a paragraph that obliquely refers to his criminal conviction:

“In the days following the long legal struggles that not only confronted the diocese and me, but all the people of God in our Catholic community, we try to get past our own hurt.”

The arrogance and deflection of the truth in that statement is simply breathtaking. The hurt the church endures is none other than Finn’s insistence on staying in office. The “legal struggles” that confronted the diocese and Finn had nothing to do with the People of God, a phrase that, given his ultra conservative ecclesiology in every other circumstance, is a purely opportunistic use of the populist notion of that Vatican II phrase. Finn, the Opus Dei priest and doctrinal stickler, suddenly becomes victim and Vatican II liberal in one fell swoop.

ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/bishops-an...

gilg

So many of us wonder what planet Finn and other bishops inhabit. They but their own propaganda and expect us to?

The do understand finance all too well. Who on earth gives to these campaigns any longer?

Old stuff from me but I think they should sell diocesan palaces, shop and cook for themselves, pay for their own cars and drive them themselves, as well as do their own laundry and take care of their own dry cleaning. Some of our pastors not only cook their own veggies, but grow them as well.

 

Jane,

Humility is not part of the princely mind.

And I suspect the pretty dresses and linen and crowns and rings and getting one's hands kissed and all the other royal treatment is what attracts some of these people - it is as if the requirements for serving and emulating Christ has been turned inside out. 

The arrogance that a bishop can bend God to his will is simply beyond the pale. And it is this arrogance that is diminishing their role now that technology and instant communication has given us the glasses to see that the emperor has no cloths. When bishops declare that contraceptives are inherently evil and we must not use them, did they really expected people to believe that using the pill one day was ok and then using it the next day would send us to hell? How can they believe God will bend to their will and condemn us simply because we practice birth control using contraceptives?    That is arrogance of the highest order.

Here are two Catholic quotes Bishops should inscribe on their wrings and crowns.

Should you ask me, What is the first thing in religion? I should reply, The first, second, and third thing therein—nay, all—is humility.

It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment.

www.quotationpark.com/topics/humility.ht...

Dec 7, 2012 -- 9:41AM, gilg wrote:

Dec 6, 2012 -- 7:18PM, jane2 wrote:

Dec 6, 2012 -- 1:25PM, gilg wrote:

An update on Bishop Finn, Bishop's annual appeal:

Back in Kansas City, Finn revives the bishop-as-victim theme by noting, in a paragraph that obliquely refers to his criminal conviction:

“In the days following the long legal struggles that not only confronted the diocese and me, but all the people of God in our Catholic community, we try to get past our own hurt.”

The arrogance and deflection of the truth in that statement is simply breathtaking. The hurt the church endures is none other than Finn’s insistence on staying in office. The “legal struggles” that confronted the diocese and Finn had nothing to do with the People of God, a phrase that, given his ultra conservative ecclesiology in every other circumstance, is a purely opportunistic use of the populist notion of that Vatican II phrase. Finn, the Opus Dei priest and doctrinal stickler, suddenly becomes victim and Vatican II liberal in one fell swoop.

ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/bishops-an...

gilg

So many of us wonder what planet Finn and other bishops inhabit. They but their own propaganda and expect us to?

The do understand finance all too well. Who on earth gives to these campaigns any longer?

Old stuff from me but I think they should sell diocesan palaces, shop and cook for themselves, pay for their own cars and drive them themselves, as well as do their own laundry and take care of their own dry cleaning. Some of our pastors not only cook their own veggies, but grow them as well.

 

Your answer to my post this morning has not been posted, but was on my e-mail. Very strange... You spoke of humilty, lacking in so many of the hierarchy.

It's nice to see Cardinal O'Malley in his robe most of the time but he's a Fanciscan and understands the vow of poverty. This is how the rest of them should dress, simply.