The Correction And Your Parish Priest

Oct 1

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You will have noticed that, whenever I demand from our clergy that they openly oppose Amoris Laetitia, my demand is addressed to bishops and cardinals. 

Why not priests? Why not, actually, your own parish priest? 

Because of the way I (and, I think, many others) see the role of the priesthood. 

The way I see it, the main job of the parish priest is to care for the souls entrusted to his case, not to be an ambassador for Catholic orthodoxy urbi et orbi. The priest has a flock and this flock should be his first and last concern. If I had a good parish priest I would feel betrayed and abandoned if the  man were to be removed, and taken away from me, because of his vocal opposition to Amoris Laetitia. 

This does not mean that a priest has to accept Amoris Laetitia. His duty is – because  otherwise, he is not a good priest – to instruct his sheep about the truth in no uncertain words. If this attracts persecution on him, so be it, as a priest is never justified in lying to his sheep or giving them a rotten doctrine. But it is not the job of the priest to be an internet or worldwide ambassador of orthodoxy. This is, exactly, the job of the bishops and cardinals. 

Therefore, my suggestion to the good priests reading this is: keep doing your job in your parish, doing your best in the sphere of competence assigned to you. Draw a line where the work of your parish is concerned, but do not attract persecution on yourself when your parishioners need a guidance in these troubled times. If you want to blog, it might be smart to blog strictly anonymously.  However, I will be the last one to advocate that even the small number of priests remained is sent to the most remote places where they can be useful to fewer people, or are deprived of a parish already. 

Resistance can happen in many ways. Many priests, I am sure, stage their own resistance by being good priests for their sheep, and praying for better times. 

M 

 

 

 

 

Posted on October 1, 2017, in Catholicism, Conservative Catholicism, Good Shepherds, Traditional Catholicism. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.

  1. Barbara Hvilivitzky | October 2, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    We seem to see a priest being sent to a remote parish as the worst thing that could happen. His present flock would have to do without him, but as in Father Rodrigues’ case good came from his white martyrdom – grace for himself, and his parishioners. Besides don’t those poor people in those small parishes way out there in the bush deserve a very good priest?

    I would like to see priests speak very clearly in their own parishes and not, as you say, blab around on blogs etc. for those not in their flocks. This speaking out from the pulpit would be enough to get some of them kicked around.

    Where the parishioners come in is also important. Be a pest. Bug your pastor until he mans-up and speaks up. It is in the parish where the truth will bring back Catholicism.

    • Mundabor | October 3, 2017 at 6:34 am

      I prefer a priest to remain with the 500 souls that he is caring for, than to be sent in the wilderness caring for 50, lucky as the 50 may be. Not everyone has your strong faith, and removing priests from their parishes does not help parishioners to save theirs.
      I like good priests who run good blogs. But in my eyes the best thing to do is to blog anonymously. In the times we are living, a priest can *expect* that sooner or later his bishop will be his enemy.
      But we agree on this: that the main worry of a priest should be his flock.

  2. Darren F. | October 4, 2017 at 1:27 am

    This sounds like good advice, stick to strict traditional orthodoxy, but otherwise no need for a priest to draw unnecessary fire.