What to do when a Bishop goes bonkers?

The Catholic Bishop overseeing the diocese of Peoria, Illinois, is named Dan Jenky. He recently sent out a letter to all the churches under his bishopric, more or less commanding Catholics to vote for Mitt Romney.

By virtue of your vow of obedience to me as your Bishop, I require that this letter be personally read by each celebrating priest at each Weekend Mass, November 3/4.

Of course, many priests will ignore this "command." Nothing will happen to them, despite the Bishop's quaint threats to get Medieval. The supply of Catholic priests is so thin that, in practice, few priests ever lose their gigs. If Father Michael Pfleger can't get himself fired, nobody can. Seriously, if you want job security with decent bennies -- and if you don't mind celibacy or the company of people who believe in the supernatural -- be a priest. You're set for life. (Almost forgot: You must also possess a penis.)

Firing a lot of priests would necessitate closing churches. If that happened, Bishop Jenky's bosses would probably find him guilty of mismanagement. Bishops have rather less job security. There will always be people vying for Jenky's position, because in any hierarchy, people want to clamber to the top.

Our friends at Skydancing have it wrong, as they usually do on such matters. Jenky is not making "all Catholic priests" everywhere read this letter. His snit-fit can't reach beyond Peoria -- and even there, in that formidably blue part of a blue state, most people will react with a shrug, a smile, and eyes rolled toward heaven.