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June 20, 2003/Sivan 20 5763, Vol. 55, No. 43
When clergy forget their sacred missionMEYER TURKENA couple of years ago, I wrote a book, "Maybe 'They' are Right and 'We' are Wrong" - Interfaith-Intercultural Relationships as I See it." One of the chapters is "When a Clergy Person Forgets the Original Mission."At the time I was writing this book, in my opinion, there were several clergypeople, including a few rabbis, who had forgotten their original mission of spiritually helping individuals. Today, there is one more clergyperson in that category who has forgotten his mission: Bishop Thomas O'Brien of the Phoenix Catholic Diocese. The following is an excerpt from the book: Power is the bane of organized religion. We all know clergymen who get wrapped up in power of finances or controlling daily life and politics. Power is an elixir and it corrupts. Misuse of power is not limited to any particular religion. As far back in history as the "medicine man," many spiritual leaders abused this power. We find this today, especially in extreme right-wing radicals. In the Middle East as an example, the extreme radical Orthodox Jews and the extreme radical Muslims are interpreting and misinterpreting God's will, and their leaders are both calling for un-Godly acts against the others. The Romans did it. The Christians did it. James Michener in "Trinity" wrote of the abuse of power by the Catholic Church in Ireland. History is fraught with this kind of thing, and it is still happening today. Today we often see this in some of the television evangelists, where money, growth and power become their primary spiritual motivation. I would like to think that all of these religious leaders started out sincerely, but somewhere along the way the idea of spiritually helping the individual sometimes takes subordinate position to power, size, money and control. Meyer Turken is a Valley businessman. Contact him at 602-272-6601. |
