Brouhaha

An influential group of liberal-minded Catholic reformers is debating a response to Bishop Anthony Pilla, who recently banned the organization from meeting on Diocese of Cleveland property.

Future Church, which claims more than 800 members locally, advocates allowing priests to marry and women to be ordained as the best ways to alleviate clergy shortages.

The group had operated unrestricted in the Cleveland diocese for more than a decade. But the truce ended unexpectedly April 1 after Pilla issued an edict to all pastors.

And, inevitably, coming back to bite:

“My guess is that if pastors refuse to ban us and JCU and the CSJs [John Carroll University and the Sisters of St. Joseph, which host Future Church events] refuse to ban us, what can the diocese do? Kick out a priest for allowing discussion when they haven’t kicked them out for sexually abusing kids?”

And then, a companion article on a conservative group

But their mutual opposition to Future Church does not mean Save Our Church and Pilla are allies.

Criticizing the bishop as a “Force of Darkness,” Webster has called on Pilla to retire, and has vowed to engage in “earnest and sustained prayer and fasting” until he complies.

Webster has posted writings on his Web site accusing Pilla of mistreating sex-abuse victims and their families, of promoting homosexuality and dissident clergy, and of giving “foul-mouthed heretics” free rein in the diocese.

“This man is a liar,” Webster said in a recent interview. “Hiding things and being dishonest are the worst of things, and typical of this diocese.”