Perhaps it is just media selectivity but so far reaction to the pastoral letter written by Archbishops Nichols and Smith does not make for happy reading - priests openly stating their disagreement with the letter having read it to their congregations, or having refused to read it at all; a shameful intervention at Mass in Teignmouth; and probably the worst and most damaging declaration of dissent from the supposed neophyte Blair who has shown himself not to have a catholic corpuscle in his bloodstream. How did he get in so easily? I sympathise with the Archbishops' dilemma, but I do think that in fairness to all of us, and to themselves, they should consider whether the present situation is not the result of hierarchical abuse of collegiality over at least four decades. As I said a long time ago, collegiality is a great principle, but only if bishops are in collegiality with the Pope, and not against him. Otherwise it kills the authority of the Pope and makes his task more difficult if not impossible.
Yammering on about catholic identity doesn't make much sense when you have presided over its loss for so long.
More in next post when I've calmed down a bit. My prayers for the 'cautioning' Bishop Conry. God bless Cardinal O'Brien.
(h/t to Fr Blake)
2 comments:
God bless Cardinal O'Brien is right , a lion.
Amen to all that, Jane xx
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