American Catholics Lacking Leaders

The Vatican has had to appoint a replacement for Bishop Law of Boston - but they had to go to Palm Beach to find someone. Bishop Sean O'Malley had, in fact, been sent there just a few months earlier to rebuild the church there; thus, his appointment shows that the Vatican trusts him, but it also suggests that the Vatican doesn't have a lot of options when it comes to finding good leaders for struggling parishes and dioceses.

So where is the leadership for the Roman Catholic Church in America? That's a very good question. Priests in America are growing ever older - and there are so few that not only are lay Catholics taking over more and more duties for priests, but the church is having to import priests from other nations around the world. Thus, the supply priests from which local leaders can be drawn is small and growing smaller. Deal Hudson, the conservative editor of Crisis magazine, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying:

"[There is a] shortage of bishops with both the theological and people skills that are necessary to dig out from a situation rife with anger, with division and with, frankly, depression."

Another factor affecting the supply of church leaders is the fact that only those who display an uncritical and unswerving loyalty to the increasingly conservative policies of the Vatican get promoted up the chain of command. These "safe" appointments mean that many dynamic and independent priests remain at the lower levels - great for local parishes, but a raw deal for American Catholicism generally.

Read More:

• Catholic Power vs. American Freedom, by George La Piana & John W. Swomley
• In Search of an American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in Tension, by Jay P. Dolan
• Roman Catholicism