Apologia pro Murphy

I have used this humble space to “defend” Bishop Murphy in the past. The attacks on the bishop come mostly from dissenters and Catholics who know very little Catholicism so I mostly ignore them. However, recently even some good Catholics have joined in the bashing. It is unfortunate that many good Catholics put him in the category of “bad shepherd” as Mark Shea did recently. I am not one to defend bishops or to care too much about what they do. I think the notion that bishops can “control” the actions of their priests right down to making sure they say their prayers and are in bed by 9 pm is nuts. If there is a Bishop whose actions are to be deplored in this Diocese it is Bishop McGann, but he has gone to his reward. Murphy seems to get attacked mostly for not allowing Voice of the Faithful to meet on Church property, and for coming from Boston. I don’t have a problem with either of these things. The fact is: Murphy is as close to a Bruskewitz or Chaput as we are likely to get. And compared to previous leadership, we are very lucky indeed. When Bishop Murphy first came here (a few days before 400 of his flock were killed by Crusading Muslims), he announced that if the seminary were not run according to the dictates of the Church, then he would shut it down. This was music to Catholics’ ears since for years this seminary was notorious for faulty teaching. There have been some changes made in the faculty that I take as good signs. Bishop Murphy has also allowed the Traditional Latin Mass to be offered weekly rather than monthly, which is a huge shift from previous policy. Bishop McGann invited Fr. Richard McBrien to speak to all the priests, while Bishop Murphy invited Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Of course, Murphy has to deal with the dozens of staff members left over from the McGann days and this has slowed the progress considerably. But the fact remains that progress has occurred. A bishop is not the be-all and end-all that some seem to think he is. The fact is that the bishop provides leadership and the people do most of the work. In this diocese the people have failed just as much as the bishops.