[Magdalen] Parish in crisis, was Re: Some Christmas music

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Roger writes> Getting the bishop to act as the
chief pastor and do anything to demonstrate that responsibility for the
cure of souls is virtually impossible. When a bishop does act in a
dispute it is generally without first investigating the situation
properly so it is ill-informed meddling which assumes the laity are
right to complain about the priest.


it is indeed a sticky wicket... I think that the authority between bishop 
and rector is a unique one that is in many ways 'hands off' on the part of 
the bishop unless there is an infraction of canon law, and sometimes not 
even then... in difficult situations with a 'call' that becomes anything 
from awkward to bordering on evil, I've observed the church/parish can very 
well end up twisting in the wind. From the outside looking at the pain can 
be palpable and the solution seems out of reach. (I must say this is not any 
church I have belonged to but have had close knowledge or association 
through friends and colleagues). My logical mind longs for authority to 
bring order to the situation through intervention. Reality is often that it 
does not happen.

sighing
Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr

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From: "Roger Stokes" <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 4:02 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Parish in crisis, was Re: Some Christmas music

> On 17/12/2015 21:48, Scott Knitter wrote:
>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 3:43 PM, Molly Wolf <lupa at kos.net> wrote:
>>> The bishop definitely needs to be involved.
>> I'm sure he has been from behind the scenes, via his assistant, and I
>> think he's met with the Vestry, but he's long overdue for either
>> putting in an appearance in church (special meeting, maybe) or
>> communicating to the parish via mailed letter what his view is on how
>> we need to proceed and what behavior is not acceptable. He needs to
>> kick a**. Like a boss.
>
> In my experience bishops don't like to do that and the clergy are caught 
> in the middle.  In the Church of England when a priest takes charge of a 
> parish the bishop comes for a big service and reads out the Deed of 
> Institution or the Licence as the priest kneels in front of the bishop. 
> The document is then handed over with the words "Receive the cure of souls 
> which is both yours and mine."  Getting the bishop to act as the chief 
> pastor and do anything to demonstrate that responsibility for the cure of 
> souls is virtually impossible. When a bishop does act in a dispute it is 
> generally without first investigating the situation properly so it is 
> ill-informed meddling which assumes the laity are right to complain about 
> the priest.
>
> Roger