Where the Rubber Hits the Road: This is the kind of bishop that I long for as a priest

18 March, 2012

This is the kind of bishop that I long for as a priest | CatholicHerald.co.uk

6 comments:

Father Steven Ballard, J.C.L.18 March, 2012
Great article! I was thinking the same thing the other day when I saw the executive of the CCCB getting a tour of the Senate at parliament hill. The opportunity to warmly congratulate Thomas Cardinal Collins is a nice gesture - it would seem however that it is now time to end the parties and get back to work!

Another stat that is of concern is an unofficial tabulation completed by one of our priests concerning the average length of time most of our Canadian Bishop's have spent actually ministering in a parish setting. If I recall correctly, the answer was something like 2 years or less! Many have been academics, with little parish experience. How do you effectively shepherd, if you do not know the challenges of parish life? You may be able to administrate, but what about shepherding the flock, including the deacons and priests ?
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Father Steven Ballard, J.C.L.18 March, 2012
The question of approval is a tricky one dog as we see among our Protestant friends.

And so a priest or minister preaching the gospel - at times strong and challenging - becomes disliked because the congregation does not to want to hear it? And so he should be tossed? There are many such examples one could use. The other interesting question: what exactly constitutes a good or great pastor? The committee type man? Socialite? Humble servant? Could the system you propose not lead to considerable infighting and disunity?

The bottom line dog is that our church's life is not dictated by the 'congregational' model that we see in other churches. It is clearly hierarchical.
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Anonymous18 March, 2012
I have to agree with you Fr Steven. One just has to read a few of the blogs that some bishops produce to see that they love the fluffy,furry clothing and have wonderful pictures of themselves in complete regalia.
Would be nice if they did a "Cardinal Leger" and went about in simple cassock and actually spoke to people instead of preaching-and preaching for 15-20 minutes about..about....how wonderful the church is .That parade on Parliament Hill was sponsored by the Speaker and they surely looked as if they enjoyed the high snd the mighty.Would have b een better had they gone to a few soup kitchens
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Father Steven Ballard, J.C.L.19 March, 2012
Yes! While I have the utmost respect and admiration for the Cardinal, he taught me and was my spiritual director, I do fear that the Canadian Bishops have embraced the executive/boss model, as opposed to the shepherd model. One need only cimpart the US Bishop's website vs the CCCB website to see considerable differences in pastoral vision. The CCCB gives the appearance that it's existence is kind of a inner backslapping club which is inwardly focused to the point of being narcissistic as opposed to an outwardly focused group of shepherds providing a prophetic and pastoral vision for the country.
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