A recent title on a press release from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) read:
Cultural Diversity Secretariat Hosts Consultation on Faith Formation among Hispanics to Advance Bishops’ Priority
To advance the priority of the bishops?
One would think that holding a meeting on the faith formation of Hispanic Catholics might be for – I don’t know – the faith formation of Hispanic Catholics, not for the bishops to get one step closer to meeting their objectives. Qualifiers are interesting things.
Leaving the substance of the meeting aside and simply focusing on the wording of this title (a title that was surely approved by more than one person in the bureaucracy of the bishops’ conference), I believe that this points to a fundamental problem with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
The bishops, in their role as shepherds of the faith, are herding people in order to advance their objectives. They aren’t listening to the needs of the herd.
Take, for instance, condom use as a means to prevent HIV/AIDS. A vast majority of Catholics around the world see condom use as critical in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Nonetheless, the bishops have held to their antiquated priority to uphold abstinence-only education. The impact of the bishops’ prioritizing is vast as the bishops lobbied hard—and won—to keep the abstinence-only funding in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Now, is it Christ-like to lay out priorities without listening to the needs of the people? To continually be focused on advancing those priorities instead of enriching the faith and upholding the rights of all?
Jesus certainly called the Pharisees into question in the way they clung to their priorities. The Gospel of Matthew reads:
Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law from Jerusalem then came to Jesus and said, “Why do your disciples violate the tradition of the elders? They don’t perform a ritual hand-washing before they eat.”Jesus replied, “And why do you violate the commandments of god for the sake of your tradition?”
I don’t want to go so far as to equate the USCCB with the Pharisees (or maybe I do). Rather, I want to call into question how the bishops prioritize their priorities without looking at the priorities of those they should be prioritizing—their flock. (Say that three times fast.)
In the end, Jesus was never one to hang on to priorities for the sake of advancement, a five-year plan or tradition. Perhaps the bishops need to take a look at their priorities.
Tags: aids/hiv, catholicism
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