Church Discipline

[gksaoh]

There is a great difference in the way people are treated by the Roman curia. Consider the case of Cardinal Law. His mismanagement caused the greatest crisis in the history of the U.S. church. He was able to stall for more than a year before he was finally force out of Boston. He was given an assignment in Rome and still serves in decision making on a number of congregations. He also had a voice in the election of the new pope.

In contrast, Father Reese is a respected journalist who edited a Catholic weekly read by Catholic intellectuals. His weekly printed balanced articles on contemporary religious questions. The Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith went over the heads of his Jesuit superiors to remove him, and at the same time
give warning to those who may not follow the Roman party line.

 

[geojack]

I agree with you about Cardinal Law but not Fr. Reese. Every time I saw him on television I would wonder how long the church would let him continue saying the things he said.

 

[geezerbob]

You’re entitled to your opinion.

We don’t follow a party line. We follow Christ, with the pope as his vicar. My opinion is that it’s about time that Rome started disciplining priests and other CINO’s who refuse to follow God’s word and attempt to lead others astray. No comment on Cdl. Law. He has been discussed here more than enough.

 

[muledog]

gksaoh:

There is a great difference in the way people are treated by the Roman curia. Consider the case of Cardinal Law. His mismanagement caused the greatest crisis in the history of the U.S. church.

Whoa! Slow down on the liberal whining, please. I think it is arguable whether or not Cdl. Law caused the so-called “greatest crisis in the history of the U.S. church.” If you want to place some of the blame where it belongs, look to the seminary rectors who openly allowed deviant sexual behavior within the walls of their seminaries. Look at the other bishops (including your beloved Weakland) who actually molested other young men and then hid it to advance their careers. Cdl. didn’t cause the crisis; he allowed it to fester in his diocese. What happened in other areas of the U.S. were out of his control. Let’s be fair here.

gksaoh:

He was given an assignment in Rome and still serves in decision making on a number of congregations. He also had a voice in the election of the new pope.

Cdl. Law was given a job that basically “puts him out to pasture.” Unfortunately, when JPII died, Law, ACCORDING TO ANCIENT TRADITIONS, was allowed to play a SMALL part in the ceremonies. Apparently, you don’t believe in repentance or forgiveness.

gksaoh:

In contrast, Father Reese is a respected journalist who edited a Catholic weekly read by Catholic intellectuals. His weekly printed balanced articles on contemporary religious questions.

Exactly which Father Reese are you talking about?!? Respected? By his fellow progressive disenters, maybe. I’m not sure what you were smoking when claimed his articles were “fair and balance.” The RCC is not fair and balanced. The Church upholds the TRUTH, irregardless of all else. You, like Fr. Reese, apparently don’t understand this.

gksaoh:

The Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith went over the heads of his Jesuit superiors to remove him, and at the same time give warning to those who may not follow the Roman party line.

Ummm, from what comic book did you gleen that from? Although some in the Roman Curia have complained about Fr. Reese’s editorial slant at America magazine, they didn’t boot him. He resigned, then changed his mind. His superiors were getting tired of his worn-out whining about the “evil conservatives” and other bogeymen in the Catholic Church.

If the Curia went “over the heads of his Jesuit superiors”, who did they go to?

 

[mosher]

There is a simple answer to that … heresy is the gravest of all sins and crimes against the faithful hence the Church has been correct about its dishing out of punnishment. St. Thomas even went so far as to give demonstrative proof that heresy is worthy of the death penalty because of how grave it is.

 

[MaryAgnes]

gksaoh:

There is a great difference in the way people are treated by the Roman curia.

One can make the same statement about how parishioners are treated by their pastor, or how pastors are treated by their bishops! While the Church is called to Christ’s mission, she is still very human. And as we all know, humanity is imperfect.

 

[stanley123]

mosher:

There is a simple answer to that … heresy is the gravest of all sins and crimes against the faithful hence the Church has been correct about its dishing out of punnishment. St. Thomas even went so far as to give demonstrative proof that heresy is worthy of the death penalty because of how grave it is.

However, the Traditionalists argue that Archbishop lefebvre was excommunicted for disobedience and for his desire to p;reserve the Tridentine Latin Mass, and that he was not a heretic by any means. However, today the Church is full of heretics who don’t even get a slap on the wrist. For example, c*onsider the statement of Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, America magazine, November 20, 1993,
[Father Richard McCormick maintains that] “there are many Jesuits who do not accept the thesis that every contraceptive act is morally wrong. I can vouch for the fact that very many bishops share the same conviction.”

*Also please see: “The ordinary magisterium’s infallibility. (teaching on contraception)” by Francis A. Sullivan, Theological Studies, 12/1/1994, where he says that:
“Catholic theologians differ over whether the church’s teaching on contraception is an infallible teaching of the ordinary magisterium…”