August 3, 2003

In some earlier ages of the Church, bishops were elected by the people. There are some today who think we should go back to that. Ironically, many of these “primitivists” call themselves “progressivists” when they want to change certain dogmas with which they disagree. We elect our representatives to Congress. How have we done? There are 535 members of the United States Congress and among them: 7 have been arrested for fraud, 29 have been accused of spousal abuse, 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted businesses, 19 have been accused of writing bad checks, 3 have served prison sentences for assault, 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges, 71 have bad credit records that prevent them from getting credit cards, 8 have been arrested for shoplifting, 84 have been arrested for drunk driving within the past year.

Public elections do not guarantee public felicity. In the recent life of the Church, about one-half of one percent of the clergy have been proven unworthy of their high calling, and this is especially tragic at a time when the moral voice of the Church is so desperately needed to direct a confused culture. Unlike human institutions, the Church is instituted by Christ and so just one errant cleric among a half-million worldwide would be bad. The number of degraded clerics still is much lower than the rate among other professions and religious denominations. We are watching the disintegration of the major non-Catholic denominations that have chosen to reject the basic teachings of the Gospel. At the same time, the Holy Spirit is raising up virtuous reformers to guide the Holy Catholic Church. Catholics will look back upon these trying years as a time of spiritual purging of corruption and a renewal of holiness.

From Sydney, Australia where the brilliant new Archbishop, George Pell, has appointed two auxiliary bishops who are models of apostolic life, to beleaguered Boston where a Capuchin friar has just been enthroned as a shepherd true to the Good Shepherd, a new integrity is challenging old sloth. I first knew Archbishop O’Malley in Rome and some years ago preached for him right after the devastating Hurricane Andrew in the Virgin Islands where he was bishop. We pray for him and for all the Church’s leaders at every Mass. We also pray for our civil leaders. Cherishing the right to free elections when choosing our representatives in secular government, we give thanks that God has so constituted His Church that the Successor of Peter has “immediate and universal jurisdiction” in appointing successors to the Apostles. The Pope’s infallibility does not extend to his selection of the Church’s shepherds, but hard times refine virtue and it is clear that the Holy Father does not want to appoint “man-pleasers” to lead the sheep scattered on a thousand hills.

Fr. George W. Rutler