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Careful you are not being tainted by egalitarianism. The clergy is a higher order. One can says that being a noncom is just as good as being an officer, but officers have greater rights than noncoms. Likewise a priest has more rights than a lay brother.What do ypu think ordination means? Clericalism is an abuse of authority, and it tendss to come when the clergy identify with the ruling orders in secular society rather than their brothers in Christ. Since in our society the majority of the ruling elite are liberal, that is the the bishops have got in trouble by trying to conform with the thinking of liberal theologians and academics. Law thinks he is "hot s...." because he was on the right side of the civil rights movement. Despite his reputation as a conservative, he has tried to hard to accomodate people who will always hate the Catholic Church until the Church becomes as docile as the Episcopal Church.

The clergy is a higher order. One can says that being a noncom is just as good as being an officer, but officers have greater rights than noncoms. Likewise a priest has more rights than a lay brother.

Let's not compare the priesthood to the military; the two are entirely different with different functions.

What "rights" does a priest have that a lay brother doesn't? They have different functions and roles, but one is not "higher" in the Church than another.

It's ironic that one would argue about priests being "higher" and having a more "exalted" vocation when the priest is supposed to be a servant to his fellow man.

No wonder we have a problem.

Despite his reputation as a conservative, he has tried to hard to accomodate people who will always hate the Catholic Church until the Church becomes as docile as the Episcopal Church.

You could say this about Pope John Paul II as well.