Thursday 21 June 2007

And Speaking Of Backbone...

...Cardinal Pell seems to have more than his fair share. The more I read about this man, the more I like him. Perhaps we can petition Rome to snaffle him for Westminster when Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor hangs up his hat?

Anyway, in addition to making teachers take an oath of fidelity to the Magisterium and warning Catholic politicians about the religious consequences of their voting tendencies (among other things), the Cardinal is to be interrogated by a Parlimentary Committee for contempt of Parliament. This carries a maximum jail sentence of 25 years.

I say we should start up a Cardinal Pell Fan Club...

14 comments:

Gregor Kollmorgen said...

I absolutely agree. Wonderful shepherd secundum Cor Divini Pastoris.
The former See of our Holy Father - the archdiocese of Munich and Freising - is vacant, and I cannot easily think of someone in Germany - with the possible exception of the Bsihop of Regensburg - I would prefer over Card. Pell.

the owl of the remove said...

Sign me up, Mac! p.s. - we need to arrange our Owl/Fort/Herm gathering - I arrive back in Blighty next week.

Andrew said...

Hear hear! But as for petitioning Rome, you've got to get in line I'm afraid as he's third on our list once our bishop retires. Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln is on top, followed by Archbishop Burke of St. Louis.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Now if only ......Cardinal Pell........ Westminster

Anonymous said...

Me too!

Berolinensis, hands off! ;-)

Simon-Peter Vickers-Buckley said...

Belin: yes, I have been watching this since it became vacant. This is a key vacancy.There are some others in Germany too right?

Cardinal Pell needs to act next. He has given fair warning. Now act.

I LOVE the oath business! Next, revive the oath against modernism.

Contempt of Parliament? LOL. No more than they deserve. Today is St. Thomas More's feast day BTW.

Simon-Peter Vickers-Buckley said...

According to the Diocese of Sydney website, Cardinal Pell's 10 June Column:

"A few intolerant politicians want to ban religious argument in public life, so that the only permissible reasoning will be irreligious or anti-religious. The views of Barry Hickey, the Catholic Archbishop of Perth, which are similar to Pope Benedict’s, have been referred to the W.A. state parliamentary privileges committee for investigation by the speaker Fred Riebeling, who sees the possible application of Catholic discipline as a “threat”."

So it's more than just Pell.

Cathy said...

If contempt of Parliament is against the law, y'all are going to have to build bigger jails.
;)

Mulier Fortis said...

Heheheh... contemp of Parliament, Ma, not contempt for...
;-)

Gregor Kollmorgen said...

Mark:

Well, in the old Holy Roman Empire, Bishops used to occupy several sees at once, so... ;-)

Mr. Vickers-Buckley:

Yes indeed. Speyer (a very old and traditional see) and Limburg are also vacant. Limburg is also very intersting, because the ordinary there, while personally very pious and, I'd say, even holy, defied the Holy See on the question of cooperation of the Church in the State pregnancy counseling system, so that his auxiliary had to be ordered by Rome to take the necessary steps to end the involvement of the diocese. Quite an anomalous situation, and it will be intersting to see how his successor can bring the diocese back to normal. But Munich, whose Archbishop is almost automatically a Cardinal and President of the Bavarian Bishops' Conference, is obviously the most important. From among the sitting Bavarian Bishops, Msgr. Müller of Regensburg is definitely the best option. It was rumored that the Holy Father might appoint (he can freely appoint in Bavaria as opposed to the rest of Germany) his former private secretary and now Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Msgr. Joseph Clemens, but he is not Bavarian, so I consider that highly unlikely. My secret favourite would be Abbot (and Count) Gregor von Henckel-Donnersmarck of Heiligenkreuz, where the Pope will visit this September - but, I'm afraid, also quite unlikely. We'll just have to wait and see and trust Providence.
Sorry, Mac, for usurping your combox for O/T discussions :)

Simon-Peter Vickers-Buckley said...

Ah, well, after some further investigation it would appear the standard operating procedure is in effect:

Church made to look foolish and gutless for the usual reasons.

CLICK HERE.

Cathy said...

Mac,
Ahhhhhhh...
;)

JARay said...

I would have to agree that Archbishop Hickey's "apology" to "Pro-Life, Catholic Politicians" makes him look weak - and I think that he is. He happens to be in charge here where I live. The comments by Jim McGinty, the State Attorney General really rile me. He is an apostate Catholic who went into Communism at university after a "Catholic" education.
I don't think that Cardinal Pell is lacking in intestinal fortitude. We'll see what comes out of this Parliamentary enquiry into him.
Incidentally, Perth and Sydney are two of the three dioceses with the most number of Seminarians. In the last 10 years I think that the number of Ordinations for Perth is around 40+

JARay

Kasia said...

Noooo! We need Cdl. Pell here in Detroit! Cdl. Maida is already past retirement age...

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