Whispers in the Wasteland

Getting the bishops we deserve

A lot of folks disagree with Mark Shea's comment, "We have the bishops we want."

It could be put into a broader context, "We have the politicians we want."

There is a parable that can be drawn from the Simpson's epispode Much Apu About Nothing.

The show starts off with a bear wandering into Springfield. Homer Simpson, who was forced the indignity of doing without beer, incites a mob toward city hall (using the chant "We're here, we're queer, we don't want anymore bears").

Thus starts a full blown bear patrol. And just because it's funny, I include the following segment:

Then Homer opens his paycheck, which includes a bear tax. Homer: "Let the bears pay the bear tax." In the next scene, a crowd is complaining about high taxes at city hall. Mayor Quimby complains, "Are those morons getting dumber or just louder?"

Yes, it's just a Simpson's episode, but in real life we see overwhelming disapproval of deficit spending, high taxes, and budget cuts against everyone's favorite department or program (whatever that may be).

With such obvious cognitive disconnects, it's easy for me to see that Mark is not saying that we want bishops who coddle child molesters. No, Mark is saying that we want bishops who affirm our okayness. We don't want to hear about our sinfulness or any uncomfortable truths on such things as contraception or birth control pills. But the same sort of wishy-washiness that stops bishops from speaking those uncomfortable truths about ourselves is same sort of wishy-washiness that stops bishops from taking decisive action against child molestors.

It's easy for folks to counter that molesting is a so much greater evil than all the petty evils that go on day-to-day in a diocese. But look at it this way: how do you expect someone to confront evil in the great things, when he cannot confront evil in the smallest of ways. In my best Aquinas-like way, confronting evil is a virtue aquired by habit; it is something that needs to be practiced.