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Fr. David Hudson sent this along for posting.
By Fr. David Hudson
Fr. David Hudson
Here’s another convert priest piping up, whether “in season or out of season”. Assuming that my right to speak is limited, please allow me address myself only to other convert priests.
As a Protestant Evangelical, rooted in the Bible, I learned that God does not bless those who revile authority. St. Jude says, in verse 9, that “Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”
When Noah became drunk and lay naked in his tent, his son Ham dishonored him, but his sons Shem and Japheth protected his honor (Genesis 9). Ham was cursed, but Shem and Japheth were blessed.
There are many kinds of parents in this world. Some of us have had parents we considered “good”, and others of us have been perhaps more disappointed in our parents. Some have dysfunctional and abusive parents. But which of us, when suffering under an abusive parent, would go on national media and revile them?
St. Paul tells St. Timothy, a bishop (for himself and those under his care), “Do not rebuke an elder (presbyter), but exhort him as you would a father…” (1 Timothy 5:1). If we love our father, who might be dysfunctional, abusive, or simply wrong or questionable in a particular action or decision, we may speak to him, directly, personally, confidentially, lovingly, respectfully, maintaining in humility our proper position as a son or daughter. We do not speak to him as an equal, nor do we revile him nor speak down to him. If our dysfunctional parent acts harshly, or even abusively, to our brother, we may quietly comfort and support our brother, without publicly reviling or embarrassing our parent.
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