The Twit Who Tweeted

For those of you who know that I worked for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts for more than two years, I am happy to report that none of the bishops I've met or worked with were remotely capable of the mind-blowing insensitivity and professional malfeasance displayed by the Rt. Rev. Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden, England.

For those of you with more important things to follow like the kerfuffle involving full body scans or how many oodles of dollars the latest Harry Potter pic brought in last weekend, the skinny is this: Bishop Pete has a Facebook page; he also likes to use Twitter. Using both channels, His Eminence made a variety of disparaging remarks about the royal family, took a pot shot or two at Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton, then wound up by predicting their marriage would last seven years. See here for more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8153944/Royal-Wedding-Bishop-who-said-nuptials-wont-last-seven-years-suspended.html

I couldn't help but wonder what kind of marital counseling would this guy give. He sure doesn't seem very pastoral to me. If he's being snarky about the Royals in public in this manner, what is he saying about his parishioners in private?

It's one thing for a Briton to be a republican; the UK is a free country and one has that choice. It's another thing for an ordained cleric to be a boor; regardless of one's denomination, a member of the clergy is called to care for and about others.

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