Heretic Bishop Removed

Interesting news from Australia:

The Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris, has been effectively sacked by Pope Benedict XVI over doctrinal disobedience for his support for ordaining women priests and other liberal reform.

Naturally, the person at fault here is the Pope.

In a highly unusual move, Bishop Morris complained in a letter to his followers that he was leaving unwillingly and claimed he had been denied natural justice.

Yeah, he only gave the guy five years to stop leading souls astray.

The concerns we expressed in our Fr. Pfleger entry seem to be equally valid in this situation.

Some Toowoomba Catholics left church in tears yesterday, and priests have called a meeting at St Patrick's Cathedral on Thursday to consider what action can be taken, including the possibility of a mass resignation of clergy.

The whole bit about a mass resignation of the clergy has a kind of weird irony to it considering the fact that this bishop has done nothing to encourage vocations and appears to have just let the whole diocese wither on the vine. Of course, this is what we see from heretics. They eventually just annihilate themselves in the fashion of all such evils (see Mark 5:13).

Here's the interesting part. Rorate is reporting that Bishop Buchel of Switzerland is doing the exact same stuff.

Markus Büchel calls for far-reaching reforms in the Catholic Church. The bishop of the diocese of St. Gallen [St. Gall] spoke out openly for women’s ordination. “We must search for steps that lead there,” he said. “I could imagine that women’s diaconate could be such a step.”

One has not been permitted to discuss women’s ordination for a good while. “We can’t afford this anymore.” Regarding priesthood for women, Büchel said, “We can pray that the Holy Spirit enables us to read the signs of the times.”

Given that Pope Benedict is the guy who made him a bishop in the first place, it will be interesting to see what kind of action is take here. Hopefully, the Holy Father won't take five years to deal with these issues.