I hope Bishop Hicks of Joliet does not win to lead the clergy, consecrated life, and vocations committee. I live in his diocese and I have had a few priests there call him the "hide and seek" bishop. Unlike the previous Bishop Conlon of Joliet, who gave out his phone number to all his priests and has and is (as retired bishop) always hel…
I hope Bishop Hicks of Joliet does not win to lead the clergy, consecrated life, and vocations committee. I live in his diocese and I have had a few priests there call him the "hide and seek" bishop. Unlike the previous Bishop Conlon of Joliet, who gave out his phone number to all his priests and has and is (as retired bishop) always helpful to them, Bishop Hicks has restricted his phone and priests only see "private" when he calls them. He has also learned from his mentor, Cardinal Cupich, to call his priests mostly to threaten them. He has restricted or punished several priests simply because in their homilies they call homosexuality sinful or guided the faithful away from sinful acts such as contraception, divorce, or living together without marriage. Such priests have been demoted to administrators instead of pastors (meaning the bishop can remove them at any time) and even sent for retraining so they can be more "pastorally sensitive". Meanwhile, I and my 84 yo mother cannot attend Mass at the closest two parishes because it is ok for the pastors to restrict Communion to on the hand only. Also, several good, orthodox seminarians have left the seminary from the Joliet diocese recently. How could such a bishop direct USCCB policies on priests and vocations is beyond my understanding.
I hope Bishop Hicks of Joliet does not win to lead the clergy, consecrated life, and vocations committee. I live in his diocese and I have had a few priests there call him the "hide and seek" bishop. Unlike the previous Bishop Conlon of Joliet, who gave out his phone number to all his priests and has and is (as retired bishop) always helpful to them, Bishop Hicks has restricted his phone and priests only see "private" when he calls them. He has also learned from his mentor, Cardinal Cupich, to call his priests mostly to threaten them. He has restricted or punished several priests simply because in their homilies they call homosexuality sinful or guided the faithful away from sinful acts such as contraception, divorce, or living together without marriage. Such priests have been demoted to administrators instead of pastors (meaning the bishop can remove them at any time) and even sent for retraining so they can be more "pastorally sensitive". Meanwhile, I and my 84 yo mother cannot attend Mass at the closest two parishes because it is ok for the pastors to restrict Communion to on the hand only. Also, several good, orthodox seminarians have left the seminary from the Joliet diocese recently. How could such a bishop direct USCCB policies on priests and vocations is beyond my understanding.
Hicks won: results posted 2 hours ago
Well, I guess his priests will have even less time seeing him, for better or for worse.