EDITORIAL Brigadier general or archbishop: can't wear both hats
"Which one of you having a hundred sheep and losing one of
them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost
until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and
rejoices." --Luke 15:3
It is said the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is the oldest
in church history. It may be the most powerful. Through that imagery we
continue to hold to the notion of our bishops as shepherds, loving caretakers
of their flocks.
The story of the lost sheep, and the imagery of the loving
shepherd who sees in every sheep infinite need and opportunity, moves us deeply
and gets to the heart of the Christian psyche. It is deeply ingrained in our
Catholicism. So we do not expect, nor can we ever fully integrate in our
Christian spirituality, a divisive shepherd, one who instead of tending to the
entire flock limits his concern and picks and chooses among the sheep.
Yet recently this has become a frequent Catholic experience.
A deeply troubling example is the news (NCR, Feb. 21) of
San Salvador Archbishop Fernando Sáenz Lacalle's recent decision to
accept the rank of army brigadier general in the Salvadoran armed forces.
Consider for a moment the incalculable trauma this act has had on
those Salvadorans -- and other Catholics in the wider Catholic family -- still
reeling from the painful memories of civil war and the slayings of their former
archbishop, Oscar Romero, the Salvadoran Jesuits, the four U.S. women
missioners and the tens of thousands of other seemingly nameless souls brutally
executed at the hands of the Salvadoran military and its death squads.
Sáenz Lacalle has defended his appointment in the
Salvadoran military, saying it is something "normal within the Catholic
church." It is not. Nor should it ever be considered normal. Jesus was -- and
remains -- the norm.
Sáenz has been apostolic administrator of the country's
military ordinariate since July 1993. The rank of brigadier general is the
highest the military can bestow on him. To accept it can only mean unimaginable
ignorance and insensitivity -- or worse: deliberate exclusionary choice.
The image of the Good Shepherd has lasted 2,000 years. It has
survived Catholicism's darkest days. It will survive the archbishop's
unfortunate mistake and dubious honor. This we can tell our children.
Brigadier General Sáenz Lacalle may officially be
archbishop of San Salvador. However, he appears to have given up the
opportunity to be viewed as shepherd of his flock.
National Catholic Reporter, March 7,
1997
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