Richard McBrien's essay at the NC Distorter this week focuses on the lessons the bishops ought to have learned from this year's presidential elections. He cites three distinct points, all of which, IMHO, are distinctly wrong. His words are in red, mine are bracketed.
(1) First, Catholic voters are paying less and less attention to the urgings of the most theologically rigid and politically partisan bishops of the U.S. bishops’ conference. [Nice choice of descriptors - let's rewrite this, shall we? "First, lukewarm and poorly catechized Catholic voters are still ignoring the urgings of the bishops who are most loyal to the Magesterium." That's not news, Rich. It's been going on for decades.]
(2) Second, there is also a question to be put to the all-too-silent majority of bishops who have failed to remind Catholic voters that the bishops’ conference supports a “consistent-ethic-of-life” approach to moral issues, that it has gone on record as neither endorsing nor opposing candidates for public office, and that it insists that the Catholic church is not a one-issue church, notwithstanding the moral urgency of the abortion issue. [Your editor should be fired for letting that go through as a complete sentence. Rewrite: "A majority of bishops let these poorly catechized lukewarm Catholics believe that the USCCB has real teaching authority, which makes their job easier, but doesn't absolve them of teaching truth. "The seamless garment" is not Church doctrine!! Furthermore, opposition to abortion is not a religious issue, but is the fundamental moral life issue.]
(3) Third, beyond the concern for political and moral credibility and effectiveness, there are other, equally significant statistics to be drawn from the recent presidential election. The Democratic ticket won the support of 66 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29, and 57 percent between the ages of 30 and 44.
These voters are not only the future of the country; many of them are also the future of the Catholic church. Do our pastoral leaders really want to be so far out of step with this crucially important constituency? [Rewrite: "The younger generation is in need of catechesis as well. Look at how they were duped! Since many of these represent the future of the Church, and the bishops are responsible for their souls as well, do we really want them so far out of step with Church teaching?"] Can our leadership not make a more concerted effort to understand the thinking of under-45 Catholics, as well as of many older Catholics who are aware of, and in full agreement with, the official teachings and policies of the conference but who disagree strongly with the views of the conference’s aggressively conservative minority? [What is it with these long sentences? Rich, the USCCB does not issue official teachings!! They are compromises at best, watered down official teachings of the Church at worst. And the "aggressively conservative minority" you dislike are those who are most faithful to the Magesterium.]
Like all dissenters and apostates, you desire to change the Church into a democracy. Christ was not elected head of the Church, you know. He is the King of Kings - meaning we are members of a kingdom. We don't get a vote in the Church like we do in our nation's elections. You should know that by now.
There's more inanity in his essay that I have neither time nor energy to parse. Like a politician, McBrien is pandering to the choir of NC Distorter readers, as the majority of commenters at that site demonstrate. He ends his essay with a reference to the loss of credibility the Church has suffered as a result of the sexual-abuse crisis, and sadly, that is true. He follows that reference with an admonition that they must be careful not to make the problem worse, by not learning anything from this election.
I think they have, Rich - I think it's you who haven't learned anything. What's needed is stronger adherence to the truth, not increased concern about polling and statitistics. They ought to be concerned about the weakness in the faith of American Catholics, brought about to significant degree by actions and words such as your own.
Instant "Acts"ess
