A Timely Lenten Meditation by Fr. De Souza

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Snippets from an article at The National Post:


Fr. Tom and I have found ourselves on different sides often enough. He has applied his prodigious gifts to promoting the idea that Pope Francis represents an exhilarating break from Catholic tradition. I find such breaks alarming, so we have largely gone our separate ways lately. But it was not so under St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, where Fr. Tom and I happily collaborated on occasion.

I expect that will be the case in the future, or at least I hope it will be. The current pontificate is proving exhausting for all concerned, as the powers-that-be in Rome lash out at perceived enemies as they lurch from crisis to crisis. I am eager for these internecine battles to be set aside so we can get on with the work of evangelization.


[...]

(I) found the news of Fr. Tom’s plagiarism tragic and a blow for all Catholics. He is enormously intelligent and even more industrious; it is manifestly the case that he has no need to plagiarize to make a worthy contribution. But he did so, with examples perhaps stretching back as long as 25 years, perhaps even including his scholarly work.


[...]

The Catholic Church in Canada does not have a surfeit of priests like Fr. Tom and we need him, in his own voice. And if that voice is now repentant and seeks mercy, as he should, that, too, can be a lesson at the service of the Gospel. ("If" that voice is truly repentant... .)


[...]

Fr. Tom, as a scholar and linguist, is a master of the word. The plagiarist takes the words of others to make them his own. Fr. Tom has no need to do that anymore; he never did. The preacher offers his own words that others might know the Word. Fr. Tom still has much to offer.

Fr. Raymond, with a characteristic balance that more of us could practice, brings the issue of Fr. Tom Rosica's journalistic misconduct into focus. Fr. Raymond's article is a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to avoid the trap of hypocrisy.

For additional balance, one might read/view:

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