UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Jun. 08, 2012
By Joe Orso
Essay
The Eucharist will live only if we find a way for it to live outside the Mass. I heard this from a Catholic sister last year, who was quoting a lay parish worker.
Another sister told me this about a decade ago: The hierarchy is like a dying dragon, breathing fire on those around it as it flails through its final collapse. But don’t worry, she said, it is dying and someday something else will resurrect.
I believe both of those statements, I love both of those sisters, and the recent news about the Vatican’s actions toward the Leadership Conference of Women Religious does not stir anger in me one bit.
I am not shocked by the Vatican’s bad manners in handling the incident, nor by the hypocrisy of these so recently scandalized Catholic authorities attacking some of the most admired members of our Catholic family. At this point I, like many, expect such behavior.
Even more than a dragon, the church hierarchy looks to me like a senile old man, babbling, impotent and chastising anyone within earshot. What I struggle to understand is why anyone with a congruent perspective still listens to the old man. Why do thinking Catholics become outraged by the absurd actions of a hierarchy that holds little moral or practical authority in the world?
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