Schuller banned by Boston Bishop

Published on National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline.org)

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Schuller banned by Boston Bishop

Kate Simmons  |  Jun. 24, 2013 NCR Today

The first American speaking tour of a reform-minded Austrian priest has hit its first snag.
Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley says Fr. Helmut Schuller can’t speak on archdiocesan property, forcing a rescheduling of the Boston leg of his 15-city tour, which begins July 15.
Last week, Boston Auxiliary Bishop Walter Edyvean called St. Susanna Parish — Schuller’s scheduled speaking stop — to inform them that O’Malley had ruled that “Father Schuller could not speak at any Catholic parish because he espouses beliefs that are contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church,” according to parish Deacon Larry Bloom.
Schuller’s talk will be moved to the First Church of Dedham, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation down the street, Bloom told NCR in a email June 24.
St. Susanna tends to attract parishioners with a lot of questions so “we often have speakers who represent various, sometimes controversial, points of view,” wrote Bloom, who serves as Director of Adult Faith Formation for the parish.
“This, however, is the first time in my eleven years at the parish that we have actually been told we could not allow someone to speak at the parish,” Bloom wrote. “We did not expect that the talk on parish property would be prohibited, but we were not shocked and proceeded calmly to complete a resolution.”
In a statement released June 24, organizers of Schuller’s speaking tour, titled “The Catholic Tipping Point,” called O’Malley’s decision “distressing.”
“Cardinal O’Malley’s action is particularly distressing since it is taken by one of the eight cardinals appointed to help reform Church governance,” they said in the statement. “This attempt to suppress these long overdue discussions is a disservice to Christ’s body.”
The Catholic Tipping Point tour, sponsored by twelve progressive Catholic organizations, will begin in New York City and travel across the country to California and Seattle, ending back in Long Island, NY on Aug. 7. More information on the tour can be found at www.catholictippingpoint.org [1].
[Kate Simmons is an NCR Bertelsen intern. Her email address is ksimmons@ncronline.org.]

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Source URL (retrieved on 06/25/2013 - 07:37): http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/schuller-banned-boston-bishop

Links:
[1] http://www.catholictippingpoint.org/