Fr. Richard “the crybaby” McBrien mouths off against the current Roman Catholic hierarchy in the latest edition of his Essays in Theology, published in the Catholic Courier. As you read his pouting below, notice how he contrasts the wonderful Pope Paul VI/John XXIII hierarchy with the super evil arch-conservative (not my opinion, but it appears to be his) hierarchy of today:
Pope Paul VI understood and embraced the principle of sacramentality. It is high time, some 35 years later, that our bishops did as well.
One of the obstacles is that the U.S. hierarchy has changed so much under Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI.
Some readers might recall the claim that was persuasively made, back in the 1940s and 1950s, that most American bishops came from households where the breadwinner was an ordinary workingman.
This meant that the bishops of those years were more likely to view social and political issues from the viewpoint of those on the lower end of the economic ladder. They were more readily disposed to support the rights of workers than the interests of their corporate employers.
Yesterday’s bishops would have gone to bat, so to speak, for the right of workers — many of who were Catholic — to form labor unions. Some assigned priests in their dioceses to run labor schools to instruct Catholic workers on the church’s social teachings and to identify the rights they possess in the marketplace.
Today’s bishops, however, are not only more theologically conservative [orthodox] than their counterparts in the 1940s and 1950s; they are also more politically conservative.
It is no accident that, in recent presidential elections, many bishops (and cardinals) have clearly sided with the Republican candidates over the Democratic candidates. For such bishops the litmus test is the abortion issue [Not to mention gay marriage, stem-cell research, and a host of other moral and ethical issues that liberals fall on the wrong side of]. They are critical of the late Cardinal Bernardin’s consistent-ethic-of-life approach.
This dramatic change in the composition of the U.S. hierarchy may explain, at least in part, why there is now a critical mass of bishops who take refuge behind their lawyers in opposing efforts by their lay employees in schools and hospitals to form labor unions — just as they took refuge behind their lawyers in fighting settlements of sexual-abuse cases brought against the diocese because of the predatory behavior of some of its priests [Completely ignoring the fact that the most of the notorious offender bishops were of the progressive persuasion].
Fr. McBrien, grow up and stop whining about your superiors. You’re still (sadly) a priest of the Catholic Church. Perhaps you should act the part.
Tags: Culture of Death, Democrats, Fr. Richard McBrien, Orthodoxy at Work, Progressive Drivel
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Tricky Dick McHeretic strikes again!
Dr. K. – first my gratitude for dissecting this drivel! I read it in the Courier and just sighed. He is all too predictable. Excellent point about the majority of guilty parties in the scandal being of the progressive mindset. And is it me, or does he really have a thing about class envy?
Dr K, you beat me to it. I was getting a post ready. I’ll just add some of my notes…
cry me a river, Fr. McBrien. some simple questions for you:
1) what specifically are you talking about? Your whole article is a pretty gross overgeneralization is it not? I assume you are talking about the recent health care bill because you recently whined about the bishop’s opposition to that as well. In case you missed it, only a handful of bishops talked about subsidiarity. Most of them opposed it because of abortion and other unethical aspects of it. Most of the bishops are still all too happy to endorse the democratic party.
2) do you think the bishops of your golden era would have anticipated that one in six americans would be receiving government support?
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/07/one-in-six-americans-receives-government-assistance/
3) when is the Catholic Courier going to stop printing McBrien? And when are they going to start allowing more comments. Once again, they blocked my comment on this post.
http://www.catholiccourier.com/cc/index.cfm/commentary/letters-to-the-editor/of-collars-and-quarrels/
I guess my next step is to contact them and have them explicitly define their policy.
It was a completely rational and cordial comment. But they don’t like opposition so they don’t post it. You know what? We get opposition here, too, but we address it – we don’t just end the conversation.
http://cleansingfire.org/2010/07/sr-pat-on-sexual-ethics-part-1/#comment-31480
but when we present rational arguments, the other side just runs away because they don’t have arguments. All they have is trendy fashions.
4) when will our parishes be cut free of the Catholic Courier tax?
and an observation
1) america is a land of opportunity. I hear way to many people whining about fairness. No, I’m not totally against welfare. I think there should be a safety net and those who are less fortunate and unable to work for whatever reason should be aided. However, I have a hard time believing that 1 in 6 people need such assistance.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work, let him not eat.
more on McBrien here:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0507fea4.asp
and here:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fr._mcbrien_attacks_prolife_bishops_in_syndicated_column/
This man has a huge ego. Time is running short. He will have to make an accounting for himself but his ego is getting in the way.