Brian McCallAppeal to the Cardinals
In response to the confusion created by Pope Francis’ attempt to alter the Catechism of the Catholic Church to include doctrine contrary to Scripture and Tradition, an international group of clergy and academics, including CFN Editor-in-Chief Brian McCall, have appealed to the College of Cardinals to intervene.
According to the press release announcing the delivery of the letter, it is the legal right of Catholics to appeal to their pastors in such circumstances: “According to the Church’s own law, competent Catholics ‘have the right and even at times the duty to manifest […] their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful’ (Code of Canon Law, Canon 212). St Thomas Aquinas, considered a model for Catholic theologians, likewise held that “if the faith were endangered, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 33, art. 4, ad. 2).
Below is a copy of the letter delivered to the Dean of the College of Cardinals today, August 15, 2018. Let us pray that the Cardinals will have the fortitude to respond to the grace of state of their office and to give witness to the truth.
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To their Most Reverend Eminences, the Cardinals of the holy Roman Church,
Since it is a truth contained in the word of God, and taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Catholic Church, that criminals may lawfully be put to death by the civil power when this is necessary to preserve just order in civil society, and since the present Roman pontiff has now more than once publicly manifested his refusal to teach this doctrine, and has rather brought great confusion upon the Church by seeming to contradict it, and by inserting into the Catechism of the Catholic Church a paragraph which will cause and is already causing many people, both believers and non-believers, to suppose that the Church considers, contrary to the word of God, that capital punishment is intrinsically evil, we hereby call upon Your Eminences to advise His Holiness that it is his duty to put an end to this scandal, to withdraw this paragraph from the Catechism, and to teach the word of God unadulterated; and we venture to state our conviction that this is a duty seriously binding upon yourselves, before God and before the Church.
Dr. Hadley Arkes, Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions emeritus at Amherst College; founder and director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights & the American Founding, Washington D.C.
Fr. Claude Barthe, Diocesan Priest
Dame Colleen Bayer, DSG, Founder, Family Life International NZ
Dr Joseph Bessette, Alice Tweed Tuohy Professor of Government and Ethics, Claremont McKenna College
James Bogle Esq., TD MA Dip Law, barrister (trial attorney), former President FIUV, former Chairman of the Catholic Union of Great Britain
Fr. John Boyle, JCL
Dr. Patrick Brennan, Professor of Law and John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University
Judie Brown, President, American Life League
Dr. J. Budziszewski, Professor of Government and Philosophy, University of Texas
Dr. Isobel Camp, Professor of Philosophy, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy
Fr. Michael Gilmary Cermak MMA
Fr. Richard Cipolla
Dr. Eric Claeys, AB, JD, Scalia School of Law, George Mason University
Fr. Linus F Clovis, Ph.D, JCL, M.SC., STB
Dr. Travis Cook, Associate Professor of Government and Political Philosophy, Belmont Abbey College
Dr. S. A. Cortright, Professor of Philosophy, Saint Mary’s College of California
Hon. Donald J. Devine, Senior Scholar, The Fund for American Studies
Dr. Cyrille Dounot, Professor of Legal History, Université Clermont Auvergne; ecclesiastical lawyer, ecclesiastical court of Lyon
Dr. Patrick Downey, Professor of Philosophy, Saint Mary’s College of California
Dr. Eduardo Echeverria, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary Dr Edward Feser, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Pasadena City College
Dr. Alan Fimister, Assistant Professor of Theology at St John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver
Dr. Luca Gili, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Université du Québec à Montréal
Dr. Maria Guarini, editor of the website Chiesa e postconcilio
Fr. Brian Harrison, OS, STD, Associate Professor of Theology (retired), Pontifical University of Puerto Rico
John D. Hartigan, retired attorney and past member, Public Policy Committee of the New York State Catholic Conference
Dr. L. Joseph Hebert, Professor of Political Science and Leadership Studies; Director, Pre-Law Studies, St. Ambrose University, Davenport
Dr. Maike Hickson, journalist
Dr. Robert Hickson, Retired Professor of Literature and Strategic-Cultural Studies
Dr. Rafael Huntelmann, Publisher, Editiones Scholasticae
Fr. John Hunwicke, Former Senior Research Fellow, Pusey House, Oxford
Fr. Albert Kallio, OP, Professor of Philosophy at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery, New Mexico
Dr. Robert C. Koons, Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Peter Koritansky, Professor of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, independent scholar and author
Dr. John Lamont STL, DPhil. (Oxon.)
Fr. Serafino M. Lanzetta STD
Dr. Robert Lazu, Independent Scholar and Writer
Dr. James P. Lucier, Former Staff Director, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Dr. Pietro De Marco, former professor of Sociology of Religion, University of Florence.
Dr. Joseph Martin, Associate Professor of Communication, Montreat College
Dr. Roberto de Mattei, Former Professor of the History of Christianity, European University of Rome, former Vice President of the National Research Council (CNR)
Dr. Brian McCall, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Director of the Law Center, Orpha and Maurice Merrill Professor in Law, University of Oklahoma
Fr. Paul McDonald, parish priest of Chippawa, Ontario
Dr. Stéphane Mercier, former lecturer in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium)
Robert T. Miller, Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
Fr. Alfredo Morselli, SSL, parish priest in the diocese of Bologna
Maureen Mullarkey, Senior Contributor, The Federalist
Fr. Gerald Murray, JCD, Pastor, Church of the Holy Family, New York, NY
Fr. Reto Nay
Dr. Claude E. Newbury, M.B., B.Ch., D.T.M&H., D.O.H., M.F.G.P., D.C.H., D.P.H., D.A., M. Med; Former Director of Human Life International in Africa south of the Sahara
Giorgio Nicolini, Writer, Director of Tele Maria
Dr. Lukas Novak, Lecturer in Philosophy, Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice
Dr. Thomas Osborne, Professor of Philosophy, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas
Dr. Michael Pakaluk, Professor of Ethics, Busch School of Business, Catholic University of America
Dr. Paolo Pasqualucci, retired Professor of Philosophy, University of Perugia, Italy
Dr. Claudio Pierantoni, Professor of Medieval Philosophy in the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Chile
Dr. Thomas Pink, Professor of Philosophy, King’s College London
Rev. Andrew Pinsent, DPhil, PhD, Research Director, Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford
Dr. Alyssa Pitstick
Dr. Donald S. Prudlo, Professor of Ancient and Medieval History, Jacksonville State University
Prof. Enrico Maria Radaelli, Philosopher
Fr. Anselm Ramelow, OP, Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, California
Richard M. Reinsch II, Editor, Law and Liberty
Fr George W. Rutler, STD, MSt. (Oxon.), LLD. Pastor, Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, New York City
Matthew Schmitz, Senior Editor, First Things
Dr. Josef Seifert, Founding Rector of the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein
Dr. Joseph Shaw, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Benet’s Hall, Oxford University
Dr. Anna Silvas, Adjunct senior research fellow, University of New England; Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Dr. Michael Sirilla, Professor of Dogmatic and Systematic Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio
R. J. Stove, writer and editor
Fr. Alberto Strumia, retired professor of Mathematical Physics, University of Bari, Italy
Fr. Glen Tattersall, Parish Priest, Parish of Bl. John Henry Newman, archdiocese of Melbourne; Rector, St Aloysius’ Church
Dr. Joseph G. Trabbic, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ave Maria University, Florida
Dr. Giovanni Turco, Associate Professor of Philosophy of Public Law at the University of Udine; Corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Dr. Michael Uhlmann, Professor in the Division of Politics & Economics, Claremont Graduate University
Dr. Thomas Ward, Founder of the National Association of Catholic Families and former Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Murray Rundus
Matt Gaspers
