"Cardinal George Suspends Reverend Pfleger"

This interesting article on an ongoing dispute in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago can be found here.

Particularly of interest to me was the implication that Roman Catholic priests, in this particular archdiocese anyways, only serve 12-year terms as parish rectors to avoid them becoming too close to their parishes (my wording, not the article's). While I can understand a little of why such a policy would be in place, it seems at the same time to be a violation of the historic understanding of the priest as the father of his parish church. There's certainly an unhealthy closeness that can develop, but on the whole one would think it better for a priest to know and be known by his flock. Thoughts? :-)

Hat tip to Ad Orientem for posting this article!