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| Fr. Fessio's Disservice to Catholic Chaplains 09/03/09 Next time you or a loved one are in the hospital and a Catholic chaplain comes to give communion, pray or talk, remember that he is there because he is being punished and has been been banished. His punishment/banishment have occurred because he had a personality clash with his superiors or bishop. Or he is there because he is not very well educated or gifted. In fact, he may even be a half-wit. Well-educated and gifted priests such as Rev. Joseph Fessio, S.J. have more to contribute than ministering to sick nobodies and nothings and are only assigned to hospital ministries when they are being punished. The above paragraph is more or less the text of a comment I attempted to post under an article mentioning Fr. Fessio that was recently published in a diocesan Catholic newspaper. I won't identify the paper because what I'm going to say about its coverage is not very complimentary and Lord knows, I have embarrassed the Catholic press enough as it is. Posting comments under articles is not my style, but in this case I felt that I had to file a minority report among the other sentiments that included such words as "awesome" in predicates about Fr. Fessio. I pushed the "Post Comment" button and immediately got a window telling me that my less-than-1500-word two-cents worth was being reviewed by an editor. Of course, it never appeared on-line. However that's not the beef I have with this Catholic paper. The problem I have with it is that its article perpetuated the story that Fr. Fessio was banished --the word used in the article--to a hospital ministry. In the news business, we who believe in objective reporting have proverbs such as: One man's "rant" is another man's "reasoned argument." We therefore consider it unethical to describe anyone's speech--say, at a town hall meeting--as a "rant". Objective and competent reporters covering a controversy do not report as fact one party's characterization of, that is, spin on, an issue or event. One man's "banishment" is another man's "assignment" (the word that should be used) and perhaps even a third man's "calling from God." Father Fessio has spun his assignment out in the California sticks by his Jesuit superior as "exile," banishment for being an orthodox Catholic in an order filled with liberal dissenters. "I'm being picked on by liberals!" has of late become a "last refuge" as Dr. Johnson would say. It is certainly true that the Society of Jesus of recent decades has been a hotbed of dissent and it's certainly possible that such dissenters may vindictively transfer a priest because of his orthodox views. However it is also possible that they transfer him because he is a pain in the aleck-kafoozalem. Just as it is possible for a person to be fired because he is an incompetent employee and not as he claims, a member of a certain ethnic group, or a conservative. Imagine yourself to be a provincial head--or bishop--and you have a priest who is running around, getting involved in all kinds of big busts: a Catholic radio network that is a failure, a college (Campion) that is a failure. Until he was fired for good last month, Fr. Fessio was involved with pretend-billionaire Tom Monaghan's make-believe university in a Florida swamp (When that fails, its supporters will be sure to blame liberals). Imagine yourself to be supervising a priest who has all the symptoms of a huge ego that he balms by mixing himself up in risky, grandiose projects that may bring scandal to the church. Even if you're orthodox--but not a fool--you'll want to make him cool his heels, too. Yeah, Ignatius Press publishes great books, indispensable books, but anyone who thinks its editor is "Da Man" or some kind of a model priest hasn't been to school or around the big-city block. If this rescue-from-the-liberals tale is true, and I have my doubts, it means that Schönborn, Ratinger/Benedict XVI and Kolvenvach all agree that hospital ministry is a punishment and unworthy of the brilliant. It also suggests that they, too were wowed by Tom Monaghan's money. (1) "Publisher of Roman Catholic Literature to Take Los Angeles Chaplain Post," |
| Ad Orientem: a Hook to Pull Celebrity Priests off the Stage?
As you may have gleaned by reading other pieces on this web site, I think that one of the ugly by-products of the Catholic Church's great renewal in this new millennium is "the Catholic celebrity," someone who projects himself as some kind of a model or hero, or who does not strenuously point to Christ when celebrity is thrust upon him. The worst ones are the priests. They're supposed to lead lives of poverty, chastity and humility (whether they formally vow to do so or not). --NJC |