Is the Current Meeting of US Bishops Missing the Point?

There have been many news stories about how disaffected most Americans have been with their government, be it local, state, or federal. Especially on the federal level, many citizens believe that the politicians are more interested in beating each other up, rather than assisting people, who are suffering from unemployment. They see American politicians as being indifferent to their plight.

The National Catholic Reporter’s website provides a link to a commentary on the Baltimore Sun’s website; Baltimore is the city which is hosting a meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The commentator, Francis X. Doyle, who was formerly with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, makes the observation that while Americans are going through the stresses of massive unemployment, home foreclosures, and national uncertainty, the bishops are not addressing any of these issues at their national meeting.

Now, I would make the observation that while the issues being discussed by the bishops are important, the people need their pastors, their shepherds to speak words of comfort, of hope to them. The last thing they need is to have their immediate concerns ignored by the very men charged with caring for them.

Catholic laity’s opinion of the US bishops is slowly beginning to improve. The bishops risk losing that growing goodwill if they fail to address what is worrying most of American Catholic families, right now.