EDITORIAL Cardinals welcome swipe at
careerism
A career seems like a perfectly
decent thing to have. It even carries overtones of high achievement. Its
amazing, though, what an extra syllable can do to a word. Careerism
smacks of something less worthy. The word ambition is never far behind
it. And careerism seems to raise its head in the very areas where its presence
is most unsavory -- where one expects to find altruism rather than
self-interest. If one were starting a religion, for example, one would be wise
to exclude careerism.
The bad news is that the church has long wallowed in careerism.
The good news is that highly placed Catholic officials -- albeit in the autumn
of their own careers -- are calling it a curse and urging an end to it.
Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, retired head of the Congregation for
Bishops -- than whom no one was in a better position to know about the
aspirations of bishops -- started the outcry (NCR, May 28). He was
appalled by the blatant ambition of bishops and would-be bishops propelled by
vanity or various other too-human hungers. It was refreshing to hear a ranking
prelate call this abuse by its name.
Now comes Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with the same message (see
page 10): In the church, above all, there should be no sense of
careerism. To be a bishop should not be considered a career with a number of
steps, moving from one see to another, but a very humble service. This,
too, is an admirable admission from on high.
It would be a pity if these cardinals were to defang their own
criticism by applying a too-benign interpretation to careerism. They seem to
suggest this is all about whats good for the church rather than about
vaulting ambition. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the popes vicar for the Rome
diocese, among other things, spells out this argument from ecclesial
expediency. Climbing the ladder is good because you can apply what you learned
on the lower rungs to the situation higher up, he said.
This sound suspiciously like rationalization. The dictionary
defines careerism: The policy or practice of advancing ones career
often at the cost of ones integrity. People know what this means in
practice. Its not about who will serve best in one diocese or several.
Other words come trailing, such as vanity, the quest for power or advancement.
And its not only about bishops. Its at its most distasteful in
young priests whose sights are already set on high eminence.
And speaking of eminence, Gantin suggested the rank of cardinal
should not be associated with particular sees. But why should it be associated
with bishops at all? A church is no place for princes.
Still, its great to have their gray eminences debating such
interesting and salutary matters.
National Catholic Reporter, July 30,
1999
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