Bishop Raymond Lessard lived in the Cathedral rectory the entire time he was the Bishop of Savannah. In his later years he had a small beach cottage at Tybee Island as a weekend get away. It had an independent room with kitchen and living room for priests to use upon request. It was a five minute walk to the beach.
Of course bishop and priest’s living quarters belong to the diocese not the individual.
Thus this story goes back to the 1960’s and 70’s when many bishops did similar things in terms of simplicity of housing and spent a bunch on wreckovating their cathedrals and ridding them of side thrones replaced but a modern central chair where the tabernacle was once honored,
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Archbishop Wilton Gregory lived there while he was bishop in Bellevue as that diocese was going through the terrible homosexual clergy scandals. Gregory must love comfort since when he was Archbishop of Atlanta he also had a nice pad until the press went after him.
I have no problem with a bishop living there provided that administrative functions take place on the premises and it is not some pleasure palace. However, I think it better for a bishop to live in the rectory attached to his Cathedral.
Archbishop Wilton Gregory seems to have gotten the pope's message about modest living.
"Days after Pope Francis permanently removed a German bishop for his lavish spending on a renovation project, the Atlanta archbishop apologized for building a $2.2 million mansion as his residence. He bowed to criticism from local parishioners and said he'd consider selling the new home in Buckhead, Atlanta's toniest neighborhood.
In letters, emails and meetings, local Catholics told Gregory the price tag was outlandish, especially in light of Francis' frugality. The Tudor-style mansion, stretching nearly 6,400 square feet, includes two dining rooms and a safe room. The archbishop said the new pope has "set the bar" for church leaders and others, and Gregory said he hadn't looked at the project's cost in terms of his own "integrity and pastoral credibility."
It may be the best idea he has for its use. It also seems short sighted.
I'm unimpressed with this virtue signaling. "Look at me, look at me, I'm sooo Franciscan". Shortsighted is one word for this.....
TM, I tend to agree. But residences with 10 bedrooms and multiple baths and only one person living there is a bit much.
So why is only one person in it? Why couldn’t it be used for coaching, training, etc.
When bishops were considered pseudo-aristocracy and treated as such, lavish residences were the norm. I suspect scores of them have recognized how foolish is it to maintain a small - or not so small - mansion for one or two people. Selling such property isn't virtue-signalling, it's doing the right thing.
I recall staying a few days with a classmate who was the secretary to an archbishop in New England. The three story house was three doors from the governor's mansion. The top floor was occupied by 4 nuns whose duty was to be the domestic servants for the archbishop and the two priests who lived there. In the dining room we each had a button under the table that we could press to summon on of the sisters to come and wait on us. I was mortified that such a situation still existed around 1990.
All of us can regularly examine our belongings, remembering that the only time we exercise 100% control over some item is when we give it away.
Yet in those days when bishops lived next door to governors, the Church was taken far more seriously than today, the Dutch Church a case in point. Divesting of all of this is a sign of defeat as the world triumphs. Let’s sell governor’s mansions instead to include the Whitehouse. Biden would do better in a condo in Delaware.
"Yet in those days when bishops lived next door to governors, the Church was taken far more seriously than today, the Dutch Church a case in point."
Your point is that signs of worldly wealth - they are, after all, only signs since, as you note, "Of course bishop and priest’s living quarters belong to the diocese not the individual." - increase the Church's clout with governments. If we just sell our souls by adopting the trappings of those who are materially well-off, then we can have more influence.
"St. Thomas More, if you just sign the paper accepting the king's supremacy and his marriage to Anne Boleyn, you can keep your head."
Yet, we know, "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"
You don't, Good Father, think very much before you post such nonsense, do you?
Knowing how to be in charge others is all the difference. If you let the other person know that you need them and that you are bearing a burden that might fail without their assistance you give honor to their service and yours.
Strange that Father K cites St. Thomas More. Ironic indeed. I doubt he would vote for a Party that worships abortion
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