I hope that somewhere out there, some historian or sociologist (or both) is keeping an eye on the travails of the diocese of Belleville, IL. Which, in some form or another, have been going on for a good long while. It would be a fascinating and revealing case study of the dynamics and tensions within the late 20th century American Catholic Church.  There – there’s your dissertation topic. No charge.
The most recent, and quite public (in some ways) explosion has been between a large number of the priests of the diocese and Bishop Braxton, who was appointed to Belleville in 2005, after about 4 years in Lake Charles, which had, in turn followed several years as an auxiliary bishop in St. Louis. In Belleville, Braxton followed Wilton Gregory, who became the Archbishop of Atlanta.  You can read Bishop Braxton’s full biography at the diocesan website, here. It’s interesting.
There have been all sorts of accusations – some vaguer (lack of communication, imperiousness) and some quite specific – the latest being the bishop’s use of monies designated for the Society for the Propogation of the Faith and another fund for vestments and a conference table.
The week before Holy Week, a group of Belleville priests went public – sort of. That is, they published a letter asking Bishop Braxton to resign.  Bishop Braxton responded last week with a letter of his own, describing his sadness at his mother’s death, and then specifically responding to the priests.
It’s a mess.
(A CNS summary here)
I’m sort of intrigued by the whole thing because I truly don’t understand what’s going on. On one level, it’s being made out to be a conflict between liberal priests who’ve been able to do what they want for decades, chafing under a bishop of a different sort than they are. There’s that. But is there more? For on another level, there are charges of a serious lack of communication. Hard to prove from the outside.  I really have no idea, but really all I can say is that I was definitely shocked by a bunch of priests blowing this up so close to Holy Week,  but I also have no idea what Bishop Braxton has actually done to try, on his part, to close the evident gap between him and his priests over the past three years.  Perhaps he’s done a lot. Who knows. Leadership is hard. Leadership is a gift.
The place where there is the hottest discussion of this right now is the blog Southern Illinois Catholic blog. The blog is definitely pro-Braxton and anti-the letter-writing priests,  just so you know, but all the links to news and various statements are there and the comments come from all sides. 
You just really wonder what that Chrism Mass was like this year…