Brazil priest suspended for views

[IndianaGreen]

Source: BBC News

Page last updated at 00:59 GMT, Friday, 27 February 2009

Brazil priest suspended for views

By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo

A Roman Catholic priest in Brazil who defended the use of contraceptives and the rights of homosexuals has been suspended by his local archbishop.

Father Luiz Couto has been told he can resume his priestly duties in the north-eastern state of Paraiba if he publicly renounces his views.

The priest is also a member of Congress for the Workers' Party of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He says he will continue to celebrate Mass at home with friends.

It appears that Father Couto landed in trouble with the Church authorities because of an interview that he gave to a local newspaper defending the use of condoms as a matter of public health.

He also spoke out against discrimination against homosexuals and said he was opposed to celibacy for priests.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7913981.stm

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Ahhh, the refreshing sound of liberation theology!

[gauguin57]

1. So, Holocaust denier? Fine. Birth control/gay rights supporter? Problem.

OK, Catholic Church. Every day, and in every way, I'm gladder and gladder I left that effing church behind years ago (sorry to Catholic DUers, but that church has its head up its butt).

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. How do you think I feel?

I *chose* this religion because I jive with the Bible and about 90% of the catechism. Also, I had a good respect for John Paul II (he wasn't perfect, but he was doing an okay job of steering things towards the Vatican II reforms). And now the hierarchy is willing to stifle any open discussion of doctrine.

It's because of that and the sex scandal that I ultimately decided to walk away from my seminary-bound life and start over.

[IndianaGreen]

3. John Paul II saved Jews, while Benedict...

During the early part of the war, Wojtyla showed personal courage defending Jews. Sister Zofia Zarnecka, a university colleague, told us how protective he was toward Anka Weber. "He often escorted her down the street and fended off the bigots who called themselves, 'All-Poland Youth.'" We also spoke to Edith Schiere, another Jewish Wadowician who now lives in Israel. During the war, she miraculously escaped from Auschwitz and met Karol Wojtyla as she was staggering down the road. He carried her to the train station on his back, put her on the train and brought her something to eat. "I felt ashamed when my Jewish friends said, 'Don't you know that he's a priest?' I didn't." But she also felt terrible because she never had the chance to thank him.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/etc/bio.html

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

4. He was a remarkable man.

I hope he's made a saint quickly; however, I'd like to see it done because of his theological work. Doctors of the Church don't require miracles before their canonization, and John Paul's II work is so prolific and profound that we'll probably be unpacking it for the next 100 years or so.

I keep a copy of his Theology of the Body on my shelves along with Fides et Ratio. :)

[hedgehog]

5. Was there a change in John Paul II before and after the assassination attempt?

I always felt that he was much weaker afterward, and that he became a puppet for the Vatican bureaucrats.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

8. During the 80s and early 90s

JP II was still very strong theologically. He wrote several key works including Fides et Ratio and Theology of the Body during this time (both of these documents will likely become for our generation what City of God was for the late Antique church). And we shouldn't forget his letters in which he condemned communism and Western capitalism (unfortunately, I never remember their titles even though they're on my shelves somewhere). During this time he also okayed the use to female altar servers and expanded the use of lay ministers in the Mass. He even entertained then-Cardinal Ratzinger's proposal to introduce female deacons as an experiment. From what I heard they were to be used in the American Midwest where priests are scarce.

During the late 90s (around the time when I came to the faith, actually), he had begun to become more conservative. I suspect that this was because his Parkinson's Disease was becoming worse and more of the Church's everyday activities were being left to the Curia. During this time the use of lay ministers was restricted once more, there was a moratorium put on female altar servers, and JP's II theology began taking on more of a traditionalist tone (I'm thinking specifically of this letter on the Rosary). Don't even mention the female deacons.

So I think the shift in JPII came much later than the assassination attempt. In fact he produced some of his most robust works in the 1980s. However, Parkinson's Disease took its toll on him during the late 1990s and left him enfeebled and possibly more subject to the whims of the Curia.

[Doctor Cynic]

6. That's a lot of priests.

[CatholicEdHead]

7. Those two big no-no 'issues'

Those two are two of the three that helped get me banned from Catholic Answers' board. Contraception and any gay rights is frowned upon. Sex has to be all natural (for a big Catholic family of course), only for procreation, and gays need to be deep in the closet as possible. :crazy: :puke:

I completely support this priest. He is brave to take this stand and I hope his local bishop removes the suspension so he can get back to his ministries.

[anonymous171]

11. Me too. nt

[defendandprotect]

14. Still waiting for the people to take over the RCC and suspend the Pope -- !!!

[tanngrisnir3]

9. Looks like he's working for the wrong company.

[anonymous171]

10. Deny the Holocaust? You're OK. But God forbid you tell the truth about condoms!

[Svafa]

12. Of course a former member of the hitler youth

would welcome Holocaust deniers with open arms while disparaging progressive clergy members.

[defendandprotect]

13. It's good to keep in mind how suppressed liberal opinion is in RCC . . .

in fact, common sense is oppressed.

Just as many Catholic women as other women have abortions, in fact.

I guess that's suppressed opinion?

And imagine same is true of use of artificial birth control -- also suppressed opinion??

[damntexdem]

15. And yet the earth still moves.

Apparently, many priests in Latin America care more for humans than for ideological restraints. Pope Benny and his playmates want to put an end to that.