--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: These [conservative] people, if they're…" description: "\"These [conservative] people, if they're Americans, look back on the last 35 years of our ecclesial experience and take heart from that. The dramatic re..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22a/george-weigel-9372_bishops_these-conservative-people-if-they-re-ame_542601.jpg" --- # These \[conservative\] people, if they're Americans, look… ![“These [conservative] people, if they're Americans, look back on the last 35 years of our ecclesial experience and take heart from that. The dramatic reform of seminaries continues. The priests and bishops who take their pastoral model from John Paul II will continue to do so, perhaps learning a…” quote by George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22a/george-weigel-9372_bishops_these-conservative-people-if-they-re-ame_542601.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22a/george-weigel-9372_bishops_these-conservative-people-if-they-re-ame_542601.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22a/george-weigel-9372_bishops_these-conservative-people-if-they-re-ame_542601.jpg) > “These \[conservative\] people, if they're Americans, look back on the last 35 years of our ecclesial experience and take heart from that. The dramatic reform of seminaries continues. The priests and bishops who take their pastoral model from John Paul II will continue to do so, perhaps learning a lesson or two from Francis along the way - and they'll be the overwhelming majority of the Church's ordained ministers ten, twenty, thirty years from now.” [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker predicts that most future priests will follow John Paul II’s pastoral model, possibly integrating lessons from Francis, indicating continuity and adaptation in Church leadership. **In simple terms:** Future priests will largely follow John Paul II, with Francis’s influence. Key Takeaway Expect continuity with modest reform in clergy. Themes church leadership tradition adaptation future Mood thoughtful hopeful analytical Type religious future When to use this quote - seminary education - pastoral training - policy planning Key Concepts theology institutional change Questions to Reflect On - How will Francis’s teachings reshape pastoral work? - What challenges arise from maintaining tradition? 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Instead, he insisted on learning a $200,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/babe-walker/my-dad-should-have-listened-to-me-when-i-told-him-that-college-was/) [Babe Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/babe-walker/) > [It definitely has learning a lesson about the way you're living your life. I wouldn't compare our movie to that, but it has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-sandler/it-definitely-has-learning-a-lesson-about-the-way-you-re-living-your/) [Adam Sandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-sandler/) > [Change is God's way of congratulating us for learning a lesson, and he is helping us move on to achieve another. Never fear change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/change-is-god-s-way-of-congratulating-us-for-learning-a-lesson-and-he/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [Still, it is not perverse to wonder whether the spectacle of America, currently learning a lesson - one that conservatives should not have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/still-it-is-not-perverse-to-wonder-whether-the-spectacle-of-america/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) ## More by George Weigel > [ But ripped out of context, \["Who am I to judge?" phrase\] has become an all-purpose filter through which everything else - including the pope's… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/but-ripped-out-of-context-who-am-i-to-judge-phrase-has-become-an-all/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [“This life of ours . . . is a gift from God. It is not of our choosing. It comes to us by his choice. Since it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/this-life-of-ours-is-a-gift-from-god-it-is-not-of-our-choosing-it/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [ I hope \["reanimated the papacy"\] means that the new interest in the pope evokes a new interest in the Church's teaching, of which the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/i-hope-reanimated-the-papacy-means-that-the-new-interest-in-the-pope/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [In the Catholic view of things, abortion is a justice issue, not an issue of sexual morality... it is a civil rights issue, arguably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/in-the-catholic-view-of-things-abortion-is-a-justice-issue-not-an/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [ The pope \[Francis\] takes his vocabulary from his pastoral experience, not from the rhetorical tool kit of liberation theology, with its Marxist yammering about… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/the-pope-francis-takes-his-vocabulary-from-his-pastoral-experience/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [What I hope my liberal friends (and I have more than a few) take from this pontificate is that mercy and truth are never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/what-i-hope-my-liberal-friends-and-i-have-more-than-a-few-take-from/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [The people who are behind the curve of the Catholic future are the institutional-maintenance types.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/the-people-who-are-behind-the-curve-of-the-catholic-future-are-the/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [ \[Pope Francis\]sees a world in need of the Gospel, and of friendship with Jesus Christ, as an antidote to the self-absorption and loneliness that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/pope-francis-sees-a-world-in-need-of-the-gospel-and-of-friendship/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [Be the Church - that is, be an evangelical movement that tells the world of God's passionate love for humanity. That, not institutional maintenance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/be-the-church-that-is-be-an-evangelical-movement-that-tells-the-world/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [Democracy is always an unfinished experiment, testing the capacity of each generation to live freedom nobly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/democracy-is-always-an-unfinished-experiment-testing-the-capacity-of/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [ \[Pope\] Francis communicates the pastoral embrace of the Church, the breadth and inclusiveness of Catholicism symbolized by the Bernini colonnade around St. Peter's Square,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/pope-francis-communicates-the-pastoral-embrace-of-the-church-the/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [The dynamically orthodox orders of religious women will continue to grow, and the dying orders, which long ago opted for the lightest of Catholic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/the-dynamically-orthodox-orders-of-religious-women-will-continue-to/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [ \[Pope Francis\] is 78 years old and knows that his will be a short pontificate. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/pope-francis-is-78-years-old-and-knows-that-his-will-be-a-short/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [“Ideas are not intellectuals' toys: ideas have consequences, for good and for ill, in what even intellectuals sometimes call "the real world".”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/ideas-are-not-intellectuals-toys-ideas-have-consequences-for-good-and/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [I'd also hope that my liberal friends, who find in this pope a critic of what they're pleased to call "culture-warrior" Catholics, will read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/i-d-also-hope-that-my-liberal-friends-who-find-in-this-pope-a-critic/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) [Explore all 73 George Weigel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) ## More Bishops quotes > [The good Bishop of Assisi expressed a sort of horror at the hard life which the Little Brothers lived at the Portiuncula, without comforts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-good-bishop-of-assisi-expressed-a-sort-of-horror-at-the-hard-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My last two characters have been Denethor and Walter Bishop. Both will be hard acts to follow. That sits in the hands of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-noble/my-last-two-characters-have-been-denethor-and-walter-bishop-both-will/) [John Noble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-noble/) > [The one thing that the Catholic Church desires, and that I seek as Bishop of Rome, “the Church which presides in charity”, is communion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/the-one-thing-that-the-catholic-church-desires-and-that-i-seek-as/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-bigger-the-fall-the-bigger-the-joke-it-would-be-better-fun-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-don-t-see-jesus-as-rescuing-the-fallen-i-see-jesus-as-expanding-the/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/it-was-a-blonde-a-blonde-to-make-a-bishop-kick-a-hole-in-a-stained/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [We want to create, never mind the leaders or the bishops or chief rabbis or imams, or Popes. We want to create a grassroots…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/we-want-to-create-never-mind-the-leaders-or-the-bishops-or-chief/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [Only a good bishop can be sacrificed, a bad bishop can only be lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuri-razuvaev/only-a-good-bishop-can-be-sacrificed-a-bad-bishop-can-only-be-lost/) [Yuri Razuvaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuri-razuvaev/) > [Archbishop Milingo is a good Bishop and his contention that there are satanists in Rome is completely correct. Anybody who is acquainted with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malachi-martin/archbishop-milingo-is-a-good-bishop-and-his-contention-that-there-are/) [Malachi Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malachi-martin/) > [The future belongs to he who has the bishops.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siegbert-tarrasch/the-future-belongs-to-he-who-has-the-bishops/) [Siegbert Tarrasch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siegbert-tarrasch/) > [Inherent in the ordination to be bishop is both the right and the obligation to be directed by inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boyd-k-packer/inherent-in-the-ordination-to-be-bishop-is-both-the-right-and-the/) [Boyd K. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boyd-k-packer/) > [Our bishops storehouses are not intended to stock enough commodities to care for all the members of the Church. Storehouses are only established to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/our-bishops-storehouses-are-not-intended-to-stock-enough-commodities/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) > [The kids kept walking, moving through the Henley's halls like a tide, but when Kat turned to leave, she walked in the opposite directions.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ally-carter/the-kids-kept-walking-moving-through-the-henley-s-halls-like-a-tide/) [Ally Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ally-carter/) > [The Jackdaw sat in the Cardinal's chair! Bishop and Abbot and Prior were there, Many a monk and many a friar, Many a knight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-harris-barham/the-jackdaw-sat-in-the-cardinal-s-chair-bishop-and-abbot-and-prior/) [Richard Harris Barham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-harris-barham/) > [The first proof of charity in a priest, especially a bishop, is poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-first-proof-of-charity-in-a-priest-especially-a-bishop-is-poverty/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) [Browse all 323 Bishops quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bishops/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "These [conservative] people, if they're Americans, look back on the last 35 years of our ecclesial experience and take heart from that. The dramatic reform of seminaries continues. 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