Cardinal Roger Mahony on Tuesday banned Holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson from any Roman Catholic church, school or other facility in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
If this isn’t piling on, I don’t know what is. The blog has had plenty to say about Bishop Williamson but this is pretty darn ridiculous coming from Cardinal Mahony.
In The Tidings, Mahony wrote:
In the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Williamson is hereby banned from entering any Catholic church, school or other facility, until he and his group comply fully and unequivocally with the Vatican’s directives regarding the Holocaust. Later this year, I, Cardinal Mahony, will visit Israel and pay my respects to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem.
Holocaust deniers like Williamson will find no sympathetic ear or place of refuge in the Catholic Church, of which he is not — and may never become — a member.
So CMR compiled this little list of folks that are still considered Catholics in good standing and very welcome in Mahony’s diocese:
(Not an actual photo)
March 5, 2009 at 4:41 am
LOL!
March 5, 2009 at 4:42 am
Given the annual Religious Ed Congress, there are even more glittering examples of “Catholic” idiots that ought to be included.
March 5, 2009 at 5:10 am
Considering that His Eminence missed a singular vocational change when he did not audition for Monty Python, it may still not too late for him to try and ban himself from his own archdiocese. Perhaps he could try kneeling outside of Mother Angelica’s cloister and beg her forgiveness.
March 5, 2009 at 6:39 am
“Holocaust deniers like Williamson will find no sympathetic ear or place of refuge in the Catholic Church, of which he is not — and may never become — a member.”
So, Cardinal Mahony claims that Bishop Williamson is not a member of the Catholic Church. Unless his Baptism was invalid (I doubt that, Williamson is a validly ordained priest) then Cardinal Mahony is way out of line.
March 5, 2009 at 6:45 am
I’d LOVE to see the Cardinal ban himself from the archdiocese, (as he should)…
March 5, 2009 at 8:49 am
Cardinal Malarky,… er Mahoney (apologies, but he keeps opening his mouth and strange things come out), has lost it – “it” being his mind, me thinks. Early retirement? Thumbs up.
March 5, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Am I missing something here, or did Cardinal Mahoney not take Bishop Williamson’s apology earlier this week at face value?
Maybe I’m naive, but I read his apology and comments and they seemed sincere to me. Possibly the Cardinal did not get his copy of ZENIT in his email “in box”?
“I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them,”
“To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologize.”
BTW, love your photos and and captions for all the yahoos allowed to hang out in LA. Very funny!
March 5, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Pat,
We forgot liturgical dancers. How did we forget liturgical dancers?
March 5, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Mau, Williamson’s apology is pathetic. It’s akin to calling someone a bonehead and then apologizing for hurting their feelings but not apologizing for calling them a bonehead. He needs to apologize for his statements, not for how people reacted to them and their effects.
That said, it’s sad that Cardinal Mahony seems to think that expressing doubts about the number of people killed by the Nazis is worse than supporting the murder of millions of babies a year.
P: “As an ardent Catholic, I think abortion should be legal, and will continue to work to keep it legal in all cases.”
M: “Ok.”
W: “I think it impossible that the Nazis killed 6 million Jews. It was probably closer to 300,000, which is still abhorrent.”
M: “YOU ARE BANNED FROM CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN MY DIOCESE!”
March 5, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Please do not argue over the validity of Bp Williamson’s apology here. This post is about Mohony deciding someone is not Catholic when the Pope says he is. Valid apology or not, he is still Catholic.
Many others, who have excommunicated themselves, are still welcome in LA. Stay on topic please.
March 5, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Bishop Marley’s comments translate as “Look at me! Look at me! Look as MEEE!”
March 5, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Can we banned Cardinal Balony until he recognizes Vatican I and the Council of Trent?
March 5, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Denying that +Williamson may ever become a member of the Catholic Church is harsh, though it would be harsher still if the Cardinal thought membership in the Church was required for salvation.
March 5, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Neal,
Well Done!
March 5, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Not this is sort of silly in a way.Also is it lawful under Canon Law? There are of course instances where Bishops can get restraining orders against people from entering Catholic Churches. Think of the kid that “Kidnapped” the Eucharist in Central Florida last year.
But I have huge doubts that under Canon Law even a Cardinal can do a BAN -DO NOT ENTER- NO TREPASSING thing to Bishop Williamson without some sort of hearing or procedure.
What if Bishop Williamson is the Arch Diocese and wants to full fill his Sunday obligation at the one of the Churches in the Cardinal’s Archdiocese? It just seems something Canon Law Illegal about all this.
March 5, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I am so glad I wasn’t drinking coffee when Nancy “Why So Serious” Pelosi’s picture scrolled by.
March 5, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Now I’m just waiting for one of the many ‘liberal, open-minded, dialogue-desiring’ priests or Catholic institutions in that diocese to invite Williamson to their parish or school . . . in the spirit of ‘inclusion and diversity of opinion,’ of course. This would now have the added appeal of being in opposition to ‘authority, hierarchy, exclusion and the silencing of opinion.’ 😉 Somehow, I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.
March 5, 2009 at 5:36 pm
its a outrage!
March 6, 2009 at 4:04 pm
This is just gross!More signs of the Apocalypse.
March 6, 2009 at 6:25 pm
So which Mass in the L.A. archdiocese do you think Bp. Williamson would want to attend? The homosexual affirming Mass, the clown mass, the life teen mass, or the signing to the four winds mass.