AUSTRALIA'S Catholic bishops have responded to popular fury over the
Pope's sacking of Toowoomba Bishop Bill Morris earlier this year by
agreeing to send questions about it to the Vatican.
But the 42 bishops are divided about another petition
asking them to put particular questions to the Pope when they make their
five-yearly visit to the Vatican in October.
Catholics for Renewal have
sent their letter to all 1369 Australian parishes, but some bishops,
including Canberra Archbishop Mark Coleridge, have told parish priests
not to distribute the letter or its request for signatures.
A statement about Bishop Morris lodged on the Australian
Catholic Bishops Conference website last week says the bishops have
received the petition by Toowoomba Catholics, but they have no
jurisdiction.
To help deal with the petitioners' questions, the bishops
will ask the Vatican doctrine watchdog, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, about the infallibility of the church's teaching
barring the ordination of women.
Concerns about the process by which
Bishop Morris was removed will be referred to the Congregation for
Bishops.
Bishops Conference general secretary Brian Lucas told The Age
that more letters than could be answered had been sent to the
conference, to individual bishops and to the papal ambassador in
Australia, and the bishops wanted the petitioners to know their concerns
had been heard.
The Catholics for Renewal letter also raises questions
about women's ordination, the process by which Bishop Morris was
removed, plus perceived problems about accountability, transparency and
the recent introduction of a new compulsory English Mass.
With more than 3500 online signatures so far, the letter
says the church has alienated too many Catholics and no longer inspires
communities.
''Our Church has been tainted by injustice and blemished by bad decisions,'' the letter says.
It claims the church is too centralised, legalistic and
controlling, often more concerned with its image than the spirit of
Christ, and with few effective structures for listening.
There is an ingrained fear in all who govern that to respect dissent is to foment rebellion. So, all edicts good or bad, are left to hang upon the walls of the city until the rain of centuries wash them away. So long as they are there they can be invoked against the incantations and the unwary. It is easy to find collaborators in this continuance of power, because the pope is seen to be their guarantor, their justification against all attainder. More, their power will continue after any pope has gone. Challenge will only make its exercise more rigorous.
ReplyDelete