Letter to the Editor: Catholic Report on St. Agnes

My post in the combox:

While not a member of St. Agnes, as a member of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, I've been following this (and blogged it). The Our Word post to which you have linked is an excellent one. The challenge for those of us (self included) who are "well-educated, orthodox Catholics who feel that their bishops are violating their faith, leading them astray, acting against the teachings of the Catholic Church to the extent that they directly contradict what these people believe" is to not lose sight of the fact that the episcopacy is a gift, regardless of the office holder, and use our connectedness (also a gift) to discern and evangelize the Truth, rather than propagate knee-jerkism faster than the common cold, or Dan Brown fiction.

Like many, I am puzzled by the decision to assign Fr. Altier to a nursing home, rather than a parish in need of a pastor because of vacancy, or heterodoxy. One thing I have observed about living the new media life is that it is difficult to exercise reflection. This is where we develop our bedrocks of faith, or take them to the next level. Yes, you can build in moments of silence, cram in deep drinking of great books, and the like. But there is something to be said for the sabbatical.

 

Archbishop Sheen and Pope John Paul the Great, to name but two, had assignments that may have seemed puzzling at the time. I am confident that a "tanned, rested, and ready" Fr. Altier will better help the Church change even more than those for whom he's done that at St. Agnes.

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