Obedience

I thought Bishop Lynch's statement was pretty ironic, but I found this article by Roger Cardinal Mahony to have it's share. While most of his letter makes some solid points it is hard to read the Cardinal lecturing on obedience.

---Obedience: Today's society emphasizes personal rights, personal freedom, personal choice --- creating a certain self-centeredness that focuses on "what's good for me, personally." The notion of living in service for others or the common good of society is looked upon as a weakness.

Again, contrast that self-concern with the example of Jesus who came not to be served, but to serve others totally and generously --- setting aside personal preferences and desires.

Obedience isn't the first word that comes to mind when I think of Cardinal Mahoney. Actually the first word that comes to mind is the same word with the prefix "dis" in front of it. If he truly wanted to foster vocations in a diocese in excess of four million Catholics he might try, for example, orthodoxy for a change. Funny how it is that those diocese that do all that reaching out and making the mass more "relevant" to young people also find that they can't attract priestly and religious vocations. Calling people to a life of sacrifice is pretty hard when you try to make worshipping God more like a get together at Starbucks.