Lord Acton's Dictum
In 1877, Lord John Acton wrote his most famous observation, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Lord Acton, John Dalberg-Acton, actually, was a devoted and argumentative Roman Catholic at a time when belonging to the Roman church still carried nasty consequences for British subjects and even members of the peerage. He succeeded John Henry Newman (later a cardinal) as editor of Catholic periodical, The Rambler, and from that vantage point ran afoul of ultramontanists and bishops who insisted on absolute "fidelity" to papal--not to mention their own--pronouncements.
Acton's observation about absolute power comes to mind, when regarding the fallout from Florida Congressman Mark Foley's (R) pursuit of Senate pages, or for that matter, the behavior of Bush administration officials in awarding contracts to favored companies.
Covering up and denying unpleasant facts is a very human trait, but it is not conducive to long-term survival.
While House Leader Dennis Hastert and other leadership officials wished the problem away, a charismatic attractive man
with power was free to continue his predatory behavior. Now, we learn from Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) that there are other allegations of improper behavior unrelated to Foley.
It is not surprising that the
House leader and his staff hoped that Fordham's anxieties were
exaggerated, and downplayed and covered up what might be an explosive
scandal. Their behavior mirrors that of Catholic bishops and their
superiors, who feared scandal more than the possibility that young
people's lives were being ruined.
Fortunately, US voters get a chance to hold politicians accountable.
But in a church whose leaders point to divine right as their starting point for debate, I wish we Catholics could accept or deny papal appointments to bishoprics. We used to think that quiet lobbying would result in change. Unfortunately, we now know that quiet diplomacy is a delusion. Our options seem limited. We can either withhold donations--which too often causes pain to the poor--or abandon the institution to the "bad guys," which arguably leaves them free to continue the abuse.
There is another way to safeguard future generations of Catholics.
We can take responsibility for our church by pointing out problems, suggesting solutions, and identify and use fulcrum points to leverage change.
Comments
Only a corporate structure/economic reform will have any effect.
A MODEST PROPOSAL
Re: Cardinal Law, et al
And so another prince-bishop gets bumped upstairs by the Vatican and is enthroned in a palace even more luxurious than the Boston bastion of Irish aristocracy he formerly occupies. Imagine the oxymoron of it all, Irish aristocracy
Even better, Cardinal Law has renaissance frescos in his new palace adjacent to the Santa Maria Majori basilica – a throne worthy of a Basilicos (king) no less!
How many millions of dollars did his inaction on all the sordid sex scandals cost us, the faithful, and what a horrible toll has it taken on the psyches of hundreds of victims – to say nothing of the toll on the belief of the faithful?
Surely, if ever the faithful were due justice, this prince should have been prosecuted. Instead, the lower clergy had to suffer the brunt: suicide, imprisonment, and murder at the hands of an inept justice system. But not only do our princes get off scott free, they are lavished with princely estates while a more humble monk is left holding Boston’s nearly empty bag.
How then might Our Lord react to all of this at his Second Coming? Surely he would take a whip to cleanse all our temples which hold the thrones of such sham potentates. What a total travesty of Our Lord’s message to see such nobility cavorting in satin and lace, decked out in gold and emeralds. Surely it must have Martin Luther puke.
When then shall we the faithful rise up and reform the old European system of lord and prince bishops? When shall we take back our church from the monarchical strangle-hold the present system allows? When shall we restore the democratically elected presbyters our ancient Church celebrated before the Emperor Constantine changed our Church into a monarchy?
Aren’t our Protestant and Jewish brethren closer to our ancient Church than we Catholics are? The former elect their elders as trustees to hold and administer church property and finances in common while our monarchical bishops hold “our” church property in the name of the prince-bishop as “Corporate Sole”. Can you imagine the total usurpation and corruption of the Acts Of The Apostles where we learned that our ancient comm-unity held all property in common much in the same way our religious communities do? Moreover, their elders are elected by their communities much the way that our Protestant and Jewish brethren continue to elect both their elders and lower clergy.
Think of it, their congregations elect their trustees who in turn call or invite a pastor or rabbi to be interviewed and given a contract for a certain term at a set salary.
But we poor and benighted children of ignorant immigrants, most of whom couldn’t even speak English when our American church was incorporated, were indeed “priest ridden” as the Protestants called us while only our Irish clergy had a leg up to speak for us when they were already fluent in English.
That unfortunate time has long ended and a reform of our church governing system is now much overdue. But how to proceed to raise the voice of the faithful?
Allow me to make a modest proposal. Let the scandals rave on to where the hierarchy is driven to bankruptcy and to where they have to sell off all their gold and property. We the faithful can then buy it all back for a song, install our duly elected trustees, and then hire back our hierarchy by contract – or better yet, elect a church assembly to invite and hire those bishops who want to follow through with our democratically elected proposals. Many would be willing and humble enough to forego all their monarchical finery and adopt the more Christ-like simplicity such as our current bishop of Boston “seems” to be doing.
Let us then open a forum on this and hear from as many concerned brethren as possible.
Joseph C. Drexel
Box 631, NYC 10113
josephdrexel@hotmail.com