Posted on 10/08/2008 10:52:19 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
MANASSAS, VA (OCTOBER 8, 2008) - Father Richard McBrien, the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Roman Catholic Theology at the University of Notre Dame, ripped into the hierarchy of the Catholic Church at a talk given at a Unitarian church in Kansas City recently. According to an article today, October 7, 2008 in the National Catholic Reporter, McBrien said Pope John Paul II’s greatest failing was naming bishops.
“Father McBrien’s blatant disregard and contempt for the leadership of the Catholic Church is nothing new,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Until Notre Dame and other Catholic colleges are rid of such jaded liberal theologians, the renewal of Catholic higher education can never be complete.”
During the question and answer segment of his talk, Father McBrien sharply criticized the life-long office of the Papacy, characterizing it as tyrannical. He compared the pontificate of John Paul II to an imaginary lifetime Bush presidency, where as many appointments of jurists to US courts could be made as desired.
“That's exactly what Pope John Paul II -- or any other pope for that matter -- was able to do in his long term of office, and that is why the Catholic church finds itself today . . . with such a dearth of pastoral leadership," said McBrien.
The Notre Dame professor added that John Paul II’s greatest failing as Pope lies in the bishops he named.
“Men were appointed bishops or promoted within the hierarchy on the basis of loyalty to the Holy See rather than on the basis of pastoral aptitude, theological sophistication and leadership skills,” quipped McBrien.
McBrien attacked the US Bishops, who steadfastly urge Catholics to vote pro-Life, for supposedly violating guidelines set out in USCCB documents. Such guidelines specify that the bishops do not “wish to
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
If not, I will say from now on that there is a Freeper who is a Rabid anti-Catholic......I NEVER see anyone else posting anything like this......I REALLY hope as a Religion Mod that you are aware and maybe just say SOMETHING to Alex.....can I count on you to be fair?
As a ND grad who knows that Rev. McBrien is a scandal and that ND is mostly secular, I don’t see how this thread is anti-catholic, just pro-truth.
(I’m not familiar with the poster, but don’t have to be to see the truth of the scandal that this priest and school represent.)
Of course Freepers have very, very deep disagreements about theology - airing those disagreements is the purpose of "open" threads in the Religion Forum.
If you are offended by open threads, then stay away from them and post instead to the Religion Forum threads marked "ecumenical" "caucus" "devotional" or "prayer."
This thread isn’t anti-Catholic. It’s anti-Catholic to sweep McBrien’s scandal under the rug. It’s anti-Catholic to keep McBrien as a tenured theologian at a supposedly-Catholic university. (Yes, ND alums, I just called the ND administration anti-Catholic. Please turn ND back into a Catholic university so I can send my kids there.)
This thread isn’t anti-Catholic. It’s anti-Catholic to sweep McBrien’s scandal under the rug. It’s anti-Catholic to keep McBrien as a tenured theologian at a supposedly-Catholic university. (Yes, ND alums, I just called the ND administration anti-Catholic. Please turn ND back into a Catholic university so I can send my kids there.)
I thought McBrien was dead?
If not, I will say from now on that there is a Freeper who is a Rabid anti-Catholic......I NEVER see anyone else posting anything like this......I REALLY hope as a Religion Mod that you are aware and maybe just say SOMETHING to Alex.....can I count on you to be fair?
Please ping me when you talk about me.
Evidently she was talking about Alen Murphy. Is he related to you?
**I see one of the New Inquisidores has left their mark!**
It would seem that only Catholics can post anti-Catholic material, and then only hiding behind a “Caucus” designation.
If a Proddie dares to post such an article, then they are a branded as having an anticatholicfetish. Sounds a lot like the accusation certain race hate mongers make.
Don’t pick at the scab.
And the Catholic church tolerates people like this because? I may be wrong, but don’t preists basically serve at the leisure of the Pope? Ther eisn’t some kind of union, can never be fired, deal in place is there?
Plus a tenured one at that left me to point out what is the big deal/point of posting the article in the first place.
McBrien is a Catholic in Name Only who has been named as a dissident. I’ll provide the link when I get back from church.
(Imagine a Catholic going to Church on a Wednesday evening in addition to Sunday Mass? LOL!!!)
McBrien's mandatum needs to be revoked. He spouts heresy at every friggin turn.
No, priests do not serve at anyone's leisure. It's kind of hard to explain without going into a long explanation on Apostolic succession and how it all works.
Notre Dame is run by the Fathers of the Holy Cross and without looking at his bio, I would take a wild guess that McBrien is one of them (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). He gets a lot of attention because what he says is "controversial". Any good Catholic would call it heresy. As McBrien is a member of an order and is not a diocesan priest, it's up to his order to discipline him.
In order to teach theology in a Catholic university, an individual needs a written decree from the Vatican called a Mandatum, meaning this person is not a radical and doesn't teach heresy. In the 20th century, more than one famous theologian's mandatum was revoked. It can be done and, IMO, it should be done in this case.
No, they're responsible to their immediate superiors.
The more important question is why he's still on the theology faculty at a supposedly-Catholic university.
Des, that's the way it's supposed to work. But, at a lot of schools, they don't bother to enforce the requirement for the Mandatum. I'm quite sure that McBrien doesn't have one, and couldn't get one.
Steubenville is very proud of the fact that everyone on their theology faculty has the mandatum. They're one of very few schools in the US that can make that claim.
Women Priests
| Fr. Richard McBrien | Claims that a future Pope must overturn the infallible document disallowing women "priests" (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis). |
| Fr. Richard McBrien | Says, among other things, that Jesus did not establish the Catholic Church, and calls into question the virginal conception of Jesus and the perpetual virginity of Our Lady, and promotes dissent. |
Public Supporters of Dissident Organizations
| Fr. Richard McBrien | Supporter of Call to Action. |
Was it ex-priest and heretic Daniel C. Maguire?
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