“Father Charles Curran will lecture and answer questions on Catholic Social Teaching at the Church of the Transfiguration, 50 West Bloomfield Rd, Pittsford on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at
10:00 a.m. in the Church. You are warmly invited to join us Saturday, July 26th at 10:00 am to hear and meet Father Curran.” From the July 6 bulletin of St. John of Rochester.
“Father Curran is a Catholic priest who has long been at odds with several of the Church’s fundamental moral teachings. Because of his aggressive and vocal condemnation of the Church’s teachings on matters such as abortion, contraception, and homosexuality, Curran was investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In 1986, at the recommendation of then-Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope John Paul II officially forbad Curran from teaching at any Catholic school and stripped him of the title of ‘Catholic theologian’.” From a Lifesite news story in October of 2007.
Curiously, Charles Curran’s engagement here has not yet been published in the bulletin of the host parish, Transfiguration.
As many of you surely know, Charles Curran is a notorious dissident. His errors are especially egregious in the area of the Church’s social teaching. In fact, as recently as October of 2007 Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas instructed his priests not to publicize an appearance in his diocese by Charles Curran. He cited Curran’s notoriety as a “dissident theologian”. This is what the bishop had to say:
“In his letter to his priests, Austin Bishop Aymond expressed his disappointment that a Catholic university would give a platform to such a dissident voice. He said, ‘I realize that he is still a priest in good standing, but he is not a theologian. Therefore, I believe that it does not foster the Catholic identity of a university to present him as a guest lecturer’.”
