Yes, when this tactic has been used it is sad and deceitful. To be clear I am not saying that is what happened in this case. I don't know. Perhaps he is on such good and familiar terms with his superiors that they felt a familiar chat was better than an informal legal letter. Fr. Mark is so good, but seemingly naive also. He needs to request this order in writing and he has the right to appeal it if he feels it is unjust. Not that I think that will do much good. He would be climbing up the legal ladder to the very people who issued the directive no doubt.
Extremely naive. Reading the comments, someone said his Community supports him, the implication being that it was someone from the Archdiocese who told him to cease and desist. Writing to the Pope would be foolish. Fr. Goring is a member of a religious order and I think that while religious orders may be able to choose where they are located, they cannot minister publicly in a diocese without the Bishop's permission which can be withdrawn at any time. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the Bishop for telling Fr. Goring to back off. That Bishop could have been doing him a favour. That the warning was verbal rather than written could be in the priest's best interests because it won't be in his file labelling him as troublesome for the rest of his priesthood. Maybe the Bishop wants to keep him in the diocese and has stepped in to save Fr. Goring from a more formal disciplinary measure being taken against him. Remember who he criticised: the Jesuits, especially Fr. James Martin who is much closer to Pope Francis than Fr. Goring's Bishop; and Cardinal Wuerl who also seems to be a favourite of Pope Francis, otherwise he would have been put out to pasture rather than maintaining a high profile in Washington.
I hope he is being well advised. Canon Law is it's very own speciality. .If I were him Fr Gerard Murray in New York would be my man. He would not want just any old Canon Lawyer I would want a very good one and one reading from the the same hymn sheet, so to speak. But anyway it looks like he is getting advise. I understand Fr Mark's speciality is IT; so this is outside his field.
"The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres..." -Our lady at Akita, 1973
I watched tonight's World Over programme. Robert Royal was there as usual but Fr. Murray wasn't. They may have explained Fr. Murray's absence at the beginning of the programme but it had already begun when I switched it on. There's probably a good reason why he was missing but I hope he hasn't had the same kind of phone call as Fr. Goring. Ed Condon from National Catholic Register was there instead. He's a Canon Lawyer but rather wishy-washy and not nearly as sharp as Robert Royal or Fr. Murray. Or maybe he is as sharp but doesn't want to bring the axe of mercy down on himself. I also watched Fr. Mitch Pacwa's programme last night. The whole programme was really a promo for a book written by Fr. Pacwa's guest whose name escapes me. The book is about bad shepherds, including bad popes, in the history of the Church. I think the programme was an attempt at apologetics on Fr. Pacwa's part, telling worried Catholics that although today's hierarchy are bad, they aren't as bad as some who have gone before them. It was a poor attempt at apologetics, far below Fr. Pacwa's usual standard, because it didn't address the glaring problem that never before has there been such a blatant attempt to call evil good and incorporate it into magisterial teaching. Sad to see good Catholic men in such a flux.
It very much annoys me when I hear people say "Well we've had bad Popes before." When they say this they are most often referring to the bad behavior of some past Popes. That is not what we are talking about today. As far as we know this Pope has fairly good personal behavior. Insofar as he has no mistresses, no illegitimate children, no illicit habits, etc. What we are talking about here is people being led astray spiritually. If a Pope has six mistresses, 25 illegitimate children and is addicted to opium, but doesn't touch a word of the faith then he will only have caused some personal scandal during his reign and the faith will move on unchanged as before. One cannot compare personal scandal with spiritual scandal. The only time we even approached a situation as bad as the current one was in the Arian heresy and this one seems to be far exceeding that one in scope. During the Arian heresy many bishops lost the faith, but the faithful knew their faith and held it. Today many bishops are allowing the faithful to go uncatechized and without proper guidance. Not only that but they let the wolves come into the flock. They even champion the wolves and tell the sheep how great they are. This is an entirely new kind of crisis. The blind leading the blind.
I sense the hand of Fr Spadaro et all in the Vatican in a huge media clampdown. I wonder if this is going on in other countries? I must check and see. I know the whip was cracked at Bishop Schneider recently. It is ironic that these arch liberals whose war cry is mercy and for freedom of expression should be so totally merciless and censorial. Strange times. It is difficult to see what Spadaro and his ilk can do with lay led sites like Life Site News, One Peter Five or lay people like Raymond Arroyo. Raymond Arroyo does not strike me as someone who would be easily pushed around. Michael Voris is another. Interesting to see what they will do next. They cannot censor them so I suppose mud will be thrown in huge amounts in their direction. A Church , at war with itself and tearing itself apart just as Our Lady foretold at Akita.
I wonder whether Greg Burke got wind of the clampdown when he decided to bail out. I doubt that Tornielli was given that new job because the Pope wants to build bridges to Catholics who don't view him as a reincarnation of Christ. Perhaps Arroyo would be more cautious if he were answering rather than asking the questions on his programme. He still has to be careful, however, because there's not much use being an interviewer if potential interviewees have had a phone call similar to Fr. Goring's.
That job could be done by a layperson. There's a serious priest shortage in the Amazon region, so maybe it's time to pack the likes of him off to Brazil with a tent and a tube of mosquito repellent. Fr. Martin could go with him and bring a rainbow tent so he'll be easier to find if he gets lost in the jungle. On second thoughts, a camouflage tent would be best for the good of the Church.
Yes it's good to keep a sense of humour. We're all going to need all the humour we can hold on to before this is all over. It occurs to me if the Vatican strategy works out they will take all the serious , 'Players' , out of the ball game.Then they will be able to say that no one , 'Serious', is asking questions. Only a lot of nut job bloggers and conspiracy theorists. Failing to mention that all the serious folk are silent because they have been silenced. I was thinking today about poor Dr Taylor Marshall and Timothy Gordon,. They have both large families to support and the Church gives them a living as academics. They are very,very vulnerable and I am sure top to Spadaro's totem pole to have their joint wings clipped. Poor guys. These will be such testing times for those who want to stand by the truth. There are many like them all over the world. Poor, poor people, Prayers. They have such lovely families. So sad. Dr Marshall sent me the most beautiful Christmas video of his family.
If ever there was a time to read and study prophecy it is this. All these happenings are led out stoke by stroke ; it is quite amazing to see it.
I wonder if Ed Condon is not putting the brakes on things here all the time? Getting Pope Francis off the hook as often as I can? 'The Pope might not have known this or that'. 'We can't blame the Pope for this or that, he might not have known'..and on and on and on. I wonder if EWTN has been under pressure and decided to put the brakes on things by having him on the programme? Mr Condon strikes me as very naive with all this , maybe the Pope didn't know stuff. .
That segment struck me as simply a way of setting expectations for the upcoming meeting of Bishops. To me it sounds like someone thinks they have the McCarrick solution ready for prime time and are moving into phase II.
Padraig, I really liked this episode especially the first half of it where this discussion that you mention takes place. We know that when it came to the sexual abuse scandal in Chile it took quite an upheaval before Pope Francis acted properly. I don't think anyone will forget about the debacle that occurred regarding the Chilean sex abuse victim's letter that Cardinal Sean O'Malley gave to the pope. With that said, imho Ed Condon gives the pope enough rope here, if you don't mind the expression. Mr. Condon admits that at the synod scheduled for February, it is up to the Holy See to demonstrate to the bishops that they will support them in bringing any abusers to justice. In addition, Mr. Condon confirms what Cardinal Burke and many others have stated many times over again, and that is that the Church does not need a new procedure to deal with clergy who are accused of sexual misconduct but he admits they need to expand what is meant by vulnerable adults in regard to what is going to be addressed at the upcoming synod. I am praying that this is done. Imo, any abuse which occurs regarding the subordinate of the abuser including of course seminarians and priests for that matter should be considered as vulnerable adults especially those who still fall into the category of a young adult. *** The second half of the episode helps to highlight a huge problem facing young adults in the USA and around the world and the guest offered no real solution imo.
