The major role of the Catholic Bishop is to preach the Word of God. I have been thinking about this and I think this means that they have a real prophetic role to lead, to inspire, to point the way ahead. Now when I look at the Prophets in the Old Testament, I see folks who had little baggage. They were a little like the cowboys in the Wold West. Little wonder they had to bring the Word of God to folks who might turn and stone them , or beat them. Now when I look at the Bishops today do I see this lightness, this freedom, do I see them challenging, reading the signs of the times, being stoned and persecuted? Do I see free spirited Cowboys coming into town and proclaiming the truth? Well Pope Benedict does, certainly. He is constantly saying things to make you think, to challenge you. But on the whole they are not lean, mean fighting machines. Not travelling cowboys, They are bureaucrats, respected, fat, esconsed in directing the flow of money and power. Now maybe there was a time when they might have got away with this, but in the Tribulations that are coming we need, lean fighting machines. Not bets hedgers. The Bishop's Palace on Broadway and 14th St. in Galveston, Texas
Does adversity reveal character or does it form it? I think it's a little of both. In the times to come . . . some bishops will pull further away from the Church, others will cling ever tighter.
I suppose if they can do as well as the Bishops in China they will do well, some of them were real saints. Well maybe they all were or they would not have made it!!
