Rev. Joseph Breen, longtime pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Nashville has become a hit with a video that some conservative Catholics are calling nothing short of heresy. On the video, Breen challenges the Church’s rules on celibate priests, birth control and papal authority.
On the video, Breen explains why priests should be allowed to marry and couples should be allowed to use birth control. Perhaps most surprising is his statement that Catholics are not bound to blindly follow the Pope. Some might say that Breen sounds a bit like a protestant — certainly to the conservative Catholic website Creative Minority Report. Various conservative Catholics have written to Bishop David Choby for discipline for Breen.
No longer would Martin Luther have to nail a copy of the Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The Internet now serves the same purposes.
Breen took down the video at the request of the Church.
Breen insists that he was trying to reach out to the growing numbers of people leaving the Catholic Church and posted the video on both the St. Edward website and Facebook. It then made it to YouTube and Breen became a heretical hit.
Breen has been a long advocate for reform in the Church and for his call for priests to be able to marry. He has stated “[w]e owe allegiance of respect, support and prayers to the pope. But we do not owe obedience. The only obedience that you and I owe is to the Lord’s spirit and what we call the fidelity of our conscience.”
Source: Tennessean
Fr Breen will be a saint to many, while others will regret that the auto-de-fe is no longer in vogue. Igor Stravinsky once said, “Tradition is a mistake enshrined by repetition.” That’s as true in theology as it is in music. I applaud Fr Breen for speaking out against the traditions that appear so odd and inhuman to the non-Catholic world. If being heard by the hierarchy of the church was one of his goals, I suspect Fr Breen and his bishop will be sitting down to tea very soon.
Vatican I in 1870 ruled the Pope infallible when he spoke “Ex Cathedra”. This is something they have been reluctant to do since they had to occasionally change rulings. So the Church can easily disavow any pronouncement it needs to in order to maintain relevancy.
Scarecrow – I have a long history which makes me deeply dislike the Catholic Church but your post is a bit much even for me since it strays so deeply into the Baptist cult beliefs on the subject. I believe they also believe they know the only road to salvation and are directed by God. But then again that is the same BS that all religions have to sell, I mean what would happen to collections if people thought they could find life unending at a clapboard crap-pile closer to home?
“The Bible is a lot like a mirror in that, if an ass peers in he will not find an Apostle peering out”
Someone make that guy Pope.
This priest has spoken the words that many Catholics around the country and I would expect around the world believe. It will be interesting to see what the Vatican does and how they respond to this truth telling episode.
The Catholic church was long known as the worlds largest cult (now 2nd to Islam). A cult you say? How can that be? Well think about it; their doctrine states that when it comes to matters of the church the Pope is infallible. In his ultimate wisdom the infallible Pope Benedict XVI stated that if you aren’t Catholic, you aren’t going up (meaning to heaven) and after a short period of intense public outcry he recanted and changed his tune…at least publicly. If he is infallible why did he have to change his mind, or lie? Also the first sign of a cult is the “If you’re not part of our group doing what we tell you to do you will burn in hell!” doctrine…which we have recently witnessed…so there you have it…try studying the scriptures for yourself and ask the Lord to lead you by His Holy Spirit…you might just be surprised by what he reveals to you if you do it sincerely.
The vast majority of American Catholics agree with him. (Notice that the conservative Catholic website calls itself “Creative Minority Report.” This is cause US conservative catholics are in the minority and have to be creative. Or something like that.)
The Catholic Church has already made huge changes to become more protestant in the last 50 years. From an atheist’s perspective, it’s kind of amusing to see how far a group that claims to have all the answers can bend to popular opinion.
So some said this Celibacy thing wouldn’t work out at the time. Wasn’t this why the Greeks quit paying alliance or is that money to Rome?
So when you speak out and post your treatise on a church door in Germany are you anymore of a heretic?