Free Republic

What is “collegiality,” and what do universities need to do to establish it? Radical academics and administrators in higher education are now using “lack of collegiality” as a pretext to abrogate academic freedom or fire professors, regardless of tenure. The latest examples include Matthew Garrett at Bakersfield College, Scott Gerber at Ohio Northern University, Stephen Porter at North Carolina State University, and Amy Wax at the University of Pennsylvania. National Association of Scholars president Peter Wood writes that, in each of these four cases, “the university tried (sometimes successfully) to rid itself of a faculty member not for any academic...

[Catholic Caucus] Communion Wars Coming to a head DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Many U.S. bishops are using fear of the Wuhan virus to illegally suspend the universal right of Catholics to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. A well-placed source inside the Lansing diocese told Church Militant that Michigan's bishops are collectively working to find a way they can require people to receive Holy Communion only in the hand once public Masses resume. Bp. Earl Boyea of Lansing "They're kicking it around," and likely "trying to get permission through the Vatican," said the source. "All Michigan bishops are involved in this, not just Lansing," the...

The College of Cardinals that will eventually elect Pope Francis’s successor was “in a very bad way’’ at a time when a strong church was needed in the world, says a senior Vatican cardinal.US Cardinal Raymond Burke, 70, who was in Australia last week, said the college was responsible for advising Pope Francis, but the Pope has not convened a meeting of cardinals for four years.Francis had created 59 of the current 124 voting cardinals, but few of those created under Benedict XVI or Saint John Paul II knew the newer cardinals and many of the newer cardinals did not...

Attention. The conflict that has exploded in Germany for and against communion for Protestant spouses should have exceeded the threshold of alarm for the unity of the whole Church, to judge by the warnings issued in recent days by several cardinals to the pope. Warnings of a severity that has no precedent, in the five years of the pontificate of Francis (in the photo, on the set with Wim Wenders).The backstory can be found in this post from Settimo Cielo of May 2, just before the encounter between the opposing parties when they were called to Rome by the pope:>...

For the Record: Cardinal Eijk's warning words on Pope Francis' lack of clarity The following letter by the primate of the Netherlands, Cardinal Willem Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, was published a few days ago. It deals with a matter of the gravest importance which we have often discussed here: the idea, proposed by several German bishops, of Communion being given to non-Catholics (specifically, non-Catholic spouses of Catholic faithful). Some good German bishops appealed to the Holy See expecting the clarity that is Rome's essential mission to provide. Clarity and firmness on what Christ and His Church have always taught is...

COMMENTARY: Failure to give German bishops proper directives, based on the clear doctrine and practice of the Church, points to a drift towards apostasy from the truth. Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk The German bishops’ conference voted by a large majority in favor of directives which entail that a Protestant married to a Catholic may receive the Eucharist after meeting a number of conditions: he must have carried out an examination of conscience with a priest or with another person with pastoral responsibilities; he must have affirmed the faith of the Catholic Church, as well as having wished to put an...

Cardinal Eijk: “Pope Francis Completely Incomprehensible” Pope Francis' wish that the German bishops should try to achieve unanimity regarding the acceptance of Protestant Communion is “completely incomprehensible”, according to Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht, Netherlands. Writing in ncregister.com (May 7), Eijk states the obvious, that even if all German bishops agree to “allow” Protestant Communion, it is still contrary to the Faith, “The practice of the Catholic Church, based on her faith, is not determined and does not change statistically when a majority of an episcopal conference votes in favor of it, not even if unanimously.” Eijk accuses Francis of...

After several German bishops appealed to the Vatican over an alleged proposal to allow non-Catholic spouses in mixed faith marriages to receive communion, the Church’s top authority on doctrine has sent the ball back, saying Pope Francis wants Germany’s bishops to come to an agreement among themselves. Released after a 4-hour meeting between German bishops and the heads of certain curial offices, a Vatican communique said that Archbishop Luis Ladaria SJ, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the bishops that the pope “appreciates the ecumenical commitment of the German bishops” and asked them “to find, in...

Pope Francis Does the Holy Liturgy Pope Francis is to ordain 16 deacons to the priesthood on April 22 The Words of Consecration and the Pope (Rome) The Holy See yesterday published the texts and chants for the Pope's Mass on the 4th Sunday after Easter, which Pope Francis will celebrate on April 22 in St. Peter's Basilica. On this occasion, the head of the Church will consecrate several candidates to the priesthood.   The priestly ordinations Pope Francis will ordain sixteen deacons preparing for the priesthood as priests, sincethe 55th World Day of Prayer is celebrated  at the same...

The bishops of Australia are divided over whether their country should legalize so-called same-sex marriage. Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney has teamed up with Dan White, executive director of Sydney Catholic Schools, in urging parents of Catholic students to vote "no" on the national postal survey on same-sex marriage that's going on now in Australia. In a two-page letter sent to parents Friday, Abp. Fisher related, "We will be voting 'no' and encourage you to do the same." The archbishop affirmed Catholics weren't bigots for rejecting gay marriage. "Sadly, there has been a campaign to label those who support traditional...

A recent article in L’Osservatore Romano by an Italian priest who teaches biblical theology is yet another example of the way the present papacy seems to look at priests and bishops who do not join in lockstep with the pope. I’ve never heard of this priest, Giulio Cirignano, but, evidently, he has some standing with the present regime. The good father is clearly echoing an attitude that is prominent among the closest members of the papal entourage when he says: “The clergy is holding the people back, who instead should be accompanied in this extraordinary moment. . . .The main...

According to a special wish of Pope Francis, the general assembly of the Italian Bishops chooses today democratically three bishops out of which Francis said he would name the new president of the Italian Bishops' Conference. At the same time Francis announced in yesterday's meeting with the bishops that he will not respect the choice if it does not please him, "Remember, I am not bound by the list."

The group of cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the Vatican bureaucracy spoke in their latest meeting about how to decentralize authority in the Catholic church and improve relationships between the Vatican and local bishops’ conferences. The nine member Council of Cardinals spoke in their April 24-26 meeting about how the Vatican can “be more at the service of local bishops” spokesman Greg Burke said in a short briefing Wednesday. Burke said the Council also continued its work examining the different offices of the Vatican bureaucracy, commonly known as the Roman Curia. He said they spoke specifically about the Congregation...

Today, the German Bishops’ official website, Katholisch.de, published an interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his own priestly ordination. In this context, the German cardinal also made some significant statements regarding the question of the viri probati — that is to say, on the ordination of married and morally proven men. When the interviewer asked Kasper about the viri probati question, he responded, saying that there is an “urgent need for action.” There has been many a long-term discussion about this matter, but in the past, explains the cardinal, this topic “was not approved...

Next week, Hans Küng, the Catholic priest and Swiss theologian, will mark his 88th birthday. The fifth volume of his complete works, titled Infallibility, has just become available from the German publishing house Herder. In connection with the release of Infallibility, Küng has written the following “urgent appeal to Pope Francis to permit an open and impartial discussion on infallibility of pope and bishops.” The text of his urgent appeal is being released simultaneously by National Catholic Reporter and The Tablet. It is hardly conceivable that Pope Francis would strive to define papal infallibility as Pius IX did with all...

A bishop who met with Pope Francis in a rare private audience on 4 April has said in an interview that the two men discussed the issue of the ordination of “proven” married men – viri probati – in a serious and positive way.

I'm troubled by what I'm hearing from politicians -- on both sides -- concerning the type of person who should replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the process that should be followed to determine her replacement. On "Fox News Sunday," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said, "Well, replacing a Supreme Court justice is very important, but they come and go. Really what I think is at stake is the reputation of the Senate. Can we have a confirmation process that will hold the Senate up to the world and the nation as a deliberative body made up of...

There is much discussion and criticism these days of the American Catholic bishops, especially their shadowy roles in the sexual abuse scandals which have recently shaken the Catholic Church. The secular media has confirmed what many Catholic leaders and some Catholic media have been saying for several years, namely, that there are grave abuses and a serious leadership crisis in today’s Church in the United States. Unfortunately, the events we are now witnessing in the Church, provoke extensive public criticism of the Catholic bishops, a good part of it justified. Sadly, these attacks extend to the clergy and even to...

One of the many nefarious parts of the great facade that has been erected by the doctrinal and liturgical revolutionaries in the past four and one-half decades is episcopal collegiality. This very important cornerstone of the great facade introduced a novelty that masked real differences among the world's bishops in the quite mistaken belief that it is better to demonstrate to the faithful and to the world a united front of episcopal solidarity than for one bishop to criticize one of his brother bishops or to take policies that put other bishops in a bad light and/or force them to...

July 12, 2002 'Collegiality' as a Tenure Battleground [How "nice" are you?] (NYT) By TAMAR LEWIN For generations, professors seeking tenure at colleges and universities have been evaluated on three factors: teaching, research and service to the institution. But a number of young professors, especially women, have recently contended that their bids for lifetime academic appointments were derailed by a more slippery fourth factor: collegiality. "More and more cases are coming up on some version of the collegiality issue," said Martin Snyder, director of planning and development at the American Association of University Professors. "We just saw three cases simultaneously...