Thursday, May 09, 2019

Fr. Thomas Joseph White on Freedom

CWR/CNA: Dominican scholar: Church crisis calls for renewal of Catholic teaching on freedom
Ultimately, White thinks the solutions to today’s crisis in the Church will not be something new, and that the deep solutions needed “depend on grace and also the internal formation life and discipline life of the Church.”

He said it is true that the Church needs to make some prudential considerations about the formation, training, and vetting of priests and bishops, and that the laity have the right to expect and insist upon reform from bishops and priests.

I think most are more interested in proposals for changes to how the institution is run and how oversight of authority is possible, or accountability. If the relationship between the bishop and the Christian people of the local church needs to be re-examined, and our understanding of ecclesial authority needs to be refined and corrected, then maybe some of the solutions, those pertaining to the exercise of authority and accountability, may be new. If a bishop is a scandal to the faithful and an impediment to communion or the life of the Church, then if he doesn't resign, some other action must be possible to remedy this.

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