Another “Not My Job” Bishop

OMM calls out another Bishop, one of many, who has totally abdicated his job of teaching the Faithful.

From One Mad Mom

This is a cop out. I don’t know Bishop Estevez. No ill-will against him, but the laity is getting tired of this. We know, we know. We’ve heard it all before. We’re not asking you to endorse a candidate. We’re asking you to proclaim the teaching on what OUR moral responsibility is in public life, and that includes informing the laity on what or whom they can or cannot vote for (in general terms, even if it does finger one party or the other). We’re supposed to form our consciences around the teachings of the Christ and of His Church, but you guys are playing “hide the football” with those. How about we start with the Church teachings that deal with YOUR job?

First, let’s get the idea that we’re back in the JFK days out of our head. JFK wouldn’t be allowed in the Democrat Party these days. We’ve gone from platforms that were mostly similar (even if none of the candidates really meant them) to party platforms that have now become good vs. evil. Again, look at the platforms. Abortion is actually enshrined in one of them. We’re literally in national socialism territory with the Democratic party, complete with the extermination of people! Now, you guys can go on with your conjecture of what the candidates really believe, but what counts for me at this point is what their promises are, and Joe Biden’s are evil.

So, now that we see a clear dividing line in the platforms, why is it that you think you have to sit on your hands and can’t possibly say a word about the election?  Not “intervening directly in political structure and organization of social life” doesn’t mean that you also have no duty to intervene in teaching the faithful. The Church under Nazi rule is a perfect example. The Dutch bishops intervened when their flock was ordered to hunt down Jews. The German bishops also intervened, and even the Pope intervened because it got that evil. That’s where we are now. We’re out of the land of prudential judgments and into the land of intrinsic evils.

So, back to your statement on your duties in the social realm, maybe you should read this tidbit from “Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests” <snipped for attempt at brevity>:

“15. Missionary Nature of the Priesthood.

It is important that the priest be fully aware and profoundly live this missionary reality of his priesthood, in total harmony with the Church who feels the need to send her ministers to places where their mission is more needed and to work toward a more equal distribution of clergy. (36)

This demand in the life of the Church in the world must be felt and lived by each priest, above all and essentially as the gift of living within the institution and being at her service.

Therefore, we cannot accept those opinions which arise from a misunderstanding of particular cultures, that tend to distort the missionary action of the Church, called to fulfill the same universal mystery of salvation which transcends all cultures and should vivify them. (37)

So the missionary action of the Church should vivify (animate) culture?

It must be said that the universal expansion of the priestly ministry today is related to the social-cultural features of the contemporary world in which the need to eliminate all the barriers which divide people and nations is felt and which, especially, through cultural exchange, wants to bind people, despite the geographical distances separating them.

Consequently, today more than ever, the clergy must feel itself apostolically bound to unite all men in Christ and in his Church.

“Unite all men in Christ and his Church”, you say? It would seem that most of you go straight for unity but ignore the “in Christ and in his Church” part.

And this next part most definitely spells out some common errors in your ministries:

16. Authority as ‘amoris officium’.

Another sign of the priest placing himself in front of the Church is his being a guide who works toward the sanctification of the faithful entrusted to his ministry, which is essentially pastoral.

This reality, which has to be lived with humility and coherence, can be subject to two opposite temptations.

The first is that of exercising his ministry in an overbearing manner (cf Lk 22:24-27; 1 Pt 5:1-4), while the second is that of disdaining the configuration to Christ Head and Shepherd because of an incorrect view of community.

AMEN! Many of you are either dictating our prudential judgments or putting community before Truth.

The first temptation was also strong for the disciples themselves and was promptly and repeatedly corrected by Jesus; all authority is exercised in the spirit of service, as amoris officium38 and as an unselfish dedication for the good of the flock (cf Jn 13:14; 10:11).

The priest must always remember that the Lord and Master “did not come to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45); he has bent down to wash the feet of the disciples (cf Jn 13:5) before dying on the Cross and before sending them out to the whole world (cf Jn 20:21).

The priests will give authentic testimony to the Resurrected Lord, to whom was given “all power in heaven and on earth” (cf Mt 28:18), if they exercise their own power in a humble, authoritative service to his own flock39 and with respect to the duties which Christ and the Church entrusted to the lay faithful40 and to the consecrated faithful for the profession of the evangelical counsels.(41)

33. Political and Social Obligation.

The priest, as servant of the universal Church, cannot tie himself to any historical contingency, and therefore must be above any political party. He cannot take an active role in political parties or labour unions, unless, according to the judgement of the ecclesiastical authority, the rights of the Church and the defence of common good require it.(97) In fact, even if these are good things in themselves, they are nevertheless foreign to the clerical state since they can constitute a grave danger of division in the ecclesial communion.(98)

So, don’t you think that the common good and rights of the Church need some defence at this juncture??? Maybe the good of the children being slaughtered, perhaps? If you don’t, maybe you need to open your eyes. Let’s just stop and look at what Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s platform enshrines. Don’t you think this is absolutely for the common good to stop this???

Like Jesus (cf Jn 6:15 ff.), the priest “ought to refrain from actively engaging himself in politics, as it often happens, in order to be a central point of spiritual fraternity”.(99) All the faithful, therefore, must always be able to approach the priest without feeling inhibited for any reason.

The priest will remember that “it does not fall on the shoulders of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in political activities and in social organisations. This task, in fact, forms part of the lay faithful vocation, in which they work by their own initiative together with their fellow citizens”. (100) Nevertheless, he will not be absent “in the effort to form in them an upright conscience”.(101)”

Uh, let me just explain this to the lot of you. You have been absentee fathers “in the effort to form in them an upright conscience.” Instead, you’re cherry picking things to try ease your own conscience.

The reduction of his mission to temporal tasks, of a purely social or political nature, is foreign to his ministry, and does not constitute a triumph but rather a grave loss to the Church’s evangelical fruitfulness.

We would totally agree. You should be helping to form souls to gain heaven. Once again, doesn’t seem to be a big goal with many of you. You’re too busy passing the buck. I mean, the majority of the laity don’t even believe in the Real Presence, but what have you been doing?!?! Oh, yeah. Telling us to turn our air conditioning down. Sigh.

Current Historical Context

34. Interpreting the Signs of the Times.

The life and ministry of priests always develop within a particular historical context, at times replete with new problems and unforeseen changes, in which the pilgrim Church lives.

The priesthood is not born of history, but of the immutable will of God. However, it corresponds with historical circumstances and, to remain always faithful to its nature, is configured, in specific choices, through a critical relation and a demand of evangelical harmony with the “sign of the times”. Therefore, priests have the duty to interpret these “signs” in the light of faith and subject them to prudent judgement. In any case, they cannot ignore them, especially if they wish to effectively orient their own lives in a way that will make their service and testimony more fruitful for the kingdom of God.

In the current era of the life of the Church and society, priests are called to live their ministry with depth, anticipating the ever more profound, numerous and sensitive demands not only of a pastoral nature, but also social and cultural, which they must face.(102)

Today these priests, therefore, are engaged in diverse areas of apostolate which require complete dedication and generosity, intellectual preparation and, above all, a mature and deep spiritual life rooted in pastoral charity, which is their specific way to holiness and which also constitutes an authentic service to the faithful through pastoral ministry.

But I thought society and culture were the laity’s area?!

36. The Challenge of Sects and New Cults.

The proliferation of sects and new cults, as well as their diffusion also among the Catholic faithful, constitutes a particular challenge to the pastoral ministry. At the root of these phenomena lie complex causes. At all events, the priestly ministry is called to respond promptly and incisively to the search for the sacred and for authentic spirituality which today is emerging in a particular way.

The problem many of us have is there is almost ZERO promotion for the sacred or authentic spirituality. It’s “anything goes as long as you use your non-formed conscience!

In recent years, in effect, it has become evident that there is an eminently pastoral necessity for the priest to be a man of God and a teacher of prayer.

Let’s compare and contrast, say, Bishop Strickland with, oh, I don’t know, Cardinal Cupich. You know, Bishop Strickland who asks for prayer and says one on all his social media pages daily, and  Cardinal “religion is not magic where we just say prayers and think things are going to change” Cupich.

At the same time, this obliges the priest to be welcoming towards the community entrusted to his pastoral care in such a way that no member of the community would be made to feel anonymous or think themselves an object of indifference.

Nobody gets that feeling from their priests. However, some priests will use this to say they can’t teach about sin, because somebody might feel left out or offended. And, being a mom, I can say that you can be loving and welcoming and speak the truth, all at the same time. Of course, the “child” you’re talking to bears some responsibility to receive it in that manner instead of dropping the martyr card.

This is a responsibility which indeed falls on all the faithful, but in a special way on the priest, who is the man who brings about communion.

If he knows how to receive each one who approaches him with esteem and respect, appreciative of their value as persons, then he will generate an authentic charity which will become contagious and will gradually extend itself through the entire community.

This is true for the most part. That said, as I mentioned earlier, you are always going to get the children who simply don’t want truth. Sadly, these are the ones who are going to complain, to the deficit of the other parishioners.

To rise to the challenge of sects and new cults, a mature and comprehensive catechesis is of particular importance. This, at the present time, requires that the priest make a special effort to ensure that his faithful really understand the meaning of their Christian vocation and of their Catholic faith. The faithful must be educated, in a particular way, to understand well the relationship between their specific vocation in Christ and their belonging to his Church which must learn to love in a filial and tenacious way.

We don’t often see tenacious from our priests, and we definitely don’t see a lot of education.

This will all come to pass if the priest, in his life and in his ministry, avoids everything which could either be the cause of timidity or coldness towards, or restrict the identification with the Church.

Yeah, on most occasions, this is what we get, timidity and coldness.

So, Bishop Estevez may think he get a pass with that Catechism citation, but he’s clearly forgetting that he has a duty to teach the rest of the Catechism to the faithful, too. Neither history nor Church teachings show that in a time of great evil, a priest can remain on the bench and just hope some document out of the USCCB reaches his flock.