The Church and celebrities

Whatever this man did or did not do, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church should think twice before it lionizes or in any way connects itself with Catholic celebrities. 

I was against the way Mr. Saville's funeral was organised, with the bishop (my former bishop) presiding and one of the Vicar Generals preaching (although he had known him from years ago as his parish priest).

I was told afterwards that the homily was very good, which I do not doubt, but we need to think again about how we treat our catholic celebrities. Mistakes have been made and we will continue to make them unless we change our attitude. Frank Skinner, for example, was mentioned in a recent  bishop's pastoral letter because he had made some comments about the standard of preaching at Mass. I suppose the thinking is that mention of well-known people makes the whole letter sound topical. It's a mistake to do this; 

Catholic parishioners are not going to be fooled by this kind of thing.

As someone remarked today, a  Catholic who is NOT in the media spotlight and is NOT on TV and has NOT been a high-profile "philanthropist" but has been a tireless campaigner against abortion (this is a real person) would not have the bishop presiding at his funeral nor would it be reported very much in the Catholic Press, nor would there be much publicity about him being a "Catholic". In God's eyes we are all His children and we are all equally loved no matter who we are, what we have done, and how much others think of us.

I am reminded of some words of St. John Vianney;

"It does not matter  what others think of us, nor what we think of ourselves, but rather who we are in the sight of God".