23 March 2018

Colonna ... or Sire?

The paper version of the online book about this pontificate is, I gather, to be be published on April 23. It will contain new material, not least about scandals that have come to light since December; some of which are just the beginning of stories which are going to grow and grow over the coming months.

The author, Mr Henry Sire of Exeter College in this University, has been 'suspended' by the Order of Malta. He has pointed out that the means of his suspension contradict the laws of the Order.

It all reminds me of the treatment of the Franciscans of the Immaculate ... the same operational assumption that Law doesn't really matter much once some bully decides that someone else needs a good kicking.

No wonder Raymond Burke had to be sacked. He might have given 'wrong' decisions.

7 comments:

A Daughter of Mary said...

Father, I wonder if that is not one of the more chilling aspects of this heresy of Modernism we see being lived out before us: the absolute arrogance and almost carefree attitude from the Vatican. They move with speed when it suits them. They have no regard for consequences. They don't respond when anyone complains or points out illegalities or irregularities.

If one is so comfortable in one's ideology that one moves at will to stay the course and suppress opposition because the other parties are 'wrong' and just in the way…this does not auger well for any future in the Church. Flagrant is the word.

mark wauck said...

Today's WSJ has an interesting essay "University of Denial" (behind subscription wall). While dealing with a different topic in a specific sense, in a more general sense its conclusion has much to say about what's happening in the Church--and has been for a long time. And really the essay isn't so far off topic, given the Church's current preoccupation with group identity issues. Here's the conclusion--if you substitute words or phrases like "ideology" for "political power", etc. you'll see how wide the application is:

"Yet although the culture war is now tilted against those accused of discrimination, politics persists, and frustration tells at the ballot box. ?The deeper price is that people come to believe that truth yields to power, and that political pressure should be brought to bear to avoid inconvenient realities.

"Some in this camp claim benign motives. ... But when facts are concealed, they do not change. They have consequences whether or not we are prepared to face them.

"That belief that political force [= "human will", we're all Hegelians now!] determines objective reality has characterized totalitarian regimes world-wide and throughout history—regimes that are responsible for untold amounts of human misery."

These may seem like basic concepts, unremarkable, but I maintain that we need to keep their truth consciously at the front of our minds as we examine the world around us. It's too easy to be distracted by the chatter.

Riddley said...

As it happens I was reading this article by Dr Joseph Shaw just before reading your post, Father: http://www.lmschairman.org/2017/01/the-death-of-law-in-church.html#more

RichardT said...

“So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

“Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

“Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

“Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Donna Bethell said...

Evidently the rule of law is a nicety for when you don't actually have to get something done.

Karl J said...

Dear Father,

Your comments are so refreshing to read. Thank you, very much.

rick allen said...

Not exactly responsive to this post, but I recall sometime back a post about the unavailability of the Liturgia Horarum. I said that a beautiful but rather pricey six-volume version was available from Midwest Theological Forum, and then someone else said that it was out of print there as well, as it was.

So I write just to let anyone interested that MTF has it back in print again, and for a short time has it at a 20% discount (but still pretty pricy):

https://www.theologicalforum.org/Category/0/Product/420/Liturgia_Horarum_Hardcover_Edition_

I know that the LH isn't real popular with many readers here. But it is the present Prayer of the Church, if that's important to anyone.

Just an FYI.