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Fr William Rowe withdraws resignation


Fr William Rowe

Fr William Rowe

The American priest who resigned because he was unable to stick to the exact wording of the new Mass translation, has withdrawn his offer to leave, the Belleville New Democrat reported yesterday.

Fr William Rowe, 72, parish priest at St Mary's in Belleville, Illinois, wrote a letter to Bishop Edward Braxton last October offering to resign. He didn't receive a response to his letter for more than three months. Fr Rowe says that he has learnt that the long delay in responding to the letter is a violation of Canon Law 538 which makes his resignation void.

Fr William is the first priest in the English-speaking world to offer to resign over this issue. Another priest has resigned as head of the deanery in solidarity with Fr Rowe. A petition supporting him has attracted nearly 1,500 signatures.

To read the whole story in the Belleville New Democrat, see: www.bnd.com/2012/02/27/2076300/ad-libbing-priest-changes-his.html

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