Those who serve get attacked

During these years, when I have preached to clergy all over Spain, I usually tell them that there are three kinds of priests: those who do no harm to anyone, but don’t do much good either, because they have become bureaucrats of religion; the unruly ones who move around agitating incessantly, making lots of noise; and the truly zealous, who, full of holy enthusiasm, shirk no sacrifice when it is a matter of drawing souls close to God.

Generally speaking, those who belong to the first two circles are not normally attacked. It is only those who belong to the third group, precisely because of their eagerness to serve the Church, who are subject to criticism and gossip. In the face of their self-sacrificing work, we also find diabolical alliances which, though they might have a just cause – and they usually do not – go beyond the bounds of justice and fall into something that seems to be an inexplicable thirst for revenge. One sees publicly, arm in arm, ecclesiastics and public figures, well-known for their constant attacks on the Catholic Faith.