A NOT-SO-SILENT BISHOP

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A 'provocative Rad Trad' of  Palmerston North Diocese has taken exception to Bishop Charles Drennan's deafening silence on the subject of priestly sex abuse in the Church. 

The same Rad Trad makes a comparison (and we know that comparisons are always odious, to one party or the other; no prizes for guessing which is which) between Bishop Charles' mute response and that of the redoubtable Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona, in a speech which savaged the 'sexual revolution' in the US, just three days ago. 

Bishop Olmsted also spoke about the clerical sex abuse scandals that have slammed U.S. Catholicism in the  recent past:

"This morning, I also want to say a word to the laity of the Church, who are justly angered at the revelations of so much sin, and failure in leadership, among priests and bishops of our beloved Church. Your concerns are just, and need to be answered with both sacrifice and actions that are wiser than despair. 

"Please pray for us, your shepherds, that we might act with radical trust in the grace of the risen Christ, to bear any burden that comes from offering healing for the victims, honestly naming the evil, clearly defending inconvenient truths of the Gospel and exercising decisive leadership in Christ's name. We bishops owe this to you. 

And more importantly, we owe this to the Lord Himself — nothing less. As one called by Christ to be a shepherd in these times, I also owe you, and the Lord, clarity in my teaching." 

We see here very clearly why the late lamented parish priest of Tararua Parish, Father Bryan Buenger, has decamped to Phoenix, Arizona. Priests and people alike deserve transparency and courage in their bishops in New Zealand also.