Another chapter in the Rowe/Braxton flap over making up the words. Maybe this is why we’re seeing more canon law experts and fewer liturgists in the episcopacy.
The whole thing strikes me as illustrative of how down-the-rabbit-hole church ministry has become. Take, for instance …
– A 72-year-old lifer who wants to keep working. Guys ten years younger in France would riot to get the pink slip and a cushy retirement.
– Of course, the words of the Mass rather overshadow some occasions of sexual shenanigans or financial mismanagement in terms of importance, at least according to the moral standards of most lay people.
– The guy who likes to play a little loose with the liturgical rules cites a three-month moratorium from canon law to thwart his bishop.
– A bishop who seems to be holding tight to the new Roman Missal waits several months before accepting a resignation. If the words really are of prime importance, you’d think he’d have had time to get another priest into the parish on six weeks’ notice.
The Catholic Church: an almost crazy avoidance of confrontation, and then when we do it, we really mess it up.
Catholic Sensibility 
“With this statement you can show your faithfulness to church law,” Rowe wrote. “But it will also be a great pastoral opportunity to show your appreciation of the many voices of your faithful in the diocese and of your efforts to deal with the serious shortage of priests.”– from the RNS story.
Yeah, that “faithfulness to church law” quip will go over well. Fr. Rowe has already put a bull’s-eye on his chest for removal from the pastorate under other canons other than those concerning retirement. A sly public insult to his bishop is not going to help. The more I read from Fr. Rowe, the more this seems like “suicide by cop.”