By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Sept. 27, 2024
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org …
Two very curious things happened this week. On Wednesday, the Peruivan bishops’ conference announced that ten members had been expelled from the Sodality of Christian Life (SCV), a lay association that has been the target of Vatican investigations for several years—an action that was taken with the approval of Pope Francis. Almost immediately, the Archdiocese of Denver issued a statement expressing misgivings about the disciplinary action. Some of the men expelled from the SCV had been active in Denver, and the archdiocese unabashedly proclaimed that the Vatican’s action was “inconsistent with our longstanding experience of the men who have served within the Archdiocese of Denver.”
Why is the Vatican authorizing the expulsion of members from a lay association, without charging them with any canonical crime? And why is an American archdiocese questioning actions announced by the Peruvian episcopal conference? Something extraordinary is happening here. …