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16,000 Protest Vatican Efforts to Silence Priest
Buffalo, N.Y., April 29, 1998
Free
speech within the Catholic clergy is becoming a hot issue as the Vatican moves
to silence a Canadian priest who heads a growing conservative movement. Over
16,000 followers of the Fatima Crusade have signed a Public Appeal published in
Rome, asking the Pope to halt the impending suspension of their leader, Father
Nicholas Gruner. Suspension is the clerical equivalent of disbarring a lawyer
or revoking a physician's medical license. Based just over the Canadian border
in Fort Erie, Ontario, the Fatima Crusader has a large U.S. following,
estimated at some 500,000.
"They're trying to silence Father Gruner and behead his
movement," says Christopher A. Ferrara, a practicing lawyer in Fairfield, N.J.
who has assisted Father Gruner and his organization, "and they're trampling on
both his fundamental rights and ours in the process. The procedure they've used
is legally deficient in so many ways it's just a travesty of justice.
"They've allowed his
accusers to sit in judgment against him, repeatedly discouraged various canon
lawyers from taking his case, denied him any genuine hearing, and have even
issued a ruling against him which simply ignores his most important arguments
and defense, as if they didn't exist. And all this has been done in secret
proceedings."
Over 1500 priests, brothers and nuns, 16 bishops, and seven
archbishops have also signed the published appeal letter to the Pope on behalf
of Father Gruner. It was published in the largest Roman daily newspaper, Il
Messaggero April 2 and subsequently was seen by millions on Italian National TV
news.
Father
Gregory Hesse of Vienna, an accredited lecturer in Church (Canon) Law denounced
the Vatican's action against Father Gruner as "politically motivated, pure and
simple. There's no moral or theological basis whatsoever for silencing Father
Gruner," he explained. "What he preaches is entirely within the framework of
traditional Catholic belief, and no one has ever said otherwise. Nor has anyone
ever questioned his moral character. They're trying to silence him simply
because they don't like the conservative causes he promotes, and the growing
number of supporters he's attracting. In the secular world, this is like
silencing the political opposition by arbitrarily throwing its leader in jail."
The
Apostolic Signatura, which adjudicates disputes between bishops and clergy, has
issued a ruling against Father Gruner for an alleged technical offense
regarding his residence as a priest. He was originally incardinated (i.e.,
accredited to a bishop) in the diocese of Avellino, Italy, but has had official
permission to reside for the last two decades in Canada, where he developed the
Fatima Crusade. He has resisted an order to return to Avellino, both on legal
grounds and because it would cut him off from the movement, and threaten its
continuation
.
"Suspension is a severe punishment that is supposed to be imposed
on priests who have committed civil or canonical crimes," said Mr. Ferrara,
"and even then, they're supposed to get a fair hearing before it's done. In
this case, the Vatican is abusing its power to deny a priest's natural right to
free speech. What's more, they've violated their own rules repeatedly in the
way they've proceeded against him."
"As long as he's not preaching heresy," added Father
Hesse, "a priest ought to have the same right to free speech as anyone else. By
silencing someone like Father Gruner, the Vatican is abridging the rights of
every priest who holds views, however legitimate, that lie outside the
‘politically correct' domain of the past thirty years in the Church.
"That's
contrary to the Church's own canon law, which gives priests not only the right,
but at times the duty, to make their views known to pastors and the faithful.
The Vatican ought to be a shining example to the world in the way it
administers justice to its own people. Instead, it's creating a repressive
atmosphere where the rights of legitimate criticism are systematically denied
by hook or by crook."
Father Gruner is currently seeking permission to make a final
appeal against his imminent suspension. If granted, this appeal would be heard
by the same tribunal, the Signatura, that has already ruled against him three
times. In theory, the Pope may overrule the Signatura, but in practice, the
current Pontiff has made it clear that he chooses not to interfere in such
matters.
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