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	Ad Limina Unlimited Comment and Response Boston Catholic Insider December 30, 2011 http://bostoncatholicinsider.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/ad-limina-unlimited-comment-and-response/ BCI was surprised at some of the comments on our post from yesterday, Ad Limina Unlimited: Part 1. If there is any confusion in the intent of BCI from that post, allow us to apologize and clarify it today. This comment from “BetterthanNothing” particularly surprised us: Yes, Cardinal O’Malley told us only a little bit of his trip from Rome. Yes, he could haves mentioned more. But for fairness purposes, I bet he shared much more than most of the other bishops in Region 1. Weren’t there about 15 or so bishops on that trip? How many wrote anything publicly? Comparing them to Region 2 bishops which was after the USCCB meetings and in a slower time, relatively speaking, is a little unfair. Comparing to 1 or 2 bishops and not demonstrating that he did less is not bery fair The least you should write is that he said more than everyone or nearly everyone in his region and more than (roughly) 27 of 30 of bishops thus far. And comparing O’Malley to Hubbard in a negative way is shocking! Would you prefer Hubbard here in Boston? Please keep context in mind, both in terms of OMalley at least writing more than most and being an above average bishop. Yes, he is not Chaput, Burke, Dolan or several others, but he is no Hubbard either. Let’s thank God for THAT! Here is the response from BCI: BetterThanNothing, You seem to have almost totally misunderstood the purpose of this post and our message. If that is BCI wording, then we accept and apologize for that, but we do not see in our post what you are interpreting. BCI did NOT say or imply we wanted Bishop Hubbard here in Boston, nor did we compare Cardinal O’Malley to him. For the record, BCI would NOT want Bishop Hubbard here in Boston (so we agree on that!). We said, BCI is not necessarily a fan of the Albany diocese or the leadership there. “They have many problems themselves, so Albany is not put forward here as a “model” diocese. BCI is merely sharing excerpts from their report, as some of the details are clearly applicable to Boston.” What in the world makes you say BCI compared O’Malley to Hubbard in a negative way? All we said is that Hubbard gave more details in his report. That is factual and objective information. Anyone can look at the two reports and see that. As for the 12 other bishops on the trip, 5 of them are Boston auxiliaries–it would be highly inappropriate and out-of-line for an auxiliary bishop to communicate the results of the ad limina when their Cardinal archbishop is the one blogging and is the ordinary for the archdiocese. 2 are from Manchester (incoming and emeritus) so it is not surprising that nothing was said there. None of the other bishops on the Region 1 ad limina visit blog. Bishop Tobin of Rhode Island did communicate before he left a summary of their diocesan status in areas including Child Protection, Vocations to the Priesthood, Evangelization, Human Life Guild, Catholic Education. That is here: http://www.thericatholic.com/news/detail.html?sub_id=4460 Even in 300 words, Bishop Tobin communicated more about his report on the state-of-the-diocese than Cardinal O’Malley communicated in two lengthy photo-packed blog posts. Cardinal O’Malley has been Archbishop of Boston for eight and half years, and if he remains here until he is 75, then we have another eight years ahead. When exactly is he going to share something about how he sees the current state of the diocese and his vision for the path ahead? What we mostly hear is that we are compliant with the child protection guidelines and in financially better shape than when he got here. Are we going to go sixteen years without a leader who can tell us where he thinks we are today and where he would like to see us go? C’mon! This archdiocese took hundreds of hours to prepare a report of hundreds of pages in length for the ad limina visit. Is it too much to ask that somebody of the 20+ people at 66 Brooks making $100K+ in salary and benefits spend a few hours and distill the highpoints down into a “state of the diocese” report that could be shared with Catholic faithful? BCI is not impressed by the average bishop. So, comparing Cardinal O’Malley to the “average bishop” is not of interest to us. The stakes in Boston are also a lot higher than in other parts of the country, and the impact of what happens in Boston has ripple effects elsewhere in the country and world. So, Boston needs an outstanding leader, not just someone who is above average. We could go on and on about this. In the beginning of 2011, Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, DC (of whom BCI is also not a great fan) published a 1900-word letter on the “state of the church” in the Washington DC Archdiocese. It begins: “At the beginning of the New Year, the question was raised a number of times by reporters: “How would you describe the state of the Church in our country, in the archdiocese?” On the whole, I think a fair answer is “Good — but it could always be better.” More… BCI has been tempted to write one, but we have been hoping and praying that the Archbishop of Boston and his staff would do this instead–not for us, but for the greater good of the archdiocese. BCI has contemplated writing a “best and worst of 2011,” but unfortunately, the list of the “best” is fairly short and the list of the “worst” is fairly long and would paint a harsh picture of public deception after deception and multiple violations of trust, starting in January and running throughout the year. Will the Archbishop of Boston share his own view of the state of the archdiocese and vision for the future? Should BCI write our own version to make up for the leadership vacuum? Should BCI publish the lengthy list of the best and worst, in the hopes that the archdiocese will better realize how the ongoing pattern of deception is breaking trust with Catholic faithful? (If anyone from the RCAB has an opinion on this latest one, please drop us a line). Will the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston finally step and lead, now that he’s half-way through what could be a 16-year tenure in Boston? Or will we keep spinning and languish with business as usual another eight years until 2020 when he reaches 75-years-old and must submit his resignation? What do you think?
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