Sunday, November 29, 2009

We Need Another John XXIII

Those comments from Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe Diocese. The problem is that Bishop Walsh seems to have absolutely no idea what sort of pope Blessed John actually was.

A Papal ban on discussing the ordination of women has been openly challenged by an Irish bishop.

The bishop, whose seat is at Ennis in County Clare, has also expressed sadness about the Catholic Church's attitudes to homosexuality and its policy of refusing the Eucharist to couples who have re-married.

The insistence on priests remaining celibate also needed to be discussed, he said.
Bishop Walsh has already challenged another Vatican rule that almost completely excludes Protestants from its Eucharist.

I think we must conclude that Bishop Walsh fits into our standard dilemma: Is he stupid, or just a liar?

Alluding to the papacy which ushered in liberal reform in the 1960s, Bishop Walsh said he wanted to see "another Pope John XXIII".

Such a pope would open up discussion, particularly the exclusion of women from the priesthood, he added.

Really? The Pope who forbade women from even lighting candles in the sanctuary would want to talk about ordaining them to the priesthood?

This is another instance where Cardinal Levada needs to get involved.

By the way, for a factual presentation of Pope John's views, check out the posts here.

1 comment:

Aileen said...

I think we can go with stupid in this case. Such is the sad case for a lot of the Irish clergy.