Episcopal spine alert in Virginia

Episcopal spine alert in Virginia

Could someone please send this article to Archbishop Sean O’Malley of Boston? In the Richmond, Virginia, diocese, Bishop Francis DiLorenzo has stripped the faculties of a notoriously heterodox priest in his diocese. Fr. Thomas O’Quinlan is retired already, but has continued to exercise public ministry. Not anymore after a crude performance at Christmas.

The Rev. Thomas J. Quinlan Jr. famously loves to jar congregations with bluntly worded homilies, but he went too far when he mentioned the Virgin Mary’s birth canal during a Christmas Eve service – a Catholic bishop has banned him from performing any priestly function in public.

“Your shock content was crude, offensive and disturbing,” particularly to families, youth and visitors, Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of the Richmond Diocese told Quinlan in a Jan. 17 letter. The bishop cited a sermon that Quinlan, known as “TQ,” gave at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Virginia Beach.

I can think of a few priests in Boston who need to have their privilege of exercising public ministry suspended until they renounce their heterodox beliefs. Hmm.

[Thanks to Bill Cork for the link.]

Morale in Boston

And while we’re talking about it, while some gossips claim that morale among priests in Boston is completely shot because of the repressive atmosphere, they need to broaden the scope of who they listen beyond the minority voices in the Boston Priests Forum, which primarily represents old-school liberals. Among many priests of my acquaintance, they are particularly upbeat at what they see as positives in their own parishes.

It’s no surprise that following the Scandal and the resignation of Cardinal Law and the closing of parishes, everyone—not just priests—is a bit emotionally and spiritually exhausted, but when they see even a hint at a push for orthodoxy they get very excited.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Share:FacebookX

Archives

Categories