Letter 41: To my brother bishop,

To my brother bishop, I am writing in preparation for the council meeting that I trust you will also be attending. There are several matters I intend to raise and which I want to discuss with you beforehand, so that we arrive at Toledo having already thought them through. The first concerns the regulation of episcopal elections in the smaller dioceses, where I believe the current practice is unacceptably variable. I have a specific proposal that I will be presenting, and I want your support for it — or your honest objections, if you have them. The second concerns the question of clerical education and minimum standards for ordination, which I have been trying to raise at successive councils for several years without result. I am aware that there is resistance from bishops who feel this represents interference in their own prerogative, and I understand that concern. But the evidence that we are ordaining men who are simply not competent to fulfill their ministry is too strong to ignore. The third is a matter I would rather discuss in person than commit to a letter. I also want to say something that is not about council business: I am aware that these gatherings have become increasingly political in a way that I find discouraging. The real theological and pastoral business of the church gets less attention than the maneuvering between factions. I am not immune to this — I have my own allies and my own interests — but I think we would all serve the church better if we remembered more often what we are actually there for. Until Toledo, Braulio