Not Here for the Pomp

I just turned down a ticket to attend the ordination of our next diocesan bishop.  Each parish was given two tickets for members of the laity along with a ticket for each clergy member. Twenty years ago, I would have been honored to be picked to attend such an event. Today, I couldn’t bring myself to go.

The church here in West Virginia (Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston) is reeling from enormous turmoil at the diocesan level.  Our last bishop, Bishop Bransfield was forced to retire amid allegations of sexual harassment of seminarians and younger clergy and misuse of Diocesan funds.  Some of which was used to pay off the young men he harassed.  He has been forbidden to offer public mass or to enter the diocese.  Please see this link for the lurid details. 

The clergy at the diocese offices or the Vatican did nothing to stop the corruption, even though it is clear they knew about it. In fact, it appears some of them even enabled it.  The bishop was a powerful man and one monsignor excused his own collusion saying he was concerned about his “career.” 

The whole episode stinks of the patriarchal culture of the church.  How could I sit there and watch as the (male) clergy aggrandize themselves.  Some might say I should have attended and held up my banner that says, “ordain Catholic women.”  While ordaining women is part of the corrective, the whole culture needs to be changed.

Feeling the way I feel, I couldn’t face the pomp.  It seemed like another incidence of the waste of our diocesan funds, which our previous bishop misused.  It was another incidence of showing off the monarchial institution our Church has become. I guess, I just don’t deal with authority well.