The latest chapter in the story of the former Archbishop of Lusaka, Emmanuel Milingo, came down the wire today. The African priest, who used to be a favorite of the Holy See in the 80s and 90s, is being defrocked. This comes on the heels of the 2006 excommunication he received from Pope John Paul II for elevating four married priests to bishops.
Being defrocked is a bit different than being excommunicated. Excommunication, despite popular belief, does not cut the excommunicant from the Church. Rather it is a censure, a punishment leveled in the hopes that the excommunicant will step into line with traditional Catholicism. Defrocking is a removal of the right to the office of a priest. It is considered more severe than excommunication. Rome drove this point home in their press release this morning by referring to Emmanuel Milingo without his priestly title.
Father, I mean Mister, Milingo has been the cause of much Vatican hand-wringing the past few years. He has long had a reputation in Africa as a faith-healer and professional exorcist, two callings the Vatican finds particularly distasteful. Then he married Maria Sung, a 43-year-old Korean woman, in a mass Moonie wedding back in 2001. The bride was personally chosen for him by Sun Myung Moon. The official news release from Rome claimed Milingo had been brain-washed. Strangely, this act did not bring on an excommunication. After ‘rehabilitation’ in Italy he secretly escaped to New York, where he reunited with his wife and spoke out against his Father in Rome. He returned his ministry in Africa, continuing to push for a married clergy.
2 Comments
Great and very interesting article.
One thing, though. Are you sure that the subject of married clergy is accurately characterized as being Catholic Dogma, per se?
Thank you for the positive feedback.
As for the dogma issue, I was trying to show that it is, in fact, not dogma. It is discipline and not doctrine, which would essentially put it out of range of indisputable dogma. It is my experience that most Catholics are unaware of the inherent flexibility in the discipline of celibacy in Catholicism, believing it to be an incontrovertible rule.
I understand that the wording might be confusing though, and I appreciate your bringing the point up so it could be better explained.