ANOTHER ONE WISES UP

Rentapriest blog provides a story about a Swiss Jesuit, Father Lukas Niederberger, who is leaving the priesthood in order to get married.

The gist of the article is that Niederberger’s vocational decision coincided with his growing disaffection with Ratzinger and what Ratzinger represents.

His decision was announced on the same day the pope issued Motu Proprio.

The article continues about Niederberger’s theology—he was a devotee of Hans Kung.

He doesn't see Christianity as a superior religion to others. "I like the image that the Baha'i have of other religions. For them, each religion forms a chapter in a book. And each chapter has its value. Therefore it makes no sense to say that one chapter is better than another. Each one is necessary for the cohesion of the whole book. For me, religious pluralism in the world is part of God's plan. It's His will."

If Father Niederberger is correct about God’s plan for religious pluralism, then the RCC’s aggressive, coercive evangelization of less developed non-European peoples was and remains a horrendous sin.

I love the way Niederberger talks about the "second half" of his life.

"For several years I have been asking myself what I want to do with the second half of my life. But there has been almost no sign of opening in the Catholic Church for the last twenty years," he says. "John Paul II has made it into a monolith that tolerates no diversity. And I don't see any hope of change with the present pope, nor in the future. Progressive Catholics are generally over 65 years old. And the next generation is that of John Paul II. The young priests are very clerical and not at all critical of the hierarchy."

I think one has to repeat the word “vow” only a very few times before it loses meaning and becomes just a sound. Let’s try it: vow vow vow vow vow vow vow…

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