Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"What I would do if I were Bishop"

Father James Farfaglia has a very thought-provoking post over at Illegitimi non carborundum outlining the changes he would make and the policies he would institute, were he to find himself named a bishop.

Father Farfaglia makes it very clear that he is quite happy as a parish priest and has no desire to be a bishop.  That said, his article shows that he has given some serious thought to the problems most likely facing his diocese - and certainly facing others - and has developed some very interesting responses.

Reducing the size (and, therefore, the cost) of the chancery, dedicating most of his time to his priests, personally leading an ongoing catechetically-based renewal of his priests, personally focusing on the recruitment and formation of seminarians, growing Catholic schools - these are all steps Father Farfaglia would take.

He would also make marriage preparation a priority, using JPII's Theology of the Body as his basis.  As to the instructors, "Any priest, deacon, religious or lay instructor that was confused about Humanae Vitae would not be tolerated."

There is much more, which may be found here.

Let us hope and pray that DOR's next shepherd is a man like Father Farfaglia.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Mike Shea said...

Dr. K.,

A fellow parishioner at Holy Cross mentioned this to me after Mass Sunday.

So much for my semi-anonymity. I guess I'll have to come all the way out of my closet now.

Rich Leonardi said...

Yes. The clip mentions your surname, which is odd; it doesn't appear on your site.