Rosica has now apologized. And it is inevitable that he will face professional consequences
National Post
Special to National Post
By Mathew Block
Allegations that Fr. Thomas Rosica has engaged in serial plagiarism for more than a decade come as a shock.
The Canadian priest is the CEO of Salt and Light, a Catholic media outlet based in Toronto, a widely published writer and a former university president who currently sits on the boards of several institutions of higher learning. He is also known worldwide as the man who interprets the Vatican for the English-speaking media. In a 2015 profile, The Globe and Mail described him as one of Rome’s “most effective communications gurus.”
The first allegation appeared on Feb. 15, when Dorothy Cummings McLean published a news story for LifeSiteNews, a conservative Catholic media site, suggesting Rosica had plagiarized several sources in a speech at Cambridge University earlier this month.
That story led others — myself included — to examine some of Rosica’s other writing more carefully. Matthew Schmitz, senior editor of prominent religion journal First Things, took to Twitter to identify several blog posts and a speech that showed evidence of extensive plagiarism. In one case, 12 paragraphs had been lifted from the National Catholic Register.
“Really, the plagiarism by (Rosica) appears to be endless,” Schmitz tweeted. “I can’t recall seeing a more extreme case.”
While I don’t know Rosica personally, I’ve always appreciated the work he has done helping the public at large to better understand Catholic teachings and news
I turned my attention to the Canadian press, examining a sample of commentary pieces Rosica had written for newspapers — including the National Post — between 2003 and 2016. I was distressed to find clear indications of extensive plagiarism, the most recent a piece in The Globe and Mail from March 18, 2016. It includes, without credit, a summary of Pope Francis’s teachings on mercy by Michiko Kakutani from The New York Times.
Kakutani had written: “Mercy is essential because all men are sinners, in need of God’s forgiveness and grace, and it’s especially necessary today, at a time when ‘humanity is wounded,’ suffering from ‘the many slaveries of the third millennium’ — not just war and poverty and social exclusion, but also fatalism, hardheartedness and self-righteousness.”
Rosica changes the word “men” to “people” and repeats the rest verbatim. In the same article, he also repeats, without credit, sections of text from a 2014 Washington Post article by E.J. Dionne Jr.
In a 2013 piece for The Windsor Star, Rosica not only borrows extensively from other reporters but removes quotation marks from a sentence attributed to Pope Francis — giving the impression that the words are his own.
Rosica has now apologized. And it is inevitable that he will face professional consequences.
I can’t recall seeing a more extreme case
On Feb. 19, when the extent of the plagiarism was still coming to light, the USMC expressed its concern. “We are troubled to hear of the allegations against Fr. Thomas Rosica,” they said in a statement to LifeSiteNews. “The University of St. Michael’s College holds its students and its academic community to the highest standards of accountability and academic integrity.”
It is difficult to imagine how he will be able to continue serving with any educational institution now that he has acknowledged the accuracy of these reports of plagiarism.
Honestly, I wish none of the allegations were true. The Christian media community in Canada is rather small, and while I don’t know Rosica personally, I’ve always appreciated the work he has done helping the public at large to better understand Catholic teachings and news. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak several years ago at a Canadian Church Press conference, and I enjoyed what he had to say. He seems to be a very intelligent, very winsome communicator.
But that’s also why the revelation of his extensive and repeated plagiarism is so disheartening. Whether we know him or not, many of us in Canada’s Christian media have long considered him an example of how to do Christian communications well. That confidence is now broken.
As a Christian, Rosica would know that plagiarism — passing off another person’s words and work as our own — is a sin. I am grateful that he has made public acknowledgement of that sin. And I pray that through repentance he will find comfort in the mercy and love of Jesus Christ, even as he must now deal with the earthly consequences of his actions. May God give him strength for this difficult task.
Mathew Block (@mathewablock) is editor of The Canadian Lutheran magazine and communications manager for the International Lutheran Council.
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‘It’s wrong’: Vatican media advisor admits to ‘cut and paste’ plagiarism for over a decade
Rosica said he lost track of attributions, and relied on material prepared by interns. He failed to check his sources, or to acknowledge them
National Post
February 22, 2019
7:44 PM EST
It was after midnight at the Vatican when Father Thomas Rosica called back. He had a lot going on.
As the Vatican’s long serving senior English-language spokesperson, he was at the landmark papal summit on youth protection, working 18-hour days conveying the church’s message to the world, through the media. This feverish pace is typical of the high-powered circles in which Rosica operates as a major figure in Catholic education and public life in Canada, as former head of Toronto’s 2002 World Youth Day, board member at the University of Toronto’s Catholic college, and chief executive of the television channel Salt and Light. Most recently, he guided communications for St. Michael’s College School in its locker room hazing abuse scandal.
But now Father Rosica had a problem of his own.
For years, he has been plagiarizing in his columns and essays, using words previously published by other authors without credit. Now it was coming out, and although he had quietly told his superior at the Basilian order he had an explanation, it had not quieted the storm.
“What I’ve done is wrong, and I am sorry about that. I don’t know how else to say it,” he said in a phone interview from Rome.
The plagiarized material comes from sources as diverse as Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times’ former book critic; Wikipedia; veteran Vatican correspondent John L. Allen, Jr.; Associated Press news stories; and religious blogs. Rosica even once had a column in the Windsor Star that included a sentence from Pope Francis presented as Rosica’s own words, in a passage copied from the National Catholic Reporter, but lacking the original quotation marks.
What I’ve done is wrong, and I am sorry about that. I don’t know how else to say it
Rosica said he lost track of attributions, and relied on material prepared by interns. He failed to check his sources, or to acknowledge them. People send him quotes and articles all the time, he said, and under the pressure of urgent media deadlines for op-eds on religious affairs, they get mixed up in his notes.
“I realize I relied too much on compiled notes,” he said.
He added that he often has many articles open on his computer at one time, and makes notes by copying work between files, but he said he has not maliciously stolen others’ work as his own.
“It could have been cut and paste,” he said. “I realize the seriousness of this and I regret this very much … I will be very vigilant in future.”
Other people’s words have appeared as Father Rosica’s own on the Salt and Light website, in The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Sun and the Windsor Star, among others. This was first revealed in investigations by Dorothy Cummings McLean of LifeSiteNews, and Mathew Block, editor of The Canadian Lutheran magazine. The National Post found additional examples, simply by searching distinctive phrases.
So now, at a moment of crisis in Catholic reconciliation over child sexual abuse, the Vatican’s message guy was spiraling into a public moral crisis of his own.
A request for comment from the office of Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, was not answered by press time.
Examples of unattributed copy appear in both Catholic and lay media, and in many cases would have been professionally edited. Many are descriptions of basic facts or background context, sometimes several sentences long. In a 2011 article on the National Post website about Pope John Paul II, a basic description of canon law on beatification, the process leading to sainthood, is the same as in an article that appeared a couple of weeks earlier in the Catholic News Service.
John Thavis, former Rome bureau chief for the Catholic News Service, contacted the National Post to say that his articles are among those that had been partly copied, and that Rosica and Salt and Light were subscribers and therefore “free to use the material we provided.”
In The Globe and Mail in 2016, a paragraph that summarizes Pope Francis’s thoughts on mercy is identical to a passage from two months earlier in a review of a book by the pope by Kakutani, one of America’s best-known literary critics.
A 2008 column in the Toronto Sun about martyrdom takes two full paragraphs on Islamic history from an Associated Press report by Brian Murphy, a longtime foreign correspondent, now with The Washington Post, who did not immediate reply to a request for comment. The column also reworks a comment about martyrdom by Andrea Riccardi, an Italian church leader and now cabinet minister, into Rosica’s own observation.
It’s ironic that someone who stands accused of this is part of the pope’s media team
Rosica said he instructed staff to remove his essay The Ignatian Qualities of the Petrine Ministry of Pope Francis, from the Salt and Light website when he learned of the complaints this week. That essay includes an entire paragraph from Wikipedia about Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order of which Pope Francis is a member. It also takes a sentence from David Gibson, then of the National Catholic Reporter, now director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, who did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Several other examples of identical text remain freely available online.
“Plagiarism is a very serious concern to us, and Postmedia will be reviewing all of the pieces that Fr. Rosica has contributed to various papers in our chain,” says Lucinda Chodan, Vice-President Editorial, Postmedia.
Editor-in-chief David Walmsley said The Globe and Mail will also review everything Rosica has ever written for them.
“It is wrong what happened,” Rosica said. I take full responsibility for this happening. I regret it. I’m glad someone brought it to my attention. I will be much more vigilant in anything that goes out under my name, or that goes out from me. It’s wrong.”
He acknowledged that for a journalist, academic or professional to do this is dishonest.
We don’t have a precedent for this.As an academic order, we would obviously take that very seriously
“I’m going to apologize, first of all to the collegium (the governing body of the University of St. Michael’s College). I will apologize that this came to light, and it’s wrong, and it’s not going to happen again.”
Rev. Donald McLeod, chair of the collegium, issued a statement: “Over the course of his career, Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, has served the Collegium and the general community of the University of St. Michael’s College with distinction. We acknowledge the gravity of the developing situation, and intend to address the matter internally going forward.”
CSB refers to the Basilian order of priests, which is a major force in Catholic education in Toronto, at both the high school and university level.
Father Kevin Storey, CSB Superior General, said he did not immediately know what the official response ought to be. He suggested the price Rosica could end up paying is in credibility and invitations to participate as much as he has in public life.
“We don’t have a precedent for this,” Storey said. “As an academic order, we would obviously take that very seriously.”
Neil MacCarthy, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Toronto, said plagiarism in general is a serious allegation and he expected to hear more from Rosica.
“The variety and the volume is serious,” said David Mulroney, the former ambassador and former president of the University of St. Michael’s College. He volunteered that he had bureaucratic conflicts with Rosica while he was there, but acknowledged Rosica is “brilliant” and a “giant” in Canadian Catholicism. He also said longstanding confusion about board governance and the role of Basilians in particular has been an issue for the school that he raised when he was president.
“It’s ironic that someone who stands accused of this is part of the pope’s media team,” Mulroney said. “He owes it to his various constituencies — journalist, educator, pastor — to come forward and explain what has happened.”
The whole episode is “mystifying,” Mulroney said. “He could write these things on his own.”
• Email: jbrean@nationalpost.com |
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University ‘troubled to hear’ of plagiarism allegations against board member Fr. Rosica
Tue Feb 19, 2019 – 3:28 pm EST
TORONTO, February 19, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — The University of St. Michael’s College has responded to charges that Fr. Thomas Rosica, a Basilian Father, has committed multiple acts of plagiarism.
Rosica is on the Collegium, one of the governing bodies, of the Toronto Catholic college. The University of St. Michael’s College (USMC) is affiliated with the University of Toronto and run by the Congregation of St. Basil.
Martyn Jones, a spokesman for the USMC, told LifeSiteNews, “We are troubled to hear of the allegations against Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB. The University of St. Michael’s College holds its students and its academic community to the highest standards of accountability and academic integrity, and as a federated university in the University of Toronto, we follow the U of T’s Office of Student Academic Integrity and its Code of Behavior on Academic Matters.”
Yesterday a former President of USMC, David Mulroney, responded to a tweet by First Things editor Matthew Schmitz about the Rosica scandal.
Reflecting on Rosica’s honorary doctorates and his participation in the governance of USMC, Assumption University in Windsor, and St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, Schmitz tweeted, “If someone who holds so many honors from, and so many positions of responsibility at, Catholic institutions suffers no consequences for extensive plagiarism, observers could reasonably question the quality and integrity of Catholic academia.”
In response, Mulroney tweeted that this was a valid criticism.
“This is an important point,” he wrote. “Failure to investigate suggests that major Catholic universities in Canada value ideological compatibility over academic rigor.”
LifeSite revealed last week that Father Thomas Rosica, a prominent media consultant for the Vatican and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and long-time CEO of Canada’s Salt + Light Television organization, had plagiarised portions of a speech he gave at the Von Hügel Institute at Cambridge University. The Von Hügel Institute’s video of the lecture has now been removed from YouTube.
Since then, journalists and other members of the public have found and published on Twitter several new incidences of plagiarism found in Rosica’s published writing.
Mathew Adam Block, editor of the Canadian Lutheran magazine, discovered that Father Rosica had passed off as his own the words of veteran reporters John Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter, Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press, and Cindy Wooden of the Catholic News Service in an article he wrote for Canadian daily The Globe and Mail in 2006.
The Canadian Lutheran editor also found out that Rosica had reproduced parts of a 2006 Catholic News Agency (CNA) article by Jim Thavis in a 2013 article the Salt + Light chief wrote for the Globe and Mail.
Block also discovered an article Rosica wrote for the Globe and Mailin 2016 years later, in which certain sentences are taken from Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times and E.J. Dionne Jr of the Washington Post.
He also disclosed that Rosica had, on the occasion of the beatification of Pope John Paul II in 2011, plagiarized from a week-old article by Cindy Wooden and a 2005 Der Spiegel interview with Rüdiger Safranski.
Block has, by press time today, also found reproductions of the work of Archbishop Bustros, Bishop Robert McElroy, and Father Thomas Reese of America magazine in Rosica’s newspaper journalism. He also found a review of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ in which Rosica had copied sentences by from then-Father, now Archbishop Augustine Di Noia and historian Elizabeth Lev.
“And yet, despite all this, there hasn’t been a public word about the crisis from Fr. Thomas Rosica,” Block tweeted.
“I pray that he will publicly acknowledge his sin and repent that he may receive Christ’s mercy. May God give him strength for this difficult task.”
Today Caroline Farrow, a well-known English Catholic apologist, told LifeSiteNews, via social media, that Rosica had reproduced a section of Cardinal Baldisseri’s speech to British Parliamentarians in 2014 in a 2015 article he wrote for the UK’s Catholic Herald. Farrow later tweeted this information and her discovery that Rosica reproduced part of a 2013 America article by Drew Christiansen, S.J. in an article he wrote for his Salt + Light blog in 2018.
Farrow was astonished at the amount of evidence weighing up that Fr. Rosica has been plagiarizing undetected for years. It reminded her of a disgraced Swiss writer whose journalistic malfeasance made headlines in 2011.
“He’s the Vatican’s Johan Hari,” Farrow told LifeSiteNews.
LifeSiteNews has reached out to the Superior General of the Congregation of Saint Basil, Assumption University in Windsor, Ontario, St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, the Von Hugel Institute and St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University, but has not yet received responses from these Catholic institutions.
See side-by-side comparisons, courtesy of Mathew Adam Block:
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In heavily-plagiarized speech, Vatican spokesman accuses Archbishop Viganò of ‘lies’
LifeSite News
Fri Feb 15, 2019 – 5:09 pm EST
Feb. 19, 2019 update: Fr. Rosica’s Feb. 8 lecture at Cambridge University has been removed from Youtube. A message when attempting to watch the video now states: “This video is unavailable.” LifeSiteNews downloaded the original video before it was deleted. A shortened version of this video is now included in this story.
CAMBRIDGE, England, February 15, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A Vatican consultant and frequent English-language spokesman for the Vatican accused Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò of “lies” in a lecture in which he passed off other writers’ words as his own.
At a February 8 lecture at Cambridge University, Fr. Thomas Rosica, executive director of Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, suggested Archbishop Viganò was a liar. Rosica described the Vatican whistle-blowers’ witness as a “diabolical masterpiece.”
Authors whom Fr. Rosica plagiarized in that speech – often word-for-word and at significant length – include Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, Gregory K. Hillis, Fr. Thomas Reese, Cardinal Walter Kasper, and Fr. James Martin.
(View a comparison of Fr. Rosica’s original speech with the plagiarized passages. Click here. Or see table at bottom.)
Fr. Rosica’s biography on the Salt and Light website says he holds “advanced degrees in Theology and Sacred Scripture from Regis College in the Toronto School of Theology [1985], the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome [1991] and the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem [1994].” From 2011-2015, he served as President of Assumption University in Windsor, Ontario.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_3jLIAoM9g#action=share
He holds honorary doctorates from Gannon University, Niagara University, St. Mark’s College at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and Toronto’s Regis College.
In his 2018 testimony, Archbishop Viganò revealed that disgraced Archbishop Theodore McCarrick had been protected by high-ranking Church authorities, including Pope Francis himself.
Describing the current events in the Church as a “perfect storm”, Rosica said:
Some of you in the room may be too young to remember a book and related movie entitled The Perfect Storm –an expression … which describes when several weather patterns meet at the same time, clash and produce violent and horrible damage. The Catholic Church that we love and strive to serve is in the midst … of a perfect, diabolical storm. Not just the Church in Great Britain, the USA, but also around the globe: Chile, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and God alone knows how many more countries to come!
The appalling, shameful life of a Cardinal of the Church, the shocking 900-page plus report of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury that related unspeakable depravities of priests against young and vulnerable persons; a former Vatican Nuncio’s vicious accusations against the Church’s highest authorities that is nothing but a full-frontal attack of half-truths and lies against the Vicar of Christ and Successor of Peter.
“A series that has been rightfully called a ‘diabolical masterpiece’ of Archbishop Viganò,” he added to the prepared speech in his recorded presentation.
Bishop Robert Barron had originally used the phrase “diabolical masterpiece” last summer to describe the clerical sexual abuse scandal, not Archbishop Viganò’s testimony. The phrase was subsequently picked up by Cardinal Edwin O’Brien. In his speech, Rosica reproduced – with some adjustments – a section of the Cardinal’s September 8, 2018 letter to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher about “the perfect storm” without attribution.
Cardinal O’Brien’s original passage read:
Many of you recall the book and movie The Perfect Storm – when several weather patterns meet at once – they clash and create terrible damage.
Our Catholic Church is in the midst of a perfect storm – a perfect demonic storm: Chile, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States – and how many more to come?! The revolting, profoundly shameful double life of a Cardinal of the Church. The almost pornographic 900-page report of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury –unspeakable depravities of priests against the young and vulnerable. A former Vatican Nuncio’s accusations against the Church’s highest authorities.
It has been called ‘A DIABOLICAL MASTERPIECE’!
Cardinal O’Brien was mentioned in Archbishop Viganó’s testimony as a member of a “homosexual current” in the Roman Catholic Church. The harsh language in Rosica’s speech about he “former Vatican Nuncio,” however, seems to be Rosica’s own addition.
Near the beginning of his lecture, Father Rosica reproduced a passage – word for word – from an essay by Gregory K. Hillis, a professor of Theology at Bellarmine University, without attribution. The passage, originally published by Hillis on 16 March 2016, read:
While the Church can offer a broad theological vision that focuses on the interconnectedness of all things, it cannot pretend to have all the answers to specific concrete questions. In these circumstances, ‘honest debate’ must be encouraged that respects divergent views. This means that the church itself should be included in the dialogue, but it also means that voices currently not in the debate need to be included.
Rosica also borrowed extensively, without attribution and usually word-for-word, from an essay by Fr Thomas Reese published in the National Catholic Register in 2017. He also mined Cardinal Walter Kasper’s work, again without attribution, and slightly adapted paragraphs from an article by Fr. James Martin, S.J. titled “The Witch Hunt for Gay Priests.” Once again, Rosica failed to give credit to the author.
(View a comparison of Fr. Rosica’s original speech with the plagiarized passages. Click here.)
LifeSiteNews reached out to Fr. Rosica via Salt+Light TV for comment but did not receive a response.
Professor John Rist, who was present at the talk, told LifeSiteNews via email that Rosica’s lecture was “a very rhetorical affair” and that he challenged the priest’s ecclesiology in the subsequent question session.
“You have spoken much of unity and dialogue within the Church while also directing slanderous comments at Archbishop Viganò,” Rist recalled saying to Rosica.
Rist then quoted Father Rosica’s notorious remark regarding his belief that, with Pope Francis as its earthly head, the Catholic Church is now “openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”
Rosica defended himself by saying that the passage was taken out of context, the scholar recalled.
The professor then asked Rosica if Pope Francis himself were not responsible for the “now near total rift” among Catholics.
“If your description of the state of the Church is accurate, must one not conclude that the present pope, so far from carrying out his primary duty of unifying believers, has more than any other single individual contributed to the now near total rift between liberal and traditional Catholics which is putting the faith of thousands of Catholics at risk?” Rist said he asked.
In response, Rosica said only that the distinction between “liberal” and “traditional” did not go back to the time of Jesus, Rist told LifeSiteNews.
Rosica was the guest of the Von Hügel Institute at St Edmund’s College in Cambridge University. His gave his lecture, “Catholicity: Crises and Opportunities,” to an audience of about 30 people.
Father Rosica is known for speaking harshly of orthodox Catholics, whom he accused years ago of forming a “Catholic Taliban.” He roughly admonished Catholic pro-lifers in print when they objected to the ostentatious funeral given for pro-abortion Senator Ted Kennedy by Boston’s Catholic hierarchy.
Rosica is also known for his pro-homosexual sympathies. He has defended LGBT activist Fr. James Martin, rejected the Catechism’s description of the homosexual inclination as “objectively disordered,” and said the phrase “intrinsically disordered” is “harsh.” Rosica was a longtime admirer of the late Gregory Baum, a homosexual dissident former priest whom he interviewed on Salt and Light in 2012.
The advertisement for the Von Hügel lecture described Rosica as a “renown[ed] author, speaker, commentator and lecturer in Sacred Scripture at Canadian Universities” as well as “the Vatican’s English language media attaché at the last five Synods of Bishops as well as assistant to the Director of the Holy See Press Office during the Papal Transition of 2013.”
If you have any more information on this story, please contact Dorothy Cummings McLean at dmclean@lifesitenews.com.
A side-by-side comparison of Fr. Rosica’s original speech with the plagiarized passages. View this table as a PDF here
| Fr. Thomas Rosica
While the Church can offer a broad theological vision that focuses on the interconnectedness of all things, it cannot pretend to have all the answers to specific concrete questions. In these circumstances, “honest debate” must be encouraged that respects divergent views. This means that the church itself should be included in the dialogue, but it also means that voices currently not in the debate need to be included. |
Gregory K. Hillis
While the Church can offer a broad theological vision that focuses on the interconnectedness of all things, it cannot pretend to have all the answers to specific concrete questions. In these circumstances, ‘honest debate’ must be encouraged that respects divergent views. This means that the church itself should be included in the dialogue, but it also means that voices currently not in the debate need to be included. |
|---|---|
| Fr. Thomas Rosica
[E]cumenism is not just about theological dialogue over matters of doctrine. There is also the ecumenism of friendship, prayer and social action. Ecumenical friendship at work and in neighborhoods and among families has taken us way beyond the uncomfortable tolerance of the past. … the ecumenism of social action as members of different churches work together to change the world. |
Fr. Thomas Reese
Ecumenism is not just about theological dialogue over matters of doctrine. There is also the ecumenism of friendship, prayer and social action. Ecumenical friendship at work and in neighborhoods and among families has taken us way beyond the uncomfortable tolerance of the past. … The ecumenism of social action has also progressed significantly as members of different churches work together to change the world. |
| Fr. Thomas Rosica
The crisis of the ecumenical movement is paradoxically the result of its success. Ecumenism for many became obvious. But the closer we come to one another, the more painful is the perception that we are not yet in full communion. We are very impatient. We are hurt by what still separates us and hinders us from joining around the table of the Lord; we are increasingly dissatisfied with the ecumenical status quo; in this atmosphere, ecumenical frustration and sometimes even opposition develops. Paradoxically it is ecumenical progress that is also the cause for the ecumenical malaise! … The results of ecumenical progress have not yet penetrated into the hearts and into the flesh of our Catholic community and of other churches as well. Ecumenical theology is not present as an inner dimension in many theological programs and ministerial formation. |
Cardinal Walter Kasper
… the crisis of the ecumenical movement is paradoxically the result of its success. Ecumenism for many became obvious. But the closer we come to one another, the more painful is the perception that we are not yet in full communion. We are hurt by what still separates us and hinders us from joining around the table of the Lord; we are increasingly dissatisfied with the ecumenical status quo; in this atmosphere, ecumenical frustration and sometimes even opposition develops. Paradoxically it is the same ecumenical progress that is also the cause for the ecumenical malaise. … The results of ecumenical progress have not yet penetrated into the hearts and into the flesh of our church and of the other churches as well. Ecumenical theology is not present as an inner dimension in theological programmes. |
| Fr. Thomas Rosica
after the first rather euphoric phase of the ecumenical movement that followed the Second Vatican Council, the last decades have seen us experiencing signs of tiredness, disillusionment and stagnation. Some speak even of a crisis, and many Christians no longer understand the differences on which the churches are arguing with each other. Others hold that ecumenism is outmoded and that interreligious dialogue is now the only agenda du jour. Let us be very clear about such discussions: there is a difference but not a competition between the two dialogues, for ultimately to be effective, interreligious dialogue presupposes that Christians can speak one and the same language. The necessity of interreligious dialogue makes ecumenical dialogue even more urgent. … crisis? How do we,overcome the current problems? What are these problems? … outside the Catholic Church, which, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling towards Catholic unity. The concept “elementa” or “vestigia” comes from Calvin. Obviously, the Council – unlike Calvin – understands the elementa not as sad remains but as dynamic reality, and it says expressly that the Spirit of God uses these elementa as means of salvation for non-Catholic Christians. Both the Council and the ecumenical decree acknowledge explicitly that the Holy Spirit is at work in the other churches in which they even discover examples of holiness leading to martyrdom. … and the Decree on Ecumenism state expressly that the Church is a pilgrim Church, an ecclesia “semper purificanda”, which must constantly take the way of penance and renewal. … Ecumenism is not possible without conversion and renewal. Ecumenism therefore is no one-way street, but a reciprocal learning process, or – as stated in |
Cardinal Walter Kasper
after the first rather euphoric phase of the ecumenical movement which followed the Second Vatican Council, the last decade has seen us experiencing signs of tiredness, disillusionment and stagnation. Some speak even of a crisis, and many Christians no longer understand the differences on which the Churches are arguing with each other. Others hold that ecumenism is outmoded and that interreligious dialogue now represents the new agenda. In my opinion, there is a difference but not a competition between the two dialogues, for ultimately to be effective interreligious dialogue presupposes that Christians can speak one and the same language. Indeed, the necessity of interreligious dialogue makes ecumenical dialogue even more urgent. … Why this crisis? How do we overcome the current problems? What are these problems? … outside the Catholic Church, which, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling towards Catholic unity.[7] The concept “elementa” or “vestigia” comes from Calvin.[8] Obviously, the Council – unlike Calvin – understands the elementa not as sad remains but as dynamic reality, and it says expressly that the Spirit of God uses these elementa as means of salvation for non-Catholic Christians.[9] Consequently, there is no idea of an arrogant claim to a monopoly on salvation. On the contrary, both the Council and the ecumenical Encyclical acknowledge explicitly that the Holy Spirit is at work in the other Churches in which they even discover examples of holiness up to martyrdom.[10] … and the Decree on Ecumenism state expressly that the Church is a pilgrim Church, an ecclesia “semper purificanda”, which must constantly take the way of penance and renewal.[14] … Ecumenism is not possible without conversion and renewal.[16] … ecumenism is no one-way street, but a reciprocal learning process, or – as stated in |
| Fr. Thomas Rosica
Some of you in the room may be too young to remember a book and related movie entitled The Perfect Storm –an expression … which describes when several weather patterns meet at the same time, clash and produce violent and horrible damage. The Catholic Church that we love and strive to serve is in the midst … of a perfect, diabolical storm. Not just the Church in Great Britain, the USA, but also around the globe: Chile, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and God alone knows how many more countries to come! The appalling, shameful life of a Cardinal of the Church, the shocking 900-page plus report of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury that related unspeakable depravities of priests against young and vulnerable persons; a former Vatican Nuncio’s vicious accusations against the Church’s highest authorities that is nothing but a full-frontal attack of half-truths and lies against the Vicar of Christ and Successor of Peter. |
Cardinal Edwin O’Brien
Many of you recall the book and movie The Perfect Storm – when several weather patterns meet at once – they clash and create terrible damage. Our Catholic Church is in the midst of a perfect storm – a perfect demonic storm: Chile, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States – and how many more to come?! The revolting, profoundly shameful double life of a Cardinal of the Church. The almost pornographic 900-page report of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury – unspeakable depravities of priests against the young and vulnerable. A former Vatican Nuncio’s accusations against the Church’s highest authorities. It has been called ‘A DIABOLICAL MASTERPIECE’! |
| Fr. Thomas Rosica
many priest abusers had a homosexual orientation. The majority (but not all) of the clerical abuse crimes were cases of priests preying on male adolescents and boys. Also, the majority (but However, that many abusers were priests with a homosexual orientation does not mean that all or even most gay priests are abusers. It is a dangerous and unjust stereotype. … lead to places of deep darkness, characterized by an increased hatred for innocent individuals, the condemnation of an entire group of people who are part of the Church, and a distraction from the real issues underlying this crisis of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults |
Fr. James Martin
Many priest abusers had a homosexual orientation. That is undeniable. …the majority (but not all) of the clerical abuse crimes were cases of priests preying on male adolescents and boys. Also, the majority (but not all) of the sexual harassment cases were men harassing other men or young men. It is a dangerous and unjust stereotype. Simply because a certain percentage of a group acts in a certain way does not mean the entire group or even most of the group acts in the same way. That many abusers were gay priests does not mean that all or even most gay priests are abusers. … lead us to a place of great darkness, characterized by an increased hatred for innocent individuals, the condemnation of an entire group of people and a distraction from the real issues |
Ah, yes, he apologizes, but not without attempting to vindicate himself while pointing the finger of blame firmly at his interns.
How pathetic.
For years on end this high profile Basilian priest has been stealing from the works of others, and in deceptively presenting their words as his own, committing fraud.
And look at this:
That’s it?! Not even so much as a “Tut. Tut. Bad boy”?
Dear Lord above, help us!!!!
Sylvia, I said this before. After World Youth days in Toronto, Alan Ames of Australia, and I had a visit with Bishop Meagher in Kingston, Ont, arranged by Fr. Brian McNally, and during our time with the Bishop, he told us that Rosica was a fraud. Rosica claimed he was in charge of the World, but, in fact he, Youth Days . Rosica also got the money to start Salt & Light from suspicious crooks in Montreal. Tim Dooling
Perhaps Rosica thinks he is ABOVE the Lord above, as do many appointed and self-appointed leaders of doctrine who hide in the security of their positions. There is obvious arrogance, blame and false humility, and I’m sure if onion layers be removed, it will unveil much more. Doctrine and preaching holds no water until this institution takes responsibility for their sins against the Jewish people and other aboriginal groups which they have so injured, persecuted and oppressed for centuries, not to mention wide scale, worldwide clergy sexual abuse. Plagiarism pales.
Indeed, there`s more regarding Father Rosica.
Father Rosica has been misrepresenting his actual academic credentials; see here:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/no-formal-diploma-jerusalem-college-denies-rosicas-claim-he-has-advanced-degree-from-them
Also, Fr. Rosica bragged in 2003 that HE had organized the visit of Pope John Paul 2 to Toronto.
Shortly after that event Alan Ames (of Australia) and I visited with the Kingston Bishop Meagher. during a discussion we had withe him he mentioned the he, the Bishop was the one set up as the organizer, not Rosica
It is also said widely in Ontario that the funding for Salt and light operation of Rosica was set up with money contributed by the Montreal Mafia !
More on Father Rosica…
He has resigned from 3 university boards of which he was a member and he has apparently ceased his involvement with Vatican news. https://www.catholicregister.org/opinion/columnists/item/29178-fr-raymond-j-de-souza-basilians-must-search-for-a-priestly-response
Father Rosica plagiarized from an anti-Catholic blog in July 2018. That content was controversial and Father Rosica admonished his many catholic critics telling them to read his article then go to confession(!). But now it appears to scholars that he may have never had any original ideas of his own.
see here:
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/rosicas-pope-francis-text-plagiarized-from-anti-catholic-blog-report-says-62310
and here:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/tracking-father-rosicas-very-long-history-of-plagiarism
I urge readers of Sylvia`s blog to go read how she did not back away from the Basilian`s bravado
https://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/2010/08/19/enough-said/
Good job Sylvia!
Father Rosica at Southdown Institute
CM: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/rosicainrecovery
see also: http://voxcantor.blogspot.com/
Father Rosica has apologized for his serial plagiarism but in Ontario as per it’s apology legislation he, the Basilians, and S&L’s board who are vicariously liable for him never actually admitted any liability for the damages to the reputations of the publishers and organisations tainted with his irresponsible behavior.
(Apology Act, 2009, S.O. 2009, c.3 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/09a03)
The Church fakes it’s remorse for it’s crimes and their cover-up in jurisdictions where there is apology legislation and/or where transjurisdictional torts are too costly to litigate for ordinary plaintiffs and exposure to litigation is very close to zero.
Nobody should reasonably rely on Father Rosica in the future.
He is a leopard and he won’t change his spots.