Cardinal Müller: "I can not accept this style" -- Words About His Firing

Edit: sure flies in the face of John Allen's soft-soaping. Here's the interview from BR24, Passauer Neue Presse, which we thank for the clever German blog Nur Eine Kreuzmappe.

Gerhard Cardinal Ludwig Müller let fly a criticism of Pope Francis He told the "Passauer Neuen Presse" that Pope Francis had given him the decision not to prolong his term as Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith on the last day of his mandate "within a minute".

"I can not accept this style," said Müller. The social doctrines of the Church must also be valid for dealing with Roman Church employees. When asked about his current relationship with the Pope, Müller referred to the statements of Francis himself, who said that "the relationship was always very good." Müller could confirm, "This is still true today."

"Not to be hitched to the cart"

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The Pope had made this decision, which he was entitled to. "I will not answer with any actions." He did not want to be "hitched to the wagon of a movement critical of the pope," even though some think it. ""As Cardinal, I continue to be responsible for ensuring the unity of the Church and preventing polarization as far as possible."

Müller does not have a new specific task yet. To the Pope, he offered himself in the interview as an intermediary for a conversation with the three still living Cardinals cardinals, who had publicly expressed their doubts about Francis' teaching on marriage. The fourth signatory of a corresponding letter, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, had died in Bad Füssing on Wednesday. Müller said he could moderate such a conversation between the three Cardinals and the Pope "because I have the competence and the sense of responsibility for it."

Always loyal

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The former prefect of faith, said that it would have been better if the letter of the Cardinals had not been publicly discussed with their doubts. He himself had "never struck one side or the other," but had always been loyal to the pope and wanted to remain so in the future. The interpretations of the papal letter, "Amoris Laetitia," presented by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and by Cardinal Walter Kasper, were described by Müller as "not convincing". However, a large symposium of "real experts" could ensure that the balancing act between teaching and pastoral success is achieved.

Mueller said he had telephoned Cardinal Meisner on Tuesday evening, and shortly before his death. "He told me that he felt in good health, but he was very concerned about the situation in the Catholic Church," he said of Meisner. The fact that the Pope had not extended his term as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had "personally moved and injured," Meisner.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Pope's Appointments Committed to Orthodoxy?

“Benedict’s new curia”

Vatican observer analyzes Pope Benedict XVI’s high-level appointments: all committed to orthodoxy, most are intellectuals

  Editor: We were spot on when it came to the Cardinatial appointments,  because we cited Paolo Rodari, and although we'd hoped that Cardinal Marx would have his hat yanked at the last minute, we were not wrong to put our trust in the Italian Vaticanista and defender of the Holy Father. We'd also like to think that kreuz.net's analysis is spot on when it comes to the flavor of Cardinals we have.  Most of them are Old Liberals with only two that are devoted, unreserved Catholics. Like Cardinal Wuerl, Cardinal Marx doesn't belong in the College of Cardinals.  

Anyhow, Remember, this is John L Allen Jr., over at the National Catholic Reefer.  Careful, the paper they use is made from hemp and if you wrap your fish in it, it could cause a contact high with the THC content in their fish-wrap.

(The following are excerpts from an article by John L. Allen Jr. published by The National Catholic Reporter. While the Reporter is widely known as a left-leaning, heterodox publication, Mr. Allen has developed a well-earned reputation as a knowledgeable and even-handed reporter on Church matters, and especially on the Vatican.)

Speculation about Vatican jobs is always a favorite pastime in Rome, and these days the spotlight is on the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, popularly known as the Congregation for Religious, where the incumbent, Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé, is past the retirement age of 75.

Sometime after Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to name a successor. That choice will be watched especially closely in the United States, since it’s the office in charge of the current, and highly controversial, apostolic visitation of American nuns…

The bigger picture, however, arguably is this: Once that job is filled, Benedict will have named 21 of the 25 most senior officials of the Roman curia (a list that includes the secretary of state, prefects of nine congregations, presidents of 12 pontifical councils, and heads of three canonical courts). Benedict’s “new curia” has therefore come into focus -- and since personnel is policy, these appointments say much about where he’s taking the church. 

Cited from California Catholic Daily...

Even the USCCB thinks Jesuits are Evil

It's not just a few bloggers, or the weight of popular opinion which holds that Jesuits aren't exactly Catholic; now a Capuchin Theologian, Fr Weinardy, almost like in the ancient theological debates of old, takes a Fordham Jesuit to the cleaners.

So, Jesuit institutions are categorically problematic and even the USCCB is aware of it. This Fordham theologian, Dr. Tilley, insists on hiding behind the notion that he is representing a kind of Catholic Theology to be comprehended by contemporary persons, but we wonder two things: whether or not his formulations are equal to or harmouniuos with the formulations of Catholic theology of the first centuries, do they express the same thing and granting that Jesuit theologians actually succeed in adding new light to the faith, does anyone really understand what they're saying after all is said and done? Under the penumbras of their theological praxis, modernist theologians of the Jesuit stripe often escape from the authorities and are allowed to present counterfeit theological positions as Catholic.

In reality, the stylish but unpopular theological formulations of Dr Weinardy bear a stronger resemblance to Simon Magus and the Gnostics throughout the ages than they do to the deposit of Faith. Again we ask the question: what's wrong with the Anglicans, they have openings don't they?

Back in 1993, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave an address in Hong Kong to the presidents of Asian bishops’ conferences on Christology, meaning the church’s teaching about Christ. Ratzinger criticized trends in contemporary theology that he believed gave too much away for the sake of accommodating religious diversity, and a footnote cited the work of Belgian Jesuit theologian Jacques Dupuis.

At that stage, Ratzinger’s footnote was no more than a scholarly citation, yet it signaled that Dupuis was on the radar screen of the church’s doctrinal authorities. For those paying attention, it thus came as little surprise that eight years later, Dupuis was subject of a critical Vatican “notification.” (Dupuis died in 2004.)

Right now, the memory of that episode might make Terrence Tilley, a Fordham theologian and past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, shudder.

In the most recent issue of the Quarterly of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat of Doctrine, subjects Tilley’s presidential address to the CTSA last June to a withering critique – in effect, suggesting that it offered clever rhetoric masking “doctrinal ambiguity and error.”

In very broad strokes, the CTSA is often perceived as leaning to the left in Catholic debate, while the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars has a reputation as more conservative.

Weinanday’s essay was affixed with a note that his views “do not necessarily reflect any position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.” Of course, it’s also not quite the same thing to be targeted by a staffer for the U.S. bishops as to be singled out by the Vatican’s doctrinal czar and a future pope.

At the moment, there is no reason to believe that either Tilley or the CTSA is likely to face any sort of official investigation or reprimand. At a minimum, however, Weinandy’s essay is a reminder of the deep divides within the theological community, as well as the sometimes uneasy relationship between the church’s doctrinal authorities and its theological guild.

Though the disputes involved are complex, as with Dupuis the heart of the matter is Christology. The title of Weinandy's essay suggests that Tilley's views lead to "the demise" of the doctrine of the Incarnation, meaning that Christ was both fully God and fully human -- a charge that Tilley denies.

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But then, there are many Bishops responsible for this non-sense going on right in their back yard. Fordham is Archbishop Dolan's problem.

Perhaps Henry Karlson of Fordham University can give us some insight into Liberalism, which he doesn't think is a sin.

John Allen uncages His Colours and opens Fire

John Allen of the liberal National Catholic Reporter usually tries to keep above the fray, often earning him the scorn of his fellows at NCR for being too conservative, but in yet another departure, he perhaps underscores the increasing desperation of the modernist editorial slant of NCR and their increasing desperation about Benedict's reforms which are increasingly showing their liturgical and doctrinal modernism in a bad light. We noted earlier the soft-ball interview he gave to Cardinal George, which didn't really ask any tough questions, venerating the seamless garment as it were.

National Catholic Reporter’s
John Allen
Makes Case for Secularism

by Edwin Faust
November 12, 2009



A wise man once remarked that logic and liberalism cannot co-exist in the same head. Illustrating this truth yet again is National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen, who chose to write Nov. 6 of Pope Benedict XVI’s supposed “lenience” for what Allen calls “cafeteria Catholicism” on the right.

The phrase has usually been applied to those who accept certain Catholic teachings and reject others, especially in the domain of marriage and sexual morality. The usual and more accurate term for such people is “heretics” or “Protestants.” Catholics come in only one flavor: traditional. There is no defined doctrine or immemorial custom that is optional for a Catholic.

Yet, Allen includes in his new category of cafeteria Catholics two disparate groups: The Society of St. Pius X and Anglicans wishing to return to the Church. His implication is that the SSPX remains outside the Church, despite magisterial pronouncements to the contrary. He equates the talks in Rome between representatives of the Pope and the SSPX with those between Rome and members of the Church of England: “...it’s not clear how many Lefebvrites or Anglicans will walk through the doors Rome has tried to open ...”

Precisely what defined doctrines the SSPX is supposed to have rejected are not specified. And, of course, such specification is impossible because the SSPX fully accepts every defined doctrine of the Catholic Faith. It is their unwavering orthodoxy that has caused their difficulties. The doctrinal talks in Rome are not about the SSPX’s dissent from articles of the faith, but about the post-Vatican II novelties of ecumenism, religious liberty and the New Mass, as the official communiqué from Rome following the initial talk has acknowledged.

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Archbishop Burke's Influence set to Grow (NCR)

John Allen of NCR has just commented about Archbishop Burke's appointment. He is confirming speculation elsewhere that his appointment to Rome to the Apostolic Signatura, and now, to the Congregation of Bishops as the fifth American along with the likes of Cardinals Law, Francis Stafford, Justin Rigali and Levada will put him in a position to be very influential indeed, given time, when it comes to appointing new Bishops since his confreres are not typically conservative.

We've already noticed a conservative trend in the appointments of Bishops like the failed attempt to appoint Msgr Wagner of Linz, and two other conservative appointments like Bishop Sirba of Duluth, Minnesota and Bishop Lavoir to New Ulm, Minnesota much earlier this year.

Unfortunately, Archbishop Burke will have to contend with the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Piero Sambi who has frowned himself on the Archbishop's pugnacious statements, according to Allen. Cardinal Samebi is problematic also for other reasons in that he has presided over many awful appointments in the past, relying not so much on knowledge and prudence so much as unduly trusting liberal prelates in the countries where he has worked as Nuncio, especially retarding Ecumenism in England by appointing Bishops especially hostile to an influx of conservative Anglicans by Bishop Hollis of Portmouth. (See, Bishops, Nuncios and Delators, Oxford Review) Fortunately, Arcbishop Samebi is due to submit his resignation in four years time when he reaches the age of 75.

The Curious Cardinal

As providence would have it, there was an recently published interview in NCR about the aforementioned Cardinal George whose statement on interreligious dialogue with the Jews leaves us in little doubt that he has a very circumscribed notion of the Church's mission to the world, including the Jews.

John Allen's soft-ball interview leaves some questions unanswered, but does admit a blithe admonition to an indeterminate and perhaps fabled duality in the American Church, those elusive Liberals and Conservatives. Incredibly, the Cardinal accuses the mythical polarity of focusing too much on Bishops, assuming that they have more power than they have and an obligation to correct and on the other hand wishing they didn't have too much power. He admonishes both of these legendary antognists to focus more on Christ, but doesn't fail to relinquish responsibillity for the problems he identifies, feebly, like Catechesis, the sorry state of Catholic Charitable institutes, and Liturgy.

Considering the Cardinal's more recent "clarifications" on Interreligious Dialogue with the Jews, he's talking about himself when he describes Liberals. Wishing he had less authority than he does, perhaps, or still worse, wishing that since, "the conservatives wish to descend into sectarianism" that all of these distinctions between the beliefs of various religions are meant to be ignored. Somehow, our focus on Christ and work among with poor with a leftist missionary organisation like St'Egidio will cause us to forget those petty doctrinal problems and the poor showing so many priests make when it comes to the Liturgy. In all of this, he strikes me as a less potent, understated, and therefore perhaps more dangerous version of his sulferous predecessor, Cardinal Berardin.

What this all amounts to, more than a fawning softball interview by a bootlicking journalist, is the Bishop telling the laity that things will continue basically as they have and that they need to keep giving and obeying.

Moreover, by the end of this interview, I was still in the dark about what His Lordship meant by improving Evangelization. I think he's implying that we need to be less Catholic and more Universalist, that we can leave behind this implausible sectarianism as the dusty relic of a bygone age and other such cliché. Perhaps his "plant" is that there is no plan, or at least not one he's going to tell anyone else.