Friar Weinandy

A Friar's Letter to His Lordship the Pope.

When I first skimmed the letter I thought it was a humble, thoughtful, respectful petition, which echoed, more or less, many of the concerns Catholics online post and comment on in com-boxes.  I thought to myself, someone reasonable has written a good letter to the Pope.  I initially hoped the Holy Father might respond in kind.  Then I read it more closely, as well as some honest criticism of the piece, and discovered otherwise.  Now I'm not sure if the Holy Father needs to respond.  Some say the letter is a letter of dissent and calumny.  I have no response to that except to say, I'm less confused by the Holy Father than I am by his critics and detractors and the gossip.  That said, it looks as if Fr. Weinandy writes from that perspective.

Msgr. John Strynkowski, former executive director of the Secretariat for Christian Doctrine at the U.S.C.C.B. responded to Fr. Weinandy's letter.  He does a good job addressing the problems with it, beginning first with a reference to Sandro Magister's introduction to Fr. Weinandy's letter.

I am writing this open letter to you in response to your open letter to Pope Francis in which you address what you describe as a “chronic confusion” that seems to mark his pontificate. 

According to Sandro Magister’s introduction to your letter, you had asked Jesus for a sign as to whether you should write your letter, you received that sign and thus “no longer had any doubt that Jesus wanted me to write….” I cannot enter into the subjective conditions that inspired you to write, but I need to note that “Amoris Laetitia,”toward which you express great concern, was the fruit of two synods and broad consultation throughout the church, is widely recognized as an act of ordinary Magisterium, and thus enjoys presumption as having been guided by the Spirit of the Lord. - Finish reading here.

Online you will hear and read criticism of the USCCB because Fr. Weinandy was asked to resign* after his letter was made public.  Don't fall for it.  The letter should have remained private as made clear in Donum Veritatis, which Monsignor cites at the end of his crituque:

"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, urged that dissent from ordinary Magisterium should be disclosed privately to church authority—see “Donum Veritatis” (No. 30). In a world and even an ecclesial environment of sound bites and facile partisanship, that becomes even wiser advice." - ibid

Anyway, be careful of falling for this form of propaganda.  Not Fr. W's letter per se, but its public release and the editorializing which accompanies it.  This feeds the appetite of those who wish to discredit the Magisterium and contributes to the spread of more doubt and confusion, leading to greater division in the Church.  That's just how I see it - it doesn't matter what I think.


*In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, James Rogers, chief communications officer of the bishops’ conference, said that, “after speaking with the general secretary of the conference today, Father Thomas Weinandy, OFM, Cap., has resigned, effective immediately, from his position as consultant to the USCCB Committee on Doctrine. The work of the committee is done in support of, and in affective collegiality with, the Holy Father and the Church in the United States. Our prayers go with Father Weinandy as his service to the committee comes to a close.” - NCRegister