Prominent liberal Australian bishop is considering early retirement. If only some other bishops would do the same!

News just in. It seems, according to a report in The Canberra Times (here), that a liberal Australian bishop, Rt Rev Patrick Percival Powers, wants to offer his resignation five years early. The 69-year-old auxiliary bishop of Canberra seems to have become disappointed with the current "reform of the reform" that's sweeping through the Catholic Church. Known for his liberal views - which many would consider "dissenting" - Bishop Powers told his local newspaper that he was "thinking seriously of retirement" because of recent developments in the Church.

In its report, entitled "Hard times: troubled bishop writes to Pope", The Canberra Times reveals that Bishop Pat Powers wrote a formal letter to Pope Benedict XVI in November last year. From the way the article is worded, the auxiliary bishop is considering early retirement because, amongst other things, the Pope has not yet replied to his letter.

It seems that Pat Power's letter highlighted some local concerns, especially referring to the "parlous state of the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, which has remained without a bishop since the resignation of Bishop Chris Toohey almost two years ago." The bishop was disappointed not to have received a reply to his letter, saying ''Normally, when you write a letter, you expect a reply." He also said that his attitude towards the Church was one of disappointment rather than disillusionment.

According to The Canberra Times, Bishop Powers believes "that the Second Vatican Council had given great hope and some wonderful things had happened." The paper went on to say that the bishop "attributes in part the crisis in Australia to undermining of the Church by conservative Catholics reporting to Rome on more liberal developments." According to Bishop Pat, "...we [the Catholic Church] have retreated into fairly narrow positions. I just think it is a shame the potential [after Vatican II] we had to be a source of inspiration within the whole community has been diminished.''

The bishop seemed to blame conservative voices in the Church for the fact that Pope Benedict XVI has not replied to his letter, saying, ''They are amazingly well connected.'' It also appears from the report that Bishop Powers feels that traditional Catholics are akin to "the extreme religious right prominent in the US."

As one traditional and orthodox Catholic - sick to the back teeth of liberal bishops undermining our faith - I can only hope that more men like Pat Powers will consider resigning from the episcopal ministry. Just imagine how the Church in England and Wales would flourish if some of our bishops - a number of whom are more liberal than Bishop Power - decided they couldn't accept Catholicism as it's meant to be!

Men who share in Pat Power's view of the Church, and his dated interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, will soon have to decide whether or not Catholicism really is for them. In doing so, they might finally realise that they were little more than glorified Methodists all along!