If administrators, why not bishops? If the curia persists in recruiting so many candidates from outside the diocese, surely there’s not a problem finding good candidates. They’re not waiting for appointees to get ordained, though sometimes it seems to be so.
Rome should have a time limit on appointing a new bishop, say three months. After that, why not permit a diocese to elect its own bishop? Rome could retain veto power, and make suggestions for candidates.
23 August 2007 at 5:24 pm
Logic has nothing to do with this!
Fear, control, power and hierarchial arrogance do.
Next question.
23 August 2007 at 6:48 pm
It’s not quite that simple, Jimmy.
The systems that prevailed before Napoleon imprisoned two successive Popes were not models of democratic choice by diocesan chapters. Far, far from it. The bishops typically chosen were *more* likely to be aligned with local elites than those chosen by Rome.
Because, as we all know, the electoral system that obtains in the US has long been free from influence of secular elites, right?
And it’s not like the Investiture Controversy is over. Far from it. It still is mightily raging, though not in areas that First World Catholics deem terribly relevant.
That said, as I’ve noted before, at least this Pope has indicated that discussion of the episcopal selection system is not verboten; he’s been more accommodating than his predecessor on that score.
My question is: what circumstances should be in place to have a functional discussion of that subject? And to what extent do those circumstances obtain today? And not just from the perspective of First World Catholics…
Personally, I think this is a much more salient issue than the customary news media hot topics. But Third World Catholics may see other issues as even more salient.
23 August 2007 at 6:50 pm
In any event, as I noted in prior communities of mine, communities that strain to maintain light connections to their diocese are the least likely to have their voices listened to in any way on this issue.
24 August 2007 at 6:10 am
Not sure i should ask this Liam…I heard a rumor…Is it true that a certain well known community got to vote on from a list on who the next pastor should be? I suspect the Cardinal had the final say anyway. Curious..
24 August 2007 at 5:41 pm
If you mean my community, no. It is true that our former pastor invited people to provide input, but this was after the announcement of his departure and my understanding is that the die was already pretty cast by then.
But, in a former community of mine whose leadership was not under the then-Cardinal’s direct control, the powers that then were did invite us to consider candidates, who all preached and presided, and we developed a consensus in favor of one of them. Which people forgot when they got what they asked for…but that’s a whole other ball of wax. It does remind me that American Catholics are very prone to avoid living up to the responsiblities of self-governance. Self-governance is not a reliable cure to any of the deepest problems of the current system; in fact, it can often worsen it.
24 August 2007 at 7:32 pm
I believe that you you are correct Liam about self-governance. It’s not as simple as it seems.