Bishop O"Donoghue: "Embrace the Tradition of the (Catholic) Church"!
By Patrick B. Craine
OXFORD, June 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Most Rev. Patrick O’Donoghue, who retired as Bishop of Lancaster at the end of April, delivered a powerful address to the Oxford University Newman Society in January, calling the Catholic students to faithful service of the Church.
Bishop O’Donoghue’s talk dealt with his recent instruction Fit for Mission? Church, published in August 2008, which called for the restoration of authentic Catholicism in England.
In his address, Bishop O’Donoghue highlighted the importance of the Second Vatican Council for the contemporary Church, calling for a fuller and more authentic implementation. “It’s now up to us to fully embrace the ‘true’ teaching and decisions of the Council,” he said, “and abandon the ‘fictions’ foisted on us by some clergy, religious and laity who are disobedient and arrogant in their will-to-power. So, I am calling for an enquiring fidelity to the teaching of the Council”.
The bishop called on the students to challenge the false teachers within the Church, no matter their stature. “If you hear any Catholic say or teach something that goes against the teaching and discipline of the Church, as safe-guarded by the Pope,” he said, “politely, but firmly, challenge them, be they a lay catechist, teacher, deacon, priest or even a bishop”.
He highlighted several major obstacles to a true implementation of the Council: “rejection of the past”; “rejection of the moral authority of Church in favour of the authority of conscience”; “influence of secularism in the Church”; “scepticism or at least down playing of the supernatural”; and “humanity becomes the measure of everything”.
Bishop O’Donoghue said he is convinced, “that the remedy for all these trials and troubles in the Church in England and Wales is for each one of us to embrace sacrifice as the hallmark of our lives in the world and in the church, the hallmark of our spirituality”. The bishop suggested a number of sacrificial acts to embrace.
First, “embrace the Tradition of the Church,” he said, emphasizing the need for personal, family, and liturgical prayer. Second, the bishop said, “embrace a self-critical conscience….I want you to re-discover the ancient Catholic attitude of a self-critical conscience that includes suspicion about the obsessions and cravings of human nature”.
Third, the bishop called the students to “embrace obedience to the teachings of the Church”. “Start from the assumption that the Church has good reasons for teaching the doctrines and morals that she teaches” he said. “Search out those reasons, make the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church the most thumbed and creased books in your libraries.”
Fourth, he told them to “embrace the total Catholic world view”, and fifth, to “embrace the divinity and humanity of Jesus”.
Bishop O’Donoghue concluded his address by calling the students to spread the truth throughout Great Britain.
For Bishop O’Donoghue’s talk to the Newman Society:
OXFORD, June 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Most Rev. Patrick O’Donoghue, who retired as Bishop of Lancaster at the end of April, delivered a powerful address to the Oxford University Newman Society in January, calling the Catholic students to faithful service of the Church.Bishop O’Donoghue’s talk dealt with his recent instruction Fit for Mission? Church, published in August 2008, which called for the restoration of authentic Catholicism in England.
In his address, Bishop O’Donoghue highlighted the importance of the Second Vatican Council for the contemporary Church, calling for a fuller and more authentic implementation. “It’s now up to us to fully embrace the ‘true’ teaching and decisions of the Council,” he said, “and abandon the ‘fictions’ foisted on us by some clergy, religious and laity who are disobedient and arrogant in their will-to-power. So, I am calling for an enquiring fidelity to the teaching of the Council”.
The bishop called on the students to challenge the false teachers within the Church, no matter their stature. “If you hear any Catholic say or teach something that goes against the teaching and discipline of the Church, as safe-guarded by the Pope,” he said, “politely, but firmly, challenge them, be they a lay catechist, teacher, deacon, priest or even a bishop”.
He highlighted several major obstacles to a true implementation of the Council: “rejection of the past”; “rejection of the moral authority of Church in favour of the authority of conscience”; “influence of secularism in the Church”; “scepticism or at least down playing of the supernatural”; and “humanity becomes the measure of everything”.
Bishop O’Donoghue said he is convinced, “that the remedy for all these trials and troubles in the Church in England and Wales is for each one of us to embrace sacrifice as the hallmark of our lives in the world and in the church, the hallmark of our spirituality”. The bishop suggested a number of sacrificial acts to embrace.
First, “embrace the Tradition of the Church,” he said, emphasizing the need for personal, family, and liturgical prayer. Second, the bishop said, “embrace a self-critical conscience….I want you to re-discover the ancient Catholic attitude of a self-critical conscience that includes suspicion about the obsessions and cravings of human nature”.
Third, the bishop called the students to “embrace obedience to the teachings of the Church”. “Start from the assumption that the Church has good reasons for teaching the doctrines and morals that she teaches” he said. “Search out those reasons, make the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church the most thumbed and creased books in your libraries.”
Fourth, he told them to “embrace the total Catholic world view”, and fifth, to “embrace the divinity and humanity of Jesus”.
Bishop O’Donoghue concluded his address by calling the students to spread the truth throughout Great Britain.
For Bishop O’Donoghue’s talk to the Newman Society:
http://www.lancasterdiocese.org.uk/admin/Uploads/media/35/Newman%20Talk.pdf
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: English Catholic Bishops have Failed to Admit “Sickness” of Dissent in the Church: Lancaster Bishop
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: English Catholic Bishops have Failed to Admit “Sickness” of Dissent in the Church: Lancaster Bishop
posted by Al @ 1:32 AM
3 Comments:
At 19/6/09 7:39 PM ,
TH2 said...
I don't know what this guy said in the past, but it seems too little and too late. Why is he outspoken now, after retirement? Do you know how steadfast he was prior to retiring?
At 19/6/09 9:49 PM ,
Larry Denninger said...
Al - I posted his speech to the Oxford students. This ought to the blueprint speech for EVERY Bishop (esp. in US)!
At 19/6/09 10:58 PM ,
Al said...
Hunter, Wish I knew more about him, but Iowa is a long way from Merry Old England & other than the article from last year on lifesite news at the end of the story(link at end of this post).But from that article, it seems he has been a fairly lonely voice speaking out long before retirement.
The article refers to 2 documents he put out last year while still the head of the diocese. He put out 1 on education that got him investigated by a Commons Committee hearing.
In the second document, “Fit for Mission? Church,” Bishop O’Donohue called for the restoration of the full adherence to Catholic teaching on faith and morals in the Catholic institution of England and Wales, long known as one of the most “liberal” of the world’s national hierarchies. In the second document, he asked, “Have we forgotten what it means to be Catholic?”
So, it looks like this is nothing new with him.
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