A priest of the Diocese of San Bernardino is on trial for heresy because he left the Church to start a schismatic church of something called the Ecumenical Catholic Communion.
Ned Reidy says he stopped being a Catholic priest and a Roman Catholic back in 1999 when he left the Church. The diocese says it is holding the heresy trial because Reidy’s new church and previous ordination as a Catholic priest
may confuse some Catholics and the goal is to make sure everyone knows what the score is.
According to DeFide.com, Reidy is accused of “heresy and schism. Alleged heresies include the denial of the Inerrancy of Sacred Scripture; the Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and the validity of marriage only between man and woman. Alleged schism is based upon Reidy’s subjection to the hierarchical claims of Mark Shirilau, “Primate” of the Ecumenical Catholic Church, in defiance of the universal jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI.”
Marc Balestrieri, the canon lawyer who started DeFide.com and last year filed denunciations for heresy against five pro-abortion Catholic politicians, says that he hopes this signals a trend.
“Hopefully colleagues of Bishop Barnes in the Episcopate will follow his example, and finally apply the disciplinary canons of the Code of Canon Law against heresy. If left unchecked as it has been for far too long, public contradiction of core tenets of the Faith will continue to wreak grave spiritual and physical harm upon the Church’s members and other citizens in society.”
I’m not going to hold my breath for that. If they can’t even stop themselves from giving man-of-the-year awards to these guys, they aren’t going to put them on trial for heresy.
Technorati Tags: Catholic, doctrine, politics, heresy, schism
ahh, I see that Spiritus Christi in Rochester is one of the Ecumenical CC’s. And where was Fr. Cuenin recently?
http://www.catholiccommunion.org/html/directory.html
I share Amy Wellborn’s reaction here, “Why bother (with the heresy trial)?”
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has made a big deal about a similar case, though not to the point of a heresy trial. If you can get the Bishop of Pittsburgh to enforce liturgical order according to Roman directives in the parishes with priests under his direct control in his own diocese, you’re a better man than I. He doesn’t care a whit.
Looks good, to make a big show of alerting the supposedly ignorant faithful to the fact that an obviously un-Catholic heretic has the word “catholic” somewhere in his advertising. Better than alerting the faithful to the fact that the Auxiliary Bishop you fobbed off on Rome during the decline of JPII is a man too embarassed by his theological liberalism to audibly say, “for us men and for our salvation”, and who habitually makes left-leaning changes to the liturgical texts when he prays the Mass….
…who introduces kettle drums into the reading of the Passion on Good Friday…
‘nuf said.
Isn’t the criticism somewhat unfair to the canon lawyers at DeFide? These guys stuck their necks out to try to right some of the wrongs in the Church. They need our support.
Better re-read that last sentence: by “they”, Dom meant “the bishops”.
Yes, I understand that. But there was no bishop involved when the first heresy trial was brought forth by De Fide. It wasn’t clear from the press release whether De Fide instigated this one as well or whether the bishop has instigated it. The press release was attributed to De Fide in any case. This is more or less a lay movement, as I understand it, which is why it’s interesting to see that a bishop is cooperating with them. Does anyone know anything about Bishop Barnes?
As for “Why bother?”—we need to draw a clear and visible line between the group this priest belongs to and the Roman Catholic Church. If you explore their website you will see in the history of the Old Catholics given there that they are using the Vilatte succession, and also mention the Matthew succession. There are many groups claiming these lines of succession and calling themselves Catholic. Among them is the Liberal Catholic Church and the Community Churches. One group in Canada includes seances as part of their worship services and is led by an Anglican priest. It has affiliations with a visionary in Russia. This is a revival of the Gnostic heresy. So I am pleased to see that someone is attempting to draw clear lines of demarcation. These churches are starting to affiliate. If they all come together, they will present a more significant presence.
Oh, is DeFide involved?
Yes.