Monday, March 03, 2008

The Laments of Bishops

From an essay on 'Why Being Pope (or Bishop) Is NOT Such a Good Deal' (roughly stated) this excerpt, which reminds us to be kinder to Abp. Timothy Dolan.

Being a bishop, or for that matter, pope, is a complete sacrifice of one's private life down to the most embarrassing detail. Some doting cook has made her village's traditional recipe for jalapeno bean fritters in blueberry syrup and stands over the bishop to make sure he gets an extra helping and all the bishop can think is, "Lord, I hope these things don't kick in during the third communion meditation hymn sung by Esperanto folk choir."

Many is the prelate I have seen with a panicked look wondering whether or not there is a bathroom in the sacristy. In the morning, the bishop or pope or whoever, still nauseous from the jalapeƱo bean fritters and blueberry syrup will have to attend a 7:30 AM meeting about some cleric who has been accused of God knows what, while an angry mob of disgruntled parishioners waits in the outer office to complain about the closing of their parish school which is 3 million dollars in debt and has 38 students.


Yah, well....

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