Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington. Courtesy photograph. / null
Burlington, Vt., Mar 8, 2022 / 17:08 pm (CNA).
In a letter to parishioners of Holy Family Parish in Springfield, Vermont, Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington announced that their pastor is being removed from his position over his continued refusal to be tested regularly for COVID-19 and to wear a mask while ministering, as the bishop had directed.
The bishop also noted that he has invited Father Peter Williams to reside with him, so they “can pray, dialogue and worship together to hopefully change the bad opinion he has of me as his bishop.”
“After an extensive process and much prayer, it is with great sadness that I announce the decision to remove Father Peter Williams as pastor of Holy Family Parish for his serious disobedience and disrespect shown to the office of the bishop,” Coyne wrote in a Mar. 8 letter to parishioners.
The “disobedience and disrespect” that Coyne is referring to is Williams’ written refusal to wear a mask and be tested regularly for COVID-19, per his unvaccinated status.
“May I point out that this is about the promise Father Williams freely made to respect and obey the bishop and his successors when he was ordained to serve the Church in Vermont as a co-worker with the bishop,” Coyne wrote.
Coyne said that a “great deal of misinformation has been spread” and has caused division within the parish and has impacted Williams’ ability to minister to “all parishioners.”
CNA contacted Williams for a comment but received no response by time of publication.
Mask wearing and COVID-19 testing were required of all clerics of the diocese who chose not to get vaccinated, as was announced in Coyne’s September 2021 letter to clergy.
In a Jan. 5 video, Williams first announced publicly that he had been refusing Coyne’s orders to wear masks and to be tested. He said that, originally, he chose to keep his correspondences with Coyne to himself for the sake of maintaining normalcy in his parish.
But after Williams’ refusal, he said he received a correspondence from Coyne which stated that he had 14 days to comply, or Coyne would suspend him. Then, he said, his own family joined the diocese in trying to prove that he is physically and mentally unhealthy.
He said it “broke his heart” when his family got involved and the pressure became too much of a burden. So, he turned to his parishioners in the video and asked them to write a letter to Coyne on his behalf stating how they thought he was doing as a pastor and how they would evaluate his mental health.
Bishop Coyne told CNA in a Mar. 8 phone call that he received the letters, but said that over the past two years he has received the same amount of letters from people who have left Holy Family parish because Williams “was not vaccinated and refused to wear a mask and did not encourage people to wear masks in the church either.”
CNA asked for comment on Williams’ claim that the diocese and his family were trying to prove he is unhealthy.
Coyne said that conflict between Williams and his family is unrelated to the decision. “The decision is simply based on the fact that a man who freely accepted the promise of respect and obedience to the bishop and his successors was given a direct order, in obedience, to do something. And he said no,” Coyne said.
Coyne called the situation “very sad” for the parish, the diocese, and himself.
In his letter, the bishop wrote that he has appointed Father Henry Furman, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Brattleboro, as administrator of Holy Family parish “until another priest can be assigned on a more permanent basis.”
If Williams does not leave the parish, Coyne said: “I’m certainly not going to escalate the situation. We’ll just let it play out and see where it goes.”
“I’m certainly not one who’s going to begin with retaliation or strong arm tactics or anything like that,” he added. “I’m just praying people make good decisions.”
In Coyne’s letter to parishioners, he said that he invited Williams to stay with him at his residence in St. Joseph Cathedral Parish in Burlington “so that he and I can pray, dialogue and worship together to hopefully change the bad opinion he has of me as his bishop and to strengthen the bond of fraternity that should exist between a bishop and his priest.”
When asked if he thinks Williams will accept, Coyne said he hopes he does because “he’s one of my brother priests and I don’t want to lose a priest. I need every priest we have.”
In his Jan. 5 video, Williams said that he has canonical rights as a pastor to remain in his post and had hired a canon lawyer to help fight the case until Coyne officially removes him through a canonical process.
In a Feb. 22 video Williams argued that Coyne’s demands violate natural law and the dictates of conscience.
Williams also said that the Church condemns the use of coercion, even if that coercion is used to vaccinate people during a pandemic.
Williams said that “it’s undeniable” that at the time he posted his original video, while COVID-19 vaccines were approved under the Food and Drug Administration’s Emergency Use Authorization, that the FDA was acknowledging that the vaccines were experimental.
Williams cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church section 2295 which says that experiments “are morally legitimate when they are at the service of the integral good of the person and of society, without disproportionate risks to the life and physical and psychological integrity of the subjects who must be properly informed and consenting.”
“If ‘informed consent’ doesn’t include the ability to decline a treatment or procedure, then it is not informed consent,” Williams said.
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A defining theme of Pope Francis’ papacy has been his urging of humanity to better care for the natural environment, which he has done most prominently in his landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ and numerous subsequent writings and speeches.
The pope’s emphasis on this topic — especially his foray into climate science via his recent encyclical Laudate Deum — has variously drawn both praise and consternation from Catholics in the United States, about half of whom do not share Pope Francis’ views on climate change, according to surveys.
In Laudate Deum, which was released in October as a continuation to Laudato Si’, Francis wrote that the effects of climate change “are here and increasingly evident,” warning of “immensely grave consequences for everyone” if drastic efforts are not made to reduce emissions. In the face of this, the Holy Father criticized those who “have chosen to deride [the] facts” about climate science, stating bluntly that it is “no longer possible to doubt the human — ‘anthropic’ — origin of climate change.”
The pope in the encyclical laid out his belief that there must be a “necessary transition towards clean energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, and the abandonment of fossil fuels.” This follows a call from Pope Francis in 2021 to the global community calling for the world to “achieve net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.”
He further lamented what he called “certain dismissive and scarcely reasonable opinions [on climate change] that I encounter, even within the Catholic Church.”
In light of the new encyclical — which extensively cites the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — Pope Francis was invited to speak at this week’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP28. Though the 86-year-old pope was forced to cancel his trip due to health issues, the Vatican has indicated that he aims to participate in COP28 this weekend in some fashion. It announced today that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will represent the pope at the conference.
While various Catholic groups have welcomed the pope’s latest encyclical, some Catholics have reacted with persistent doubts, questioning whether the pope’s policy prescriptions would actually produce the desired effects.
How do Americans feel about climate change?
According to a major survey conducted by Yale University, 72% of Americans believed in 2021 — the latest available data year — that “global warming is happening,” and 57% believe that global warming is caused by human activity.
More recent polling from the Pew Research Center, conducted in June, similarly suggests that two-thirds of U.S. adults overall say the country should prioritize developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, over the expansion of the production of oil, coal, and natural gas. That same survey found that just 3 in 10 adults (31%) say the U.S. should completely phase out oil, coal, and natural gas. The Yale study found that 77% of U.S. adults support at least the funding of research into renewable energy sources.
Broken down by party affiliation, Pew found that a large majority of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents — 90% — favor alternative energy sources, while just under half, 42%, of Republicans and Republican-leaning adults think the same. Within the Republican cohort, however, 67% of Republicans under age 30 prioritize the development of alternative energy sources, compared with the 75% of Republicans ages 65 and older who prioritize the expansion of oil, coal, and natural gas.
In terms of the expansion of alternative energy sources, two-thirds of Americans think the federal government should encourage domestic production of wind and solar power, Pew reported. Just 7% say the government should discourage this, while 26% think it should neither encourage nor discourage it.
How do America’s Catholics feel about climate change?
Surveys suggest that Catholics in the United States are slightly more likely than the U.S. population as a whole to be skeptical of climate change, despite the pope’s emphatic words in 2015 and since.
A separate Pew study suggests that 44% of U.S. Catholics say the Earth is warming mostly due to human activity, a view in line with Pope Francis’ stance. About 3 in 10 (29%) said the Earth is warming mostly due to natural patterns, while 13% said they believe there is no solid evidence the planet is getting warmer.
According to the same study, 71% of Hispanic Catholics see climate change as an extremely or very serious problem, compared with 49% of white, non-Hispanic Catholics. (There were not enough Black or Asian Catholics in the 2022 survey to analyze separately, Pew said.)
One 2015 study from Yale did suggest that soon after Laudato Si’ was released, U.S. Catholics were overall more likely to believe in climate change than before. That same study found no change, however, in the number of Americans overall who believe human activity is causing global warming.
Pope Francis’ climate priorities
Beyond his groundbreaking writings, Pope Francis has taken many actions during his pontificate to make his own — admittedly small — country, Vatican City, more sustainable, including the recent announcement of a large order of electric vehicles, construction of its own network of charging stations, a reforestation program, and the continued importation of energy coming exclusively from renewable sources.
Francis has often lamented what he sees as a tepid response from developed countries in implementing measures to curb climate change. In Laudate Deum, he urged that new multinational agreements on climate change — speaking in this case specifically about the COP28 conference — be “drastic, intense, and count on the commitment of all,” stating that “a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.”
The pope lamented what he sees as the fact that when new projects related to green energy are proposed, the potential for economic growth, employment, and human promotion are thought of first rather than moral considerations such as the effects on the world’s poorest.
“It is often heard also that efforts to mitigate climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels and developing cleaner energy sources will lead to a reduction in the number of jobs,” the pope noted.
“What is happening is that millions of people are losing their jobs due to different effects of climate change: rising sea levels, droughts, and other phenomena affecting the planet have left many people adrift. Conversely, the transition to renewable forms of energy, properly managed, as well as efforts to adapt to the damage caused by climate change, are capable of generating countless jobs in different sectors.”
‘Leave God’s creation better than we found it’
Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation think tank, told CNA that he has noticed a theme of frustration and confusion among many Catholics regarding the Holy Father’s emphasis on climate change.
A self-described outdoorsman and former president of Wyoming Catholic College, Roberts spoke highly to CNA of certain aspects of Laudato Si’, particularly the pope’s insights into what he called “human ecology,” which refers to the acceptance of each person’s human body as a vital part of “accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home.”
Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. Courtesy of Heritage Foundation.
“I like to think [Pope Francis] personally wrote that, because I could see him saying that,” Roberts said of the passage, which appears in paragraph 155 of the encyclical. Roberts said he even makes a point to meditate on that “beautiful and moving” passage during a retreat that he does annually.
That portion of Laudato Si’ notwithstanding, Roberts said he strongly believes that it detracts from other important issues, such as direct ministry to the poor, when Pope Francis elevates care for God’s natural creation as “seemingly more important than other issues to us as Catholics.” He also said he disagrees with Pope Francis’ policy prescriptions, such as a complete phasing out of fossil fuels, contained in Laudate Deum.
“We of course want to pray for him. We’re open to the teaching that he is providing. But we also have to remember as Catholics that sometimes popes are wrong. And on this issue, it is a prudential matter. It is not a matter of morality, particularly when he’s getting into the scientific policy recommendations,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the Heritage Foundation’s research and advocacy has focused not on high-level, multinational agreements and conferences to tackle the issues posed by climate change but rather on smaller-scale, more community-based efforts. He said this policy position is, in part, due to the historical deference such multinational conglomerates of nations have given to China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases overall.
He said agreements within the U.S. itself, with businesses and all levels of government working together, have produced the best results so far when it comes to improving the environment. He also pointed to examples of constructive action that don’t involve billions of dollars, such as families making the choice to spend more time outdoors or engaging in local activities that contribute to environmental conservation and community life, such as anti-litter campaigns and community gardening. The overarching goal, he said, should be to “leave God’s creation better than we found it.”
Roberts — who said he personally believes humans likely have “very little effect” on the climate — said he was discouraged to read other portions of Laudato Si’, as well as Laudate Deum, that to him read as though they had come “straight out of the U.N.” Despite his criticisms, Roberts urged his fellow Catholics to continue to pray for the Holy Father and to listen to the pope’s moral insights.
“I just think that the proposed solutions are actually more anti-human and worse than the purported effects of climate change,” he added.
‘A far more complex issue’
Greg Sindelar, a Catholic who serves as CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative think tank that studies the energy industry, similarly expressed concerns to CNA about the potential impact of certain climate change mitigation policies on human flourishing.
Like Roberts, Sindelar spoke highly of certain aspects of the pope’s message while expressing reservations about some of the U.N.-esque solutions proposed in Laudate Deum.
“I think the pope is right about our duty as Catholics to be stewards and to care for the environment. But I think what we have to understand — what we have to balance this with — is that it cannot come at the expense of depriving people of affordable and reliable energy,” Sindelar said in an interview with CNA.
“There’s ways to be environmentally friendly without sacrificing the access that we all need to reliable and affordable energy.”
Greg Sindelar is CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a think tank in America’s leading energy-producing state. Courtesy of Texas Public Policy Foundation
Sindelar said TPPF primarily promotes cheap, reliable access to energy as a means of promoting human flourishing. The free-market-focused group is skeptical of top-down governmental intervention, both in the form of regulation and incentives or disincentives in certain areas of the energy sector.
When asked what he thinks his fellow Catholics largely think about the issue, Sindelar said many of the Catholics he hears from express the view that government policies and interventions rarely produce effective solutions and could potentially hinder access to energy for those in need.
“I think it’s a far more complex issue than just saying we need to cut emissions, and we need to transfer away from fossil fuels, and all these other things. What we need to do is figure out and ensure ways that we are providing affordable and reliable electricity to all citizens of the world,” he reiterated.
“When the pope speaks, when the Vatican speaks, it carries a lot of weight with Catholics around the world, [and] not just with Catholics … and I totally agree with him that we need to be thinking about the most marginalized and the poorest amongst us,” Sindelar continued.
“[But] by going down these policy prescription paths that he’s recommending, we’re actually going to reduce their ability to have access to that,” he asserted.
Sindelar, while disagreeing with Pope Francis’ call for an “abandonment of fossil fuels,” said he appreciates the fact that Pope Francis has spoken out about the issue of care for creation and has initiated so much public discussion.
“I think there is room for differing views and opinions on the right ways to do that,” he said.
Effective mitigation efforts
Susan Varlamoff, a retired biologist and parishioner at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in the Atlanta area, is among those Catholics who are committed to Pope Francis’ call to care for creation and to mitigate the effects of climate change. To that end, Varlamoff in 2016 created a peer-reviewed action plan for the Archdiocese of Atlanta to help Catholics put the principles contained in Laudato Si’ into action, mainly through smaller, more personal actions that people can take to reduce their energy usage.
Retired biologist Susan Varlamoff. Photo courtesy of Susan Varlamoff
The Atlanta Archdiocese’s efforts have since garnered recognition and praise, Varlamoff said, with at least 35 archdioceses now involved in an inter-diocesan network formed to exchange sustainability ideas based on the latest version of the plan from Atlanta.
“It’s fascinating to see what everybody is doing, and it’s basically based on their talents and imaginations,” Varlamoff said, noting that a large number of young people have gotten involved with their efforts.
As a scientist, Varlamoff told CNA it is clear to her that Pope Francis knows what he’s talking about when he lays out the dangers posed by inaction in the face of climate change.
“He understands the science, and he’s deeply concerned … he’s got remarkable influence as a moral leader,” she said.
“Part of what our religion asks us to do is to care for one another. We have to care for creation if we’re going to care for one another, because the earth is our natural resource system, our life support, and we cannot care for one another if we don’t have that life support.”
Responding to criticisms about the financial costs associated with certain green initiatives, Varlamoff noted that small-scale sustainable actions can actually save money. She offered the example of parishes in the Atlanta area that have drastically reduced their electric bills by installing solar panels.
“[But,] it’s not just about saving money. It’s also about reducing fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting the natural resources for future generations,” she said.
Moreover, Varlamoff said, the moral imperative to improve the natural environment for future generations is worth the investment. “When [Catholics] give money, for example, for a social justice issue like Walking with Moms in Need or special needs, the payback is improving lives. We’re improving the environment here,” she emphasized.
Pope Francis confers the ministry of catechist in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 22, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Jan 22, 2023 / 04:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis formally conferred the ministries of lector and catechist upon four men and six women from the Philippines, Mexico, Congo, Italy, and the U.K. on Sunday at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Celebrating the Sunday of the Word of God on Jan. 22, the pope presented Bibles to three new lectors and said: “Receive the book of Holy Scripture and faithfully transmit the Word of God, so that it may germinate and bear fruit in the hearts of men.”
Pope Francis formally confers the ministry of lector upon a woman on Jan. 22, 2023. Vatican Media
The pope then spoke to the future catechists who knelt before him. He handed each one a silver crucifix, saying: “Receive this sign of our faith, seat of the truth and charity of Christ: proclaim him by your life, actions, and word.”
Pope Francis conferred the lay ministries on the Sunday of the Word of God, a day that he declared in 2019 on the 1,600th anniversary of the death of St. Jerome, who famously translated the Bible.
The ministries themselves have also been shaped by Pope Francis in recent years. The pope changed Church law in January 2021 so that women could be formally instituted to the lay ministries of lector and acolyte.
Pope Francis established the ministry of catechist as an instituted, vocational service within the Catholic Church in May 2021.
The ministry is for lay people who have a particular call to serve the Catholic Church as a teacher of the faith. The ministry lasts for the entirety of life, regardless of whether the person is actively carrying out that activity during every part of his or her life.
Pope Francis confers ministry of catechist in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 22, 2023. Vatican Media
In his homily, Pope Francis said that “the Word of God is for everyone.” He underlined that the Word “calls everyone to conversion” and “leads us to direct our lives to the Lord.”
“All of us, even the pastors of the Church, are under the authority of the Word of God. Not under our own tastes, tendencies, and preferences, but under the one Word of God that molds us, converts us, and calls us to be united in the one Church of Christ,” Pope Francis said.
The pope said that the “proclamation of the Word must become the main priority of the ecclesial community, as it was for Jesus.”
“May it not happen that we profess a God with an expansive heart, yet become a Church with a closed heart … may it not be that we preach salvation for all, yet make the way to receive it impractical; may it not be that we recognize that we are called to proclaim the Kingdom, yet neglect the Word, losing ourselves in so many secondary activities or so many secondary discussions,” he said.
More than 5,000 people attended the Mass for the Sunday of the Word of God in St. Peter’s Basilica, according to the Vatican.
The Sunday of the Word of God has been celebrated in the Church each year on the third Sunday of Ordinary Time since 2020.
Mass for the Sunday of the Word of God on Jan. 22, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis said that the Word of God “draws us into the ‘net’ of the Father’s love and makes us apostles moved by an unquenchable desire to bring all those we encounter into the barque of the Kingdom.”
“Today let us also hear the invitation to be fishers of men: let us feel that we are called by Jesus in person to proclaim his Word, to bear witness to it in everyday life, to live it in justice and charity, to “give it flesh” by tenderly caring for those who suffer,” he said.
“This is our mission: to become seekers of the lost, oppressed, and discouraged, not to bring them ourselves, but the consolation of the Word, the disruptive proclamation of God that transforms life, to bring the joy of knowing that He is our Father and addresses each one of us, to bring the beauty of saying, ‘Brother, sister, God has come close to you, listen and you will find in his Word an amazing gift!’”
World on the brink of war, president who wears ashes as he kills babies & we’ve got mitres removing priests for 91-divoc…
Really brave, God save us from the spirit of cowardice…
Williams is absolutely right. The church has been a disgrace overall during this plandemic and abandoned the people in cowardice by bowing and pledging obedience to the state, instead of God. Coyne should be ashamed of himself for going along with the lies and propaganda and scaring the people.
That it has come to this is a shame. Obedience to the Bishop is a church related obedience otherwise a Bishop who says his priests must eat their broccoli or else would be the norm. That’s how silly all this hits me.
The good bishop is simply unaware that there are proofs against certain clericalist superstitions. This is an innocent, yet common, predilection among those who rigidly cling to provably false secular notions. Underneath this scrupulosity is an unprovoked fear of discovering truth and the loss of unity without coercive mandatory obedience.
This faithful prince surely wields threats and intimidation reluctantly against his spiritual sons as any loving father would to an errant son. This fine bishop reflects the brightness of the pilgrim church showing man to himself as the Great Council teaches. He gives assurances that nothing will change.
Here’s a fun fact: that Feb 22 video was about what was going on in the world from the perspective of Catholic teaching. It wasn’t about the Bishop. That project had its roots in the Federal mandates last autumn and was months in the making; it happened to come together around the same time parishioners started asking questions about what the Bishop was doing. Father Williams wasn’t even slated to record it, except that the parish videographer was on a deadline because he was starting a new job, and the family working on the project was isolated with COVID when it was time to record. If the Bishop’s actions so closely reflect the world that he thinks it was about him, that’s unfortunate — but also untrue.
World on the brink of war, president who wears ashes as he kills babies & we’ve got mitres removing priests for 91-divoc…
Really brave, God save us from the spirit of cowardice…
Williams is absolutely right. The church has been a disgrace overall during this plandemic and abandoned the people in cowardice by bowing and pledging obedience to the state, instead of God. Coyne should be ashamed of himself for going along with the lies and propaganda and scaring the people.
That it has come to this is a shame. Obedience to the Bishop is a church related obedience otherwise a Bishop who says his priests must eat their broccoli or else would be the norm. That’s how silly all this hits me.
Really? Wow. how. pathetic. must. you. be. bishop? I hope you are prepared to receive the judgement you just gave.
The good bishop is simply unaware that there are proofs against certain clericalist superstitions. This is an innocent, yet common, predilection among those who rigidly cling to provably false secular notions. Underneath this scrupulosity is an unprovoked fear of discovering truth and the loss of unity without coercive mandatory obedience.
This faithful prince surely wields threats and intimidation reluctantly against his spiritual sons as any loving father would to an errant son. This fine bishop reflects the brightness of the pilgrim church showing man to himself as the Great Council teaches. He gives assurances that nothing will change.
Another “canceled” priest.
Here’s a fun fact: that Feb 22 video was about what was going on in the world from the perspective of Catholic teaching. It wasn’t about the Bishop. That project had its roots in the Federal mandates last autumn and was months in the making; it happened to come together around the same time parishioners started asking questions about what the Bishop was doing. Father Williams wasn’t even slated to record it, except that the parish videographer was on a deadline because he was starting a new job, and the family working on the project was isolated with COVID when it was time to record. If the Bishop’s actions so closely reflect the world that he thinks it was about him, that’s unfortunate — but also untrue.