The Bishop as Middle Management

March 21,2004

I live in Schenectady, which is part of the diocese of Albany NY, headed by Bishop Howard Hubbard. Recently I have been reflecting on how different a bishop is from middle management in any other organization, in terms of job security. For most management the concept of lifetime tenure seems more typical of Japan fifty years ago than a modern church. In the church, however, it seems that upper management follows the example of God and forgives all sins.

In this diocese we are closing churches. We are closing schools. A company on the verge of bankruptcy would call it “closing unprofitable locations.” One reason we have no money to keep these churches and schools open is because the diocese has paid large sums of money, reportedly in the millions, as hush money to victims of clergy abuse. And it seems that the bishop has not not in the past taken the priests involved away from temptation, but has moved to them to other parishes, which doesn't seem to match “lead us not into temptation” very well.

Now in a corporation, employees who can't work with the public, who create expensive legal issues and unfavorable public perceptions, are either fired or moved to a position completely inside the organization. And any middle manager who fails to protect the finances and reputation of the company is also reassigned where he can do no further harm. No such worry for a bishop, who has been supported all the way to the top, where our local paper reports that the Pope questions the policy of zero tolerance.

And regarding zero tolerance, Bishop Hubbard was one of the few who openly opposed such a policy and counciled rehabilitation. From a point of protecting the children of the faith and the reputation of the church, how could anyone question for a moment that like Caesar's wife the clergy must be above suspicion? God is more forgiving than the parents of abused children.

Recently the Bishop himself has been the subject of controversy. Several people have accused the Bishop of improper behavior, one in a suicide note. In response to these incidents the diocese hired a lawyer, at over $700 per hour, to do an independent investigation of the accusations against the Bishop. Would that money keep a church or a school open? Could any investigation be as effective at restoring public trust as a new Bishop who pashionately believes in zero tolerance? In some ways the accusations are irrelevant, to restore confidence requires a bishop who embraces rather than accepts the church policy on abusive clergy, and Bishop Hubbard has both practiced and preached more tolerance of such behaviour than many Catholics can support.

If this sounds personal, it is. The school at the church my mother attended for half a century is to be closed. It was financed through a building fund to which my mother, a widowed teacher, and many other working and middle class members of the congregation contributed money they certainly could have used for other things. I'm glad she didn't live to see what has happened to her beloved school, her beloved church as an organization, and what was done by some of the priests she knew and respected.