I surf a lot of different news sites and blogs, like a lot of you I am sure…
I have noticed that there are an awful lot of angry Catholics out there.
Well, duh, Fric!
OK. OK. I deserved that. Seriously though, the places I go to you would expect Catholics of the orthodox bent. Many tend to lean to the Traditionalist bent, some incredibly so. The anger is often directed at the episcopate, they being the top dogs and whose desks the buck stops on as it were in this country. People are angry at them for coverups, being too strict about who can receive communion, not being strict enough, following the Vatican on Vatican II reforms, not folling the Vatican on the reforms, etc. etc.
I know we have been perpetrators of such comments and sentiments at times here. I have come to realize that there is nowhere near enough Christian charity though. All too often we judge actions as if they were done with certain intentions. But how can we know these intentions? We can’t unless a person says so explicitly. We can make a pretty good approximation and guess at times. But it’s almost impossible to know 100% for sure.
So what do we do about it? Well, how about we step back and stop assuming the worst? How about we offer up prayers for our priests and bishops? Especially the ones who seem to be heterodox. Then how about we pray for ourselves so that we don’t commit sins of presumption, calmny or outright slander? Remember that Christ considers how we treat others to be how we treat Him.
Anyway, thought I’d mention it and make the pledge to work on it myself. What do you guys think? Are we too hard on our episcopate? Too soft? Do they deserve what they are getting? How much mercy is too much? When does accountability kick in? When is it too late?