{"id":1906,"date":"2006-05-19T12:35:56","date_gmt":"2006-05-19T12:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/05\/fr-maciels-penance.html"},"modified":"2006-05-19T12:35:56","modified_gmt":"2006-05-19T12:35:56","slug":"fr-maciels-penance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/05\/fr-maciels-penance.html","title":{"rendered":"Fr. Maciel’s penance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canonist Ed Peters:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Nothing here proves the accusations against Maciel, which <\/span>he has repeatedly denied<\/span><\/a>; nor does it force the conclusion that CDF believes the accusations; in fact, we do not even know whether CDF is using the word "penance" with a sanctions-connotation. As American lawyers would say, there is wiggle-room in the statement, and it is possible that today we see Maciel joining the sad list of holy men and women who, over the centuries, have been vilified by the world and mistreated by ecclesiastical authority.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Rome is not in the habit of publicly telling successful, high-profile Church leaders to go off and spend their lives in private penance. It is possible that CDF examined the Maciel case, found within it evidence of grave misconduct yet, like the farmer who discovered weeds growing amid the wheat (Matt XIII), decided that uprooting the evil now would harm the innocent; if so, it seems, CDF has directed Maciel to especially prepare, trusting in the infinite mercy of Christ, for the day when every deed, and every aspect of every deed, will be made plain to all.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canonist Ed Peters: Nothing here proves the accusations against Maciel, which he has repeatedly denied; nor does it force the conclusion that CDF believes the accusations; in fact, we do not even know whether CDF is using the word "penance" with a sanctions-connotation. As American lawyers would say, there is wiggle-room in the statement, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFr. 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Maciel's penance - Via Media","og_description":"Canonist Ed Peters: Nothing here proves the accusations against Maciel, which he has repeatedly denied; nor does it force the conclusion that CDF believes the accusations; in fact, we do not even know whether CDF is using the word "penance" with a sanctions-connotation. As American lawyers would say, there is wiggle-room in the statement, and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/05\/fr-maciels-penance.html","og_site_name":"Via Media","article_published_time":"2006-05-19T12:35:56+00:00","author":"awelborn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/05\/fr-maciels-penance.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/05\/fr-maciels-penance.html","name":"Fr. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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