Pope Benedict XVI removed Bishop William M. Morris of Toowoomba, Australia, from office five years after he wrote a pastoral letter indicating he would be open to ordaining women and married men if church rules changed to allow such a possibility. In an open letter to Catholics in his diocese released on May 1, Bishop Morris said the 2006 letter “has been misread and, I believe, deliberately misinterpreted” by a small group within the diocese. He said he did not offer to resign as “a matter of conscience” because “my resignation would mean that I accept the assessment of myself as breaking ‘communio,’ which I absolutely refute and reject.” In a statement released on May 3 supporting Bishop Morris, the National Council of Priests of Australia said: “We are appalled at the lack of transparency and due process that led to this decision by church authorities.”
Australian Bishop Removed
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
I use a motorized wheelchair and communication device because of my disability, cerebral palsy. Parishes were not prepared to accommodate my needs nor were they always willing to recognize my abilities.
Age and its relationship to stardom is the animating subject of “Sunset Blvd,” “Tammy Faye” and “Death Becomes Her.”
What separates “Bonhoeffer” from the myriad instructive Holocaust biographies and melodramas is its timing.
“Wicked” arrives on a whirlwind of eager (and anxious) anticipation among fans of the musical.