www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Proper Way to Address a Bishop and Some Encouragement

Just remember that such things are hardly unique to Bishops and the Church. It happens throughout the human experience, be it in business, politics or the family.

The admonition I received to be more charitable was welcome and very needed.

I think that to honor the episcopal ordinations taking place in Dallas today I'll devote prayer and energy toward removing the beam in my own eye & lay off preoccupations about splinters in the eyes of other peoples.

A Latin bishop once remarked that after you receive the Pallium, two things are certain: you will never again eat a bad meal, and you will never again hear the truth about yourself.

Carlos,

My guess is that it was probably both. Many people have a hard time concealing their disdain for individuals or institutions, and this sometimes gets in the way of their good manners.

Why would he be so disdainful of your parish? Well, since your parish hasn't "gotten with the program" and adopted the RDL, it is easy for other parishes to interpret this holding out as an act of self-righteousness, of looking down on the other parishes that conform (not to mention the bishops, who are unanimously promoting the RDL).


The UGCC Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma has its own English translaion of the DL, which incorporates "gender-neutral" language. (It does not, however, eliminate or shorten any of the familiar prayers or ekteniyas of the DL.) I am not aware of any other ECCs doing this.


Peace,
Deacon Richard

sielos:

Christ is Risen!!

Don't know about that. You seem to be a rather charitable person. It's a natural reaction sometimes if we've had a bad experience with a bishop. Remember that underneath the vestments is another man with the same struggle with the Faith and his own faith gift as the person in the congregation to which he is called to witness and to strengthen in the same Faith. Can be a daunting job.

My own bishop once remarked to me that it gets lonely since he knows he can't "kick back" with his priests because his mere presence makes them all nervous. After all, he holds their lives in his hands. When you think of it, that can be lonely. After all, who do you go to just for some human contact? Who do you really trust? If you think that politics doesn' enter into the life of a bishop, think again. There's always someone out there who doesn't like you. Makes me think of Fr. Dmitri Dutko's comments in his book Our Hope, written in samizdat during the ending years of the Soviet Union. Writing about the Patriarch, he mentions that his every word is listened to by the authorities and he was constantly spied on. So with any bishop. His brothers are watching him, the clergy are watching him, and he can get to feel very isolated.

Bob

Just like St. Maximos the Confessor's refusal to receive the Ecthesis indicated his self-righteousness and unwillingness to get with the program--and boy, did he ever get a lot of bishops annoyed.

I appreciate your kind words. i sure hope GOD has a high opinion of my charitableness!

Yes, it's true: a certain bishop once made decisions which had a very negative, almost catastrophic effect on the faith of our family. Best to try & relegate THAT unhappy episode to the past & to God's Mercy...

Still, I admit I have had the joy of knowing 2 bishops who made me glad I was Catholic and that I believed in God: the late Latin-rite auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, Bishop Carl Fisher (+ 1993) and the eparch-emeritus of the eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago, Bishop Innocent Letocky, OSBM. As far as I know he is still in the land of the living.

But isn't something seriously askew when the bishop holds the priests' lives in his hands - our lives are in GOD's hands, or so I was taught - and they do not say, "Thank God, the bishop is now here and everything is gonna be alright!"

Priests - and everyone else as well - ought to expect encouragement, love, respect, and compassion from the bishop. That they might be afraid of him indicates something is really, really wrong.

If a priest has been misbehaving seriously, he has serious reason to be afraid of the bishop!

Fr. Serge

and one more bishop who has brought grace, peace and joy into my life is Archbishop DMITRI (Royster), retired bishop of the OCA Diocese of the South.

mnohaja litta, Vladiko!

True. But I am sure we can both think of some bishops who themselves were guilty of misbehavior and terrorized their presbyters both to cover their own misdeeds and to ensure that things would be done their way, right or wrong.