Dunedin’s Bishop Campbell could be in line for a “rap over the knuckles” from the Pope for criticising the new translation of the prayers, responses and music used at Mass, a Dunedin academic says.
Bishop Campbell has made a public criticism of changes endorsed Pope Benedict. University of Otago Associate Prof Greg Dawes, an authority in modern Roman Catholicism said this is unusual.
Dawes thinks Bishops should be free to have an independent point of view. But, he says, over the past 100 years, there had been moves to “reduce bishops to branch managers reporting to head office” and criticism was not always tolerated.
When clergy disagreed with Rome, they usually “ignored instructions” but kept quiet about it.
Dawes think that because he chose to go public, Bishop Campbell might get a rap over the knuckles.
Bishop Campbell’s article can be read in the 17 September edition of the London Tablet. It is reprinted in the October edition of Tui Motu
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