Another Bishop takes a break

One piece of news that may have escaped readers during the Christmas Holidays was one from December 27, at which time the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, announced that their Bishop, Daniel Conlon, was leaving the Diocese and taking a medical leave of absence. The reason for this departure was not stated.

While certainly all people of good will wish him well and assure him of their prayers, it is the second Bishop in the past month in the United States that has announced his taking a medical leave of absence. Granted what I said in my previous essay, the Clerical Mental Health Maelstrom, I wonder if these two instances are related. Plenty of Priests and Bishops take informal time off in order to tackle various health issues, like surgery or a difficult series of medical interventions. But comparatively few take formal leaves of absence.

Coupled also with recent news that almost half of all Priests asked in the United States now refuse the offer to be consecrated a Bishop, I think it may be necessary to ask: are the Bishops themselves unable to shoulder the burdens of their office? Is there anything we can do, or they can do, to lighten the load?

Although I often appeal, in speaking of self-care, to Our Lord’s example of regular rest and prayer, I wonder what Our Lord or his Apostles would think about the endless bureaucracy and ‘busy work’ entailed by modern episcopates and their chanceries. Bishops who really want to be true spiritual leaders of their dioceses may find such an environment especially suffocating. How much do we think the same, when subjected to the same thing in parishes!

May the Holy Spirit, giver of life, renew and vivify all leaders of the Church, and help us all to focus on what gives him glory, and benefits the cause of the salvation of all mankind.