"Few die and none resign," Thomas Jefferson is said to have complained about John Adams' appointees to the federal judiciary. The Church has a similar problem. But there is a solution, if the pope really wants a solution.
There are rumors that there will almost certainly be a consistory later this year. If the pope wishes, he can make his points very emphatically. First, immediately elevate to Cardinals only those bishops who have been rare and exemplary in word and deed in leading the charge for reform, and who have escaped the usual insular church talk. Begin with Diarmuid Martin in Dublin and Thomas Collins in Toronto. And if he can't find courageous and outspoken bishops in the usual places, then make cardinals of bishops from small, obscure dioceses. This will wake up the power structure.
And the second action is like it: make ten women cardinals. A cardinal is not necessarily an office that requires Holy Orders. There would need to be a simple dispensation from the rule that Cardinals are ordained bishops, but this may easily be done. So find ten women in a Church of over one billion members, ten women who are honest and true, educated and articulate and faithful, from all parts of the globe.
Benedict has the chance now to do it. Does he have the courage? Or is all this talk of seriously addressing these issues just talk?
There are rumors that there will almost certainly be a consistory later this year. If the pope wishes, he can make his points very emphatically. First, immediately elevate to Cardinals only those bishops who have been rare and exemplary in word and deed in leading the charge for reform, and who have escaped the usual insular church talk. Begin with Diarmuid Martin in Dublin and Thomas Collins in Toronto. And if he can't find courageous and outspoken bishops in the usual places, then make cardinals of bishops from small, obscure dioceses. This will wake up the power structure.
And the second action is like it: make ten women cardinals. A cardinal is not necessarily an office that requires Holy Orders. There would need to be a simple dispensation from the rule that Cardinals are ordained bishops, but this may easily be done. So find ten women in a Church of over one billion members, ten women who are honest and true, educated and articulate and faithful, from all parts of the globe.
Benedict has the chance now to do it. Does he have the courage? Or is all this talk of seriously addressing these issues just talk?
1 comments:
Amen - thank you for writing this.
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