Archbishop Cordileone..
There is a group of Catholics in San Francisco who have taken out a full page ad which asks Pope Francis to fire their Archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone.
Regardless of the fact that no one reads the San Francisco Chronicle, and most could care less about the ads in that paper anyway, I find that taking out ads against one’s bishop in the local newspaper to be despicable on many levels:
–it is unkind, unchristian, and mean spirited
–it shows immaturity, selfishness, and childish behavior
–it is a crass and vulgar display of unchecked privilege
–it gives the impression that if certain Catholics have money, power, education, and political influence, they can somehow speak for the rest of the faith community
–it is unchurchy, anti-churchy, and devoid of all signs of “being church”
Even if I hate my father or mother, or neighbor or coworker, I am not going to go to the press and air their dirty laundry, their faults, their mistakes, or whatever it is that I dislike about them.
Even if I hate my bishop or archbishop, and feel he should be fired, I would rather confront him to his face, person to person. Accusing him and sentencing him as guilty in a newspaper is not due process of law; it is not giving him a chance to respond to me and face me, his accuser.
Both Jesus and St. Paul gave us a process for facing our enemies in the Church. Dragging their name through a public forum in a way that embarrasses them is NOT JUSTICE but showmanship and public scare tactics to bully a bishop and somehow hound him out of office.
Finally, the patent hypocrisy is not lost on us. When a more liberal Catholic is publicly humiliated in the traditional Catholic press or vlogs, there is great outcry that this is “foul” and a “character assassination.” But when a more conservative bishop is treated this way, it is somehow the “voice of the faithful.” Really? Seriously? Who believes that?
Good Game, Amchurch, liberal-church, church-of-inclusion and diversity, dissent church, church of social justice–good game. You have shown your colors. Tolerance is only for your benefit–God help those bishops who disagree with your agenda. You take your cues more from Saul Alinsky than you do from Jesus Christ, and no one is being fooled.
