Below you will
find one of the first posts I wrote for this blog – back in November of 2011.
It resulted from my consternation and agony over the state of the Mass in the
Diocese of Baker, Oregon. At that time, we’d had an Apostolic Administrator for
some months, and the extraordinary form of the Mass had been effectively
squelched.
Now, here we
are, a year and a half later, with a new bishop who’s had almost a year to find
his sea legs, and absolutely nothing has changed. In part that is because said
former Apostolic Administrator still has his meddling hand in our diocese…why
that is so is beyond my understanding, for a number of reasons.
At any rate, rather
than write what I really feel, which
would be uncharitable and vitriolic and full of hyperbole, I will just give you
a glimpse of my frustration by reproducing the earlier post.
***
*** ***
A bishop’s
general authority over his diocese is very evident in even a cursory reading of
Lumen Gentium (Vatican II’s Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church):
·
Bishops
preside “in God’s stead over the flock of which they are the shepherds…” (LG, §21).
·
They
are “teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the
people assigned to them, the faith which is destined to inform their thinking
and direct their conduct” (LG, §25).
·
They
“have the obligation of fostering and safeguarding the unity of the faith and
of upholding the discipline which is common to the whole Church…” (LG, §23).
The faithful are
also reminded of their duty toward their bishops. Notice, though, the qualifier
at the beginning of the paragraph (emphasis added):
Bishops who teach in
communion with the Roman Pontiff
are to be revered by all as witnesses of divine and Catholic truth; the
faithful, for their part, are obliged to submit to their bishops’ decision,
made in the name of Christ, in matters of faith and morals, and to adhere to it
with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind. (LG, §25)
And what if they
don’t
teach in communion with the Roman Pontiff? What if the bishop is a
mean-spirited bully with an ax to grind? What if the bishop takes advantage of
his authority through actions that are detrimental to one targeted segment of the population?
I’m thinking
of…hmm…just for instance…uh…say, the faithful who have expressed their
legitimate desire to have access to the extraordinary form of the Mass. What do
you do with a “shepherd” who takes steps to ensure that the EF Mass which has
been available monthly to the faithful becomes suddenly unavailable? What if a mere lay person is aware of all the sneaky
things said bishop can do (and does) to make it all look legit? You know, some
of these bishops these days are pretty adept at not leaving a paper trail, of
relying on the good-ol’-boy network, and of generally making mischief with impunity.
It’s true. Sad, but true.
What do you do
with these petulant prelates?
Personally, I’m
thinking along the lines of tar-and-feathers, and re-institution of the papal
prison for wayward bishops.
Not that I know
of a situation like this or anything…
