Friday, August 28, 2009

Learning how to compromise.


Archbishop Sheehan decries 'combative tactics' of a minority of U.S. bishops...
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“I believe in collaboration,” he said. “I worked under Cardinal Bernardin and he taught me how to collaborate, how to consult. So I am very committed to the concept called shared responsibility. I think involving people in the process all the way along – my priests, my lay people, I am open to talking to them, working with them. Consultation, collaboration, building bridges not burning them. And you can get so much done when you have collaboration and you build the bridge with other people, whether it’s priests or laypeople, deacons, whoever.” - Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan
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In an interview, Archbishop Sheehan said the Catholic community risks isolating itself from the rest of the country and that refusing to talk to a politician or refusing communion because of a difference on a single issue was counterproductive. He described such actions as a “hysterical” reaction. - Story
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I seem to recall collaborators with evil regimes were never treated very well after the fall of those regimes. I think of the Nazi collaborators, and the silence of various clergy... Hopefully the Archbishop knows the definition of collaboration.

4 comments:

  1. It sounds more like he learned how to be a weasel...

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  2. As a friend at the seminary noted after having to endure a conference of the virtues of collaborative ministry, "We shoot collaborators during wartime." It is not a virtue to be non-combative during wartime.

    (Why does the term 'useful idiot' come to mind right now?)

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  3. When I read this article, I thought the same thing....

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  4. Although no man is all bad (Hitler built the Volkswagen), I find it interesting that Abp. Sheehan would put Cdl. Bernardin on his resume'.

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