Almost two years ago Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island privately asked Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island not to take communion because of Kennedy’s support for abortion rights. Kennedy has chosen to make this request public, and Tobin has responded.
What Tobin did was not exactly an excommunication, I would guess (does an excommunication require a formal decree?), but Kennedy has chosen to portray it as such.
The bishops are discovering that it is a lot easier to loosen disciple than tighten it. Any teacher who has taught middle school could tell them that. For over a generation a Catholic layman or priest could do anything from supporting abortion to raping children and it would have no effect on his standing in the Church.
A pro-life official whom I know once asked an archbishop to at least publicly criticize a strongly pro-abortion Catholic senator. The archbishop replied that he couldn’t do such a thing – why, the local newspaper would crucify him. Not the stuff of which martyrs are made, I thought.
A bit off topic. Parts of the “Dublin Report” have been leaked. The leak has caused some annoyance. The full report will be published on Thursday. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/priests-abused-thousands-of-children-over-30year-period-1705315.html
Proper reference: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/another-chapter-of-vile-abuse-1951093.html
Lee, the problem is that too many archbishops are trying to cultivate political working relationships with elected officials (such as Mahony with L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa). Any public criticism of such officials would jeopardize those relationships. It’s another reflection of the hierarchy’s lust for secular power at the expense of its pastoral responsibilities.
I think it’s more likely the fear that public criticism of others would lead to their own public criticism, public investigations… maybe even a grand jury. Play nice, or (the fear is) they’ll play hardball. Makes one wonders about skeletons in closets.
Very good point, Jake. I never thought of that.
When there get to be too many skeletons for the closet, the only option is to build a bigger closet.
When the documents are finally released to the public some of the things we will find in the do as I say not as I do department will be, the procurement of abortions, the procurement of abortions of priests’ biological children, church monies spent on promotion of abortion and homosexual agenda, beside your run of the mill
abuse of power sexual seduction of minors and vulnerable people. These documents have already been discovered in part/they give secular authorities too much leverage to be made public.