Father Reese ousted from America magazine

Editor of moderate Catholic journal ousted Criticism of church reportedly rankled Vatican leaders
- Laurie Goodstein, New York TimesSaturday, May 7, 2005

The Rev. Thomas Reese, an American Jesuit who is a frequent television commentator on Roman Catholic issues, resigned Friday 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 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, taking the name Benedict XVI

Find out more at:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/07/MNGGSCLFN71.DTL

I find what happened to Father Reese disquieting.

The only comfort is that this was set in motion before Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict and while John Paul was still pope, so this is not some sort of pogrom begun as part of Benedict’s pontificate.

I’d also like to know exactly what Father Reese did, said, or wrote that led to this.

Still, it is disquieting.