Posted on 01/21/2006 4:12:17 PM PST by atomic_dog
SAN BERNARDINO (AP) - In a rare heresy trial, the local diocese has convicted and excommunicated a priest who joined a denomination that doubts papal infallibility and doesn't follow church teachings on homosexuality, abortion and ordination of women clergy.
The Rev. Ned Reidy received a 30-page letter last week notifying him that a three-priest tribunal of the Diocese of San Bernardino had found him guilty of heresy and schism and that his authority to conduct priestly functions was revoked. The one-day trial was held Dec. 13.
Reidy said he would not appeal the decision because he has not considered himself a member of the Roman Catholic church since 1999, when he resigned to join the Orange-based Ecumenical Catholic Communion.
He called the proceedings ''medieval'' and said they were a distraction from his current ministry.
''I'm a priest forever,'' he said.
''What appears to me is that whatever the Roman church cannot control, it will attempt to destroy,'' Reidy said. ''It's not working; the attempt is harsh and cold, and the discourtesy is appalling.''
Reidy was ordained in 1962 and for 19 years was pastor of Desert Roman Catholic Church in Palm Desert, near Palm Springs. He now is co-pastor, with a woman, of the Community of the Risen Christ church in Bermuda Dunes, a few miles from his old church.
His denomination considers itself Catholic in the sense of celebrating its sacraments. But it does not believe in the infallibility of the pope and permits married and female clergy. It also permits same-sex unions and holds more liberal views than the Vatican on divorce and birth control.
The Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the diocese, said Reidy was automatically excommunicated when he went to another denomination, but under church law he remained a Roman Catholic priest until he was formally defrocked.
''Rev. Reidy decided to formally leave, to resign from his religious order, but he never resigned from the Roman Catholic priesthood, and he could have done that, he could have instituted a process through Rome,'' Lincoln said. ''So therefore, we had to go through this process to formally and officially recognize his removal from the clerical state in the Roman Catholic church.''
In its verdict, the tribunal wrote that it was necessary ''for the good of the faithful'' to formally excommunicate Reidy because the rituals and liturgy of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion are so similar that they might lead some Roman Catholics astray.
Some scholars have said they were aware of only two heresy trials held in the U.S. -- Reidy's and another in the San Bernardino diocese two years ago.
The Reidy verdict might pave the way for other heresy trials around the country, said Msgr. Thomas Green, a professor of canon law at The Catholic University of Washington in Washington, D.C.
''They might think, 'If they did it and were able to carry it off, it's not insuperable,''' Green told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside.
Have they handed him over to the secular arm for thermal treatment?
nah, he was already a flamer.
Years ago, my dear departed uncle was Publisher of this newspaper. He was quite conservative and a devote Roman Catholic. Wonder if he's up in heaven right now shaking his head is disbelief.
They need to line up Kennedy, Durbin, Leahy and several others . . . bring out the bell, book and candle . . . and have at it!
Heck, the Father can announce he's an Episcopalian without breaking stride!
Ah, very clear now: they fired him after he quit. Typical.
So what's the big deal? Just forward your resumé to the nearest Episcopal church and be done with it.
Yee-Haw! Grab the marshmallows! There's going to be a torchi...
whah? O nevermind...
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