Catholic Instincts

One of the most worrying aspects about the Liverpool Cathedral/Methodist 'ordinations' fiasco is this. As soon as I read about it, my instinct was that this was wrong. The Archbishop of Liverpool's instinct was clearly the opposite.

That would worry me, in terms of my own response, were it not that on this (as on so many issues) my instinct coincides with what previous generations of Catholics would have felt, and also with the official teaching and praxis of the Church as demonstrated and taught by Peter.

I claim no credit for this - I'm just an ordinary Catholic in the pews. Blame my parents. They insisted on educating me in the Faith, despite the protestations of the Benedictines who ran the school I attended (one had the temerity to write to my father suggesting he leave my religious education to the school, as I was getting confused: that drew a frosty response... My father was a convert, as was my Mother: they had worked hard for their Faith).

So the worrying question is: why do we have bishops in this country whose instincts are contrary to those of the Catholic faithful of the past, (and indeed many of the present generations too) and contrary to Rome? And what can be done about it?

As usual, prayer and sacrifice are a large part of the remedy. But what else?