The wizards in the Boston Chancery have come up with another doozy.
On the one hand, you have the Archbishop painting a rosy picture for the future. There's enough money to pay for everything. The mass exodus out of the irreligious katholyc schools is down to tiptoeing out of dodge. The seminary is overflowing. They see progress in rebuilding and rejuvinating parish life. Parish collections are up.
It's all about hope.
Remember how that worked out for the rope-a-dopes who voted for Obama?
Simultaneously, we have the chancery chicken littles tweetingthe sky is falling.
Well, which is it?
Are the schools, seminaries and parishes growing and we have enough money to pay for everything or is it all collapsing?
Who knows. They are incapable of telling the truth.
Here's what they expect people to believe: Now that attendance is up, people are starting to put money in the basket and the seminary is full and they see some smooth sailing ahead, it's as good a time as any to muck it all up again.
Somebody has masterminded a new plan: Psts.
All over town people are having Pst meetings. It seems to be very succesful because everyone who attends a meeting gets pst when they hear the plans.
Here's the reader's digest of pst. Brace yourself.
Two or three parishes will become one uberparish. Nothing is closing just yet, just a centralized center of operations for two or three parishes. All the pastors will be forced to resign. There will be a big shuffle of priests. All the spiritual healing that is going on between a priest and parishioner will be ripped apart. One chancery crony will be appointed uberpastor over the uberparish.
I can't figure out what happens to the priests being demoted, but I do know one thing: They won't be saying the Masses they say now.
Masses are going to be cancelled. They say some of the priests are lonely. Christ isn't cutting it. Tending to thousands of souls is isolating them from human contact. They are encouraging them to all live in one rectory and shutter the others, so maybe these priests get to huddle or watch television together to cure their lonliness. Whatever they're doing, it's the Sacraments getting scratched off their calendar.
Here's some good news: You know the staff at your parish running CCD and other programs who have been shilling for dissent and liturgical madness? They're being let go. (The bad news is, these folks are not eligible for unemployment.) There will be an uberreligious ed director who will handle the programs for 5000 families. With that ratio, I suppose they'll be hiring magicians.
Oh...I forgot to tell you. Forty percent of these parishes can't pay their bills, so there is a Phase 2 of this roll-out.
I know what you're thinking. How can that be? The Chancellor and the Cardinal said they have enough money to pay for everything.
Well, they don't mean us. They're talking about the money being siphoned from every parish to pay the megasalaries of the cronies in the Chancery. It's all working. There's enough money. For them.
After all the infighting among the priests and lay people over who gets to be pastor, who has their job saved, Phase 2 will kick in. The Reality Show: While we're all sending enough money for the Chancery luminaries to cover their expenses, there isn't enough to pay the bills of two or three parishes. This is when the fun will begin.
Remember all the commotion and raging at the Cardinal over which parish will get closed? That was giving him headaches and agita. All that will now happen right at the parish level. Committees will form about which parish to close. The histrionics and fighting shall then commence. Good times will be had by all.
Do they really think the fighting to hold onto assets, parishes, jobs, positions of power will bring unity between parishioners? Will build on the momentum? The pst people will continue to put money in the basket so the Chancery can pay their high-salaried cronies and balance their budget?
It beats me how they could but 66 Brooks Road is the center of gravity on earth for delusions of grandeur.
You know what the role of a Bishop is supposed to be? Absorbing the blows that come from the culture and from within for the flock. Devoting themselves to do what it takes to offer the truth that drives us to Confession and Holy Communion so that our intellect can make the right choices in our lives. Keep us out of temptation and the effects of sin. It is a vocation that surrenders the pursuit of being popular, winning affection for oneself. A father, who accepts the anger that comes with making the hard decisions for your children or disciplining, knowing - maybe hoping is the right word - some day they will understand. And, even if they never do, it is all about pleasing God. If they are doing it right, the worldly hates them, just as it hated Christ.
Today's old testament readings remind us of the ramifications of sin.
'The sword shall never depart from your house,
because you have despised me
and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.'
Thus says the LORD:
'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.
I will take your wives while you live to see it,
and will give them to your neighbor.
He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.
You have done this deed in secret,
but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel,
and with the sun looking down.'"
Getting people to Church and keeping them there is about Sacramental grace. It has nothing at all to do with the popularity of a bishop.
When you have a bishop who lacks the spinal fortitude to carry the cross that comes with the role, who needs be adorned and adored to feel good about himself, he deflects the role of saying and doing what is necessary for the salvation of souls to sheep. The consequences of the stroking of his ego, id and superego, the divisions and rage, the spiritual starvation, the murders, among his people is the price worth paying. It isn't the ramifications of sin on the intellect that keeps people from Church, it's the self-worth and popularity of the Bishop.
I don't have the bandwith to embrace their ludicrous ideas. They are dividing and throwing the sheep to the lions to be torn apart. My heart breaks for Christ. I am pained for the souls they have abandoned. Good luck to them. Good luck fighting over the stuff.
Want my advice? Keep yourself in a state of Grace. Stay as far as possible away from the casting of lots for Christ's garments. As the fur is flying, plant yourself in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Adore. Praise. Love. Witness to the Reason for your hope. Christ is in the Stern. If they move Him, move with Him. The gates of hell do not prevail. Nothing else really matters.
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