In the comments section of a post by Mark Shea that took note of a blogger’s letter in response to a priest who waxed conflicted about homosexual identity and same-sex marriage in a parish bulletin, Chris Durnell offered some words of wisdom worth reprinting here so they are not eaten by Haloscan at some point down the line:
"The very real distinction between one’s public responsibilities and private feelings has been very overriden [sic] these days. Few seem to notice or care that the office one holds is not for one’s private use, but to fulfill the obligations of that office."
Amen.
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
View all posts by Jimmy Akin
“Few seem to notice or care that the office one holds is not for one’s private use, but to fulfill the obligations of that office.”
I can witness to the truth of this! I can’t tell you how many arguments I’ve gotten into over the last few years with fellow religious, priests, students, and novices who see the respective offices they occupy as revolutionary pulpits from which they will reshape the Church in their own narcissistic image. The idea that we exist as icons through which others are empowered to see Christ is beyond the scope of their narrow, self-obsessed agenda-pushing. As a member of the Order of Preachers I am particularly peeved when my brother priests use the homily to indulge their egos in Oprahesque orgies of self-revelation and anxious rebellion. That really makes me burn!
Fr. Philip
When we priests (dare to) ask for and receive ordination, the bishop during the ordination rite publicly requires us to publicly profess our resolve on certain conditions. Here are some of them (with my emphasis added through capitalization).
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“Examination of the Candidate”
Bishop:
Are you resolved to celebrate the mysteries of Christ faithfully and religiously AS THE CHURCH HAS HANDED THEM DOWN to us for the glory of God and the sanctification of Christ’s people?
Candidate:
I am.
Bishop:
Are you resolved to exercise the ministry of the word worthily and wisely, preaching the Gospel and explaining the CATHOLIC faith?
Candidate:
I am.
(etc.)
“Promise of Obedience”
Bishop:
Do you PROMISE RESPECT AND OBEDIENCE to me and my successors?
Priest:
I do.
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Any man who dares to publicly profess those conditions and dares to receive ordination, but later as a priest publicly behaves otherwise, is a man WITHOUT INTEGRITY whose word is NO GOOD. His behavior is UNWORTHY of trust and respect.
Only a FOOL and a LIAR undergoes ordination in the Catholic Church while secretly harboring disagreements with the Catholic Church. A fool and a liar!
Not long ago I was considering joining the Secular Franciscans. I decided not to for other reasons, but there was something similar that I think is relevant. One of the requirments of being a Secular Franciscan is something like you must support and promote all the teachings of the Pope. We were not told about this until after being recieved as Inquirers (postulents), and when we were informed the guy said it was just something put in there to make the old timers feel comphortable but what not relavent to us younger people. Somehow or other younger people had nothing to do with the Magisterium because we were supposedly were not raised that way and thought differently, more independant and following our consciences. He did not explicitly say we should break that requirement, he just used a bunch of intelegent sounding nonsense to give the impression that a mature Catholic should ignore such legalisms.
The priests might correct me, I bet something similar happens in liberal seminaries. Seminarians get all this dissenting teaching, false ideas about conscience, etc. and get the impression long before they make these promises that they need not and should not and perhaps may not morally keep them.