From Aileen Sivell re Bishop Gregory. (Letters to the Editor).

"Watch your words; they may return to haunt and taunt you." This truth hit me when reading (C.I., Jan/Feb, 2002) of the meteoric rise of Chicago Bishop Wilton Gregory to the coveted, powerful presidency of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference, a calculated choice.

In 1997, Catholic News Service carried this bishop's thinly veiled, oddly defensive warning to U.S. Vocations Directors: "Reject candidates who seek to 'save' the Church! Obsession is a pathology, firmness of purpose a virtue!" Does that not solely depend on the nature and direction of both obsession and purpose?

He continued: "The 'quality' we look for in postulants is serenity; men with a rich, varied 'experience."' Do sophisticated, worldly types possess the stability, dedication, depth of character so crucial to the priesthood? The facts are in, they are a liability. He goes on: "Beware of those who find 'enemies' and clandestine motives." If they don't exist, they pose no threat, right?

The bishop laments: "The lack of faith-knowledge, rich Catholic historical tradition in today's postulants (whose fault is that?), may seem an obstacle but is really an advantage in that we won't need to deprogram them."

An unfortunate blunder, given that he speaks of a technique explicitly used to unscramble brain-washed cultists! Is trepidation warranted here?

Burlington, ON