Sid
October 20th, 2004, 08:05 AM
The parish suppression [close and liquidate] program of the Boston Diocese has become a PR disaster for the RCC.
What is more troubling fo the diocese is that independent/critical thought is breaking out among the pew Catholics.
Some might even justifiably call it a stalling tactic by a besieged archbishop who clearly has underestimated the fervent devotion of so many parishioners to St. Bernard's. Having experienced the barrage of negative publicity from St. Albert's in Weymouth, where the parishioners have refused to close the parish and vacate the premises, the archbishop has apparently wisely sought to try to pre-empt a more difficult situation at the larger St. Bernard's by essentially buying for time and staving off another public relations disaster.
The St. Bernard's parishioners made it clear from day one that they were not going to simply stand by while some archdiocese-appointed bureaucrats indiscriminately closed their church. They followed their collective conscience and said "No" in a clear, resounding voice. So if the archbishop had proceeded with his plans to immediately close the parish, the net effect would have been to confront another significant block of Catholics who simply defied the orders of the church hierarchy, thus eroding the traditional authority of the archdiocese and the Vatican. This is a precedent that the Catholic Church cannot abide by.
Perhaps this archbishop was simply hired by the Vatican to pick up the pieces, to set things right. To serve as the Vatican's version of GE's Jack Welch - part hatchet man, part missionary. But consider this: Sean O'Malley was sent in to get the Boston Archdiocese back on track, and yet the opposite seems to be happening - a steady barrage of ominous reports are streaming into the Vatican on the growing dissension in his assigned jurisdiction. Dissension could lead to upheaval, upheaval to radical change. The Vatican has seen it happen before, and will move to mitigate it. The archbishop could very well end up as the fall guy.
Or does Sean O'Malley really want to start an ecumenical civil war which would likely result in still more Catholics leaving the church, and dare I say, potentially falling into the welcoming embrace of other Christian groups? There are plenty of pastors out there - take your pick: Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran - who would love to welcome the fervently religious Christians of St. Bernard's into their flock. It's not an impossibility, especially since those other Christian churches were founded long ago mostly by disenchanted Catholics who felt abandoned and cheated by their church hierarchy.
Just like the parishioners at St. Bernard's of Newton.
A line drawn in the sand at St. B's (http://www2.townonline.com/newton/opinion/view.bg?articleid=106670)
What is more troubling fo the diocese is that independent/critical thought is breaking out among the pew Catholics.
Some might even justifiably call it a stalling tactic by a besieged archbishop who clearly has underestimated the fervent devotion of so many parishioners to St. Bernard's. Having experienced the barrage of negative publicity from St. Albert's in Weymouth, where the parishioners have refused to close the parish and vacate the premises, the archbishop has apparently wisely sought to try to pre-empt a more difficult situation at the larger St. Bernard's by essentially buying for time and staving off another public relations disaster.
The St. Bernard's parishioners made it clear from day one that they were not going to simply stand by while some archdiocese-appointed bureaucrats indiscriminately closed their church. They followed their collective conscience and said "No" in a clear, resounding voice. So if the archbishop had proceeded with his plans to immediately close the parish, the net effect would have been to confront another significant block of Catholics who simply defied the orders of the church hierarchy, thus eroding the traditional authority of the archdiocese and the Vatican. This is a precedent that the Catholic Church cannot abide by.
Perhaps this archbishop was simply hired by the Vatican to pick up the pieces, to set things right. To serve as the Vatican's version of GE's Jack Welch - part hatchet man, part missionary. But consider this: Sean O'Malley was sent in to get the Boston Archdiocese back on track, and yet the opposite seems to be happening - a steady barrage of ominous reports are streaming into the Vatican on the growing dissension in his assigned jurisdiction. Dissension could lead to upheaval, upheaval to radical change. The Vatican has seen it happen before, and will move to mitigate it. The archbishop could very well end up as the fall guy.
Or does Sean O'Malley really want to start an ecumenical civil war which would likely result in still more Catholics leaving the church, and dare I say, potentially falling into the welcoming embrace of other Christian groups? There are plenty of pastors out there - take your pick: Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran - who would love to welcome the fervently religious Christians of St. Bernard's into their flock. It's not an impossibility, especially since those other Christian churches were founded long ago mostly by disenchanted Catholics who felt abandoned and cheated by their church hierarchy.
Just like the parishioners at St. Bernard's of Newton.
A line drawn in the sand at St. B's (http://www2.townonline.com/newton/opinion/view.bg?articleid=106670)