American Clergy Says NO to Disobedient Colleagues

4/6/2012 - 4:59 AM PST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Catholic PRWire

HARRISBURG, PA (April 6, 2012) - Five hundred priests and deacons of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in America pledge their complete loyalty and obedience to the Pope and Magisterium and, by means of fraternal correction, exhort their dissident Austrian brothers of the 'Pfarrer Initiative' to repent and recant. Disobedience among deacons, priests and bishops is not only scandalous to the faithful but injurious to the Mystical Body of Christ (the Church). We are not just resigned to the discipline of celibacy and merely tolerant of the doctrine of a male priesthood, we totally accept and embrace them. The marks of the Church (one, holy, catholic and apostolic) are personified in the Petrine ministry. Hence, to obey the Pope is to obey the Church, the Bride of Christ. Like Judas who betrayed Christ, dissident clergy betray the same Lord by their prideful refusal of submission to lawful authority.

Dissent from Magisterial teaching and disobedience to Papal authority are incompatible with Catholic Christianity. Jesus founded the Church and instituted the Sacraments. Holy Orders is one of the sacraments and it is the essence of the hierarchy (which means an orderly chain of command). The soul of Holy Orders is obedience. Clergy must lead by example, as did Our Lord, who submitted to the will of His Father. When Deacons, Priests and Bishops disobey the Church and her chief shepherd, the Pope, they do a grave disservice to the people they have been sent to serve.

The CCC professes allegiance to the Holy Father, especially in all matters of faith and morals. We see obedience to the authority of the Church as obedience to Christ. As the Bishop of Rome, the Pope is head of the Church. Vatican II and the Catechism (1992) define his authority as, �supreme, full, immediate, and universal,� by divine institution.

As all priests renew their promise of obedience each year, we urge our fellow clergy all over the world to imitate Jesus in His humility. Pride prevents one from obeying. Jesus who was Priest, Prophet and King, founded the Church so she could continue His work of teaching, sanctifying and shepherding. He simultaneously created ordained ministry in order to implement that three-fold mission. Hence the deacons, priests and bishops of the Church exist to serve and service is substantially obedience. The cleric submits his will as did the Son to the Father.

Contact

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy
http://catholic-clergy.org PA, 17053 US
Fr. John Trigilio - President, 717-957-2662

Keywords

clergy, disobedience, dissent, Austrian, American, Confraternity

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

0 Comments

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment