Catholic Leftists: The Hierarchy of the Church

[Richard Nixon]

I would like to ask this question to the Catholic leftists here at RevLeft: do you support the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church?

[Demogorgon]

I was just thinking about this very subject today actually. I seem to recall reading an article from some of them calling for the overthrow of the hierarchy and its replacement with a democratic system.

[Bud Struggle]

I'm not a leftist, so I don't presume to answer for them--but without the bishops the Catholic Church would cease to exist. They are integral to the Church's continued existence. Without the hirerarchy I'm sure there sould be some sort of church remaining, but it wouldn't be the Catholic Church.

[Durruti's Ghost]

I don't know much about the internal structure of the Church, but would it be possible to grant parishioners the right to elect their own priests/bishops/archbishops/popes, rather than having these be appointed by other members of the hierarchy, without having the Church lose its Catholic nature?

[Bud Struggle]

I don't know much about the internal structure of the Church, but would it be possible to grant parishioners the right to elect their own priests/bishops/archbishops/popes, rather than having these be appointed by other members of the hierarchy, without having the Church lose its Catholic nature?

Good point. It might have actually been that way in the early Church. The bishops are in a direct line of consecration from the original Apostles so they HAVE to be part of the Church for it to exist. But how they are apointed/elected isn't really written in stone, so in theory bishpos could be elected and then as long as they were consecrated by another bishop the Church would continue to exist.

[spiltteeth]

I don't know too much about the Catholic faith, but wasn't there a bishop in the 1100 or so that the people were dissatisfied with and so demanded he be deposed and another dude instated?

I think who gets elected bishop, although not direct democracy, does have something to do with the love the people have of him.

[ComradeOm]

I don't know much about the internal structure of the Church, but would it be possible to grant parishioners the right to elect their own priests/bishops/archbishops/popes, rather than having these be appointed by other members of the hierarchy, without having the Church lose its Catholic nature?No. The Church holds that it occupies a uniquely authoritative position (the Magisterium) in interpreting God's will/laws/whatever. What separates Catholicism from most Protestant religions is this emphasis on the Church's role in interpreting scripture and tradition. This is the basis of the Popes'/bishops' authority. So you cannot simply remove or drastically reform the structure without affecting the core doctrines

And it goes without saying that discussion of medieval or earlier structures in the Church are completely missing the point. Catholicism today is a hugely different beast to that of a millennium, or even a century, ago

[mikelepore]

I think the cardinals are more of a problem than the bishops. The pope appoints the cardinals and then the cardinals elect the next pope, forming an invincible circle of self-perpetuated power. Most of what the bishops do are symbolic rituals, such as confirmations and ordinations.

[Che a chara]

I would like to ask this question to the Catholic leftists here at RevLeft: do you support the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church?

After the recent child abuse scandal, you'll find a lot of left catholics, especially Irish ones, will renounce their support for the hierarchy of the church, if they weren't already against it for it's many right-wing policies.

The church has a lot of influence on thought and wields a lot of power from only within that minority hierarchy. I would like to see a more democratic process.

Personally speaking as a Roman catholic (not really a practicing one), I don't agree with many of their oppressive idealogies, but do have respect for the charitable and often caring and sensitive side of the church.

It does seem that the hierarchy of the church has covered up child abuse and this is unforgivable. A total reform is called for.