Australian Priest Excommunicated Over Teaching (promoted gay marriage, women priests)

[SaintAugustine]

Ido not know all the facts so I can not speak to the issue. I do, however, feel sad that so many posts seem to rejoice the excommunication. Are the faithful and righteous believe supposed to revel in the excommunication of this priest? It appears some of the righteous would love this for anyone who disagrees with any aspect of Catholic teaching and do not wish the church to entertain any dialogue/discussion on issues just as this site allows us to do.

Like I said, I do not know about this priest’s story but feel dsmayed at the cold, chilly and unfeeling display of glee over the excommunication.

I’m sure the “glee” is over the fact that the Church took action, rather than allow the priest to continue his heresies. I’m also sure that all those posters would join in praying for the priest to return to faithfulness. That is always a desired result of excommunication. It is a heavy dose of medicine, not a death sentence. However, refusing the treatment can result in spiritual death.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

Yes - he openly celebrated Mass in distinct defiance of any semblance of rubrics, he defied his ecclesiastical superiors who suspended him, and he openly committed sacrilege by giving the Body and Blood of Christ to a dog.

Wow. This sounds a bit crazy, especially the dog part. Goodness.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

I do, however, feel sad that so many posts seem to rejoice the excommunication. Are the faithful and righteous believe supposed to revel in the excommunication of this priest? It appears some of the righteous would love this for anyone who disagrees with any aspect of Catholic teaching and do not wish the church to entertain any dialogue/discussion on issues just as this site allows us to do.
.

I’m really sad that it had to come to this. Really. I don’t rejoice in this kind of thing. I hope that the ex-priest repents and sees the error of his ways. Maybe the excommunication will be a wakeup call.

However, I am so glad that this kind of insanity is being dealt with. I think there should be more of that. The problem is that many Catholics think that our faith is more like a set of rules of a social club, and not a religion. Things that people make up, rather than God’s revealed Truth.

What is there to discuss? When secularists want to discuss something that means they want to change it. And this goes for Catholics of the secularist mind-set. There are reasons why chastity is required of us, all of us. Homosexuals are not an exception to this. There are reasons why women can’t be priests. The church can’t change that, regardless of the pressure that demands ‘dialogue’ and change.

Don’t fall for this nonsense that is constantly being spewed in the media. If you believe that Jesus is God and that He came to teach us how to worship and how to live, then do it His way. The secular society can’t teach you about God, and their poor understanding of our faith is not to be imitated and held in high esteem.

 

[Rocky24]

Finally (I live in Australia)! This man sacrilegiously gave Holy Communion to a dog. It was about time.

 

[SuperLuigi]

“I’m a bit annoyed, if not angry, at the process or lack of process,” Mr Reynolds told AAP on Saturday."

The guy’s a former priest, so I’m not sure what process he was expecting. He excommunicated himself; the Vatican just let him know about it.

Good to see these sorts of statements are being made. Less confusion is always a good thing. Hope the guy comes back to the Church and to Our Lord.

Well said!

= Liberal Princess wrote: This is sad

It’s always sad when someone thinks they know better than the teachings of Jesus Christ and the meticulous tradition of our Church.

 

[AtDawn]

The key phrase here seems to be “He said he had expected to be removed from the priesthood, but had not expected to be excommunicated.”

This was maybe a reasonable expectation since excommunication is so rarely done, even for people who voice identical sentiments, even ones who do so prominently. Why, for instance, was this fellow excommunicated but not Helmut Schuller, who stands for most of the same things?

Old thread, I know. But I suppose the headlines were wrong? He probably was excommunicated not so much because of his views and teaching but rather because of continuing to offer mass after being defrocked? I fail to see the reason for his surprise.

Regarding Helmut Schüller, well. To my knowledge, he hasn’t been advocating gay marriage but he would like to see ordination for women - although the gist of the Pastor Initiative is mainly on how to handle the difficult situation in the parishes, because of the shortage of priests. Ordination of women is included, though. To excommunicate him over his views, you’d have to excommunicate the 10% of the Austrian priests who have signed the Pastor Initiative’s Call for Obedience. (I don’t remember where I saw that percentage but more than 400 priests - I guess it’s reasonable that there’s ~4000 priests in Austria)

 

[AtDawn]

Call för Disobedience, sorry… I won’t keep harping on this, but I think this quote from a report on one of the “Tipping point” meetings confirms my view.

As if to cap off the evening, a man seated on the floor gazed up at Father Schüller and challenged, “Why weren’t you excommunicated by the Church for your activism?” With good humor, Schüller responded, “Because of public opinion.”

 

[abucs]

I’m really sad that it had to come to this. Really. I don’t rejoice in this kind of thing. I hope that the ex-priest repents and sees the error of his ways. Maybe the excommunication will be a wakeup call.

However, I am so glad that this kind of insanity is being dealt with. I think there should be more of that. The problem is that many Catholics think that our faith is more like a set of rules of a social club, and not a religion. Things that people make up, rather than God’s revealed Truth.

What is there to discuss? When secularists want to discuss something that means they want to change it. And this goes for Catholics of the secularist mind-set. There are reasons why chastity is required of us, all of us. Homosexuals are not an exception to this. There are reasons why women can’t be priests. The church can’t change that, regardless of the pressure that demands ‘dialogue’ and change.

Don’t fall for this nonsense that is constantly being spewed in the media. If you believe that Jesus is God and that He came to teach us how to worship and how to live, then do it His way. The secular society can’t teach you about God, and their poor understanding of our faith is not to be imitated and held in high esteem.

Well said. I think when people are deliberately teaching anti-Catholic positions to others either within the Church or with any sort of presumed Catholic authority then very strong action needs to be taken. I am much more concerned with the teaching of anti-Catholic positions by supposed ‘Catholic representatives’ rather than the holding of anti Catholic positions by honest “searching” Catholics.