EDITORIAL Bishops miss opportunity in Euart
episode
Several years ago, from the floor of
the bishops conference, retired Fort Wayne Bishop William E. McManus
proposed that Associate General Secretary Sharon Euart, a Mercy Sister, be the
next general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
And when youre appointed, he told her from the
microphone, come and place a rose on my grave. There will be no
rose for McManus, who died in 1997. Euart, in many minds the leading candidate
for the general secretary post when Msgr. Dennis M. Schnurr departs Feb. 2,
2001, after six years, was not permitted to apply.
Thats because the U.S. bishops conference asked Rome,
May we? and the Vatican predictably said no. The episcopal
conference, which can no longer see ahead because its neck is so twisted from
looking over its shoulder, seemingly does not understand the unfortunate
significance of this latest anti-laity farce.
Its another example of the growing disconnect between the
U.S. hierarchy and lay people. Too many U.S. bishops speak Roman to a nation of
Catholics who speak American. The U.S. hierarchy appears to be orbiting around
the pope, the laypeople, around their parishes.
In an earlier era, the U.S. bishops as a group were proud of the
American contribution to the life of the universal church. They were willing --
even high-profile conservatives in the conference -- to make a strong case in
Rome for new ways of doing things that were distinctively American. That
episcopal will and imagination appears drained from the conference. Perhaps
there is no alternative, given the nature of this papacy and the revisionist
fervor it has unleashed.
Perfectly straight-faced papal pronouncements and episcopal
declarations -- enthusiastically quoting Vatican II (1962-65) and other
documents -- urge the laity to shoulder the challenges of church and world and
take their place in both.
The words, nice though they sound, are hollow. And so few of our
leaders are willing to name the sham. The hierarchical club and its Vatican
masters do not trust the laity.
Trust is the issue. Of course Sr. Sharon Euart could do the
conferences general secretary job. It is not insignificant that several
who have held the job, including two bishops, believe Euart would make a fine
general secretary and that the position does not require an ordained male.
This papacy seems to have terrified the bishops conference.
But the terror does not transmit to the Catholic community at large. That
community loves the pope as Catholicisms leader and global icon. Young
Catholics love him because he gives them a Catholic identity in a church about
which, the studies show, they know next to nothing.
They do know that their church doesnt think women are good
enough to be priests. Now those who notice will understand their church
doesnt think women are good enough to be even a general secretary.
Its enough to make strong American Catholics weep.
If it werent so ludicrous.
In memoriam, Bill McManus -- and other Euart supporters in the
conference -- deserve a rose for even proposing her for the general
secretarys chair.
Other current members of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops deserve a symbolic cactus on their chairs. A cactus for lacking the
courage of their written 1994 convictions. Ours is a church of symbols. Euart
would have been a fine person in the job and a clear symbol of commitment.
Instead, the bishops have rolled the carpet back over the glass ceiling they
only lately uncovered.
National Catholic Reporter, September 1,
2000
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