Posted on 12/09/2009 12:55:29 PM PST by NYer
LONDON (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of England and Wales said they could be at risk of prosecution under a proposed law unless they accept women, sexually active gays and transsexuals as candidates to the priesthood.
They made their claims in a briefing for Catholic members of the House of Lords, Britain's upper political chamber, ahead of a scheduled Dec. 15 debate on the Equality Bill, which aims to stamp out discrimination in the workplace.
The bishops said the bill defines priests as employees rather than officeholders. Under the terms of the bill, the church would be immune from prosecution only if priests spend more than 51 percent of their time in worship or explaining doctrine.
According to the briefing, a copy of which was obtained by Catholic News Service Dec. 8, the government definition will, in effect, make it "unlawful to require a Catholic priest to be male, unmarried or not in a civil partnership, etc., since no priest would be able to demonstrate that their time was wholly or mainly spent either leading liturgy or promoting and explaining doctrine."
"The bill fails to reflect the time priests spend in pastoral work, private prayer and study, administration, building maintenance, etc.," the briefing said.
"This contentious definition was drafted without consultation and has been maintained by the government despite the concerns of the bishops' conference and representations made by most religious bodies in the U.K.," the briefing added.
The bishops asked Catholic lords to try to either strike out the contentious definition or widen it to protect priests and lay employees "whose credibility ... would be fatally compromised if their personal lives were openly at variance with the church's teaching."
In a Dec. 8 statement given to CNS, a government spokesman rejected the claims of the bishops, saying that an exemption "covers ministers of religion such as Catholic priests."
An amendment to the bill to protect the liberty of the churches was voted down in the House of Commons in November. The bill is likely to become law early next year.
Richard Kornicki, the bishops' parliamentary coordinator, told CNS in a Dec. 8 telephone interview that the bishops believe it is not possible to meet the criteria of the government definition of a priest.
According to legal advice received by the bishops, he said, this could lead to legal actions for sex discrimination if the church rejected women, married men, gays in civil partnerships or transsexuals who asked to join the priesthood.
"The government is saying that the church cannot maintain its own beliefs in respect of its own priests," he said.
Neil Addison, a Catholic lawyer who heads the Thomas More Legal Centre, which specializes in religious discrimination law, said that in the worst-case scenario the church could not only be sued but bishops could face imprisonment and unlimited fines and church assets could be sequestered. He said the bill would have the effect of making it impossible for the bishops to discipline clergy who wanted to live "alternative lifestyles."
Earlier, the bishops said the bill could force Catholic schools and health care institutions to remove crucifixes from their walls in case they offend non-Christian employees.
England has gone off its rocker.
What would St. Thomas More do?
It is no wonder they are failing.
There’s a shock - the socialist left doing EXACTLY what it claimed it never would do now that it has the power to do so.
Fortunately, I think that they are severely underestimating who they are dealing with this round.
The bishops are wrong. The government has no right to dictate the religious leadership of any religious body against its will. Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. Even if the UN didn’t acknowledge that, it still would be the case. The Church should fight in the courts and in any other way any attempt by the state to interfere in private Church matters such as this.
It was something like this that brought many catholics to America.
If the Catholic Church is forced underground such as it was in Rome it doesnt matter , we will go underground before bowing to this.
The bishops aren’t even really fighting their right not to hire lay employees who don’t adhere to Church teachings. They think they’ve already lost that one and are drawing the line at the priesthood. The number of priests is probably diminishing in the UK as it is here, and more and more of the parishes and church administration will be run by the laity.
Liberals, homosexuals and feminists gravitate to social service-type jobs and that is what they see as being the function of the church. If the bishops do not hold the line on lay employees as well, they are killing the Church in Britain.
Interesting statement ... I was not aware of this. Thanks for the post and ping!
Question what would St Thomas Beckett would do
He is one that went against Henry the Second aka Lion in winter fame
For centuries, the "Tyburn Tree" near Marble Arch in London was a place of abject horror for Catholics. Between 1535 and 1679 nearly 400 Roman Catholics were executed on the triple-pillared gallows for refusing to recant their faith, as priest hunters scoured Britain looking for traitors to the post-Reformation crown.
Memorial for the gallows where Catholic martyrs met their end
OMG I hope not I hear that punishment YIKES
I been reading biography on Henry VIII children by ALison Weir BOY that novel
I’ve read some of Alison Weir’s books. Very vivid!
This is already a big problem in the United States. Religious groups that provide government-funded social services started hiring non-believers, and that has led to all the issues with insurance coverage, "domestic partnership," and so on.
There was an item just within the last few days about a state requiring insurance benefits for the homosexual partners of Catholic school employees ... leading any Catholic with more than three brain cells to ask, "Why is a Catholic school employing anyone engaged in a homosexual relationship in the first place?"
“Between 1535 and 1679 nearly 400 Roman Catholics were executed on the triple-pillared gallows for refusing to recant their faith, as priest hunters scoured Britain looking for traitors to the post-Reformation crown.”
Given the many Christians killed as heretics with the full support and encouragement of the Catholic Church between the time of Wycliffe & 1535, one has to think about ‘sowing’ and ‘reaping’.
The sainted Sir Thomas More probably wouldn’t have approved of hanging - too easy. He preferred burning heretics such as Tyndale: “and for heretics, as they be, the clergy doth denounce them; and, as they be well worthy, the temporality doth burn them; and after the fire of Smithfield hell doth receive them, where the wretches burn forever.”
Still, it is unlikely the modern government of the UK will approve such measures...for either side.
SHe working on another novel right now coming out in Mid July based on Eleanor of Aquitane and her relationship with Henry 2 called Captive Queen
You’re actually Thomas Cromwell aren’t you?
That was a complex relationship.
One of my daughters is named Eleanor.
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