Saturday, October 4, 2014

THE BISHOP CONRY AFFAIR

"What is needed now is something very simple: an investigation into the way bishops rule their dioceses..."

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/10/03/the-conry-affair-has-exposed-a-crisis-in-church-governance-over-to-you-francis/

By  on Friday, 3 October 2014

The print edition of the Catholic Herald makes very interesting reading today. On Monday, Bishop Kieran Conry, who had earlier spoken to the Daily Mail, spoke also to this paper. The Herald report also carried a quotation from a member of the diocese, a voice from the pew, if you like.

I am struck by the ‘disconnect’ between what he has to say and what the member of his flock has to say. What this boils down to is something that we have heard many times: there is a lack of accountability and transparency in the governance of the Catholic Church. In a way, the sad outcome of Bishop Conry’s career is not really what is important here: what is important is to consider how we arrived at this point in the first place. What is needed now is something very simple: an investigation into the way bishops rule their dioceses, and the checks and balances that are in place, and the way that bishops are chosen, and supervised and supported after they are chosen. This does not simply concern England: this seems to be a universal problem, given the way several bishops have been sacked of late.

Of course, we all know that canon law and the customs of the Church make provision for all of these matters. But this is the real point: canon law is not working. Bishop Conry’s appointment as bishop was made according to the processes laid down in canon law, but these processes, which should have brought to light several red lights, or at least amber ones, on his path to the episcopate, failed to work.

Now that the current disaster has overtaken us, all these points might seem like shutting the door after the horse has bolted. But it is important to make sure that this sort of thing does not happen again. That it will not happen again, and that there will be an investigation as to why it happened in the first place, are the two things that the lay people of the diocese would, if I read them correctly, most like to hear.

Pope Francis, over to you!

19 comments:

  1. Did you see the results of the PDN poll Oct 3: Grade the archdiocese's disclosure of financial reports? F-68%, D-10%....Does Pius, AAA, David and Adrian think the public is buying any of their lies.

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  2. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1404090.htm

    "Church suffers from bishops choosing ill-suited priests, pope says"

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    1. I think we suffer more from ill suited bishops.

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    2. Tim, I agree but in Guam, the RMS spits out priests as though they were on a factory conveyor belt without proper and rigorous academic and spiritual training, and you can imagine the defective rate on that manufacturing. So, we have an ill suited bishop manufacturing ill suited priests. What a lethal combination!

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    3. Yes. The point is that there must first be an ill suited bishop before there can be ill suited priests. Guam is a case study.

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    4. Because the leadership has opted for ill formed priests to increase numbers the archbishop has compromised the entire archdiocese. Standards of priests is now so poor the church is now unable to function in the pastoral care of the archdiocese.

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  3. A little off of subject, but germane to errant Bishops; the most telling words about the problems of our priesthood is that Bishop Conry felt the need in his resignation speech to exclaim that his, "actions were not illegal and did not involve minors." We have come a long way since the terrible scandals of rampant child abuse, but looking at our own Archbishop we can see we still have a long road ahead to return to the purity and goodness we expect of our Church leaders.

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  4. The Neos say they are not a sect/cult yet they are included as part of the Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1999. Here's a link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HbGCSwJeCg8ZrPgq7-VmXF-20wQrZXq0HAAyD1b17j0/edit?pli=1 Short version: If it looks, sounds, operates like a cult.....it's a cult.

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  5. Wow, our problems w/the Neos are really working around the world wide web. Chuck White & Father Pius' interview w/Guam PDN made it into "The Cult Education Institute (CEI)" website, formerly known as Rick A. Ross Institute of New Jersey is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization devoted to public education and research. CEI's mission is to study destructive cults, controversial groups and movements and to provide a broad range of information and services easily accessible to the public for assistance and educational purposes. Their website: http://culteducation.com/aboutus.html. On the left side, click on "Group Information Archives" and you'll find NEOs listed under "N" and you'll find the postings.

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  6. http://www.thesecretnote.com/neocatechumenate/#reports
    Clifton, England apparently went through what we are going through right now with the neos. Only difference is their Bishop did not walk in the way, enabling him to remain objective.

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    1. Indications here continue to say the Brother Tony is the only bishop walking,prancing or stumbling along in the way . Diana's looonnngggg list of Popes, Cardinals etc who are enthralled with the Way includes other Bishops who WALK...which is correct??

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    2. Diana is wrong. As a former neocat, I heard it directly from Pius and other top dogs in the Neo that AAA is the only bishop that walks. It is quite simple to verify. Just email those bishops that Diana says are walking and tell them that Guam's top Neocats are representing that you are a walking and practicing member of the Neo.

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    3. @1:54 am Diana SEEMS to know all things. Are you sure?

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  7. Click here to see a picture of Bishop Conry with his girl friend, a married parishioner.

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    1. Very tragic case. Question is why these confused bishops are allowed to continue.

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  8. bishop Alexander arrived at a position where by he asked the cult to leave his diocese after he witnessed the evil disunity caused by the cult in the diocese of clifton.

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  9. Apuron: A Fit Leader?

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  10. Archbishop Apuron not a fit leader for the simple reason he has made no attempt to resolve the priest issues in guam. a failed church leader .

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  11. British media need to turn their attention to Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Guam and the destruction of the catholic faith by three priests. Most certainly the British media can relate this story to Bishop Conry and also to the diocese of Clifton England which also suffered total destruction by the NEO cult also operating in the United Kingdom.

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