Bishops and the Secular Order: Seek First the Kingdom of God, by Dr. Jeff Mirus

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, May 22, 2020

Phil Lawler made several excellent points in Rendering to Caesar in an epidemic: the limits of authority. We agree that it is not quite fair to make adverse judgments against the bishops simply for complying with civil restrictions designed to control the pandemic. But as Phil pointed out, there is certainly good reason to be concerned about the general deference of our bishops to the dominant culture, as frequently represented by civil authority.

Perhaps I can best put it this way: The problem is not that the bishops have generally accepted without criticism or resistance the universal pandemic restrictions mandated by the civil authority (though I note that the bishops of Minnesota have decided to defy the continuing restrictions on public Masses there). The problem is that, as a general rule in the West, our bishops too often appear to be more concerned with maintaining their image as respectable “players” in the larger socio-political order, where they have approximately zero influence and certainly zero control, than they are with putting God’s house in order, where they still (even after decades of general incompetence and neglect) have nearly complete control.  ….

Read more here: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/bishops-and-secular-order-seek-ye-first-kingdom-god/