Los Angeles Times on Governor Keating

By Fr. Wilson ( articles ) | Jun 13, 2003

Here's a brief, interesting bit of background on Governor Keating's penchant for controversy.

To be fair, one wonders if it is really possible for a National Review Board to do its job? It has to establish itself as a credible, independent lay voice or it loses all credibility with the public, victims and their advocates. Yet it has to deal with the bishops. It seems indisputable that many of them simply do not understand the extent to which their credibility has eroded, and the Church's reputation suffered. It seems that many of them really believe that unconditional trust is something to which they are entitled ex oficio. I don't know whether that's hubris, or just the degree to which they're insulated from ordinary folk. Perhaps they're simply not conditioned to realize that disasters can, indeed, happen.

It may simply be inevitable that the bishops will come to regard the board as an interloper, trespassing on their exclusive bailiwick of governance, to be grudgingly ceded very limited operational turf. What one would have to do in order to bring about a more cordial, cooperative relationship, I don't know, especially since right out of the starting gate some major prelates were clearly very unhappy with the board.

But there are two jobs in this Church I'd never want: Gov. Keating's, and Bishop Gregory's.