How are the politics like in your parish

[IrishAyes]

24. As I've often said,

... there's real obedience and then the other kind. Moving around so much and now being so old to boot, I've seen a lot of surface obedience that's still openly subversive. So it doesn't do the hierarchy much good, really. Any priest worth his salt can find plenty of ways to be defiant.

Once I knew well a particular Claretian who had been made head of an extremely wealthy large parish much to his dismay. After a few years of protesting, he secured a transfer to a small and very poor outlying parish. When they ran out of supplies, which was often the case, he followed St. Francis' example by marching back to the rich parish and liberating whatever he felt the poor one needed. They threatened him with church censure and even said they'd call the sheriff if he kept on. But he did anyway. He always left a note describing what he'd appropriated, but they knew if they sent him a bill he'd never pay it on principle as well as need. So when HE decided what needed doing, everybody might as well step back and clear the way, because here he came! I can safely expect he likes our new Pope.