When that happens, mobilize. First, email everyone in the chapel to tell them what he has done and invite everyone to a public meeting to discuss the crisis and to organize. (More about that next week). Your community probably has many venues that can accommodate your chapel, e.g., libraries or recreation centers. Next, everyone on the committee must get on the phone to give others a first-hand account of the priest's un-Christian and undemocratic behavior. Encourage everyone to withhold all offerings and to stop their pledges until the priest sees reason.
On the ensuing Sunday, all members of the steering committee are to show up at the chapel and take their seats in the pews. If the priest demands that you leave, quietly stay put. Make him call the police and wait until they arrive to escort you out. Be sure that you have people who will video the whole event and others standing by to call local TV and radio stations as well as the newspaper. Let the rattled pesthouse priest lose his temper, not you.
If the priest doesn't have you removed, at collection time, observe who is giving, so that you can counsel them in Christian candor. Use the time after Mass to dispel any misgivings some people may have. Distribute copies of the act of perfect contrition to allay any fears the priest may have maliciously stirred up in an effort to win support through lies and intimidation. Encourage everyone to stand united so that the chapel can remain in their hands. Let them know that with time, even the densest of priests can be made to do the right thing and work for the parish and for not himself or his puppet masters.
You tell it as it is.
ReplyDeleteAs it is (or should be) in his mind, that is. Anyone who would assume conflict between faithful priests (not the doormat variety which The Reader desires) and faithful Catholic has motives other than the preservation and maintenance of the Catholic faith. A priest willing to acquiesce to your particular demands (or generally, for that matter) would, I imagine, be nearly impossible to find. There are some, on the fringe, desirous of acceptance and the modicum of exposure it offers, who, I am sure, would accept your terms, but not many among the faithful have a taste for such an adversarial relationship.
ReplyDeleteSimply Catholic has missed the point. Once lay governance is established, there will be no "adversarial relationship." The priest remains in charge of the liturgy and strictly religious matters while the faithful attend to the prudent management of their assets. This rational division of responsibility assures the continuity of the chapel as well as the preservation of the faith until the Restoration.
ReplyDeleteThe demands of lay governance are, in fact, light and sweet. The faithful govern themselves and tend to the chapel's economic weal, thereby liberating the priest from humdrum chores (for which he is ill-prepared anyway) and allowing him to dedicate himself wholly to the spiritual welfare of his flock. Indeed, greater harmony results because the faithful no longer need fear that the priest will run off with their money and sell their assets, as has happened in the recent past.
The traditional movement is moribund under rapacious clergy, who are the real causes of all the divisiveness we experience. Lay governance is the only hope for revitalization. True, at the start, there will be some necessary -- and healthy -- confrontation. But that's to be expected and welcomed, if the movement is to survive. As the old saying goes, you've got to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
The clergy like to eat, so they'll soon see the value in allowing their chapels to become membership corporations run by laymen. As lay-governed chapels grow in number, Traddie clergy will have no other option except to embrace democracy.
Why not start the process at St. Gertrude's and see for yourself