UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
About the let’s-pretend game-playing that seems to be working with ever diminishing effectiveness for the Catholic magisterium and those who defend it (I have been talking about that a bit today, haven’t I?):
It now comes out that Legionary of Christ priest and professor of moral theology Fr. Thomas Williams, a darling of the right-wing Catholic talk-show circuit who was the go-to man for the right-wing Catholic media during the conclave that elected the current pope, has fathered a child with a woman he doesn’t name, after he was ordained a priest. This information, which Williams has substantiated, appears in a report that a former Legionary priest in Chile, who is now active in a group called Association of Aid for Victims of the Legion of Christ, has sent to senior Vatican officials.
National Catholic Reporter has received a copy of the report, and at this journal’s website, John Allen indicates that the report further states that Williams has had sexual relationships with students at the Legionary university in Rome, Regina Apostolorum, and with “the daughter of a prominent American Catholic personality.” Williams denies the former charge and as to the second, says he will not comment on particulars regarding specific individuals.
And when I read this breaking news, I could not help thinking–God save me–of this interview with Williams that Kathryn Jean Lopez published earlier this month in National Review Online, in which he defends the Catholic magisterial teaching about contraception as follows:
Concerning birth control, the Church has continuously taught that recourse to contraception is immoral and that responsible parenthood should be lived out through natural family planning, which is extraordinarily effective and respectful of God’s plan for sex within marriage. She believes that contraception is damaging to the relationship of husband and wife and ultimately unworthy of their love for one another. But the Church has no police force. She does not chase down and punish Catholics who fail to live up to her teachings. She appeals only to conscience, and has no power of persuasion other than the force of her teaching in the name of Jesus.
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