Fr Hunwicke muses on Gerhard, Cardinal Müller's recent statement that "one must not obey an obviously heretical bishop for formal reasons in matters of the deposit of the Faith".
From Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment
I am unwilling to stop referring to the teaching of Cardinal Mueller.
He has recently spoken, for example, about the error of replacing the Cross with the rainbow flag; about how "one must not obey an obviously heretical bishop for formal reasons in matters of the deposit of the Faith. Faith comes above obedience."
"The Holy Father has this obligation and this duty to put in good bishops with intellectual and spiritual competence who are faithful to the doctrine of God, because bishops are the successors of the Apostles. They are not masters, the bosses of our faith, but they are only ministers of Revelation".
The frequent return of His Eminence to these themes suggests strongly to me that, from his vantage point in the Church, he discerns that there is here a locus of depraved praxis. And I have no reason to suppose that his discernment is mistaken.
We must not give an impression that certain sexual themes are over-important, or are the only ethical consideration. They are not. And we should never forget the Christian obligation to accord to all people ... whatever their sexual 'orientations' ... both charity and courtesy.
And, doctrinally, it behoves us to remember that those of us who might categorise ourselves (or be categorised) as 'straight' or 'normal' or 'heterosexual' are equally subject to the Church's teaching; and to the truth that nobody is entitled to use sexuality outside the bonds of lawful matrimony between one male and one female; or in ways that exclude the openness of each genital act to procreation.
If we do so, we are open to the perfectly fair accusation that we are ourselves living a libertarian life-style which we unjustly and illogically attempt to forbid to others.
And ...
... were PF, or any other prelate, to appear to down-play or to undermine the immemorial teaching summarised in Humanæ Vitæ, we would need to recall His Eminence's important teaching (supra) about our strict duty of disobedience towards heretical bishops (popes are bishops).
Perhaps I should iterate the wise and learned suggestions offerred by S John Henry Newman, about the question of a Suspense in the Teaching Office of the Church?
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