Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Battle over Cardinal Newman's Legacy Continues

Three members of the Birmingham Orator have been removed from their ordinary posts and been assigned to opposite ends of the country -- to pray.

There are various interesting discussions going on about it, here, here to name two. There are a lot of links and you can get an idea that the suggestion that the three Oratorians from Birmingham have been silenced because they are opposing the sex education policy of the Welsh and English Bishops as well as Tony Blair's understanding of Cardinal Newman.

Many of Cardinal Newman's disciples were problematic doctrinally speaking and we're working on a list. Seems that there aren't any similar battles going on for the legacies of various other great Catholic figures, but perhaps we'll see them over Archbishop Romero? What we have now, however, is a battle between Liberal or Progressive disciples who believe you can dissent on the Church's teachings on Birth Control, Sex Education, Abortion and the like, as Tony Blair and his wife do, and then there's the more Neo-Conservative side which thinks Cardinal Newman's legacy is one of Orthodoxy and obedience. Neither side represents another possibility which is that the Liberals are right about Cardinal Newman and that he ought not only be condemned for this, but certainly shouldn't be held up as an example to anyone, not least of all, the Progressives.

Anyhow, no one really seems to know why the Oratorians were reassigned. Perhaps it's best no one finds out?

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