Another head scratcher from Crux this morning. The former head of a Jesuit institution in Rome finally explains what Pope Francis means by spiritual worldliness in priestly ministry.
Top canonist warns against dangers of social media for priests
He says this in a Crux article this morning:
…Ahead of a high-profile conference on the priesthood, prominent Jesuit canonist Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda has cautioned against the risks of social media and excessive attachment to outward devotions, stressing the importance of service…
Spiritual worldliness, he said, means “hiding behind external forms of devotion, liturgical correctness, orthodoxy to the bitter end, of ‘always correct manners,’ of always being in order, but to protect one’s own search for security and personal benefit.”
It is an obsession with outward details, such as fancy cufflinks on the sleeves of a shirt, and is a spiritual attitude that “can lead to careerism, losing sight of the fact that the ministry is a service for others and not for oneself,” he said.
My comments: First of all, this could describe the living Pope Emeritus and what he tried to do throughout his priestly life and as pope. Do you have to slam others’ “obsessions” which actually reveals your own?
And what does it mean to hide behind the things this Jesuit obsesses on? Can one not also hide behind social work, being available 24/7; and living an unbalanced life with no time for oneself? Can one hide behind a flexibility that enables all kinds of perversions because of that flexibility?
At any rate, apart from this Jesuit’s obsessions with what he calls “obsession with outward details” it seems to me to be a manipulation of those who accept Pope Saint John Paul and Pope Benedict’s ethos and leadership, renewal in continuity in order to promote chaos and heterodoxy and calling anyone who disagrees with this, the problem while neglecting the actual problem, promoting chaos and heterodoxy.
And a disclaimer on my part, I feel just as comfortable wearing only a bathing suit on the beach as wearing cufflinks on my black long sleeves clerical shirt. I feel at home with the rigidity of the EF Mass and the super flexibility of the OF Mass. I have more lay friends than clerical ones and apart from being a member of the clergy belong to no other clerical clubs or cliques. But should that be the issue in today’s Church or are there other more pressing issues?
We’ve entered the circus of absurdity or should I write absurdities?
3 comments:
The Pope has a habit of giving new definitions to old words; but only his sycophants are really paying attention.
Monkmcg,
Or some of us are scratching our heads!
Social media is merely a means of communication. As with every other form it is how you use it that matters.
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