tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post3701040995735473951..comments2024-03-28T20:30:10.681-04:00Comments on southern orders: THE VATICAN AND CURIA THAT POPE FRANCIS INHERITED: A BROKEN, DYSFUNCTIONAL ONEFr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-14679477043396347762014-01-17T16:05:19.770-05:002014-01-17T16:05:19.770-05:00One need not be clairvoyant as Fr. McDonald is to ...One need not be clairvoyant as Fr. McDonald is to foresee the inevitable result of all this efficiency consulting -- an expanded and still more bloated Vatican bureaucracy.<br /><br />I recall the days the whole state of Tennessee constituted the single Diocese of Nashville, since split into 3 separate dioceses, each with a chancery bureaucracy of impressive size.<br /><br />The previous Diocese of Nashville was run--and apparently run well, everything carefully managed and under control--by the bishop and a total chancery staff of two: his personal secretary and a priest who kept the financial books and diocesan records. Henrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-24606039969709724942014-01-17T15:36:11.387-05:002014-01-17T15:36:11.387-05:00I had an old tomcat who used to go out and fight a...I had an old tomcat who used to go out and fight all night. He'd whip every cat in the neighborhood and keep everyone up in the process. So, I had him fixed. He still goes out every night, but now he is a consultant...Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06672484450736725268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-39999018839894238812014-01-17T14:38:03.079-05:002014-01-17T14:38:03.079-05:00The problem with consultants is that they will tel...The problem with consultants is that they will tell you what their ideal of the situation is, not how to implement it. rcghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09131930849106490711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-35697301439834382792014-01-17T13:11:05.715-05:002014-01-17T13:11:05.715-05:00The trouble with bureaucracies is that attempts to...The trouble with bureaucracies is that attempts to reform them usually leave them more bloated than before. This is a function of Parkinson's Law. The important Roman dicasteries don't have huge staffs, but once you start saying "let's involve more lay people, let's have more women", then you get more and more on the payroll. Is there evidence that Mueller's CDF, Burke's Signatura, Ouellet's Congregation for Bishops or Canizares's CDWDS are dysfunctional? <br /><br />National Episcopal Conferences have a plethora of lay-led and liberal-dominated centralized agencies which frequently usurp the role of the diocesan bishop, and this can be replicated in the dioceses themselves. The Bishop of Portsmouth (England), Philip Egan, inherited from his liberal predecessor a bloated and ruinously expensive lay-led curia and proceeded to take an axe to it (cue howls of anguish from liberal place-holders). A similar thing happened in Shrewsbury.<br /><br />Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger ran the most important Vatican dicastery for nearly a quarter of a century and was a very able administrator. In his last four years in the role he also had to deal with the fall-out from the clerical abuse scandals; he read all the files and took prompt action (although the damage had already been done years before and he got little credit for his efforts).<br /><br /> John Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027156691859606002noreply@blogger.com