Church Prelates - Jacks Of All Trades And Masters Of None

As I said yesterday, our bishops - and even the Bishop of Rome (he likes to call himself that!) - are occupied with all sorts of important matters - well not all sorts!  Let's see what tickles the fancy of some USCCB officials.

First we hear that some USCCB officials are jumping on the bandwagon to get the Feds to spend $1.5 billion so that all schools can have high speed internet.  Let's lay aside for a moment the fact that this $1.5 billion comes straight from our tax dollars.  Just get a load of what Bishop John Wester had to say on the matter. "It will mean that more of our schools can provide the bandwidth necessary to support 1:1 digital learning ... The additional funding will ensure adequate access to connectivity, including a focus on our schools in disadvantaged communities so that everyone, everywhere – rural, urban and suburban – has access to sufficient capacity."

That may be fine from someone trying to sell some technology, but it's missing something if it's coming from a bishop.  My question is to Bishop Wester, "how do you believe this will aid you in your task to bring these school pupils to heaven"?  Not one peep is uttered by this successor to the Apostles regarding what should be the driving motive behind everything he does and says.  In his considerations of all this technology, is Bishop Wester taking into account the need to protect Catholic students from the pornography and false doctrine that will literally be at the students' fingertips?  I've a hunch that hasn't crossed his mind.

Sadly, another who seems to be veering into areas in which he has no expertise is the Holy Father.  As he addressed a UN meeting on nutrition, he called for a "fair distribution" of food and condemned profit-making and commodity speculation with regard to food trade.  A question that should occur to all is "with whom or what would the pope entrust with this fair distribution"?  Is this a thinly-disguised call for collectivism?  Another is why he veers into the realm of economics.  Read Tom Worstall's excellent article as he tries to educate the Holy Father (and his readers) on basic economic principles and why the Holy Father was flat out incorrect.  I'm sure the Holy Father was not trained in economics, so why would he lend the weight of his high holy office to his mere opinions?  Once again, we must also ask "what does this have to do with the salvation of souls - not bodies, but souls"?

If our church leaders stuck to the mission with which Jesus Christ entrusted to them, more people would be escaping hell and going to heaven (including them).  They might also find that many social ills would also be greatly reduced, as personal sin is addressed.