Well, to bishops of Weakland’s ilk, Rome was and is seen as “The Bureaucracy”, “The Curia”, “The Capitol Hill” of the Catholic Church. It is a place that makes pronouncements, issues directives, calls people on the carpet and in general ‘interferes’ in the running of the local diocese.
There is always room for criticism of bureaucracies – and the Vatican is no exception – with the Holy Father himself having criticized some of the workings of ‘Catholic Government’ in the past. But it is a small step from there to morph into criticism of the person and office of the Holy Father – which has happened too often with individual bishops and Episcopal Conferences (cfr. Austria recently…).
...and thus it has always been.
ReplyDeleteRembert is certainly not the first Bishop to discern Rome's distance and act as though Rome did not exist.
If particularly fits if you think of Rome as a parent...
Dad stole my thunder:
ReplyDeleteMom and Dad are in Europe for a week. KEGGER!!!!!!
Well, to bishops of Weakland’s ilk, Rome was and is seen as “The Bureaucracy”, “The Curia”, “The Capitol Hill” of the Catholic Church. It is a place that makes pronouncements, issues directives, calls people on the carpet and in general ‘interferes’ in the running of the local diocese.
ReplyDeleteThere is always room for criticism of bureaucracies – and the Vatican is no exception – with the Holy Father himself having criticized some of the workings of ‘Catholic Government’ in the past. But it is a small step from there to morph into criticism of the person and office of the Holy Father – which has happened too often with individual bishops and Episcopal Conferences (cfr. Austria recently…).