A priest friend of mine is a member of an old and distinguished order. I remember him telling me about a meeting between members of his order from America and members of his order from the third world. The americans showed up in casual clothes though the rule of the order requires habits. They lounged around in flip-flops and jeans and frowned when the other brothers showed up in habits. They began to discuss difficulties in their ministry. The americans talked about inclusive language. Ordaining women. How they wish Ratzinger would take a dirt nap. The priests from the third world talked about their poverty. Their ministry to the orphans. The fact it was hard to get enough money together to get habits for the men in novitiate.
American Catholics are generally speaking the spoiled children of the Church. Our tummies are full, our liquor cabinets are stocked, we have facilities, phones, offices, libraries, schools, pipe organs, sound systems, priests that drive late-model luxury cars and real estate worth hundreds of millions. Comfort has taken away our our sense of real need. Comfort fills the void that should be filled by God. And since we are comfortable, we have less of His spirit and are more concerned with maintaining the luxury than we are of becoming other-Christs.
We need to be led Bishops and priests that are poor and yearn to be filled with the grace of God. In place of Cardinal Soundbite I’d like to see an Archbishop that has worn out shoes and is carted around major cities in a Ford Taurus not built after 1996. We can only get back to God if we embrace the life of his Son.