Over the past year, there have been three announcements of Bishops being relieved from the pastoral care of their dioceses. Last August, Bishop Scanavino of Orvieto was removed, and last month, Bishop Jean-Claude Makaya Loemba was removed from the Diocese of Pointe-Noire, Congo. The latest case, earlier this week, was Bishop Morris, relieved of the pastoral care of the Diocese of Toowoomba, Australia.
In a pastoral letter that he wrote for Advent 2006, Bishop Morris argued that the Church should be open to ordaining women and married men, to reinstating priests who had left the active ministry, and to recognise the validity of Anglican, Lutheran and Uniting Church orders. It is thought that such statements were not unrelated to his removal by Pope Benedict.
In the video clip above, Bishop Morris responds to his removal from office by saying "I'm fine within myself; my sadness is for the community..." which more or less indicates that he has no regret for his dissent from the magisterium. He opines that his "treatment" (he alleges lack of process, denial of natural justice etc.) will "open a conversation."
The conversation has in fact begun. Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture takes a sensible look at the question: Can the Pope remove bishops? Yes, but... and answers various questions. He concludes:
Question #4: Who’s next?I was not really expecting to enjoy the video clip of Bishop Morris justifying himself, but it does contain an interesting revelation concerning Pope Benedict's personal decisiveness (0'55" in). Bishop Morris says:
One in early April; one in early May. Should we be waiting for another announcement from the Vatican in early June? Should we be praying for it? And is there any reader who doesn't have his own favorite candidate?
"I came against a brick wall. And then eventually the Pope said to me 'Canon law does not make provision for a process regarding bishops, whom the successor of St Peter nominates and may remove from office.'"He then started negotiating with the Pope, asking to take early retirement in three years' time, pleading that he still needed to offer pastoral care to families of child abuse victims and so on. He was abruptly cut off; as he says of the Pope "he said he was going to make the announcement on the second of May."
Viva il Papa!
8 comments:
Bishop Morris argued that the Church should be open to ordaining women
It would be interesting to know what Rome makes of bishops who, when asked about the possibility of the Church sanctioning homosexual partnerships and ordaining women to the priesthood in the future, reply with, "I don't know. Who knows what's down the road?"
I think it's very sad for a Bishop to be removed but I couldn't help smiling when he said that the Church is at it's best when it is transparent. That's right!!
And Pope Benedict thank goodness is leaving no doubts about where he stands.
My read of the situation is that there was much more going on in Toowoomba than one pastoral letter. The article in The Australian calls Bp. Morris' career "controversial", that "concerns had been raised about the material included in sex education programs in diocesan schools and the former practice of general absolution in the diocese", and that "The style of Bishop Morris's departure is unprecedented in that he has made his disagreements with the Vatican so public". Particularly, "one senior priest who has followed the bishop's controversial career said Bishop Morris had brought about his own demise because 'you can't keep telling Rome to get stuffed'."
Despite the hysterical claims of the National Catholic Fishwrap, and some invocations of "Vatican secrecy" over Abp. Chaput's report on his apostolic visitation, it seems to me there must be much more on public record about +Morris and his wayward ways. Of course, we here in America don't normally pay a lot of attention to what goes on in places like Brisbane because ... well, because we're American, and the world revolves around us, don'cha know. But I'll bet that if we searched the archives of The Australian and CathNews, we'd see a lot more of +Morris' true colors.
He should have stuck to wallpaper and tapestry designs, or possibly moved into church requisites...
"I came against a brick wall. And then eventually the Pope said to me 'Canon law does not make provision for a process regarding bishops, whom the successor of St Peter nominates and may remove from office.'"
I would have greatly enjoyed hearing the Holy Father deliver that line...
It is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate.
Pope Benedict XVI
I am both happy and saddened to hear this news. I’ve known of this particular Bishop for a while, and had hoped to hear he had recognised his errors... I know it’s not fair to compare but when I heard of his attempts to stay on, it reminded me of someone else, who, as his own Bishop put it, had “far too humble and delicate a mind to dream of thinking or saying anything which would look like hinting at any kind of terms with the Sovereign Pontiff.”
Well, I’ll ask their prayers for this man to see the light of Truth, and for our dear Holy Father’s welfare.
Bishop Morris is no victim here. He made his choice and has no one to blame but himself.
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