The most important problem with our community right now, as I see it, is a leadership crisis. It is not because we don't have good leaders, but because the system doesn't let them perform well. We have well-educated bishops and priests. They are capable enough to lead the community. However, the present system keeps them from bringing out their real potential. So what we need is a modified system that lets our leaders perform better.
What kind of modification is required? To answer this question, I shall cite a very interesting event from the life of Moses, the legendary leader of the ancient Jewish community. On the way back from Egypt after liberating all those people from slavery, Moses had the opportunity to host Jethro, his father-in-law. Jethro was impressed at his son-in-law. Who wouldn't? There were such a large number of people at the command of Moses. Wasn't it just a year ago that he was herding cattle and sheep there with Jethro and his daughters?
Jethro, an elderly mature person, within a day or two, found something about which he could give advice to Moses. He saw several people coming to Moses from morning till evening with all their little problems. Finally, when he was able to talk to Moses privately, he said: “Moses, if you spend all your time solving all their problems from morning till evening, how can you take care of your real responsibilities? You are leading these people representing God. You need to spend time with God and receive guidance to lead these people. You are the one to take important decisions that affect all these people. So, please, Moses, appoint some others as leaders under you. They will represent you and take care of all these minor matters. Let the people come to you with their problems only if the leaders chosen by you fail to solve the problems of your people.”
I am sure Moses took this advice seriously, and implemented it. Otherwise this event would not have appeared in the Bible at all. I think that our community needs Jethro's advice at this time. Our Bishops and priests are supposed to represent God and lead us in the narrow path of life. They need to show us the way out of darkness. This is their real responsibility. How can they do this if they have to waste their time for administrative matters? Let all administrative matters be taken off of their shoulders, and given to some others.
Now I would like to cite another example: This time from the life of the early Christian Church. At the infancy of the Christian church, the apostles were in charge of everything. But as the church began to grow in number, they couldn't simply handle all the various responsibilities. That is when the apostles decided to appoint a new set of leaders to share their responsibilities--the seven deacons. The apostles handed over all the administrative matters to them, and said, "We will engage ourselves in prayer and in preaching the word".
The apostles believed that praying and teaching the word of God had a higher priority over the internal administration of the community. Today we would like our bishops and priests say just as the apostles said then: "We will free ourselves for prayer and for teaching the Word of God. Let some others take care of all the administrative matters."
It seems that there was a time when the administration of the church and its property in India was not upon the shoulders of the clergy. It was before the Portuguese missionaries arrived in India, and brought the church under the papal rule. The clergy was responsible for teaching the Bible and the faith of the church, and administering the sacraments. The administration of the local parishes and all the property of the church was the responsibility of laymen who were elected periodically. The parishes and the other institutions of the church were not owned by the bishops. It was a more democratic, and a more effective system than we have today.
Today, as we know, all the property of the church belongs to the bishops, who are the administrators. The vicars administer the parishes, representing the bishops. Administration has become their main job today, and they don't have enough time for their real responsibilities.
We have inherited this corrupt system from the Medieval Roman Catholic Church. The head of the Roman church was not only the spiritual head but also the political head. Like a feudal lord, the pope owned all the property of the church. The church degenerated to a den of robbers. Martin Luther had to protest against this corruption when the Pope assumed the role of the infallible God!
Sadly, our church is in a similar situation today. We have become a people without vision. Our leaders have become incapable of leading us. They are quarreling over petty issues. They are holding on to their earthly treasures, and their positions of power. How can the blind lead the blind?
As different parts of the same body, we have different responsibilities. The responsibility of the clergy is to give spiritual leadership and instruction to the community. That is what they are trained for.
Let me cite a familiar example from the medical field. The responsibility of the doctors is to examine the patients, diagnose their diseases, and to prescribe their treatments. Administration of the hospital cannot be and should not be their responsibility, for obvious reasons. The hospital is just a facility where the patients and the doctors meet for diagnosis of diseases and treatment. The skill of a doctor (which he obtains by 8 years of rigorous study) will be wasted if he spends his time for the administration of the hospital. Moreover, hospital administration requires different kind of skills, and that should be handled by people who are trained for that.
Together, clergy and laity, we need to fight against the corrupt and decaying system that is destroying our community. We want the clergy to do what they are trained for. Their skills are not to be wasted for church administration.
Administration should always be carried out by an elected body of people for a specific period of time. In my parish, a new managing committee is elected every year. However, the vicar who remains there indefinitely (no transfer or retirement in American diocese even now) presides over all committee and general body meetings. In effect, the vicar is the real administrator in this system. Similarly, in a diocese, where the bishop stays indefinitely in the same position, and presides over all the committees and councils, he is the real administrator.
Where people stay in power indefinitely, there is a very high probability for the power to be corrupted. We need a modification in our system if the detrimental effects of compartmentalization of the clergy and laity are to be erased for the wholeness of the church!
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