Fr. Donald Kloster: Non-monetary simony has been destroying the episcopate and the modern Church
When one thinks of simony, usually one thinks of a type of currency changing hands. One thinks of a benefice, a sacrament, a privilege, a pardon, or an ecclesial office for sale. Dirty lucre is often the driver behind the common understanding of the term in the classical parlance of the English language.
Simony, historically, was often hard to root out, but there have been saintly individuals who have contributed to its demise in other epochs by the holiness of their lives. St. John Gualbert (+1073) the Abbot, whose Feast day passed just a few days ago on July 12, was one such holy Moses type of a man. The testimony of Pope Alexander II affirms that the whole country where he lived owed to his zeal the extinction of simony. His embrace of the purely contemplative life did not prevent him and his monks from taking an active role in piously putting down the scourge of simony which was a prevalent, invasive cancer during his lifetime.
Taking a view of our current 5,400 worldwide bishops (recall that they were only 3,000 in 1965), their numbers have swelled by upwards of 80 percent as opposed to the number of worldwide priests which is down by about one percent.
The number of the baptized laity has more than doubled since the year 1965; but only about 10 percent in 2023 go to Sunday Mass. In 1965, there were about 630 million Catholics worldwide and 75 percent or 472 million were going to Sunday Mass.
Today, we have 1.34 billion Catholics and only about 10 percent or 134 million attend Sunday Mass! There was one bishop for every 158,000 worldwide practicing Catholic in 1965. Currently, there is one bishop for every 25,000 practicing Catholic in 2023. That is a six fold loss in the ratio of practicing Catholics to a plethora of additional paper-pushing overseers within the Bride of Christ.
The Catholic Church all over the world is a very top heavy and inefficient bureaucratic machine. The bishops of the world are almost all “company men” currently. Their position has a nearly unanimous proportion of a collective ilk who jostle for power, seek financial gain, and vie for prestige; all the while their sheep continue to disappear from the pews as a direct result of their spiritual absenteeism.
The many trips to Rome and the almost endless bishop’s conference business keep them rubbing elbows with those they deem may be the most advantageous intermediaries to help them get a more prestigious diocese or position in the Church. Gone are the more enviable days when a bishop was the Prince of his own diocese for life; no retiring at 75 and no seeking a stepping stone diocese to advance his “episcopal career.”
It has been seldom the case that a modern bishop makes himself accessible to the faithful unless the individual or group in question has themselves a substantial amount of money, fame, or personal connections. Today’s chanceries are quite adept at keeping their bishop’s calendar open to only a very elite and discerning “clientele.” The modern bishop rarely receives the faithful after Mass and often escapes out of the sacristy in favor of attending to more desirable banquets and big donors. Even their own priests have a difficult time getting an appointment within a month of their scheduling attempts.
Gone are the days that one can consistently expect to see his bishop in a timely fashion and with some paternal care. The Fathers of our diocesan churches have turned themselves into self-realized, voluntarily demoted, Vicars of Rome. They feign “obedience” to Rome not because of a noble conviction. They do so because they are continuously standing in line for their potential promotions. Their grooming has cost them their manly gumption, their collective will to fight for their faithful, and the nobility of seeking the highest common good benefiting the little ones. The bishop’s selections and their potential for promotions have a reality of a quid pro quo exchange that is no less a simony stain on an otherwise seemingly harmless episcopal appointment process.
There is a saying that we deserve the bishops we have in office. This is a true statement. The corrupt collection of corpulent crosier carrying curmudgeons is crucifying the Church. However, the way current trends are unfolding, there may be good news ahead.
The Novus Ordo Missae (NOM) continues to bleed out year to year. Most of the people leaving are victims of the crushing modern culture that is destroying the weak, pedantic, and unsubstantial Novus Ordo infrastructure. This ruinous culture is steam rolling every faith tradition in the spectrum of the various religions as well as within the 60,000 Christian denominations; except for the Traditional Latin Mass. The faithful left behind in the Novus Ordo (about 3 percent leave per year) are of an increasingly noticeable orthodox stance. The TLM faithful are still growing by about 15 percent per year even in spite of the unjust persecution and elimination of many TLM venues.
For every 20 babies born into Novus Ordo preferring homes, only 1 of them will practice by the time they turn 18. Since the birth rate is 80 percent higher for TLM women, they will have 36 babies to the NOM 20 babies. Of those in the TLM, 35 will go to Sunday Mass when they turn 18. That is a 1 to 35 ratio. So, I submit that we will continue to deserve better bishops as the Church is cleansed of her fair-weather, nonchalant numbers.
The more fervent the Catholics, the more deserving we will be of future Prelate Consecrations in the more traditional mold of men who are intelligent, know Latin, and are authentically in love with the Church.
St. John Gualbert is our patron against simony in any form. Our current bishops are collectively astute in their participation of ecclesial simony, in the shadows and out of plain sight.
We priests and laymen have the ability to storm heaven with our prayers, our examples, and our multiple penances. It is our turn to place good replacement bishops in our dioceses by the holiness of our lives.
Please God, there are many priests worthy of the fullness of the Priesthood as bishops who are waiting for the spiritual assistance of their fellow clergymen and the wider Mystical Body of Christ.
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Non-monetary simony has been destroying the episcopate and the modern Church - LifeSite