Diocese to try priest for heresy

[barnestormer]

Diocese to try priest for heresy
pe.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

By DAVID OLSON / The Press-Enterprise

The Diocese of San Bernardino today will hold what experts say could be one of the few Roman Catholic heresy trials in U.S. history.

The priest on trial refuses to attend the hearing, which he calls “medieval and totally un-Christian.”

“It’s like the Inquisition has returned,” said the Rev. Ned Reidy, of Bermuda Dunes, who also is charged with schism.

pe.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

Mod note: Quotes should be limited to one to three paragraphs per forum guidelines.

 

[Chiara]

They should do the same thing to Dick McBrien.

 

[Brain]

that’d odd, i though only a bishop could commit schism, since it involves leaving and takling the local church with you.

 

[cameron_lansing]

Brain:

that’d odd, i though only a bishop could commit schism, since it involves leaving and takling the local church with you.

The article, in one place, says the trial is for heresy. In another place, it says for schism and heresy. Such a trial, while very rare, is very much a last resort. There’s a long history here to this whole controversy. A lot of effort in trying to get the offender to come back has to precede a penal trial.

But non bishops can be schismatic too because of the actual definition. You don’t have to take anyone with you at all.

Schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him (Canon 751), so it is not restricted to bishops by that definition. In this case, the priest is alleged to have broken communion with his bishop, and thus one of the bonds of communion mentioned in canon 205, that of ecclesiastical governance. Then there’s also the heresy, but I wasn’t certain what it was precisely from reading the article.

If a lay person went off and started his or her own “Church of the McBrianites and Roller Skating Emporium - Pizza $2 a Slice” — and took no one alone — that person would be in schism, too.

But schism and heresy have to be declared after an investigation by a competent Church authority for any penalty to take effect. In this case, that is done through a canonical trial at a tribunal. When the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith does this, it has its own kind of tribunal.

This trial could be in preparation for his penal removal from the clerical state as a heretic or schismatic (canons 1364 §2; 1336§1,5º) but that’s just my speculation. It’s probably the case that the diocese wants to make it clear to the faithful that this “Pathfinder Community of the Risen Christ” is bogus.

 

[manualman]

Chiara:

They should do the same thing to Dick McBrien.

While I don’t care much for the way Fr. Richard McBrien thinks and what he publishes, he is a priest. We are not going to ever recreate respect for the teaching authority of the church unless we behave in a respectful manner, even to those who are wrong.

Your method of referring to him is not adequately respectful of his office as a priest of Christ. Never mind what we both might think of his opinions.

 

[AJC]

barnestormer:

Diocese to try priest for heresy
pe.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

By DAVID OLSON / The Press-Enterprise

The Diocese of San Bernardino today will hold what experts say could be one of the few Roman Catholic heresy trials in U.S. history.

The priest on trial refuses to attend the hearing, which he calls “medieval and totally un-Christian.”

“It’s like the Inquisition has returned,” said the Rev. Ned Reidy, of Bermuda Dunes, who also is charged with schism.

pe.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

Mod note: Quotes should be limited to one to three paragraphs per forum guidelines.

Of course this so-called priest knows how to play the anti-Catholic media card, just call the whole thing “like the Inquisition.”

If he did commit heresy ex-communicate him and anyone who follows him. The Roman Catholic Church is not a social club or therapy group for malcontents. Oh, that our Bishops would grow back bones.

AJC

 

[AJC]

manualman:

While I don’t care much for the way Fr. Richard McBrien thinks and what he publishes, he is a priest. We are not going to ever recreate respect for the teaching authority of the church unless we behave in a respectful manner, even to those who are wrong.

Your method of referring to him is not adequately respectful of his office as a priest of Christ. Never mind what we both might think of his opinions.

Chiara,

With all due respect to you. That is the problem today. All this touchy-feely make nice talk while the doors are thrown wide open to heretics and malcontents among religious.

For 40 years we have tried it your way and all we get is more descent and bad teaching. Priests like McBrien and this fellow in California love basking in the spotlight of popular secular media more than they love Holy Mother Church. Their actions speak volumes.

Wake up.

AJC

 

[Guar_Fan]

Apparently the priest in question no longer regards himself as a Roman Catholic.

Reidy called the trial “medieval” and contends that it has no authority because he stopped being a Roman Catholic in 1999.

“I just think the discourtesy level is appalling,” he said in a telephone interview. “I have moved way beyond all that and the brutality of the Roman Catholic church and for me to go would give a certain legitimacy to this witch hunt.”

Reidy was automatically excommunicated when he went to another denomination, Lincoln said, but under canonical law he remains a Roman Catholic priest until he is formally excommunicated and defrocked.

mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/13400463.htm

 

[Dj_Roy_Albert]

barnestormer:

"It’s like the Inquisition has returned," said the Rev. Ned Reidy, of Bermuda Dunes, who also is charged with schism.
%between%

Ahhhh… those were the days.

 

[Jim]

I live right across the street from Christ of the Desert; which is the Newman Center that Fr. Reidy founded. It was the first parish I attended when I moved to the Coachella Valley about a year ago. The Newman Center is located right across the street from College of the Desert, a local community college that has about 9,000 students enrolled. Here’s an article about it:highbeam.com/library/docfree.asp?DOCID=1G1:54588565&ctrlInfo=Round18%3AMode18c%3ADocG%3AResult&ao=
At the Mass, I saw not a bunch of students attending, but almost all aging baby boomers and older desert snowbirds who were down for the winter. I wondered why; that is, until the Mass started. It was so FULL of liturgical abuses that I walked out right in the middle. I heard later from some parishoners at a parish nearby that the Bishop is planning on closing it down. He probably doesn’t because the diocese has such a major priest shortage.
I think Reidy’s starting of that Newman Center was just an excuse to start a dissenting community. BUT thankfully, priests like him are slowly but surely dying off. . .

 

[AJC]

Jim:

I live right across the street from Christ of the Desert; which is the Newman Center that Fr. Reidy founded. e

I think Reidy’s starting of that Newman Center was just an excuse to start a dissenting community. BUT thankfully, priests like him are slowly but surely dying off. . .

Yes, more men who believe in the Truth of the Roman Catholic Church are entering seminary. Thank God that within 20 years or so most of those priests who got poor formation in the seminaries of the 1960’s and 1970’s will be dead or retired.

:yup:

 

[Michael_C]

If the priest feels so strongly about his position he should show for the trial. Why the apprehension? Maybe it’s because he knows deep down his teachings are faulty.

I agree the statement about doing the same thing to Dick McBrien is wrong.

The post should read “They should do the same thing to Father McBrien”.

 

[msproule]

The trial is over.

 

[shs-aod]

“Yes, more men who believe in the Truth of the Roman Catholic Church are entering seminary. Thank God that within 20 years or so most of those priests who got poor formation in the seminaries of the 1960’s and 1970’s will be dead or retired.”:yup:

In the meantime, what do you propose for those of us with less than a 20-year life-expectancy?

Somehow, I think I already know your answer. Consider the above to be a rhetorical question…

 

[frommi]

AJC:

Yes, more men who believe in the Truth of the Roman Catholic Church are entering seminary. Thank God that within 20 years or so most of those priests who got poor formation in the seminaries of the 1960’s and 1970’s will be dead or retired.

:yup:

What a lovely thought…I can’t believe that we have Catholics waiting with baited breath for deaths and retirements.

 

[Jim]

The trial is over.

Wow! And I thought living in this new Diocese was pretty quiet so far. . .

 

[trustmc]

From the article originally posted by msproule The trial is over:

*%between%*Bishop Peter Hickman, leader of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, called the judges’ letter “vindictive.”

“There are all these quotes from canon law that are cold and harsh, but there are no quotes from the Gospel of Jesus,” said Hickman, who lives in Lake Elsinore. “Are we not to be followers of Jesus? Is this the way Jesus would have behaved? There is no evidence he ever behaved that way. His response was always a loving response. This is not a loving document.”

I think that the so-called Bishop Hickman needs to reread that whole temple scene where Christ seems pretty “harsh” to me.

Mike

 

[katewithak]

Jim:

Wow! And I thought living in this new Diocese was pretty quiet so far. . .

I think this is the wave of the future. While many jump up and down claiming the clergy is weak, the clergy will quietly without advertisement be doing what needs to be done.
I do not believe His Holiness has ever made a big noise. He just does what needs to be done.
I’ve bumped into the Catholic Ecumenicals on other forums. They do a good job of appearing Catholic. There are more groups like them out there as well.

 

[manualman]

AJC:

Chiara,

With all due respect to you. That is the problem today. All this touchy-feely make nice talk while the doors are thrown wide open to heretics and malcontents among religious.

For 40 years we have tried it your way and all we get is more descent and bad teaching. Priests like McBrien and this fellow in California love basking in the spotlight of popular secular media more than they love Holy Mother Church. Their actions speak volumes.

Wake up.

AJC

I’m wide awake, thanks.

I’m also looking to the future and I anticipate that the reform of Catholicism in America will be a sometimes ugly process involving jealousy, hurt feelings, power plays, and propaganda initiatives on the part of those who prefer the currently prevalent impotent version.

Thus, I believe that it is better for us to always refer to priests respectfully so that we can stand in contrast to those who spew vile hatred for holy priests of Christ and the difference will shine forth for the world to see.

Go ahead and criticize Fr. McBrien’s thoughts and point out his errors. But good luck trying him for heresy. In my experience, his writings seem intended to undercut the authority and teaching of the church, but do it in a deniable fashion.

P.S. I’m not Chiara, that’s the OP.

 

[Steven_Edwards]

To whoever reads this,

I am someone who knows Fr. Ned Reidy pretty well. I attended Newman Center, Palm Desert, Ca. when he was priest there, and was not unsupportive of him when, in 1999, as a result of disagreements with the San Bernardino Diocese he decided to start his own church.

I do not know how someone goes about psychoanalyzing this one; I guess he and Gerald Barnes (his Bishop) did not get along to well - though I sympathize with Ned’s disenchantment when, after 19 years there, he was told that he would no longer be supported there.

The Roman Catholic Church is traditionalist, while Ned is progressive - perhaps to progressive - even for me. Perhaps he has to be. It is not easy making a living in this world and that fact appears to have lead him to a position of compromising Roman Catholic values at just about every juncture!

Anyway to Roman Catholics I say, fear not. The arguments for women in the priesthood, gays in the priesthood (and certainly practicing ones), gay marriage, etc. are not good ones. Rest easy.

Take care all,

Steven Edwards
Palm Springs, CA.