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LETTER
to the Editor
“The
Archdiocese's abuse of the children and parents at Presentation
School is shamefully un-Christian. The Founder of our faith
says, ‘Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your
servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your
slave.’
Instead
of acting as servants, Bishops O'Malley and Lennon traumatize
families. They arbitrarily shut down vibrant parishes and
schools without consulting parishioners and parents. Yes,
some smaller parishes need to be closed. But the bishops
treat good Catholic people callously, disdaining any real
laity involvement in church decisions. Jesus says, ‘This
shall not be so among you.’
The
Catholic Church may not be a democracy, but it was never
intended to be a theocracy of autocrats. Rather, the Church
was founded as the ‘ecclesia,’ literally the ‘assembly’ of
the faithful, the living Body of Christ.
The
core of the problem is Rome’s insidious arrogance. Sean O’Malley,
Richard Lennon, the disaster at Presentation, and the recent
scandals are all symptoms of the Roman hierarchs’ presumptions
of their own infallibility and divine right. (When Pope Pius
IX had himself declared infallible in 1870, Lord Athol noted, ‘Power
corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’)
The
Roman bishops long ago lost moral authority among most Catholics
in the pews. Increasingly, we are separating our faith in
the Good Shepherd from the erroneous dictates of these bad
shepherds. They have become the Pharisees against whom Christ
warns, ‘By their fruits you will know them.’” Michael
Scully, West Roxbury, MA, member of Parkway VOTF
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