| Vatican nixes bishop’s talk at married
priests’ conference
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
Under Vatican pressure, retired Canadian Bishop Remi De Roo has
withdrawn as a featured speaker at an upcoming conference of the International
Federation of Married Catholic Priests.
De Roo was scheduled to address a plenary session of the
conference in late July. Organizers told NCR that plans for the
appearance had been set since the fall of 1998.
De Roo, who stepped down as head of Canada’s Victoria diocese
in February, built a reputation over 30-plus years in office as reform-minded
and pastorally innovative. Ordained bishop in 1962, he attended all four
sessions of Vatican II (NCR, Dec. 25, 1998).
An April 8 letter from the apostolic nuncio’s office in
Canada informed De Roo that the Congregation of Bishops in Rome wanted him to
pull out of the conference. A copy of the letter was obtained by
NCR.
“The ‘partners’ of this congress include a number
of organizations which are in open dissent to the teaching and discipline of
the Catholic church,” it read.
“It appears that the mere presence of a Catholic bishop, let
alone the fact that he is a featured speaker, would be a great source of
possible scandal and confusion to the faithful. ... [I]t is the desire of the
Holy See that you remove your name from the proposed speakers’ list and
refrain from attending the aforementioned conference.”
The letter was signed by Msgr. Luigi Bonazzi, an official in the
nunciature.
Three hundred church activists from 15 countries are expected to
gather July 28-August 1 at Emory University in Atlanta for the conference,
which will focus on human rights and reconciliation. CORPUS, a U.S. association
that supports a married priesthood, is a cosponsor, as is the Canadian branch
of CORPUS and a similar group from Mexico called Presencia Nueva.
Several Catholic reform groups are holding special caucuses during
the conference, including the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the
Church, Call to Action, Catholics Speak Out and the Women’s Ordination
Conference. More than 30 groups will take part in a simultaneous meeting
sponsored by Catholic Organizations for Renewal.
“This is a very personal and private letter to the
bishop,” Bonazzi said in response to a request for comment from
NCR. “The letter is self-explanatory. I am not at liberty to add
anything more.”
Pressed to identify which of the 30-plus groups connected to the
conference the Holy See considers to be in open dissent, Bonazzi declined.
“We are not saying all of the groups,” he said. “Do not force
the letter to say what it does not say.”
“I was invited by the Holy See to inform Bishop De Roo,”
Bonazzi said. “I put in the letter what I received.”
The Congregation for Bishops is headed by Cardinal Lucas Moreira
Neves of Brazil.
The Vatican intervention is “another example of the desperate
and unrelenting resistance to the reforms of Vatican II,” said Anthony
Padovano, a former president of CORPUS-USA and now vice president of the
International Federation, a consortium of groups for married priests from
around the world. Its headquarters is in the Netherlands.
“Our organization is committed to opening up a dialogue with
the Vatican to address the worldwide shortage of priests in the Catholic
church,” Padovano said in a May 17 news release, “and now it appears
that the Holy See is afraid of allowing one of its bishops to address our
concerns.”
De Roo was not available for comment as NCR went to press.
Conference information is available on-line at www.corpus.org
National Catholic Reporter, May 21,
1999
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