In light of the Kennedy Funeral Mass and burial...
As much as I don't really like using the labels alpha/male/omega to name and describe human beings and their characters/personalities, I do think they are useful to some extent. Do we have too many bishops and clerics who are beta rather than alpha? Christians and non-Christians have talked about the "nice guy" syndrome and how it hurts men, the pursuit of their vocation, and how they relate to others. American clerics are not immune to the syndrome. Leon J. Podles, the author of The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity, has criticized the bishops for failing to exercise leadership. The criticism that bishops are bureaucrats who compromise or stay silent in order not to alienate is a common one.
Is the problem merely one of pastoral strategy? Or is it primarily a defect in character that is the cause? Can there be a pastoral or a prudential reason to stay silent in the face of sin? So much is justified in the name of prudence or charity that they seem to be rationalizations of weakness. (After all, prudence had been denigrated as being self-interested calculation, over-cautiousness, or pusillanimity.)
The impetus for Church reform seems to be only when disaster strikes, and not before. Some point to the few good bishops and cardinals here and there, but a few have turned out to be disappointments as shepherds of their flocks.
Links:
DIALOGUE (Mr. Podles's blog)
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