Bishops Divided over Questioning Vatican, by Barney Zwartz, The Age, August 22, 2011

Bishops Divided over Questioning Vatican

By Barney Zwartz
The Age
August 22, 2011

http://www.theage.com.au/national/bishops-divided-over-questioning-vatican-20110821-1j4te.html

Australia's 42 bishops are divided over a petition based on their five-yearly visit to the Vatican in October.

AUSTRALIA'S Catholic bishops have responded to popular fury over the Pope's sacking of Toowoomba Bishop Bill Morris earlier this year by agreeing to send questions about it to the Vatican.

But the 42 bishops are divided about another petition asking them to put particular questions to the Pope when they make their five-yearly visit to the Vatican in October. Catholics for Renewal have sent their letter to all 1369 Australian parishes, but some bishops, including Canberra Archbishop Mark Coleridge, have told parish priests not to distribute the letter or its request for signatures.

A statement about Bishop Morris lodged on the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference website last week says the bishops have received the petition by Toowoomba Catholics, but they have no jurisdiction.

To help deal with the petitioners' questions, the bishops will ask the Vatican doctrine watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, about the infallibility of the church's teaching barring the ordination of women. Concerns about the process by which Bishop Morris was removed will be referred to the Congregation for Bishops.

Bishops Conference general secretary Brian Lucas told The Age that more letters than could be answered had been sent to the conference, to individual bishops and to the papal ambassador in Australia, and the bishops wanted the petitioners to know their concerns had been heard.

The Catholics for Renewal letter also raises questions about women's ordination, the process by which Bishop Morris was removed, plus perceived problems about accountability, transparency and the recent introduction of a new compulsory English Mass.

With more than 3500 online signatures so far, the letter says the church has alienated too many Catholics and no longer inspires communities.

''Our Church has been tainted by injustice and blemished by bad decisions,'' the letter says.

It claims the church is too centralised, legalistic and controlling, often more concerned with its image than the spirit of Christ, and with few effective structures for listening.