The dismissed Bishop William Morris effectively promoted heresy and
had to choose between following his way or the way of the Catholic
Church, an editorial in the Perth archdiocesan newspaper said.
The Vatican’s removal of the Bishop of Toowoomba involves
“fundamental” questions about the nature of the Church and Church
authority, the Archdiocese of Perth’s official newspaper The Record said
in a May 18 editorial titled “a Bishop that had to go.”
“One mentality is informed by two millennia of constant belief and
practice, often heroically witnessed to by martyrdom, the other by the
mass media and the fashionable theories that abound in our culture,” the
paper said.
“On the side of the essential unity of Church belief and
teaching from Christ up until the present is Pope Benedict; on the side
of changing Church teaching and practice to suit some values of majority
opinion, sadly, was Bishop Morris.”
On May 2 the Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI removed the
bishop from the pastoral care of his diocese. Australia’s bishops backed
the decision, citing “problems of doctrine and discipline.”
Bishop Morris drew attention for his actions contrary to Church
teaching and practice. He had called for Protestant ministers to
celebrate Mass and for the ordination of women. Lay Catholics
co-celebrated Communion services with priests and the bishop’s diocese
also had widespread use of “general absolution” rites as an alternative
to personal confession.
“The problem for Bishop Morris, in the end, was that given the two
positions he had to make a choice - his way or the Catholic Church way.
The problem for the Church was how to handle a Bishop well down the road
in effectively promoting what might now reasonably be called heresy in
his diocese,” The Record said.
Critical to the disagreement was whether one understood the Church as
continuous or discontinuous with the Church before the Second Vatican
Council, the editorial continued.
The first outlook sees Church history as “an organic and constantly
developing unity,” accepting that some doctrines cannot change. These
unchangeable things are like constellations by which the ordinary
Catholic can safely navigate.
The second outlook regards much of the pre-Vatican II Church as
“somehow deficient.” It seeks to obscure, change or reverse Church
teaching, including dogmatic definitions.
“It usually seeks to do so in accord with moral relativism and the
values predominantly to be found in popular culture,” The Record said.
Bishop Morris was treated with “the utmost delicacy, discretion and
respect” and given over 10 years to resolve issues about his governance
of the diocese.
“At the end of the day, however, the issue under debate was the
simple fact that in the Catholic Church every Bishop, a successor to the
apostles, is obliged by sacred oath to teach what the Catholic Church
teaches – period,” said the newspaper.
The Record noted that ordinary Catholics face an “unprecedented
onslaught against their faith.” They do not need “bishops who will
obscure the way” and are “sadly, better off without them.”
Bishop Brian Finnigan, an auxiliary bishop of Brisbane, has been
appointed interim apostolic administrator of Toowoomba until a
replacement is appointed.