"A Time for Clarity": George Neumayr on the Vatican's removal of Bp. William Morris

A Time for Clarity | George Neumayr | Catholic World Report

The Vatican's removal of Bishop William Morris

"Here I stand," said Martin Luther as he challenged teachings of the Catholic Church. "I can do no other." The Australian Bishop William Morris sounded a similar note as news came in May that the Holy Father had removed him from his position. "You have got to stand in your truth," he said to the press.

At the same time, Bishop Morris expected the Holy See to let him stand in his own truth and continue to serve as a trusted teacher of the Catholic faith. He and his defenders have protested his removal as an act of mystifying injustice by the Vatican, a complaint that would only make sense if bishops enjoyed an inviolable right to misrepresent Church teaching.

What is his own truth? One of them is that the Church should be open to ordaining women as priests. In 2006, Bishop Morris wrote to his flock in the rural Diocese of Toowomba,

Given our deeply held belief in the primacy of Eucharist for the identity, continuity, and life of each parish community, we may well need to be much more open towards other options for ensuring that Eucharist may be celebrated. As has been discussed internationally, nationally, and locally the ideas of:

·         Ordaining married, single or widowed men who are chosen and endorsed by their local parish community;

·         Welcoming former priests, married or single, back to active ministry;

·         Ordaining women, married or single;

·         Recognizing Anglican, Lutheran, and Uniting Church Orders.

This, among many other dissenting moments of his tenure for which he refused to answer, finally prompted the Vatican to send US Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver to the Toowomba diocese for an apostolic visitation.

Bishop Morris has said that his views have been "misinterpreted" and that they never got a hearing, even as he acknowledged to the press a private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI: "You don't get much debate. He has a view and you have a view and you kind of part on those views."

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