They Ain't Heavy, They're Our Bishops
Excellent, excellent point from the Contrarian, via Disputations:
I am no leftist and I usually disagree with most pronouncements and press releases on social justice issues that emanate from diocesan chanceries and bishops' conferences. Yet, I am not particularly perplexed or angered by those pronouncements with which I disagree so long as they flow directly from a belief that ... "if God took flesh, then this has social implications" and not out of allegiance to purely secular ideologies as a substitute for lapsed faith.
Bishops are not exempt from the powerful undertow of culture, the relentless pull of the Zeitgeist. That is precisely the dilemma we face, in trying to discern whether their statements flow from the lapsed faith of the elites (they are know to hobnob with the Georgetown set and acquire some of their politics that way), or whether their statements reflect a greater understanding and development of the social implications of the gospel. Tricky business indeed.
Here is an eye-opening read concerning the American bishops. But, as the mutual funds say, past performance does not predict future results. In other words, even if the bishops (as the book argues) have been unduly influenced by American culture in the past, that does not predict whether a given statement made now, or in the future, is of lasting worth. In that sense you have to look at every statement as if there were no past, which isn't easy given the validity of the old saying: "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". I actually have much sympathy for the bishops, seeing in their weakness (i.e. a lack of faith & courage) a reflection of myself.
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