Model priests, long lives, short shrift
Sunday July 5, 2009
Speaking of priests-as-monks...Boston radio station WBUR has this grim news for the priests there: BOSTON -- The Boston Archdiocese has admitted that, within two years, it won't have the money to pay for the care and housing of its elderly...
Filed Under: Boston, Catholic Church, finances, Geoff Boisi, National Leadership Roundtable on Church Managment, pensions, priests
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Advertisement
Advertisement
About Pontifications
This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about Catholicism in our Catholic forums.
David Gibson is an award-winning religion writer who specializes in writing about the Catholic Church, which he joined as a convert at the age of 30. He is the author The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World. He also wrote The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism. He has written about Catholicism for leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Boston magazine, Fortune, Commonweal, and America. Gibson worked in Rome for Vatican Radio for several years and traveled frequently with Pope John Paul II. He later covered religion for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey. He has co-written several recent documentaries on Christianity for CNN. For further information check out his website at dgibson.com.Search This Blog
David's Books:
  |
 |
The Roman Catholic Church, and the brotherhood of priests in particular, has within its own ranks a model to deal with this crisis.
They need to look at the cloistered priests and brothers - and see how they come together as a community and care for their elderly, infirm and disabled brethren. With love. With compassion. With prayer. And with sacrifice. They utilize modern health care options such as Medicare, Medicaid and Hospice. They pray for and with these men who have served so ably and nobly and who have been stricken with everything from heart disease to cancer to Alzheimers.
I know of a Monastery near my home that is a very active, holy and spiritual place and they have quite a number of men in their infirmary. Is it easy to care for them? No. Is it pleasant? No. Does it cost money? Yes. Would they have it any other way (i.e. farm them out to nursing homes)? Never.
Surely from within the Church there can be some re-orientation about how to care for the elderly religious. Surely.
Perhaps in their "investigation" of the Nuns in America they can spare a few moments to see how the Sisters care for their elderly. I understand it is in much the same way as the monks.
It is so sad that the RCC with all the money it used to have, before it's child abuse scandals, can no longer help those men who have spent their lives in the church. As much as I disagree with much of the RCC and it's rules, I would think this should become a priority, in order to give back to the men what those men have given to the RCC...their lives, literally, as well as their care for the people in their parishes. The Vatican must have some things it can sell!!
The Vatican needs to spit out some money. After all, it is the year of the priest. To abandon these men at this point in their lives is sinful in the extreme.
"The priests and Church will be stripped of all her possessions and the priests will be forced to beg for their means." It's in the Catholic prophecies and as St Paul said: "I want you to know prophecy" Any Catholic who is truly surprised at what is currently happening to and within the Church is simply ignorant of the dozens of Catholic Saints who have prophesized these times.
Good luck increasing the number of men attracted to Priesthood if this is what awaits them after a life of devoted service. The laity need to step up here, or shut up about not having Priests around when one needs them.
The laity need to step up here, or shut up about not having Priests around when one needs them.
The Pope and the bishops, particularly in the US, have made it very clear that they have no use for anything from the laity beyond their money. When they refuse to listen, refuse to let the laity have some level of authority in each congregatin, and refuse to take responsibility for their prior abuse of the laity, it's no wonder that the laity don't feel any duty to the Church. Remember that the Church can publicize the problems of the priests, but there is absolutely no guarantee that one red cent of the money donated by the laity would go to these priests. When the bishops reform and beg forgiveness of the laity, the laity will be forgiving. Until then, the Church has earned the problems it has.
And why should I be concerned about this?
Every year, nuns come to my church -- and churches across the country -- to ask for donations for their fellow sisters who are also sick and infirm. It's a scandal that these holy women -- who have educated generations of Catholic children, cared for our sick and ministered to our poor -- have to go begging.
Meanwhile, diocesan priests retire to Florida, get a pension from the diocese and have likely received gifts and bequests from their congregants. Then, when they finally get old and need to be cared for, they move into diocesan digs.
Let them go to churches and start begging alongside the nuns. I know who I'll write my check out to.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.