On the Silence of the Pastors: Where Have All the Shepherds Gone?

 Many voices lately are lamenting the silence of the pastors. Some of them are high profile. We've certainly heard it for several years now from Archbishop Vigano. (Check out the new Vigano page in the index on the right. Everything he says is worth reading.) But a more surprising source popped into the news in the past few days. Catholic actor Jim Caviezel blasted the silent shepherds who have allowed our churches to be closed with nary a word of protest. 

Caviezel passionately defends the faith calling out our silent shepherds. His words emphasize what Dietrich von Hildebrand called  the "lethargy of the guardians" in his book, The Devastated Vineyard. There's something terribly wrong when a Catholic actor proclaims the faith more vigorously than those anointed by God with that responsibility. 

There is something even more wrong when the "guardians" punish and silence their spiritual sons who take seriously the responsibility to save souls by exercising the spiritual work of mercy "to admonish the sinner." Do bishops do that because those words and actions make them squirm? Are their consciences pricked because their own cowardice is on display? 

How many souls in hell, in their anguish, remember the many missed opportunities they had to repent? Is that part of their suffering? Do the demons remind them and cackle? How many bishops and priests are among them? 

Let us pray, fast, and make sacrifices for the clergy at all levels. On my annual Ignatian retreat, Father Buckley always reminds us that those in the hierarchy are pursued by "commando devils." If we experienced the level of temptation they do, how would we do?