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The Birmingham Three: Disagreements About The Beatification
Blogged by James Preece on 2nd July 2010
I didn't draw this (you can tell because the author has artistic skills)...
Meanwhile Anna Arco writes...
There were some doubts about whether the Pope would be able to go to the Birmingham Oratory because of controversies within the community. Two members were removed to abbeys in Leicestershire and Scotland last month while a third was sent home.
...
Fr Richard Duffield, the current Provost of the Birmingham Oratory, said: “It’s marvellous news. We’re utterly delighted.
[link]
Remember when this was first announced in The Tablet, they said...
A spokesman for the Oratory described the decision as an “internal domestic affair” but said that there had been disagreements in the community about how best to approach the beatification of their founder Cardinal John Henry Newman.
So there were "disagreements in the community about how best to approach the beatification" and now we hear that these "controversies within the community" lead to "doubts about whether the Pope would be able to go to the Birmingham Oratory".
These holy men were sent away for having the wrong views about the beatification of Newman. Put out of the way so that those with the 'correct' views could get on with doing things according to plan.
What is the the 'correct' view? Don't rock the boat!
Boat rockers will not be tolerated.
Reader Comments
+15
Sarah said...
So "controversies within the community" lead to "doubts about whether the Pope would be able to go to the Birmingham Oratory".
Seems to me this is no longer an internal matter and the question must be asked, what exactly have these fine holy men done to deserve extradition?
The whole thing stinks.
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+9
Sarah said...
Didn't Jack Valero say on the radio the other day that this is no big deal, a small internal matter that we wouldn't even have heard of if it weren't for the beatification?
And now it seems that the whole Papal visit to the Oratory hinged on it.
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+10
Richard Reeves said...
Personally, I feel it would be wrong for the Holy Father to visit the Oratory until this mess has been sorted out. If there is a potential scandal then the boil needs to be lanced now - if not the Holy Father could find himself walking into a hornets nest that will generate international media interest, and not for the right reasons.
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Margaret said...
It would appear that the visit of the Holy Father to the Oratory has been agreed to by Vatican officials. They would not have agreed to a visit if there was any fear of scandal. It is time that people without full access to the facts stopped speculating and kept their opinions to themselves. It must be pointed out however that it is not just 2 priests and a deacon that are affected by this: another good,holy and totally innocent priest is affected too. Spare a thought for him and for the rest of the Oratorian Community and their provost.
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+10
Ted said...
Whether or not they would have agreed to a visit would seem somewhat academic as there is a scandal. As for the full facts, it is not for want of trying that they are not available.
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+11
Hestor said...
This cartoon amply demonstrates the outrage involved in exiling these three priests.
The paedophile clergy who were abusing children, weren't even treated with this contempt!
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+12
Richard Reeves said...
Margaret there is already scandal - three oratorians have been banished, for no apparent reason, and allegations of an improper but chaste "relationiship" between the former provost and a young man have been made. This is in the public forum - and so needs to be resolved publicly. Also, there is the fact that the Oratorians released a dodgy press statement to say that the former provost was stepping down to raise funds in the US. Something that Damian Thompson found incredible to believe at the time. How do you know that the Vatican Officials were apprised of the situation? If, as Jack Valero suggests it is merely an internal affair, then the matter may not have even arisen.
Certainly we could all shut up now - and pretend that nothing has happened. However, the potential price for that will be that the forces of hell will be unleashed by the media on the day of the beatification, and our beloved Holy Father could find himself embroiled in yet another controversy.
The Oratory or Jack Valero, as their spokesman, need to issue a press release soon to clarify the whole situation.
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+9
Policraticus said...
A Press Statement from the so called Oratory spokesman might not be enough given the rather gaffe-prone way things are done. A simple statement published in the Parish website and newsletter and read from the pulpit at all sunday masses
1. Denouncing the front page of the herald for effectively defaming the good names of Frs Fenlon, Cleevley and Br Berry
2. Making it abundantly clear to all concerned that these [as yet absent but very much still] members of the community WILL be at the Oratory to greet the Holy Father particularly to show him round the Archive which they know so well AND will concelebrate as priests and assist as a deacon [better still get the Holy Father to ordain Berry on the day as an added tribute to Newman] at the MASS OF BEATIFICATION.
Frankly, under these grave circumstances nothing less will do to avoid further scandal. Is it not bad enough [according to 'Notebook' in this week's Tablet] that the BBC are currently researching an hour and a half programme where they intend to dramatise Pope Benedict in the dock 'on trial for clerical sex abuse'; that this appalling unjust treatment of the Three has them 'on trial' as it were unable to publicly defend themselves. Is not this abuse of spiritual authority in the Church in England just as degrading and equally damaging to the papal visit as what the BBC intends to do?
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+13
Jane said...
It is absolutely an abuse of spiritual authority to banish these three good men and allow their reputations to be unjustly tarnished.
While I would personally love to see Pope Benedict XVI visit England, I believe it would be better that he did not come at all than be manipulated into coming into the middle of this scandal which could damage him. More and more people I talk to, defenders of the Pope all, feel the same.
Free the Birmingham 3 and make the Birmingham Oratory a fit place to receive His Holiness.
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-12
Margaret said...
Don't you mean the Oratory 4?
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+10
Sarah said...
I understood it's now the Oratory 5.
A completely absurd situation.
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+8
James said...
To my knowledge, three have been ordered away.
The first requested to go on retreat. We can't very well campaign for the return of a priest who asked to be away.
The fifth...? Well, his departure is still only a rumor. There has been no official confirmation.
But yes - absurd.
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+6
Frank said...
Is Brother Berry due for ordination soon? What is his status in that regard, now that he is, (presumably) not resident in the community? This is surely an important matter for him, certainly more important than meeting the Holy Father?
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+1
Jackie Parkes said...
Comment removed at Jackie's request.
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+2
Richard Reeves said...
I hope the 5th isn't Fr Anton - he is such a wonderful priest, and offers the EF with such devotion.
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+7
Hestor said...
What fifth send away?!! Someone tell me this is a joke?!
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-6
Margaret said...
There 7 priests and 2 brothers at the Oratory. 3 priests and 1 brother are away, FACT. Basically someone is unable to count properly before putting information on the internet.
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-8
Margaret said...
Looks like no-one can go on holiday without some idiot making a mountain out of a molehill and starting very unhelpful rumours.
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Jackie Parkes said...
Comment removed at Jackie's request.
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Margaret said...
I think you will find that the PP is definitely on holiday, not on retreat. If people are saying otherwise I am afraid that they are wrong.
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+8
Frank said...
WHY is the national press - secular and religious - not raising this matter?
Anyone know?
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Jackie Parkes said...
Comment removed at Jackie's request.
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+6
Sapientia said...
I have been away for a while, but am astonished to come back and find that the Spinmeister Jack Valero is now apparently a spokesman for Birmingham Oratory! This surely can't be correct, but if not, why is he apparently so well informed about the fate of the Birmingham 3 when those of us who have taken the trouble to write and ask about our priests don't even merit the courtesy of an acknowledgment of our letters? Please tell me someone is keeping the Pope and his Personal Secretary informed about all these unfortunate goings-on as we enter the lead-up to the Papal Visit.
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-2
Jackie Parkes said...
Comment removed at Jackie's request.
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+7
Margaret said...
Sorry Jackie-holiday it is.
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+3
Margaret said...
I should like to defend the rest of the Birmingham Oratory Fathers. They are not exactly slack when it comes to defending the Holy Father, life issues, and Newman. Visit the Birmingham Oratory website and take the time to read the weekly newsletters. It is most unfair to emphasise the virtues of 3 men and ignore the virtues of the others.
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+6
Richard Reeves said...
Most parishes put a note in the bulletin whenever their parish priest goes away on retreat or on holiday. Just another indicator of how poor the communication between the Birmingham Oratorians and their parishoners is.
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-7
Margaret said...
Richard, it has never been the custom to put a note on the parish newsletter when any of the community are on holiday. As an Oratory parishioner I find that the communication between the Fathers and the parishioners is good. The domestic affairs of the Community are a matter for the Fathers not the parishioners. The likes of Preece, Smeaton and Ward would do well to realise this and act accordingly.
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+9
Richard Reeves said...
Margaret, Even the Holy Father publishes his holiday details, and when is he is on retreat. Why are the Birmingham Oratorians so secretive? They act as though they have something to hide.
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-8
Margaret said...
Richard, do you publish the details of where you are going and when you are going on holiday? I certainly don't publish mine so why should priests of any parish publish theirs? If the Birmingham Oratorians prefer to keep some vestige of privacy, so be it.
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Margaret said...
Richard, do you publish the details of where you are going and when you are going on holiday? I certainly don't publish mine so why should priests of any parish publish theirs? If the Birmingham Oratorians prefer to keep some vestige of privacy, so be it.
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Richard Reeves said...
Margaret, I am not a priest charged with the cure of souls and I am not the spiritual father to a community. Otherwise yes, I would feel obliged to let my parishoners know that I was away on holiday, and who was supplying for me.
However, when I take annual leave I always put my out of office on so that my clients know that I am away, and who to contact in my absence. Otherwise they may think I've just abandoned them or been given the boot!
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Policraticus said...
When Newman was made Cardinal it put to rest, as he expressed it, “all the stories which have gone about of my being a half Catholic, a Liberal Catholic, not to be trusted”. When the news arrived in Birmingham that Leo XIII had determined to bestow upon him a red hat, Newman said exultantly to his Oratorian brethren, “The cloud is lifted from me forever.”
OR
When news comes through of Frs Fenlon, Cleevley and Br Berry being restored to their beloved Birmingham Oratory, they might well say to themseves;
"all the stories which have gone about of our being disruptive to the harmony of the Community, and being hardline Catholics especially regadring sexual orientation and not to be trusted with the Newman Archive can now be put to rest”. And when their very visible public presence is seen alongside the Holy Father at the beatification of their Founder with the English and Welsh Bishops, the UK Vatican Ambassador [Tony and Cherie Blair?] Frs Selden, Harrison and Duffield and the Oratory spokesman looking on; they could pray to God in gratitude: "The cloud is lifted from us forever!"
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