Not a Good Choice: Basel Should Get a Good Bishop Out of This

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen Bishop Koch for the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, replacing another German speaking Archbishop. A lot has been said about this appointment that portrays the new office holder as a good choice, but it's hard to see how this could be the case since many of his public acts and statements put him so squarely against the incipient reform Benedict XVI is said to be accomplishing.

Father Z says this is a good appointment (and perhaps it is), but he certainly isn't as he says, "Another man closely tied to Pope Benedict" which seems to have been something else when we looked at it earlier today, something more affirmative and less neutral... Perhaps Father Z corrected himself, or we misread the blog, wait, here it is,

Archbishop Koch is known to be in the theological orbit of Papa Ratzinger.

Known by whom? It seems apparent to everyone, including the embatteld orthodox priests of the Basel Diocese that this man will not be missed and is in no way in the theological orbit of Pope Benedict, that is, if we assume that Pope Benedict is a restorer of Tradition. In any event, Kreuz.net tells a different, more interesting, tale. These sorts of appraisals in the English speaking world seem to happen frequently. It certainly happened in the case of the allegedly conservative Cardinal Schonborn. We've noticed that many of his supporters have grown silent.

What's more than clear is that there are appointments which are unsatisfactory to conservatives, and there are those appointments unsatisfactory to the old liberal Catholics, Catholics who believe the Church needs to change with the times. Is this Pope Benedict's way to isolate an absentee Bishop with controversial theological positions by promoting him to an increasingly irrelevant position?

Perhaps this is an effective downgrade for the Pontifical Council?

So the tragic praxis will continue in Rome, to perpetuate a betrayal of trust against the Holy Father.

Msgr Koch worked at first as a Pastoral Lay Assistant in spiritual care.

After his ordination in June 1982 he later received a doctorate for Dogmatic and Moral theology from the Catechetical Institute in the central Swiss city of Luzern.

Later he was active as the old liberal honorary professor for Dogmatics, Ethics, Liturgical Science and Ecumenical Theology at the University of Luzern.

In his lectures he portrayed the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the fundamentalist corner because of his theological positions.

In 1995 Msgr Koch was selected as the successor of the fallen Basel Bishop Hansjörg Vogel. Because of his contentious theological positions the Vatican hesitated a long time with the announcement of his appointment.

Bishop Koch set himself in the Swiss Bishops Conference against the course of reform of the former Bishop of Chur, Msgr Wolfgang Haas.

Msgr. Koch is till today a partisan of women priesthood. He is a declared enemy of celibacy.

In the last fifteen years he was hardly interested in his bankrupt Diocese and not first among these his orthodox priests, who were completely isolated there.

Instead of that he was gladly occupied in the lecture circuit.

In the Diocese of Basel the following title is circulating for the information by the Roman authorities about Msgr Koch: "Old Liberal Alcoholic Follows Cardinal Kasper".

The next Bishop of Basel will have a very difficult inheritance.

In a letter to all Ministers, which was sent by mail today, writes Bishop Koch, that his Diocese is already vacant on July 1st and he would be called to Rome.

The Pope appointed an Apostolic Administrator to the Diocese of Basel at the same time on June 30th

Link to kreuz.net...

Meanwhile, Bishop Mixa is being given some time out for a while till the smear campaign launched against him by the old liberals in Augsburg cools down, at AP.