Wessex: I fear bishops are political animals and you do not know where they stand from day to day.
Whoa! You mean all bishops, everywhere, from the beginning of the Christian era, in all climes, under all circuмstances, even in the most remote corners of the globe? Well, that's not looking very good, is it? Bishops, merely by virtue, apparently, of bearing the title 'bishop,' are condemned to political animalhood. They are a confused bunch of men who, in every age, lurch about uncertainly daily, never really knowing what end is up. Boy, am I glad I'm not a bishop! Thank goodness for priests like Fr. P and others who strive to keep certain bishops on the straight and narrow. Thank goodness, as well, for certain members of Catholic online fora, who are always ready to step forward and offer correctives to errant bishops, (reams and reams of them in some cases). :surprised:
Out of context again, H. I could throw in more ammo like power corrupts, etc. or adopt the popular historian's view of the Church and her bishops. Should we start with Cardinal Wolsey and then indulge in the antics of medieval Italian bishops? But I will not join their ranks and say only that the thousands of bishops attending V2 were to a man so single-minded about preserving the faith as it was handed down that the outcome of the Council could never have happened. Political considerations would never have entered their scrupulous minds.
While growing up, my parents would often refer to "him in Birmingham" when being critical of the diocesan bishop. I never heard of these office holders being particularly endowed with rectitude and holiness. Then, as now, they were chosen for their political guile commensurate with the overblown institution they were representing either side of the lychgate.
And let us look at those chosen to follow ABL. Have not all of them ended up in varying degrees bowing to political considerations when dealing with the pressures of modernity? Where is the leadership necessary for the Church to impose her unremitting divine mission on mankind? No, they are all wrapped up in their own personal confusions, feigning humility, but locked inside intellectual cul-de-sacs of their own making. And these are supposed to be the better bishops.