SHOW NOTES

We introduce to you Bradley Barnes, a handsome convert from Pentecostalism (8 years ago) who works as a Catholic Youth Minister in Cincinnati. We have no idea how or why we found just a random youth minister in Cincinnati. Neither of us have any connections to Cincinnati. Amiright?

We start talking youth ministry, but then we talk about the scandal because we all work for the Church and that's all we know what to talk about. There was a lot more constructive conversation about bishops and priests and the role community amongst clergy, especially bishops, should have.

We also talk about the idea of the "Imperial Episcopacy" (Article in the links below) and the damage it does from bishops to themselves and to their fellow priests. Here's a quote: "Grotesque unchastity is an obvious symptom, but perhaps even more dangerous to the priesthood is the habit of mendacity that hides unchastity and other sinful habits. Superficial flattery and fawning over the person of the bishop can deprive him—unless he has an uncommonly strong and healthy personality—of the evangelical simplicity and candor he needs to fulfill his duties. While deference to the bishop may begin with true reverence for his office, it too often leads to the growth of vanity, ambition, and clerical careerism. And so it is time to end the Imperial Episcopate. "

Support Catching Foxes

Links:

• St. Louis archdiocese invites attorney general to review files — St. Louis, Mo., Aug 23, 2018 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Robert J. Carlson has invited the Missouri attorney general’s office to conduct an inspection of its files related to allegations of sexual abuse and to produce an independent report.
• New allegations surface regarding Archbishop McCarrick and Newark priests — CNA recently spoke to six priests of the Archdiocese of Newark, and one priest member of a religious order who was a seminarian in New York in the early 1970s, while McCarrick was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.
• After grand jury report, new allegations raised in Pennsylvania — by JD Flynn Pittsburgh, Pa., Aug 22, 2018 / 12:46 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Pittsburgh has received about 50 new allegations of abuse, and a state abuse hotline has received more than 500 calls after the Aug. 14 release a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing an investigation of sexual abuse in six dioceses, including Pittsburgh. All of the allegations reported to the diocese “are from prior to 1990 and go back as far as the 1940s,” according to diocesan spokesman Rev. Nicholas Vaskov. “We are taking all of them seriously and following our regular process for responding to them.” The allegations to the diocese came through an abuse hotline and by e-mail the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reported. The diocese said they came from “people who had not previously contacted us.”
• The End of the Imperial Episcopate | Jay Scott Newman | First Things — The Empire—in all its forms—is long gone. Christendom is dead. The Church is reeling from grave scandal, and Christians are crying out to heaven for reform and purification. It is time to end the Imperial Episcopate.  After the gospel triumphed in the Roman Empire, the Church gradually acquired forms of life borrowed from imperial organization. Many of those forms still serve us well. But over time some of those forms have ceased to make sense and have become impediments to the evangelical freedom of the Church. I believe this is evident in significant aspects of how bishops now live and exercise their Catholic ministry.