Given from the Catholic Broadcasting Station 2SM Sydney Australia
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Bishop Julio Garrett did not voluntarily leave the CatholicChurch. Because he was not true to his charge, he was deposed andexcommunicated by the Pope in December, 1929.
Naturally Bishop Julio Garrett had to give reasons for hischange of allegiance, and he was not likely to give the realreasons. His first excuse will not impress thinking people. If sinis prevalent in a given locality, a good bishop whose mission it isto labor for the conversion of sinners knows that that place isjust where he is needed. And as a good shepherd he does not deserthis post merely because there are more sinners than he thought whobadly need converting to Christ. But, as a matter of fact, JulioGarrett was not a good bishop. If avarice and immorality were tooprevalent, the example he gave, far from checking it, would onlytend to increase it. He was reported to Rome for his scandalousconduct, cited before an ecclesiastical court, found guilty, andexpelled from the Catholic Church.The second reason, that he could no longer accept theinfallibility of the Pope, is not surprising. The only thing to benoted is that he gave no hint that he could not accept theinfallibility of the Pope until after the Pope refused to accepthim any longer as a bishop in the Catholic Church.
Correct. But, if Bishop Garrett has lost his faith in theChurch, he lost much else before he came to such a stage.Refutations of this kind are not very pleasant. But if a man isheld up as a living argument by Protestant papers that Rome iswrong, it is necessary to examine the value of that livingargument. Listen to the calm, measured, and dignified language ofthis cable from Rome concerning Bishop Julio Garrett. "Thereason, and the sole reason, for the deposing by the Holy See ofJulio Garrett as Bishop of Cochabamba, Bolivia, in December, 1929,was the proving by judicial and exact procedure of offenses bothagainst the commandments of God and the laws of the Church. Tosafeguard charity, the decree of deposition, with its reasons, wasnot made public at the time; but the bishopric was merely declaredvacant. However, since Protestant periodicals have publishedstatements that Julio Garrett came to Rome, and became convincedthat the Catholic Church was in error, whereupon he went over tothe American Episcopal Church, the Holy See has caused the decreeof his deposition to be published in Bolivia and to the world.Henceforth only ignorance or bad faith can repeat the assertionthat Julio Garrett left the Catholic Church of his own accord, orthat he was a faithful bishop in that Church."