When Your Church is Wrong, Say So!

Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs spent most of 2004 misrepresenting Catholic theology. I see a three-fold source for his errors: Ego-driven moral relativism, Ideology-inspired political strategy, and Blinder-impeded theology.

Error 1: Ego, bad timing and hubris

The Catholic Church in the United States was still immersed in its self-inflicted credibility nadir in the months leading up to the 2004 Presidential election. The priest pedophilia scandal and accompanying leadership scandal had been daily headlines two years earlier. As the 2004 election heated up, the twin scandals pushed the Iraq war and Michael Jackson trial off center stage again when Pope John Paul II assigned Cardinal Bernard Law, the icon of both scandals, to a prominent Vatican position.

Law had been accused of unnecessarily multiplying the number of victims by moving sexually deviant priests from parish to parish instead of sending them for treatment. Other bishops were subsequently found to have engaged in the same practice, as though it were policy, and the Church became the target of lawsuits and late-night TV comedians. Law’s 2004 assignment as Archpriest of the Roman basilica of St. Mary Major was regarded as a Papal slap in the face by thousands of U.S. pedophilia victims and the scandals returned to newspaper front pages.

Amidst this embarrassing environment, Bishop Sheridan decided to assert Catholic moral authority on national television. Naturally, he was frequently asked whether it was prudent for him to admonish Catholic politicians and voters over their stances on selected, sexuality-related moral issues – abortion, gay marriage – while new reports of pedophilia lawsuits and his brother bishops’ sinful administrative decisions continued to mount. His answer was always the same, “Sure, we’ve made some mistakes, but that doesn’t mean we should just shut up.”

Apparently, it does. At least, that seemed to be the opinion of 280 other American bishops. While a half dozen or so made some noise about refusing Communion to John Kerry, not one joined Sheridan in extending that ban to Catholics who planned to vote for pro-choice candidates. He was left dangling in the wind by nearly all U.S. bishops and the Pope. Normally, we honor brave individuals who stand alone in the face of ridicule, but only when they are right. Unfortunately for Sheridan, his theology did not measure up to his ego. His response? To step up the bravado.

Error 2: Ideological agendas do not require facts

We can never be certain whether Sheridan himself or some U.S. or Vatican mentor was the author of his unabashed hubris. All we can do is speculate based on what we do know. Sheridan’s diocese is the home of one of the most Republican counties, and safest Congressional seats, in the country. The home of the Air Force Academy and Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs is one place where extreme statements can be made with impunity. Dr. James Dobson got away with calling stem-cell scientists Nazi’s. Pat Robertson should have come here to propose assassination.

We can’t know if they did, but if a consortium of ultra-conservative U.S. bishops, or a Vatican congregation, wanted to test the political waters for a sensitive right-wing position, Colorado Springs would be the logical place to assign someone to do it.

However, as we continue to speculate, anyone pulling such puppet strings was faced with a s

# posted by Truth Chaser @ 10:16 AM