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Catholic lawyers’ awards create rift with archbishop
Archbishop Charles Chaput celebrates mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.Each November, members of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Colorado gather for a “Red Mass” commemorating the martyrdom of St. Thomas More, a lawyer who was beheaded in 1535 after refusing to renounce his faith to the king of England.
Next year, the fraternal organization probably will need to find a new venue and a new celebrant.
The Denver Roman Catholic Archdiocese is distancing itself from the group after its board of directors, in an emotional meeting Nov. 30, decided not to give Archbishop Charles Chaput final say on who receives its two annual awards.
Chaput made it clear to the group that he was upset that Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar was chosen in 2003 for an award named for More, said Laura Tighe, the guild’s incoming president.
Salazar, a Democrat and Catholic who will become a U.S. senator next month, supports abortion rights, in conflict with church teaching.
In the end, a consensus of board members voted to seek Chaput’s guidance in future award-selection processes but the group would ultimately select the winners.
“Our group felt we wanted independence,” Tighe said.
“We are obviously very distinctively Catholic, but there’s a great difference on how we exercise our Catholicism. We understand the ramifications of our decision, and we will go on.”
Even before 2005’s Red Mass, the lawyers will face some repercussions. The archdiocese has pulled Auxiliary Bishop Jose Gomez from saying Mass at the guild’s annual dinner next month and told the group it could not use the archdiocese’s John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization for the event, Sergio Gutierrez, the archdiocese spokesman, said.
He said it’s up to individual priests whether they want to celebrate the Mass.
denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2610084,00.html
Archbishop Charles Chaput celebrates mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.Each November, members of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Colorado gather for a “Red Mass” commemorating the martyrdom of St. Thomas More, a lawyer who was beheaded in 1535 after refusing to renounce his faith to the king of England.
Next year, the fraternal organization probably will need to find a new venue and a new celebrant.
The Denver Roman Catholic Archdiocese is distancing itself from the group after its board of directors, in an emotional meeting Nov. 30, decided not to give Archbishop Charles Chaput final say on who receives its two annual awards.
Chaput made it clear to the group that he was upset that Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar was chosen in 2003 for an award named for More, said Laura Tighe, the guild’s incoming president.
Salazar, a Democrat and Catholic who will become a U.S. senator next month, supports abortion rights, in conflict with church teaching.
In the end, a consensus of board members voted to seek Chaput’s guidance in future award-selection processes but the group would ultimately select the winners.
“Our group felt we wanted independence,” Tighe said.
“We are obviously very distinctively Catholic, but there’s a great difference on how we exercise our Catholicism. We understand the ramifications of our decision, and we will go on.”
Even before 2005’s Red Mass, the lawyers will face some repercussions. The archdiocese has pulled Auxiliary Bishop Jose Gomez from saying Mass at the guild’s annual dinner next month and told the group it could not use the archdiocese’s John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization for the event, Sergio Gutierrez, the archdiocese spokesman, said.
He said it’s up to individual priests whether they want to celebrate the Mass.
denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2610084,00.html
And when you see people like McBrien who named Chaput in his last week’s rant - you can see the "progressives are unhappy.
