Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 6:56pm

PopeWatch: Swiss Meltdown

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This is interesting and intriguing:

 

 

Swiss Catholics – or at least, the progressive fringe of Swiss German-speaking Catholics – are angry at the recent nomination of a new papal nuncio to Bern, and they are making themselves heard. In an open letter to the new ambassador of the Holy See, the canon and co-dean of Bern, Fr. Christian Schaller, hoped that Archbishop Thomas Gullickson would show enough “sensitivity in order to perceive the realities of the Church in Switzerland” and accused him of “pastoral imprudence” in proposing to shut down parishes without priests. Behind a pleasant appeal to a “meeting” and an end to mutual “prejudice” lurks a condemnation of Archbishop Gullickson’s purported preference for the traditional teachings of the Church, especially in the moral sphere.

The letter was the last in a series of critical moves against the American nuncio whose previous post, in Ukraine, had put him in touch with starker realities.

A group of lay Catholic “reformers” formed an alliance called “Enough!” in the wake of articles in the Swiss media in January portraying Gullickson’s latest actions proving that he is an “anti-liberal.” Things got even worse from their point of view last week, when he retweeted an article in which Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima, Peru, called UN bureaucrats promoting the legalization of abortion because of the Zika virus scare “Herods in suits and ties.” Gullickson has never hidden his preference for reverent liturgy, the Latin Mass, and other signs of traditionalism that have led his Swiss detractors to accuse him of being a follower of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.

The twelve Catholic groups forming the alliance claim to be working for a “liberating and inclusive Church.” Late last month, “Enough!” wrote an open letter to the president of the Swiss Federal Council, Johann Schneider-Ammann, asking him to intervene in order to obtain Archbichop Gullickson’s revocation, accusing him of “hate speech” and of constituting a menace for the unity of the Swiss Church.

Go here to read the rest.  Let us see what the Pope does.  What is called the Catholic Church in Switzerland largely is not.  If that sounds too strong, go here to read all about it.

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Philip
Philip
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 5:07am

The ten bullet points that are mentioned in your link; “if that sounds too strong, go here;” are aggressively anti-catholic. Swiss cheese if you will. Full of holes and deeply troubling.
I will place Archbishop Gullickson in my morning Rosary offering. The “Herods in suits and ties,” are not limited in their wardrobe. Seems they like to wear religious clothing as well.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 6:16am

You cannot dialogue with these people. They have to be shut down and booted out.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 6:23am

Every time I hear or read something from such deplorable people a million dogs begin howling in my brain.

ave
ave
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 6:56am

“sensitivity in order to perceive the realities of the Church….”

Definition: Tolerate all things, blasphemy, heresy, sacrilege, secularism, sin….in the name of the 12th commandment–“sensitivity.”

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 6:57am

If Archbishop Gullickson needs a place to lay his head, we could surely use him in Philadelphia. This Archdiocese can be saved but it needs good leadership and Archbishop Chaput will retire soon. (Archbishop Chaput has been great. Please don’t interpret this as a shot at him. We just need a good follow-up.)

Don L
Don L
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 6:57am

“ave” comment, should be Don L??? Have no idea how that happened.

Mal
Mal
Tuesday, February 16, AD 2016 8:51pm

Here we see yet another battle between the ‘rad trads’ and the ‘glib libs’. How will the Pope decide?

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Wednesday, February 17, AD 2016 4:02am

To Mal:

This is a battle between Catholics who believe the teachings of the Church and those who don’t. Effectively, the Swiss ‘Catholics’ are Protestants.

Father of Seven
Father of Seven
Thursday, February 18, AD 2016 5:49am

What have we learned during the 500 years since Luther? That today, he never would have left the one true Church. He just would have spread Lutheranism while remaining “Catholic”.

Don L
Don L
Thursday, February 18, AD 2016 5:51am

Father of Seven: Brilliant point! He would have shortened his 95 thesis’ to but one–social justice.

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