I have stayed out of the Allerton Bywater case and felt a little guilty about it. I have met Fr Mark Lawler a couple of times, he's spoken briefly about the situation. He seems a devoted pastor but I just don't know what is actually going on, Fr John Boyle, the Canon Lawyer has a good post on various legal aspects of it. Follow the links through. It does seem that the Church's Law has been, err... misunderstood, by the Bishop Roche.I was interested in one of Fr John's responses to a comment. It underlines the juridical importance of having a Parish Priest, and of the Parish Priest acting to ensure justice for his people and his parish, don't be fobbed off by your Bishop with a priest in charge or in residence.
Can. 532 states that in all juridic affairs the parish priest represents the parish...
The parish in question has not had a parish priest for many years. Why? Has the community of the faithful been denied its right to have its own proper pastor?
If it is the parish priest who represents the parish in all juridic affairs, who can speak for this community of faithful? By having no parish priest, they have no one to act in their name.
Must they therefore act as a body themselves, seeking a remedy for the fact that a parish priest was not appointed, and also appealing against the closure?
This seems to be a complex case and could run and run if the faithful involved are determined. As far as I can see this will have to go to Rome for a conclusion. I wonder if the new prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Archbishop Burke, would be interested in this case?
2 comments:
Nothing complicated at all in this case:
Both Konstant & Roche plus curia dislike the priest who was exiled to this parish. What annoys them is that he made a "go of it" without officially being made the PP.
What emerges from this situation is that Mass in Latin makes no difference to modern parochial life. The argument is that he has actually IMPROVED things but I am willing to concede it has made no difference.
This priest is unremarkable and one wonders what would happen if better men than him adopted similar strategies?
We could impose the EF or OF in Latin "en masse" tomorrow and the OF in English would be forgotten about in under 6 weeks.
Fr Lawler's model works and costs nothing!
I do agree, pastoral plans are overrated, if you want something done right, do it. :). Worry not about the persecutions. Let us pray for everyone involved
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