Comments on: Clericalism: finding the answers https://nzcatholic.org.nz/2019/10/09/clericalism-finding-the-answers/ The New Zealand National Catholic Newspaper Wed, 09 Oct 2019 22:22:34 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6 By: Greg https://nzcatholic.org.nz/2019/10/09/clericalism-finding-the-answers/#comment-34442 Wed, 09 Oct 2019 22:22:34 +0000 https://nzcatholic.org.nz/?p=20238#comment-34442 Quick points:
(1) treatment of a problem requires correct diagnosis.
Clericalism is an undefined euphemism so are you even sure what the “problem” is, let alone diagnosis of the causes?
Looking around during my lifetime I see a lot of bustling laity activity and pretty laid-back, chilling, hands-off clergy.
The average pew-sitter possibly experiences more clericalism (?) from “official” laity than the ordained/professed/consecrated.

(2) It’s aspirational to desire involvement “in the big ethical issues in society today” (abortion anybody? Hello?) and to be “responsible for capacity building” but not everyone is cut out for that. Are you priests of God or business managers? Compare to teachers – also university graduates but how many aspire to be middle and upper management, leaders of adults? In education this leads to more “programs” and “initiatives” and “conferences”. Easy to mistake activity for enriching progress. What is “progress” anyway? What’s the goal?

(3) remember, if Catholics cease to look and sound like Catholics (laity-led this and laity-led that…) there’s no reason for we laity in the market place of ideas to wander down the street to the coffee-chugging and rockin’ Evangelical church or socially woke NGO or just stay in bed and watch rugby re-runs.

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