Interesting how one can condemn himself with his own words, isn’t it?
Just listen to what Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life said recently in disparaging the counsel and comfort Parish Priests offer to those entrusted to their care.
“Catholic Priests lack credibility to prepare the faithful for the Sacrament of Marriage because they have never been married, according to the leader of the Vatican’s office for ministry to the family. Priests are not the best people to train others for marriage.”
“They have no credibility,” Cardinal Farrell said, “they have never lived the experience; they may know moral theology, dogmatic theology in theory, but to go from there to putting it into practice every day.... they don’t have the experience.”
Though I do not, let’s take His Eminence at his word: one must live an experience before he can establish credibility in his judgments and counsel.
Well, let’s apply that same principle to Bishops, many of whom have never been Pastors of parishes, never had to balance budgets, pay bills, maintain property, respond to emergencies in the middle of the night, preach and minister to the same communities of faithful congregants for years on end.
What credibility would such a Bishop have in offering any advice, insight or leadership in dealing with Pastors and Parish Priests?
According to His Eminence, none.
But, let's consider a brief overview of Cardinal Farrell’s own clerical career as a case in point.
Bishop Farrell was born in Dublin, Ireland, on September 2, 1947, the second of four sons, and grew up speaking Gaelic. His older brother, Brian, is also a Bishop and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
After studying at a Christian Brothers’ school in Dublin, he joined the Legionaries of Christ in 1966. He visited the United States the following year while fundraising for the missions in Latin America.
Over the following 10 years, he gained seven degrees in a range of subjects. First, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Salamanca in Spain, then a Master’s Degree in philosophy and a Licentiate in theology from the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He went on to obtain further degrees in dogmatic theology (1976) and in pastoral theology (1977) from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas (the Angelicum). Later on, he gained a Master’s Degree in business and administration from the University of Notre Dame in the United States.
Ordained priest in Rome on Christmas Eve 1978, the Archbishop subsequently served as Chaplain to the University of Monterrey, Mexico, and gave seminars there in bioethics and social ethics.
Moreover, he worked as General Administrator of the Legionaries of Christ, with responsibility for seminaries and schools in Italy, Spain and Ireland.
A crisis developed in the Legionaries in the 1970s, and, after what he called “differences of opinion” with its leadership, he left the Order and went to the United States.
He was subsequently incardinated into the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., by Archbishop (later Cardinal) James Hickey in the early 1980s, and went onto serve as Associate Pastor in three parishes of the Archdiocese in two years. In 1986, he succeeded Father (now Cardinal) Seán O’Malley, O.F.M.Cap., as director of the Archdiocese’s Spanish Catholic Center. Two years later, he became assistant Executive Director and then interim Director of Catholic Charities, and from 1989-2001, was Secretary of Finance for the Archdiocese.
In 2001, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Washington, D.C., disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, appointed him as Vicar-general for the Archdiocese and Pastor of the Church of the Annunciation.
On December 28 of that same year, St. John Paul II named him Auxiliary bishop of Washington, and on Feb. 11, 2002, the Cardinal ordained him Bishop. He served as the main Vicar-general and Moderator of the Curia until 2007, first under McCarrick and from May 2006 until March 2007 under Archbishop (now Cardinal) Donald Wuerl.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as Bishop of Dallas, Texas, on March 6, 2007.
So, in 40 years of Priesthood, Cardinal Farrell has served as an Associate Pastor for two years (in three separate parishes, mind you) and Pastor of one parish for under a year.
Well, Your Eminence, to paraphrase your own words: “you have never lived the experience; you may know moral theology, dogmatic theology in theory, you may even have seven degrees and served as an ecclesiastical bureaucrat for years, but to go from there to judging Parish Priests and the effectiveness of their counsel....you don’t have the experience...you lack credibility.”
Oh how the arrogant bring themselves to ruin every time!
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