Buried in all the news this morning dedicated to the assassination of Osama bin Laden AND the beatification of John Paul II is what newspapers calling the sacking or firing of Bishop William Morris, who had been bishop of Toowoomba in Australia since 1993. This "firing" is the result of a statement of Morris in 2006, in which he stated that women and married persons who are called to the priesthood should be ordained by the Catholic Church.
From Morris's own admission, it is clear that he is vacating his seat unwillingly. Obviously, Pope Benedict had hoped that he would resign and make the axing go much smoother. On a side note, this type of action does make it look like the Pope is in charge of a corporation called the Catholic Church, Inc., which give credence to lawyers who want to sue the Pope for not removing priest-rapists.
Nevertheless, it is oddly appropriate that Morris was fired for promoting women priests in the same news cycle as the beatification of John Paul II. This is an act of injustice that would have warmed the previous pontiff's heart. Up until this time, I had been led to believe that Benedict was more open to disagreement within the Catholic Church than John Paul, but I guess disagreement can only happen when the Pope says so (i.e., condoms).
A Faithful Catholic
2 comments:
FC, watch your phrasing. The Vatican's statement does not give reasons for the "removal" of the bishop, and to speculate on those reasons might mislead people, which I am sure you do not intend, hm? Canon lawyer Ed Peters has a great blog post on In Light of the Law from when Bishop Loemba lost his office that could straighten out a few of your misapprehensions. Do a search. It'll come up.
By the way, this time I suggest reading JPII's letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis," which should give you a greater understanding of the whole "women's ord" thing.
Kat, I assume it is fine with you to remove a bishop and give no reason.Real classy!! JP's stuff on women is really corrupt. I've read most of it, and it is nothing but a effort to cover the Church's strong male superiority crap.
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