Archbishop of San Francisco, George NiederauerIn the article, the author (who was not credited on the site) criticized the archbishop of San Francisco, George Niederauer because his response to house speaker Nancy Pelosi's erroneous remarks concerning the Church's stance on abortion came "late" (two weeks after they were made) and contained neither a threat nor a promise of disciplinary action; but instead included an invitation to Pelosi to come and speak with him privately.
The comments at the end of the anonymous analysis piece were (mostly) even more critical of the archbishop's statement.
First of all, how does a self-proclaimed "Catholic" news organization come off making definitively critical statements about the actions and teachings of a bishop of the Church? Other bishops may respond differently (and have indeed responded differently) to politicians who make the same or similar errors that Nancy Pelosi has made. Does this fact make Archbishop Niederauer's response incorrect? No! Catholic Culture and Catholic News Service have no authority to analyze and critique the decisions of our bishops.
The only Catholic who has the authority to publicly correct or criticize the actions or teachings of a bishop of the Church is the Holy Father. And what would the Pope do if he felt that the archbishop were in error? Would he publish an article that openly rebukes him for his position? No! In fact, he would invite his brother to meet with him privately, in order to try to resolve the problem. What does this description of the process remind me of? Let's see...
Oh yes, wasn't it the Gospel for that very Sunday's liturgy?
September 7, 2008, Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector...
Concern for the lives of those in the womb should never lead my brothers and sisters in Christ into the error of forgetting that we are children of Holy Mother Church. The children don't point fingers at their Mother but rather seek to understand her reasons when what she teaches doesn't agree with their sense of justice.
As for "two weeks" being too long to wait for a response from the Church, well, the Church is slow for good reasons. The Church doesn't wish to forfeit her right and responsibility to ponder and pray over her words and teachings. I wish Catholic Culture had taken time to reconsider the scandalous way in which it dares to publicly criticize the Church.
If the author of this news analysis piece would like to speak with me privately, I would welcome the chance to discuss this matter more fully.
2 comments:
A foul, indeed. There is another little Catholic news outlet known as California Catholic Daily that takes to frequently attacking the Church. These are the people who truly believe that they are more Catholic than either pope or their bishop.
Thanks for this, Deacon Scott. I feel just as if someone had spoken slightingly about my mom!
Post a Comment