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

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“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. :confused: 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.
 
LiberalPrincess said:
this is sad
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What is sad is that this proud man is leading good people away from the Church. He is still purporting to be a priest and makes a mockery of the Church’s teachings and its faculties Let us pray that he will find himself some day… a most confused and sad man. I cannot understand a man who is given the gift of the priesthood and spits it back into the Church’s face. I mourn for his followers. .
 
Petaro said:
What is sad is that this proud man is leading good people away from the Church. He is still purporting to be a priest and makes a mockery of the Church’s teachings and its faculties Let us pray that he will find himself some day… a most confused and sad man. I cannot understand a man who is given the gift of the priesthood and spits it back into the Church’s face. I mourn for his followers. .
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Prayers for him and those who listen to him. God bless, Memaw
 
mdgspencer said:
and Pope Francis excommunicated him
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I haven’t read the article yet, but I’m curious if any of the media who tried to spin Pope Francis as a profressive who is moving towards accepting gay marriage and women priests will cover this story at all. And if so, will they try to act shocked or confused? Will they try to say something silly like he was told to stop being so progressive or else he would be excommunicated? Lol.
 
Back2Church said:
I haven’t read the article yet, but I’m curious if any of the media who tried to spin Pope Francis as a profressive who is moving towards accepting gay marriage and women priests will cover this story at all. And if so, will they try to act shocked or confused? Will they try to say something silly like he was told to stop being so progressive or else he would be excommunicated? Lol.
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Because if the news doesn’t fit what you want to hear, make it up!

It’s good to see Pope Francis making an official announcement about. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll do the same with people like Pelosi and Biden 😛
 
Lochias said:
Indeed. This former priest is risking his immortal soul. We should be praying that he come back to the Church and follow her rules, thus freeing himself in a way that no child-like rebellion ever will.
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Good point.👍
 
Organizations have rules-THe RC had every right to excommunicate him for breaking the rules and encouraging others to break them

He would not have been excommuniated if he were a ECUSA Priest-but then we have different rules

:cool:
 
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?
 
Back2Church said:
I haven’t read the article yet, but I’m curious if any of the media who tried to spin Pope Francis as a profressive who is moving towards accepting gay marriage and women priests will cover this story at all. And if so, will they try to act shocked or confused? Will they try to say something silly like he was told to stop being so progressive or else he would be excommunicated? Lol.
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👍
 
This kind of action, although its unfortunate that it had to happen, is reassuring, and it sure doesnt fit with the medias false narrative that Francis is permissive on homosexuality etc
 
cmodrmac said:
Organizations have rules-THe RC had every right to excommunicate him for breaking the rules and encouraging others to break them
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That’s actually not a correct interpretation of the happening.

The Church of Christ - as you certainly know from Acts and in general from the New Testaments - has authority to inflict certain penalties for the spiritual health of its children. For a shepherd, the penalties go as far as laicization - the removal of the authority to exercise his pastoral ministry.

Excommunication, however, is not imposed to someone who breaks a rule. Excommunication is a medicinal penalty which is given for the benefit of someone whose salvation is gravely at risk. The Church, our Mother, can give no greater a warning to her children than excommunication - which is the mere statement that until the person does not repent from his scandalous and habitual state of sin, he may not partake of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as this would be the worst sacrilege a man could commit, and may not benefit from the Sacraments which require us to be in the state of grace.

Every excommunicated person has the right to receive immediate absolution if he repents from his sin, and excommunication - as I said - is reserved for the gravest sins, which truly place a soul in grave risk.

To encourage others to break rules also leads to some sort of canonical penalty. To lead others to grave sin, even unto mortal sin, is a sin of the gravest kind that no canonical penalty is fit to punish. Under such circumstances, the Church can only cry out with the most sorrowful of its motherly admonitions, hoping that this may suffice to shake her child’s heart to tears and lead him back.

Let us pray for this priest of Jesus Christ, that he may be filled with understanding and true contrition, returning in humble submission to the bosom of the Church, for God’s greater glory and the salvation of many souls. This may be impossible for men, but nothing is impossible for God.
 
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