Friday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072712.cfm

return, rebellious children, says the lord,
for i am your master;
i will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,
and bring you to zion.
i will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart,
who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.

Recently a Veteran attempted to draw me into an old quarrel about leadership in the Church. Specifically he challenged me about the Sacrament of Penance and whether a man can forgive sins. I replied that they challenged Jesus on that very issue -- I couldn't resist getting one point in -- before I diverted the topic back to our original discussion. 

But the question of leadership for the Lord's "rebellious children" goes back a long way, even to a thousand years before Jesus was born. You might remember the last judge Samuel reluctantly anointed Saul as the first king of Israel. He did so at the Lord's command, and only after fixing his skepticism deep in our sacred literature. (I Samuel 8) His ambivalence persisted into the New Testament, with its criticisms directed against ostentatious rabbis and pretentious Pharisees. Although they certainly echoed Jesus' sentiments these remarks were lodged in the New Testament a half century later because the Church was suffering under its own misleading leadership. 

My limited knowledge of Church history tells me the entire quarrel between Catholics and Protestants is about leadership: Who should lead? How are they chosen? What qualities and qualifications should they have? How are they dismissed from leadership? How are leaders trained, organized and led?  What are their responsibilities and duties? What are the limits of their authority? What should we reasonably expect of our leaders? What are unreasonable expectations? And so forth and so on.... All the arguments about the nature of the Eucharist and the roles of the Blessed Mother and the saints are side issues. The real issue is leadership, and everyone has an investment in it. 

A daily reflection is no place to take a stand on any of those questions but it is the right place to urge prayer for our leaders. They are, at best, vessels of clay. All of our leaders, both men and women, deserve our prayerful support, our gracious welcome, our ready obedience, our intelligent criticism and our mature friendship. They have the same right to forgiveness as any other Christian; and perhaps more so because their character defects are so apparent to everyone but themselves. Finally, our leadership should enjoy the vision of new generations of leaders as parents, families and churches encourage their young to consider entering the ministry.