Vocationally, today is not a great day. It is what one of the priests here would call a "No" day. Yesterday was a No Day also. I find it disturbing to have a No Day; but if I think about it, I have not had a No day in quite some time. Until yesterday that is.
Basically a "No Day" is just miserable. I had no clue today would be one, or I would never have commenced this project.
I am not, by any means, a rigid orthodox person. I see Tradition in wholistic terms; and I look at Pope John Paul II, who is so orthodox he is almost liberal.
I am definitely going through a period of orthodoxy. In ministerial and pastoral terms, I have several friends in positions of ministerial import who do not take the teachings of the Church to heart. So my diliemma is, what are they doing in ministry? The administrative aspects of ministry are one thing, but what about the formative aspects? We are conformed to the life of Christ.
Can one who is flagrantly flaunting the notions of chastity, continence, modesty, and simplicity, be involved succesfully in ministry? Or can they only be involved in professional aspects of administration? Should they be involved in either? Moreover, should they involved in formation? I don't think so. But then there is my past; which partook, to a degree, in the very same aspects of life in which these people are currently partaking. Briefly though, and in no way my fundamental option.
I wish that I could be more profound in this moment. But I can only be straightforward. In this moment of time within the Church, I think that we need persons of integrity and candor. And after all, what do we do when our bishops are in the news daily, and they pretend to obey the norms of the Church; when in actuality, they do not.
This is not an easy time.
Even for the moderates amongst us.
posted by David Greenleaf at Tuesday, August 27, 2002
