A Priest With a Good Idea



A priest with a PhD in Sociology recently published as essay on how to move the Catholic Church in a direction away from its current scandals. It is for it clergy to pull back from its self-appointed role as authorities in spiritual matters.

I recall a few years ago a Protestant faculty member of an Ivy League seminary saying something similar about his denomination. He said people in the pews now have access to reading material only available in the libraries of universities a few years ago. Those in the pews are now equipped to lecture preachers about theology--the tables have turned. The pastor is now a listener, this faculty member said.

The priest in the link writes that it will be hard for Catholic clergy to sit back and listen to lay people when they have spent a life time being told they are the authorities and it is their obligation in instruct these lessers about the faith. Currently, the culture with the clergy is one of authority and protection of that authority.

It seems to me a great place to start this new culture of listening is with politics. Catholic Clergy are first out of the gate into the public square lobbying for laws against abortion and gay marriage. A healthy new posture would be to no longer do politics. When asked, clergy certainly could reply with the church's positions on these matters. It could hold back from claiming these positions are the high moral ground to be reached only be passing them into law.

It would be niave to say changing the culture within the clergy would eliminate all misconduct. Yet, it seems to me power and authority have always contributed to bad believer of humans.

Comments

  1. JinxSeptember 5, 2018 at 6:29 PM

    I have long advocated for pulling the tax exempt status for religious entities. They have long crossed the line of political activism and involvement in political activity. Why should they receive exemptions from taxes that provide public service (fire, police, emergency, roads, water, sewer, permits, etc) and let everyone else pay for their access to such things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenSeptember 5, 2018 at 7:41 PM

    Jinx

    "...pulling tax exempt status for religious entities."

    You are so right they use all the public services as tax paying businesses pay. Religions would be so much better off if they pulled back from their self appointed lofty status.

    ReplyDelete

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