Thursday, May 19, 2005
SCHISMATIC PRIESTS SAYING MASS IN LEVADA'S DIOCESE ?
From the Cardinal Kung Foundation website:
The Chinese government established its own “Catholic Patriotic Association” in 1957 as a substitute for the Roman Catholic Church in order to sever Roman Catholics in China from fidelity to the Successor of Peter and from any teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that the Chinese government considers to be contrary to its own interests. Its basic principle is autonomy from the Pope’s administrative, legislative and judicial authority.
Some of these priests were educated in American seminaries such as Dunwoodie and the Josephinum. The list of 22 bishops who cooperated in this venture is included in the open letter at the website.
Additionally,
In the United States, such as in the New York and San Francisco archdioceses, Ordinaries have granted priestly faculties to priests of the schismatic CPA. These priests were allowed to offer Holy Mass publicly in Roman Catholic Churches and to administer other sacraments openly in parishes. No specific mention was made in parish bulletins that the priest in question belonged to the CPA and no explanation was made about the schismatic nature of the CPA....
Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco, wrote: “I would like to invite the Foundation to be more accurate in its statements concerning the Church in China and in particular concerning the priests from China who have been welcomed by the dioceses of this country. The program of their [CPA priests’] formation and of their apostolic ministry is being carried out according to directives received from the Holy See.” The archbishop does not specify to which directives he refers.
Since the underground Catholic priests in China suffer a great deal for the faith, this seems to be a further betrayal of their sacrifices.
On the other hand, perhaps it's a pragmatic decision to address the needs of the Chinese Catholic laity by making sure that the government priests have been properly educated in the faith.
There are other explanations, of course.
Blogger credit to Novus Ordo Watch.
