Det har vært en hel del uro rundt en katolsk biskop som er bedt av Vatikanet/ pave Bendikt om å gå av 67 år gammel – han har selv sagt at han er blitt bedt om å slutte. Noen liker ikke dette, men Christopher Pearson i avisa The Australian forstår det ganske godt (pga det biskopen har gjort og fordi prosessen har tatt minst fem år), og skriver:
… The bishop in question was the outgoing Bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris. He is one of three men who have been relieved of their dioceses by the Vatican in the past few months.
The others were the bishops of Pointe-Noire in Congo-Brazzaville and Orvieto-Todi in Italy. But while they were removed for financial mismanagement in one case and misbehaviour in the other, Morris’s ouster was on doctrinal grounds.
Bishops are in some respects akin to sovereigns in their dioceses and, while it has the authority to remove them, the Holy See is usually very slow to do so, preferring discreet solutions such as early retirement.
The three forced departures in seven months have no precedent in recent years and suggest an increasing preparedness to intervene on the part of the Pope and his new prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet. The previous prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, was an uber-liberal.
The Catholic archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby, who will be retiring in 11 weeks, professed himself at a loss to understand the decision. He told the ABC: » I just wish it hadn’t happened and I don’t know why it happened and I would very much like to know.»
Perhaps I can enlighten him: Morris issued an Advent pastoral letter in 2006 that canvassed various options to make up for the lack of priestly vocations in his diocese.
Some were uncontroversial. Others, including the ordination of married or single women and recognising the validity of Anglican, Lutheran and Uniting Church clergy, were heretical.
He has since then maintained what he likes to call a dialogue on these non-options. …