Sacked former Bishop of Toowoomba, Bill Morris, is expected to give testimony at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane. Before being sacked by Pope Benedict over ongoing doctrinal issues, Morris, formally admitted Catholic Church liability, opening the door to a large compensation payout to 13 schoolgirls. The Brisbane hearing Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Bishop Bill Morris’
Aussie bishops want Vatican III — on sexual abuse
Friday, June 7th, 2013
Three retired Australian bishops are calling for a new ecumenical council — including lay people — to “confront the issues that contribute to the causes of systemic sexual abuse” in the Catholic Church. The group is led by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who retired as auxiliary bishop of Sydney in 2004, aged 66, partly because of Read more
Australia: what underlies tales of resigned bishops
Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
Distances and demographics combine to tell the story. Three-quarters the size of the United States, Australia is mainly uninhabited except along its coastline. While the U.S. shelters close to 313 million people, latest Australian census statistics report only 22 million persons on the continent’s nearly 3 million square miles. Australia’s Christians — mainly descendants of Read more
Pope’s lack of English partly responsible for Toowoomba bishop’s sacking
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
A personal note, written by Pope Benedict, acknowledges the pontiff’s lack of English created a misunderstanding between himself and the former bishop of Toowomba, Bill Morris. Commenting on Morris’ letter in which he accuses the Vatican of a “lack of care for the truth,” Nuzzi’s Vatileaks book has the Holy Father writing, “Obviously there was a Read more
Revelations shed new light on Bishop Bill Morris dismissal
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012
Some Catholics think last year’s dismissal of William Morris as Bishop of Toowoomba is just a storm in a teacup about a recalcitrant country bishop, and that it is time we all moved on. This is a serious misreading of the signs of the times. Church structures need to be reformed to be more aligned Read more
Revelations shed new light on Bill Morris dismissal
Friday, March 30th, 2012Some Catholics think last year’s dismissal of William Morris as Bishop of Toowoomba is just a storm in a teacup about a recalcitrant country bishop, and that it is time we all moved on. This is a serious misreading of the signs of the times. Church structures need to be reformed to be more aligned with contemporary notions of justice and due process.
Ten months on, people are left confused as to whether Morris was sacked chiefly for what he wrote in his 2006 Advent letter about women’s ordination, for what was reported by the Apostolic Visitor, Archbishop Charles Chaput, or for what was reported to Rome by those sometimes described as ‘the temple police’. Now more details have come to light showing how threadbare and confused the processes were.
Read the article...The half century challenge of John XXIII
Friday, March 30th, 2012
In 1962, I moved from the Brigidine Convent at Indooroopilly in Brisbane to St Joseph’s College, Nudgee Junior, under the care of the Christian Brothers. I was an impressionable eight-year-old and was in grade 3. I well recall one of the brothers taking the class up to the top floor of the school. We gathered Read more
Civil and canon law broken in sacking Toowoomba bishop
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
A retired Supreme Court judge has found the Roman Catholic Church breached both canon and civil law in asking Toowomba Bishop Bill Morris to retire earlier this year. Retired Judge Bill Carter QC was invited to conduct an investigation into the controversial sacking. Angered by the sacking, Morris’ supporters, more than 1,000 people signed a petition over Read more
Australian hierarchy affirm Pope’s decision to remove bishop
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
The Australian Bishops at the end of their “ad limina” visit to the Vatican have stated their support for the Pope’s decision to remove the Bishop of Toowoomba from his position. In interviews with Catholic News Service and in their statement, the bishops said they had a special meeting with Cardinals Marc Ouellet, prefect of Read more
Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris farewells his flock
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011Bishop Bill Morris, bishop of Toowoomba who was forced by the Vatican to resign early, was farewelled at a Mass of Thanksgiving at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday.
The congregation overflowed from the cathedral into outside marquee where the service was broadcast live.
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