San Bernardino Diocese Tries Priest on Heresy, Schism Charges
In a rare move reminiscent of medieval times, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino convened a secret tribunal against a Riverside priest Tuesday after charging him with heresy and schism.
Meeting at diocesan headquarters in San Bernardino, the tribunal took up the case against the Rev. Ned Reidy, 69, who said he left the Roman Catholic Church five years ago and formed his own parish near Palm Desert. The parish later affiliated with a new denomination that holds services resembling those of the Roman Catholic Church but rejects the authority of the pope, mandatory priestly celibacy, and prohibitions against blessing same-sex unions and ordaining women.
The San Bernardino Diocese confirmed the heresy and schism charges against Reidy and said a decision was expected within two weeks. But the diocese said the tribunal was not an artifact of ancient times.
"What this is not is a Galileo trial of 1633. This is based on revised canon law of 1983," said Father Howard Lincoln, diocesan spokesman. "No one's going to be burned at the stake."
Lincoln said the intent was to defrock Reidy, removing him officially from the clerical state if found guilty, so that ordinary Roman Catholics would not be led astray by the priest's assertion that he remained a "Catholic."
A guilty finding also could serve to formally acknowledge Reidy's automatic excommunication, which the church said took place when Reidy renounced his ordination vows.
Reidy said Tuesday that he would not attend the tribunal. "They're doing their thing. I have no interest in sitting in a room with six or seven grumpy-faced guys," he said.
He also said he wasn't interested in the outcome: "If I get some letter in a number of weeks about excommunication, I will write on there 'Refused. Return to Sender.' I won't even open it."
Bishop Gerald Barnes' decision to charge Reidy with heresy and schism surprised Catholic canon lawyers, who called the move rare. They said the bishop could simply have made a finding and publicly announced that Reidy was no longer functioning as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church.
"I never heard of such a thing," said Father Orsy Ladislas, a professor of law at Georgetown University Law School in Washington who is considered a leading canon lawyer in America. "It would be very rare that a diocese would have any kind of formal trial for heresy or schism," he said. "Most of the time the bishops are running to Rome
