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Recent Comments

1. Is Bishop Morris attending the current Bishops' Conference in Sydney?

   Posted By: Frank Moloney

2. In this post-Resurrection period of the year, the Church might do well to remember that God is fully alive out there in the real world - amongst the women, the laity, the 'ordinary' ones. In failing to listen to their voices, the institutional hurch does a grave injustice to the essential dignity of the vast majority of its members who have no voice in the Vatican. They cannot tell their story. The Church is the loser.

   Posted By: Margaret A.

3. Well, 'Jesus wept',didn't he?
   I am very saddened by this latest event.
   How many more prophets can we afford to lose?
   I think of the numerous priests and Religious I know who left because of man[sic]-made rules - and who are still ready to be apostles.
   Where will the remnant come from...'cause that's all we'll have soon.

   Posted By: bernard p ryan st leonards victoria

4. Congratulations and thanks to the National Council of Priests for their statement of support for Bishop Morris - a well-worded statement which would not have been released flippantly.
   

   Posted By: Greg

5. In the present climate, one can only wonder what would happen if theologians Augustine and Thomas Aquinas were to suggest for the first time that innovative concepts like Original Sin, Just Wars, and Principles of Double Effect should at least be discussed by Church Authorities.
   It seems highly unlikely they would ever get to the Tiber, let alone cross it.

   Posted By: Brian

6. What a pity that more clergy do not come clean and admit that they agree with Bishop Morris that these issues (women's ordination, celibacy and married priests) should be open for discussion before more of us feel forced to 'retire early'.

   Posted By: Ann Ryan

7. I am very aware of the wonderful work of Bishop William Morris in the community.
   The Toowoomba Cathedral was literally packed to the rafters with more 2,000 people showing their support in the pouring rain.
   What is the thinking when an excellent priest is forced to early retirement when he is simply expressing his views, which in my opinion coincide with a huge majority of our community including myself. Am I now to be sacked as a practising Catholic?
   We need more priests but especially good men like Bill Morris. .

   Posted By: Lyn Chapman

8. Is calling “for an openness for options” as Bishop Morris explains a reason for his sacking?
   What is the matter with openness? Are options such a bad thing?
   Isn’t there room for reasoned debate, conversation and [even] disagreement in the Church?
   Are we (the people) so incapable that we cannot reason for ourselves, that we cannot express a contrary opinion or decide an issue based on our own intelligence and conscience?
   The feelings of the church's own people and those of Bishop Morris have been ridden over roughshod.
   

   Posted By: Jeff KETTERING TAS 7155

9. It is sad that catholic priests and bishops are not entitled to have personal opinions or freedom of speech; and obviously natural justice in relation to right of response does not apply to them either.
   It is time that it was realised why there are so many different religious bodies being formed.
   As Bishop Morris rightly stated, isn't the role to serve his parishoners and convey their beliefs on to his higher authorities?

   Posted By: Ron Zahner

10. Centralised control to preserve hierarchical power is a common practice of failing institutions.
    If we are to save God's church from this abuse of power, the people of the Church need to demand a more inclusive regime.
    A return to the practice of subsidiarity is essential following the wisdom of Pope Pius XI, the 'principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralised competent authority.'
    The loss of Bishop Morris from the Church's hierarchy is a substantial self-inflicted wound.

    Posted By: Peter Johnstone

11. It's a pity the institutional church is out of touch with the real world, particularly those countries who don't have the number of priests to minister to the needs of all catholics.
    Look at the big picture, not just the bit on the right hand side.

    Posted By: John

12. Congratulations to the 8 Toowooma priests, the National Council of Priests and Fr Simon Falk for their courage and honesty is speaking out against the unjust treatment of +Morris.
    What will ordinary Catholic now think when they hear sermons and papal pronouncements about justice?
    How far have we strayed from bringing the liberating news of the Gospel to the world!

    Posted By: conor bradley

13. Congratulations to Bishop Morris for speaking out against the way he has been treated for merely expressing an option.
    Unless the Church is open and just and practices the principles of Jesus Christ I think the future is very bleak for Catholics who are already struggling to hang in there.

    Posted By: Lyn

14. As predicted on Monday, the story about Bishop William Morris' pastoral letter announcing his early retirement from his diocese in Toowoomba, generated many repsonses to the CathNews discussion board.
    Since then, the story has gathered momentum and comments to the discussion boards of CathNews are fairly well focussed on this one issue.
    Bearing in mind the editorial guidelines which apply to all material appearing on CathNews, I have published as many of these comments as possible in their entieity.
    However, some have been completely inappropriate according to our guidelines, or worse - libellous. Those comments, like all such, have been deleted.
    Others which were immoderate were edited.
    Please be circumpsect, considerate, and Christian as you approach this subject, and all others, on these discussion boards.
    - Publisher,
    CathNews
    
    

    Posted By: Christine Hogan

15. Pleased to see our priests speaking up about this sad situation. Thank you to our Fr Ian McGinnity.
    All we can do is continue to pray for all our pastorally minded bishops as it seems they continue to pay the price!

    Posted By: Lorraine Murphy

16. Vatican officials formed the view that Bishop Morris’s pastoral leadership was 'flawed' and 'defective'.
    His fellow Queensland bishop Brian Heenan attests: “Bp Morris has become known as a true shepherd during the past 18 years and is therefore much admired and appreciated by the people he has served so generously.”
    Archbishop Bathersby, Bishop Morris’s Metropolitan, has told ABC TV: “This is the way that the church operates and it's just sad it's come to this. I just wish it hadn't happened and I don't know why it happened and I would very much like to know.”
    We’d all like to know, and the Church of Toowoomba has a right to know, the evidence on which officials have acted to form the view that Bishop Morris’s pastoral leadership was flawed and defective.
    Pleas for loyal silence, trust and submission are no substitute for living in the truth.
    Natural justice must take firmer hold in the church bureaucracy for the good of us all, including those who exercise ministry in Rome and in Denver.

    Posted By: Fr Frank Brennan SJ

17. I have not lived in the Toowoomba diocese for many years, but I know some of the priests who have expressed their support for their bishop.
    I know they would not do this lightly.
    I pray that the people of Toowoomba will be given the courage and wisdom to live through the process that will follow these forced changes.

    Posted By: Colleen Williams

18. The more a sterile self-view is imposed upon the People of God, the more the People of God listen instead to the promptings of the Spirit, follow such leading, and refuse to let a spectral institution masquerade as the Church.
    How wearing it must be for a fevered few to waste their energies upon commanding back the tide.

    Posted By: Mark Johnson

19. I wonder if Jesus Christ, with his radical message of love for all, would be welcomed into this church of ours today?
    Surely the church heirarchy has more pressing issues to deal with?

    Posted By: Paul

20. Christine Hogan has urged commentators to be 'circumspect, considerate, and Christian [as you approach this subject]'. Good advice.
    However, The feeling that a great injustice has been done cannot be so easily contained. The issue is extremely serious and passions are running high. It is challenging to be prudent (given the circumstances) and those who made the decision to remove Bp Morris should be made aware of the depth of feeling that it has generated.

    Posted By: Jeff KETTERING TAS 7155

21. For years, we have heard of the bad shape the church is in, in Queensland.

    Posted By: Margaret O'Hagan

22. There is a saying that 'by their fruits you will know them'.
    The way I see it, the fruits of vocal complainers in the Catholic Church in our area are:
    1. Where there used to be churches full of people attending third rite before Christmas and Easter - the churches are empty again.
    2. Where the church at South Brisbane was full of people several times a weekend - it is now empty again.
    3. Where there was a pastoral caring bishop in Toowoomba - he has been forced to resign.
    That is the score as I see it.

    Posted By: David

23. It is a cruel irony that at the same time as a truly good Catholic Priest suffers from unwarranted and unjust treatment, the Rome makes welcome the cruel dictator, Robert Mugabe.

    Posted By: David

24. What can we do to voice our despair at what's happening to our church?
    What would Jesus do?

    Posted By: mjc

25. It would appear that the spirit of Vatican 11 is sinking even deeper into insignificance.
    How can the voice of the people be heard when their Bishops are silenced?

    Posted By: Carol Bentley

26. I wish to add my support to the comments so far posted.
    I also wish to add my support to the Media Release by the National Council of Priests.
    Like many Lay Catholics, I am saddened and frustrated by the actions leading to the forced resignation of Bishop William Morris.
    Maybe we need to imitate the actions of the oppressed peoples of the Arab world who have finally revolted against the autocratic rulers of their nations.
    Jesus was highly critical of the ruling Temple clique in charge of his faith during his public ministry. He paid very dearly for his opinion and teachings.
    I believe the time has come for ordinary Australian Catholics to voice their dismay at this latest action - again we were not consulted... so much for Vatican 11 and openness to change and the work of the Spirit within the lay people of the Church

    Posted By: Gavin O'Brien

27. Our only hope for the future is to keep connecting with each other and raising our voices together against the domination and control which is so anti-Gospel.
    Fear casts out love.
    Love casts out fear.....and God is Love.
    

    Posted By: Diana Law s.g.s.

28. There were at least 500 who marched quietly at the candlelit vigil, then they all entered the Cathedral which was packed and holds about 1000 people.
    Please report correctly.
    Your number of 200 undermines the strength of feeing in the community.

    Posted By: Margaret Atkinson

29. I share in the pain and sorrow of the local community of the diocese of Toowoomba in the unjust treatment of their respected and loved Bishop Morris

    Posted By: Paula McAdam

30. Sadly, +Morris made a fatal error he raised an issue opposed to by the present ideology, and (even worse)
    he wrote about it in a formal document - A Pastoral Letter to his whole Diocese.
    Once that was written, he
    was doomed.
    Whatever he mean't or did not mean, he wrote what he wrote, and thus it was only time before he would have to go.
    You stand or fall by what you write and allow to be published.
    When will we learn from the lessons of
    history?

    Posted By: D.A. Davies.

31. While President Mugabe (mass murderer of his own people) was being welcomed in Rome for the beatification of Pope Paul II, Bishop Bill Morris was sacked from his diocese for including the people in discussion on significant issues for the future of the diocese and the church.
    Another nail in the coffin of the institutional church.

    Posted By: Paul C

32. Many of are us saddened, puzzled and angered by the manner of Bp Bill Morris's departure from Toowoomba.
    But we don't do him or his people a service by combining his case with others where some believe injustice was done, nor by risking falling into bad theology.
    Bp Bill's case and that of Fr Peter Kennedy at South Brisbane are not similar.
    In Fr Peter's case we had a priest who refused to submit to the authority of his bishop.
    In Toowoomba we have a bishop being removed from leadership of a local Church because, it appears, he carried out his role of leading and teaching. Fr Peter, while no doubt doing great good for many people, was neglecting an important part of his job. Bp Bill was doing his job.
    I don't think the National Council of Priests have done their argument much good by referring to the Pope as 'first among equals'.
    I've understood that that term is applied by Orthodox Christians to the Patriarch of Constantinople but that Catholic theology gives the Bishop of Rome a unique authority among and over his brother bishops, despite his being, sacramentally, 'only a bishop'. While we might have big questions about the way that unique authority has been exercised in Toowoomba, it's a mistake to suggest it doesn't exist.

    Posted By: Gerard Hore

33. I wonder if any of the commenters opining Bp Morris' retirement and characterising it as unjust have paused for a moment to consider who is the competent authority in this matter and perhaps to calm down and ask are they being docile to the teaching authority of the Church instituted by Christ, and if the 'local' thinking and praxis on more than a few things might have been sliding inexorably away from the deposit of Faith?
    I also wonder if the various prominent prelates and priests who have commented here and in the public media have given any thought to the damage they might cause by their comments, which seem to me to be driven by the zeitgeist and a nationalistic parochialism more than anything else.
    We might all do well to read St Ignatius' rules for thinking with the Church.
    Lastly, what saddens me are the comments reported as being made by Bp Morris with respect to integrating foreign priests.

    Posted By: Peter, Canberra, Australia

34. There are a lot of comments from people making their own judgements about this case without having possession of the full facts.
    This just demonstrates the prejudice of some people who will always take an anti-church stance.
    There are also a lot of comments or claims that the Church
    is out of touch with the modern world.
    I would say that from these responses that it is the other way around; the modern world is out of touch with the Church, as has always been the case.

    Posted By: Ian S

35. +Bill Morris demonstrates that remarkable selflessness pastoral care which is obviously native to his heart.
    He is not going to declare himself a victim or martyr at the hands of the restorationist 15.
    It might be interesting for CathNews readers not yet aware of it to note that this whole issue is receiving quite a deal of attention across the Pacific in NCR.
    The editor, Tom Roberts, alone has written two lead articles and there are other pieces as well. The comment banks are full of vigorous and often enlightening debate. Link to ncronline.org

    Posted By: David Timbs

36. May I join in the expressions of sadness at the treatment of Bishop Morris. The reactionary resistance to any suggestion of change and growth in the Church is depressing. That which does not grow is dead.

    Posted By: Lenore Crocker, Armidale, N.S.W.

37. There seems to be a number of things to consider there in regards to both sides of this issue.
    Why would the Vatican take such drastic action against an incumbent bishop unless it had good reason to? These decisions are not taken lightly.
    The picture of Bishop Morris in 'civvies' as distinct from the vestments of his office suggests symbolically a secular approach to his office.
    The less-than transparent procedure involved in unseating the bishop does no favors for justice seeming to be done.

    Posted By: Gerry McIvor

38. My response to Peter and some other comments now appearing;
    First point: Jesus listened to his disciples and discussed issues as we can see in the Gospels.
    He did not sack any of them, including Peter who he 'corrected' several times, lovingly.
    Second point: Church leaders are human and do make mistakes; read some church history and note them. I think this action is a prime example of such a mistake.
    Third point: The way things were done in the past does not mean that that course of action is always correct and can not be changed.
    The Church has had to adapt to change otherwise it becomes irrelevant. None of what Bishop William wrote was heretical.
    Lastly, Bishop William has a right to be informed of the reasons for his removal.
    While tradition says Peter was 'head' of the early Church; in practice that was not so. James was in fact leader of the Church in Jersulem and there is some doubt as to Peter's position of authority in Rome.
    

    Posted By: Gavin O'Brien

39. Truth is compromised when a voice that needs to be heard is silenced.

    Posted By: rita hayes rsm

40. Truth is compromised when every view is accommodated.

    Posted By: M. Lyons

41. Battery clergy or free ranging? Is authority being abused or natural justice usurped?
    How can we attract vocations to the religious life when our clergy are to be so confined as Pastors?
    Why would any man or women strive to serve God in what is becoming a very limited role within the church.
    If you wish to evangelise and have an effective and true mission .... join the Laity.

    Posted By: Michael Stewart

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