“ We are bishops of the Church, shepherds appointed by God to feed His flock. ”
Pope Francis’s Speech to the Bishops of the United States of America, St Matthew’s Cathedral , Washington DC, September 23rd 2015 .
———————————————-
As we write, it was announced on the internet page of two Scottish newspapers that a piece of cloth dipped in the blood of St Pope John Paul II had been obtained for his parish in Lanarkshire by its Polish priest . It will be interesting to see how far civilised comment on this will be exceeded by local trolls at this insult to the zeitgeist.
Fair minded as we are, we would make two points. Given the zeitgeist, we would add to relevance to time in general, that of place, with all due respects to Lanarkshire and its many problems , a minor one of which is how that area’s Catholics will explain this to their workmates tomorrow. It will at least be a change from CurryPowderGate. Our second point may be helpful. In 1996, somebody bought Yul Brynner’s black hat worn in ‘The Magnificent Seven’ for £9000.Then there’s Clyde Barrow- Clyde of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. His shirt- the one full of tommy-gun holes-went for £53000 in 1997.Somebody even bought an alleged hat of Hitler’s in the eighties for £15000. For exactly how much does anyone think that a paper tissue used by John Lennon for almost any purpose would go for at auction, given the necessary provenance? The zeitgeist thing always needs a careful look.
The US ‘ National Catholic Register ‘ very kindly sends out a daily email on the Synod. From it we pluck this gem. What is described as a French-speaking bishop is quoted there as saying : ‘We mustn’t cling too much to the sacraments as if they were the only tools for grace .’ Well there you are now!
Our conviction that any cleansing of the Curia should start not with the humble monsignori of Vatican City but with the appointment of Papal Delegates is justified once again. Who appointed this person a bishop? We mustn’t cling too much to the sacraments ? Then to what, may we ask ? To one of this Episcopal clown’s pastoral letters ? To a parish visit from him? To a vocations drive to produce more people as thoroughly educated in theology as him ? Where do we get them from? Oh, sorry. We get them from Papal Delegates .
(We think ‘French-speaking’ is code, by the way. Work it out.)
Anyway, now that Pope Francis has not betrayed doctrine at the Synod- and who ever thought he would except one or two cardinals using this as an excuse to stress him out and precipitate a coronary- let’s get back to basics.
The Flock all over the world can’t get the Eucharist because this is provided mostly by the Tridentine priesthood. This concept is defunct. Extend ordination to parishioners.
For the umpteenth time, would somebody tell us why not ?