Here are some facts:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/08/news/pope.php Vatican ousts U.S. editor
By Laurie Goodstein The New York Times
MONDAY, MAY 9, 2005
NEW YORK The Reverend Thomas Reese, an American Jesuit who is a frequent television commentator on Roman Catholic issues, has resigned under orders from the Vatican as editor of the Catholic magazine America because he had published articles critical of church positions, according to several Catholic officials in the United States.
The order was issued by the Vatican's office of doctrinal enforcement, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in mid-March, when that office was still headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. Soon after, Pope John Paul II died and Ratzinger was elected pope and took the name Benedict XVI.
America, a national weekly based in New York City, is a moderate to liberal journal published by the Jesuits, a religious order known for producing the scholars who run many of the church's universities and schools.
The Jesuits prize their independence, but like everyone in the church, even their top official, the Jesuit superior general in Rome, ultimately answers to the pope.
In recent years, America has featured articles representing more than one side on sensitive issues like gay marriage, relations with Islam and whether Catholic politicians who oppose a ban on abortions should be given communion. Church officials said it was the publication of some of these articles that prompted Vatican scrutiny.
Reese, in a statement on Friday, confirmed his departure but gave no indication that he was resigning under orders. "I am proud of what my colleagues and I did with the magazine, and I am grateful to them, our readers and our benefactors for the support they gave me," he said. "I look forward to taking a sabbatical while my provincial and I determine the next phase of my Jesuit ministry."
Stephen Pope, a moral theologian at Boston College who wrote an article for America critical of the church's position on gay marriage, said of the dismissal: "If this is true, it's going to make Catholic theologians who want to ask critical questions not want to publish in Catholic journals. It can have a chilling effect."
Reese, editor for seven years, is a widely regarded political scientist who has written three books that examine the Catholic Church as a political as well as a religious institution, a rather secular approach that was not appreciated in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an official there said in an interview last month.
Jesuit officials said that Reese was informed of his ouster just after he had returned from Rome, where he had been interviewed by nearly every major American television outlet covering the pope's funeral and the conclave that elected Benedict.
He is being replaced by his deputy, the Reverend Drew Christiansen, a Jesuit who writes often on social ethics and international issues, and whom Reese recruited to the magazine in 2002.
Catholic experts said that they were stunned to learn of Reese's dismissal. "I'd think of him as sort of a mainstream liberal," said Philip Lawler, the editor of Catholic World News, a news outlet on the more conservative end of the spectrum. "I think he's been reasonably politic. I watched him during the transition, and I cannot think of a single thing I heard that would have put him in jeopardy."
Gaudior, who is merely copying the article, and wants no fireworks from those who are incensed at the word "liberal", please. :p
