Canon lawyer Peter Vere of Catholic Light blog gives his opinion of canon lawyer Marc Balestrieri’s heresy lawsuit against John Kerry. Apparently, Balestrieri is getting a lot of pressure from some bigwigs, including some bishops, to drop the case. Peter says that Marc risks losing his livelihood by this action but that he felt compelled to act. Peter also lauds Marc for his courage and for doing what it takes to stand up for his principles. I agree. The lawsuit is a longshot, but it will draw attention to a matter that should have been dealt with long ago by our bishops, but they’ve let it slide.
Man, this is a brave man – putting worldly concerns on the line for good and love and Christ. Here is an example of a man following the way of Christ – to defend the lives of millions of innocent human beings. That there is flak within the Church should be no surprise – for here is a man doing what each priest and bishop is called to do, but which most have failed to do – to take a real stand for the unborn – and to stand up in love, at great cost, in support of their lives – and to fight the pure evil which would promote the taking of those innocent lives. At the end of the day, John Kerry lends his support and followers to the cause of allowing the murder of the pre-born and the murder of those being born (partial-birth abortion = infanticide). Kerry is collusional in murder. And a brave man will fight to have his Church do what it cannot find the will to do itself. What an example. The bishops should feel the mark of shame on their foreheads.
Let me ask a question or two:
1. If a Catholic layman can, under the 1983 Code, bring canonical proceedings against another Catholic, why aren’t Catholics filing canonical suits against their bishops for the way the bishops have handled sex-abuse allegations?
2. If ecclesial trials over sex abuse resulted in testimony about episcopal conduct and clerical sexual habits, why couldn’t that information make its way into the newspapers? There is no requirement that such trials be open to the public, but I don’t believe documents introduced into those trials have any civil protection from dissemination and publication—nor are they off limits for plaintiffs’ attorneys in civil court.
A very, very good point, Rod. I’d loved for someone (me?) to have done so against my corrupt bishop. Fortunately, he just retired, and my fervent prayer that he would not confirm my son was answered.
The truth is – Catholics have almost no way to hold their bishops accoutable to anything at all. In the Catholic system – they should be held accountable from above. But clearly that does not always happen. – One thing about Protestants in general – they in almost all cases would never tolerate the malfeasance we’ve seen in our bishops on the part of their ministers.
For Catholics – the selection of good, true and holy men at all levels is of utmost importance. We are reaping now the evil whirlwind of having failed to do so.
Sorry Sinner, but I have to disagree on one point. Protestants have and do tolerate such malfeasance. It is not an exclusively Catholic phenomenon.