"Pope Francis taking on the self styled 'traditionalists' (fetishists may be a more accurate description) and rejecting the rhetoric of the culture wars has made a very good first impression, especially with the liberal press."Count me among those who saw parallels between how bishops and pastors dealt with claims of sexual abuse and how they dealt with liturgical issues. It appears that SNAP's idea of "reform" will still leave as standard operating procedure dismissing people raising some issues as actually just manifesting psychological problems.
In the interest of full disclosure, during my stints as a catechist at my parish (St. Alphonsus, Greendale), I have raised the issue that our parish liturgy was inconsistent with what our Christian Formation texts have us teach. Among responses I received over the years was that this concern was just my projecting some deeper disillusionment.
Mr. Isely notes Pope Francis's emphasis on simplicity, but does not see that as getting at the underlying problems.
"it doesn’t mean he is going to alter the authority structure, rules, and libidinal economy of the male and allegedly celibate priesthood which engenders and even enjoins abuse and cover ups."My analysis is that the problem is a self-protective bureaucratic outlook, and that our lay leadership is susceptible to it. My idea of reform would be an end to jerking people around over any issue, as opposed to Mr. Isely's that only the right people, e.g., "traditionalists", would get jerked around.
Count me among those who saw parallels between how bishops and pastors dealt with claims of sexual abuse and how they dealt with liturgical issues.
ReplyDeleteYup.