Friday, March 29, AD 2024 1:20am

Never Go Full Ostrich

 

 

Dale Price gives us words to live by at his blog Dyspeptic Mutterings:

 

 

Never go full ostrich, son.

Yes, Burke was purged. The happy-clappy interpretations are…less than, he says as gently as possible.

Two critical facts missed in all of the “hey, it was term limits!” arguments:
First, this is the second kick from the Pope this year, with the first being from the Congregation of Bishops. After which, we got Cupich in Chicago, for starters. Anybody else gotten a double removal like Burke? Nope.
Second, Burke being shuffled to a sinecure means he won’t be able to participate in the 2015 version of the Synod. Just when his voice will be needed most, after a year of Cupich-y or Leow-ish appointments to the episcopate, he’ll be on the outside looking in.

But, you reply, what about Muller and Pell?
It is true that Muller has been a godsend on marriage, but he’s also a fan of liberation theology. I don’t know how that squares with any sensible definition of “conservative,” and his stance on liberation is no doubt a big plus in the pontiff’s book.  Pell is the best argument to the contrary, I grant. But it would be hard for the pope to boot Pell from the inner circle after inviting him there in the first place. It would reflect on his executive judgment, in much the same way a President will stick with one of his cabinet appointees, come hell or high water. Still, I think it would be worth watching to see if the Australian cardinal is gradually frozen out as the 2015 synod session approaches. And, yes, while it is nice that Melbourne got a good appointee, it’s worth noting that Australia’s Catholic population tops off at 5.6 million, whereas there are 2.3 million in the Archdiocese of Chicago alone. Put differently, Pell won’t have any say in selecting bishops for my neck of the woods.

Still, why should you care? 
Number 1, “Vatican politics” gives you your bishop. Cupich, remember. In other words, “Personnel is policy.” If it’s “clericalism” to worry about who your shepherd is going to be, then we should all be clericalists. 
Second, there’s a trend here, and it’s pretty much all bad: Pope Francis has made statements against the two tendencies of progressivism and traditionalism, without however clarifying what these two labels encompassed. Yet, if by words he distances himself from the two poles which confront each other in the Church today, by facts all tolerance is reserved for “progressivism”, while the axe falls upon what he defines as “traditionalism”.

Precisely. If you’re a solid progressive, you get high-profile invites to significant Church events even if you’re a coddler of abusive priests. [Read more about the dreadful Danneels in the reliably rad-trad Tablet.] Sadly, it appears that mercy is only for those of confirmed progressive bona fides. Whereas demotions, removals and defenestrations of entire orders are reserved only for those with the odor of Tradition.

Go here to read the rest.  Orthodox Catholics since 1978 were able to count on having a friend as Pope.  That clearly ended in 2013.
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Clinton
Clinton
Saturday, November 15, AD 2014 1:23pm

With six years as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Cardinal Burke probably
has more expert insight into canon law and the annulment process than any
other member of the College of Cardinals. Yet with his removal from the
curia, His Eminence is also removed from possible participation in next year’s
synod. His light has been put under a bushel basket.
.
I’d like to think that this Pope could still appoint Cardinal Burke to a committee
within the synod, where his good advice might be heard. But I’m not holding
my breath…

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, November 15, AD 2014 2:53pm

I’ll wager this papacy will not end well. The institutional injury may run on for many years. You’re either going to see a hemorrhage as the Petrine ministry self-discredits or you will see the Holy Spirit’s protection confirmed in some obvious but not altogether telling way. (I’ve had occasion to wonder if it was a message to us that Andrew Greeley spent his last years unable to communicate and with his family uncertain of what he understood and what he did not).

Keeping you all in mind, Dale.

Franco
Franco
Saturday, November 15, AD 2014 6:24pm

One should expect purges of clergymen who are faithful to the Magisterium,
while Francis, as the first pope of the new Catholic Church of Vatican II, will
assign the Magisterium to the dustbin of history. The catechism will be
discarded as an obscene relic of the old notorious church.

One is astonished to witness such humility.

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