You wrote:
“It is a fact that cannot possibly be unknown to the local bishop.”
The local bishop has no say over anything McBrien does really. McBrien is an order priest, if I recall correctly.
I think he's diocesan, but not from that diocese. But, yes, the local bishop has no control over him. And, of course, dissent sells.
Doesn’t matter. All priests in South Bend must have faculties from the bishop of South Bend, and are under his authority in other ways as well.
And a cleric living in concubinage is in violation of canon law. The only thing protecting McBrien from laicization is the absence of testosterone in the bloodstreams of the relevant authorities.
McBrien is a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, IIRC. Which is an indictment of the bishop of Bridgeport, as well as the bishop of South Bend.
He doesn’t seem to belong to an order; he is a secular priest (no pun intended). But he is not incardinated in South Bend; he is a priest of the archdiocese of Hartford.