Venice, Fla., Aug 30, 2018 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Jim Towey, president of Ave Maria University, said Wednesday that he unhesitatingly supports Pope Francis, in the wake of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s call for the pope’s resignation.
Archbishop Viganò, the emeritus apostolic nuncio to the US, alleged that Francis ignored sexual misconduct allegations against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick (who resigned from the cardinalate July 28), lifting sanctions on the former Archbishop of Washington which had been imposed by Benedict XVI.
Towey’s Aug. 29 statement “regarding the rift within the Church” characterized Archbishop Viganò’s testimony as part of a “rift between Pope Francis and some conservative members of the Church hierarchy”, the “battle lines” of which were drawn “five years ago shortly after the Pope ascended to the chair of Saint Peter.”
Towey quoted the pope’s 2018 apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate, in which Pope Francis criticized “false prophets, who use religion for their own purposes, to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories. God infinitely transcends us; he is full of surprises.”
Affirming that God is full of surprises, the university president asserted that “the call for the Pope’s resignation by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is not one of them. Neither is the challenge to the Pope’s authority by Raymond Cardinal Burke, an American prelate who has consistently opposed the direction Pope Francis has led the Church on certain matters.”
Towey also speculated that Cardinal Burke “may still be smarting” from his 2014 removal as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.
Towey stated that the timing of the release of Archbishop Viganò’s testimony seemed to be meant “to inflict the maximum damage possible to the Pope’s credibility, and the choreographed chorus of support by others in league with them, was just as troubling.”
“Contrary to the popular narrative, most conservative Catholics are not following suit and embracing their defiance, and certainly not on our campus,” he added.
Towey said Ave Maria University is known “for our unqualified fidelity to the Church”, which he said “we do … not because we are conservative (we are) but because this is the requirement of discipleship. This explains why our students love Pope Francis and support him wholeheartedly.”
Noting that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter, who “bears the anointing of the Holy Spirit”, Towey said that “conservative Catholics may legitimately disagree with Pope Francis’ take on everything from the environment and capitalism, to marriage and family.”
He called such “dissent” healthy “when properly channeled and respectfully communicated.”
“But when Church dissent becomes openly hostile and rebellious, and some members of the hierarchy assert their opinions as if they were elected pope instead of Francis, faithful Catholics like our students will rally to the Supreme Pontiff’s defense,” Towey asserted.
Towey added that “we forgive” Francis, who “has admitted that he failed in his own response to the clergy sex abuse scandal and its cover-up.”
He also said that Francis “wasn’t the only one to be charmed by now-disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick,” saying that “Saints John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta also knew Cardinal McCarrick personally and were deceived by him, too.”
Towey said that “personal attacks against the Vicar of Christ and calls for his resignation are wildly divisive and patently wrong … at a time when the Church is roiled by scandal occasioned by so many within the hierarchy.”
“Those so-called conservative Catholics who now challenge the Holy Father’s legitimate authority and openly undermine his papacy, are betraying their own principles and hurting the Church they profess to love. They should stop now,” Towey maintained.
Among the US bishops, Archbishop Viganò’s testimony has received a mixed response.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago found it “astonishing,” and called for a “thorough vetting of the former nuncio’s many claims…before any assessment of their credibility can be made.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark expressed “shock, sadness and consternation at the wide-ranging array of allegations…which cannot be understood as contributing to the healing of survivors of sexual abuse,” and Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego called the former nuncio’s words a “distortion.”
By contrast, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler said that while Archbishop Viganò’s claims have not been investigated and are “still allegations…as your shepherd I find them to be credible.”
Bishop David Konderla of Tulsa said Archbishop Viganò’s allegations “mark a good place to begin the investigations that must happen in order for us to restore holiness and accountability to the leadership of the Church.”
Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix and Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City both also called for an investigation of Vigano’s claims, and both have affirmed their respect for the former nuncio.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said the former nuncio “served his mission with selfless dedication” and “at great personal sacrifice and with absolutely no consideration given to furthering his ‘career’ – all of which speaks to his integrity and sincere love of the Church.”
“Moreover, while having no privileged information about the Archbishop McCarrick situation, from information I do have about a very few of the other statements Archbishop Viganò makes, I can confirm that they are true. His statements, therefore, must be taken seriously. To dismiss them lightly would continue a culture of denial and obfuscation.”
Towey, who dismissed Archbishop Viganò’s testimony as “personal attacks against the Vicar of Christ,” has served as president of Ave Maria University since 2011.
When he was named president of the university, he told the National Catholic Register that his bishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, “twisted my arm a little bit when I was discerning to take the job.”
Archbishop Viganò wrote in his testimony that Cardinal Wuerl knew of McCarrick’s misdeeds: “I myself brought up the subject with Cardinal Wuerl on several occasions, and I certainly didn’t need to go into detail because it was immediately clear to me that he was fully aware of it.”
Ed McFadden, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Washington, told CNA that Wuerl categorically denies having been informed that McCarrick’s ministry had been restricted by the Vatican.
The bishops on the board of trustees of Ave Maria University are Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice in Florida, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, and Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend.
O’Malley is mentioned by Viganò’s testimony, which said that the cardinal’s “latest statements on the McCarrick case are disconcerting, and have totally obscured his transparency and credibility.”
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It’ll be named a cardinal by F1 in 3,2,1…while the bishop will still be a bishop, but a good one… There are just a few around…
I agree that the St. Michael Prayer should not be forced on people at the end of Mass in a public manner. When I’ve seen this done, it precedes the recessional song and precedes the exit of the clergy, so the prayer is in fact Mass-adjacent and forced upon people in the pews. I also disagree with public praying of the rosary in the nave immediately before or after Mass. Don’t foist your preferred spiritual expressions on others in the nave.
Let the Mass be the Mass. Let people pray in silence before and after Mass.
The practice smacks of superstition, as if we need to add something more to the Mass because Mass isn’t enough.
Why would you say that praying to St. Michael smacks of superstition? What is superstitious about praying to St. Michael?Exorcists are warning that evil is ramping up and that the demonic is increasing all across our country. We need St. Michael now more than ever. And then your comment about praying the Rosary, it sounds like you don’t appreciate the power of the Rosary or how often Our Lady in her apparitions has asked that the Rosary be prayed. As Teresa of Avila once said, “Lord, deliver us from sour-faced saints.”
It’s not an extension of the mass, it’s imploring a saint for help. It’s a short prayer so couldn’t anyone literally hold their breath and then exhale to do their meditation afterwards?
EWTN does it and also begs for laborers; I don’t think it diminishes the mass effect and worship in the least.
So don’t pray them. What could be easier.
Your thought that praying the Rosary and/or the prayer to St. Michael demonstrates a superstitious attempt to add something to the Mass seems to me a kind of spiritual blindness.
Superstition? You need to evaluate your Catholic teaching and knowledge.
When we pray the Rosary before Mass we are meditating on Our Lords life, it prepares us for the celebration of Mass
God bless the good bishop for speaking up in defense of St. Michael’s
prayer. I attend a church where once the Mass is ended and dismissal offered,
the priest and people, myself included, fervently say the prayer. Given the
horrors of contemporary wars, the dishonesty of so many of our institutions,
the tragic loss of innocent lives, the prayer is most appropriate. As Fr.
deSouza wrote in the original column, “evil abounds.” The prayer, which I
well remember as a child, should never have been removed from the liturgy.
The article is unfortunately 1) vague and 2) incorrect in that it states 1) the prayer was used liturgically “until the Vatican II era” and 2) was a “feature of the mass.” As many on here already well know, the so-called Leonine (Leo XIII) prayers were imposed only for low masses (which didn’t even include any procession or singing to be interrupted – to respond to Scott Walker’s comment – and were done by the priest and people, with the priest kneeling on the altar steps, already having ended mass and typically while carrying the sacred vessels in hand. It was a public devotion outside the mass, and included several other prayers, such as the Hail Holy Queen, three Hail Marys, a prayer for the Church, the St. Michael prayer, and ending with three invocations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (therefore ending on a God-centered note). Low masses already ended with the “last gospel” – the first chapter of John, so the issue of “being sent forth” being interrupted makes little sense (yes, I realize the last gospel was suppressed in the revised mass, but still). St. Paul VI suppressed the public Leonine prayers as a required practice in 1964, yes, but it was hardly “banned.” Given the onslaught of evil that is glaringly obviously spreading throughout the world, a quick St. Michael prayer done by the people spontaneously (which is how I usually encounter it) is most welcome. Who could have a problem with that? Snobs? Purists? People who are emotionally allergic to traditional prayers or piety? If the latter, that might be something to take up with a spiritual director.
Yes, everyone is agreed that evil abounds and has been growing all around us for some time. This despite the growth of such devotions as the Rosary and the prayer to St Michael. And there is a Mass said every second of every day somewhere in the world.
How come evil does abound then ?
The evil in the world does not have to become man’s resting place. We are free to develop the alternative, to pray and to act with grace, out of the pit of sin. The Resurrection teaches that. Our first parents, choosing sin instead of paradise, led to us being where we are. The life, death and Resurrection of the Incarnate Word, together with His Church, however, offer us the faith, hope, and love as the alternative to the sinful world.
How do we know that devotional prayer has ‘grown’ over time? The efficacy of prayer relies on the grace of God and the holiness of the prayer.
Imagine the state of evil in the world if there were no Mass and no prayer. I would guess that we hain’t seen nothing yet of the power of evil if we were to stop entreaties to the Power of grace to compensate and to overcome.
Yeah, the St. Michael’s prayer at the end of Mass is the most egregious liturgical abuse today. Give me a break. Clearly the priest has an agenda.
For the priest objecting to the St. Michael prayer, where is his objection to clapping for the cookie ladies and the choir and everyone else at Mass? There are real abuses to be concerned about rather than praying for St. Michael’s guardianship. Get a grip.
the cookie ladies? who said Catholics don’t have a sense of humor; thank you for the chuckle
It reminds me of the lunch ladies 1-8 grades at the Catholic school I attended; good food and they worked for little money but mostly gratitude. We were not allowed to waste food – now food waste is almost a mortal sin in many schools
Fr. Bednar is clearly from the generation of priests who believe Vatican II is the be all and end all of Catholicism. His generation and their fanatical adoption of the “spirit of Vatican II” have literally emptied the pews. The damage done to souls is astronomical. Pray for them; they will have one heck of an accounting to make at their judgment.
The St Michael prayer was written by a holy Pope who warned of Freemasonry seeking to destroy the Church.
The St Michael prayer was cancel-cultured once the Freemasonic destruction of the church was underway 1962-2024.
I read the article in the Wall Street Journal. I did not think it deserved a response.
Now we see these debates over the liturgy.
I was an usher in a Catholic Church in the 1960’s. We agreed if we encountered a serious threat, we would defer to our usher was a police officer.
Fast forward to 2024.
We now live, or die, with gun violence.
St. Micheal is the Patron Saint of Police Officers. The “TOP COP”.
We can use St. Michael and local Police Officers to protect us from gun violence at religious events.
When I was growing up in the 70’s I don’t remember our church being locked, maybe it was at night.
Mr Schmiedeler:
I hope you meant criminal violence in your comment above. A gun is a tool, with no mind or will of its own. It’s a tool that is often unfortunately used for evil and violent acts against mankind, but it’s a tool nonetheless. There is literally is no such thing as gun violence. That terminology is a fabricated lie created by liberals and the mainstream media to distract from the real problem of criminal violence which is stemming from drugs, human trafficking/exploitation,
gangs, (coming across our wide-open southern border) and our increasingly Godless society. If there were such a thing, we’d have to build prisons and for pistols, rifles and shotguns.
I believe that ushers and sacristans should be trained and armed in the event of a violent act by some crazy criminal during Mass, especially if a bishop is present.
Fr.Bednar is a bit suspect.Why should he object to a prayer that has been in the church for so many years.What is his agenda??!! His background should be looked into….
Fr. Bednar comes with a lot of backstory baggage. Currently a retired priest in residence at a parish in Cleveland, he once penned a book lauding Jesuit theologian William Lynch. If I understand correctly, Lynch believed, controverting scholastic and Church teaching on faith and on imagination, that imagination somehow analogically is akin to faith. America has republished a 1943 Lynch article at http://www.americamagazine.org/voices/william-lynch. Commonweal also has an article lauding Lynch. A synopsis of Bednar’s book can be read at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Faith-as-Imagination-The-Contribut-Bednar-Gerald.
Long and short, Fr. Bednar is likely near his life’s end, after a probable lifetime of having seen modernist dreams of his church wafting away as his own lifeblood waned. Then someone offered him the WSJ venue as a means of renewing an aged and infirm man so blood running cold could flow more freely on imagined faith.
Bednar, Lynch, and the ilk of the faith of such fellows speaks against Church practices which arose long before them and VCII. The praying of this prayer will survive long after our day.
Neither Lynch, Bednar nor any progressive modernist can cite evidence against its efficacy on anything other than imaginary grounds.
See the ancient history, beauty, and validity of the St. Michael Prayer at catholiceducation.org/en/culture/the-prayer-to-st-michael.html
The prayer is ***NOT PART OF THE MASS***. ANY PERSON SUBJECTED TO IT against his will AFTER MASS HAS ENDED IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH IS FREE TO VISIT THE REST ROOM, PLUG IN EARPHONES, OR EXIT THE CHURCH, AND GOOD RIDDANCE.
Good and victorious St. Michael the Archangel, as guardian of nations, we thank you for your protection. We praise and thank God for you.