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Sacked Toowoomba Bishop decries 'inquisition' | The Australian

Bishop William Morris - formerly of the Toowoomba Diocese
Good Grief! If someone is appointed a Bishop, he has the moral and religious obligation to preach and teach the actual message of the Church. This does not mean that there must be absolute adherence to Church teaching in every forum.  I'm certain there were better ways for a Bishop to effectively express his personal opinions that are not in the public forum. He made his bed. Let him at least have the class to admit to the rightness of the act removing him as a principle 'teacher' and 'pastor' of a diocese if he found himself personally unable to reconcile his own opinions with Church teaching. At least, thanks to the action of the Vatican, he is no longer in the hypocritical position of pretending to represent the Church when he was clearly unwilling to do so.


Hopefully the Vatican (especially under the aegis of Cardinal Marc Ouellet) will take similar actions against any Bishop who so publicly strays from Church teaching - be if from the left or from the right!

Sacked Toowoomba Bishop decries 'inquisition' | The Australian

Comments

  1. Anonymous03 May, 2011

    "THE sacked Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba has accused the Pope of running a latter-day inquisition into allegations of doctrinal disobedience against him, with the Vatican controlling outspoken bishops through fear, humiliation and threats of dismissal."

    Oh please...
    How exactly did the Pope make him fearful? Late night visits by albino ninja monks? Threats of the iron maiden?
    Humiliation? I guess he must have been snoozing during Catholic Theology 101 because he obviously of the vows he took. They warned him for years of his heretical teaching and disobedience to Church teaching. He had ample time to correct his errant ways. If he's humiliated to be bounced for not being Catholic in a Catholic Church after years of warnings then he only has himself to blame.
    As for inquisitions, bring it on. The church is rife with heretical clergy and lay people spreading error like its nobodies business.

    Cheers
    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  2. First of all..I'm grateful for Fr. Tim Moyle's website to give folks like me a chance to express oneself.

    I'm not surprise to the reaction about this sacked Bishop from hard core Catholics who fail to see there is something wrong with those guys at the Vatican.

    The Bishop just said what many Catholics think, say and believe.

    Pope Benedict is so fearful of having married priests except if a man converts to Catholicism from another religion like Anglican etc...

    Afraid of women? The way the Catholic Church deals with females is a darn shame.

    At the Vatican these are not God's laws these are all male Papal Laws.

    As for the comments from the poster who like to bring back terror for people who do not listen to the Pope.

    Paul said: "As for inquisitions, bring it on. The church is rife with heretical clergy and lay people spreading error like its nobodies business."

    So the bottom line here is if you are Roman Catholic you should not question...just shut up no matter what? I don't think so Mr. Paul!

    Another point...to give kudos to the pontiff for sacking this Bishop but there is no problem keeping Cardinal Bernard Law at the Vatican.

    Gee whiz...maybe this Cardinal Law will in line for the sainthood like Pope John Paul II one day. (sarcasm)

    John Paul II did performed a miracle, the miracle of Cardinal Bernard Law NOT being arrested & indicted for dozens of counts of aiding/abetting sexual assaults of children/minors and obstruction of justice in the U.S.A.

    If the Catholic Church has no place for a person such as William Morris as a bishop, I can only assume it would prefer not to have me as a layperson. Well..I will stay put because my allegiance is first to GOD.

    The Catholic Church's hierarchy have closed their ears to any new ideas to protect their power above the message of Christ.

    If I get kicked out from the Catholic Church one day...so be it!

    Lina

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous04 May, 2011

    Hello Lina

    I hope you had a wonderful Easter. I'll try address your comments here.

    "The way the Catholic Church deals with females is a darn shame. "

    How do you feel about Jesus not choosing a single woman among his 12 disciples (his priesthood)? Surely if Jesus wanted women priests he would have made it so but he didn't.


    "So the bottom line here is if you are Roman Catholic you should not question...just shut up no matter what?"

    Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

    And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

    I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

    In scripture, Jesus clearly established an earthly authority in his Church in Peter (the first Pope) to steer the ship and that authority extends to this very day. I accept the authority of the pope as Jesus desired it.
    And yes I do question the church when its clergy wish to flaunt the authority established by Christ, elevating themselves above the leadership Christ established.

    "The Catholic Church's hierarchy have closed their ears to any new ideas to protect their power above the message of Christ."

    As scripture shows above, the authority of the Church was established by Christ himself so to reject it is to reject the message of Christ.

    Cheers
    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Paul...I did enjoyed Easter.

    I will address this issue due to my time limit.

    You said(Paul): "How do you feel about Jesus not choosing a single woman among his 12 disciples (his priesthood)? Surely if Jesus wanted women priests he would have made it so but he didn't."

    That is a valid point Paul nevertheless....
    I believe that is not all what Jesus did. After his resurrection Jesus FIRST appeared to "Mary Magdalene" not the 12 Apostles, which strongly suggest females can become a teacher of Christ, a priest. Mary Magdalene had the go ahead from Jesus to spread to GOOD NEWS she went straight to the apostles.

    Imagine the joy her running to tell them the glorious good news she saw Jesus and he is really alive. Jesus Alive!

    These Women in the Bible:

    -Judge Deborah (Judge 3 & 4)

    -Queen Esther (Esther 9:32)

    -Priscilla (Apostle Paul's friend and teacher of Paul's ministry) (Romans 16:3)

    -Tryphena and Tryphosa (Apostle Paul's friends and participated his ministry) (Romans 16:12)

    -Lydia (Apostle Paul's friend and involved in his ministry) (Acts 16:14-15)

    -Phoebe (a servant of the church) (Romans 16:1, 2)

    These ladies lived before us to serve in God's church, and they are called a servant, even a teacher.

    They have been working along side with males. And, they should be rewarded and have the honor to have the title like the males.

    There is no reason to be afraid of a women being ordain a priest.

    No earthly man is perfect and entitled to decide who may preach the gospel and be a spiritual leader.

    That is my personal take on the subject of women in the priesthood.

    I may add a long time ago I was told by a priest: "It's only reasonable that Jesus appeared first to Mother Mary.'

    Paul that is not even found in the scriptures anywhere, yet this Catholic priest saw no problem saying that Mary Magdalene was not the first person Jesus appeared to.

    I wish I would had ask that priest way back then how did he know about Mother Mary being the first to see Jesus?

    I assume we were not aloud to questioned a priest. What the priest said that was it, just accept it.

    I saw this quote once that rings true to me.

    "Spiritual people inspire me. Religious people frighten me."

    Lina

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  5. Anonymous04 May, 2011

    Hi Lina

    Thanks for your thoughtful response. No doubt the women you sited played an important role in the church but I don't believe any of them were priests or considered themselves to be so. Scripture doesn't suggest that.
    What woman is elevated in Christianity more than our Blessed Mother. She is a keystone of or church and the ultimate model of Christian virtue for men and women alike. Also there are numerous women in church history that are celebrated as doctors of the church today. St. Catherine of Siena, St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux to name a few. There writings and teachings shape the modern church. We just celebrated the Feast of Divine Mercy as a result of revelations from Christ to St. Faustina. Although women are prohibited from the priesthood, as we believe Jesus had set it up, that in no way hinders them from preaching the gospel and serving God. I've seen numerous retreats and missions where Catholic women were the keynote speakers, delivering the gospel for all to hear. Some with powerful ministries such as Sr. Bridge McKenna. I've received religious instruction from many fine Sisters.

    I agree with you that we should not take every priest at his word. They're not infallible. I've had contradictory advice on an issue in confession with two different priests. At least one of them was wrong. In the case you sited of the priest claiming Jesus saw the Blessed Mother first, if I were in that position I too would question it but I would compare his statement to the magisterial teachings of the church and not my personal opinion. That is where we can't fall into error since Christ promised he'd guide the church in truth until the end of time.

    I like your quote in the end but I've seen my fair share of self identified "Spiritual" people that scare the crap out of me to agree. I prefer the quote, "you talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?". I think that is what you felt your quote was saying as well.

    Cheers
    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hear what your saying Paul we just see things differently when it comes to married priests & the ordination of women. Besides many priests, cardinals, bishops were married in the past as well as numerous powerful females that led Churches while males were gone to war etc...The first gatherings were at homes where women taught, prayed & shared the Good News of Jesus.

    I notice you did not mentioned Mary Magdalene by name.
    I believe men were threatened by her closeness to Jesus (apostles) & chose to downplay Mary Magdalene's importance.

    We know from history how easy it was for the Catholic Church to burn females and say they were witches & need to get rid of them for speaking out against the Church or even be punish because they did not want to convert to Catholicism.

    Just in my life time I saw the Catholic Church toned down their antics about Mary Magdalene.

    The Bible was not first told or written in the English language or French. I believe those who wrote it honestly believe it was God that told them & inspired them what to write. There were numerous books that were omitted from the Bible. Yet again, it was males that decided or I should say believed what God wanted them to pick which books that were accepted in the Bible.

    There are so many different interpretations from scriptures. There's many different languages, different meaning to words, traditions, cultures etc..

    Catholicism has Jewish roots and took on many pagan symbols.

    I am pretty well done with this topic I think we should respectably agree to disagree.

    There are a lot of quotes like: "walk the walk and talk the talk."

    Here's another one many folks can relate to.

    "Never allow God's word to interfere with the decisions of the Catholic Church."

    Lina

    ReplyDelete

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