From Roman Catholic Man
By Fr Richard Heilman
AM I A MONSIGNOR?
I was standing in the sacristy, earlier this week, with Bishop Hying. I pulled him aside and said, “Oh, by the way, Bishop, I need to let you know that I self-identify as a Monsignor. I thought you should know.” Of course, we haven’t been together long enough for him to know if I am off my rocker, or not. So, he started to return my little bit of information with his beautiful charity. Then I broke into laughter, and you could just see the relief come to his face. I think I should ease into him with my humor. 
Of course, I was poking at this new “self-identify” craze that has come upon us. How do we deal with it?
I’ve known people who thought they were the great prophet for our times, or pope, or whatever. It usually pointed to a psychological condition they were dealing with. In dealing with them, I remained a peaceful and loving presence, much like Bishop’s knee-jerk reaction.
While I have a 36 year old B.A. in Psychology, I don’t think it takes an expert to understand that people can, for a variety of reasons, fall into disordered thinking that goes against God’s order. Whether it is gender dysphoria or addiction or just losing a sense of right vs. wrong, folks can leave a life of order.
Should we lash out at them? Maybe, if they are a danger to themselves or others. But, mostly, If we are able, we should love on them and do our best to help them rediscover order in their lives.
Besides the words of Consecration, one of my favorite lines in the Canon of the Mass is, “Order our days in Your peace.” Living in God’s amazing order – doing it God’s way – is the pathway to peace in our lives. Disorder only brings chaos and depression and a loss of meaning and purpose. God wants us to live in the proverbial Garden of Eden, where peace is found moving and thinking and living “at one” with God.
I think we all have people with disordered thinking and living in their lives. Loooooove them, and do your best to help them to discover the peace that comes through living in God’s beautiful order.
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