Bacchiocchi’s Response to False Allegations Pt 2 has been posted on-line by Bacchiocchi. [PDF, 5.2MB archived here]
The Gregorian University has disagreed with him over what his credentials truly are. This has come to be known as The Gregorian Controversy.
My previous post in response to his first response can be found here – Bacchiocchi’s response to the Gregorian debate
One has to wade through a lot of information, such as recommendations for his book, that really do nothing to prove his side of the story. If you cut it down to the necessary facts, does he really provide solid evidence?
He provides a good case. But a lot of it remains unverified. His explanation of the process of publishing his thesis is convincing. Does anyone out there have a copy of the original abridged version?
His explanation of the Imprimatur leaves me feeling uneasy. While the Imprimi Potest usually comes from the head of the order the writer belongs to, it may well come from the rector of the university. But it would say “Imprimi Potest.” Bacchiocchi’s Imprimi Potest doesn’t say Imprimi Potest. So what is it?
He admits something quite fascinating about the Imprimatur:
Regarding the imprimatur, I asked Prof. Monachino if the whole manuscript should be submitted to the Rector of the Gregoriana and the Vicariate of Rome for their approval—imprimatur, as we did for the abridged version Anti-Judaism and the Origin of Sunday. He replied that it was not necessary, because both offices had already approved a major portion of the dissertation published two years earlier. The Gregorian University Press could readily use the same imprimatur’s certificate which they already had in their possession.
Firstly, Prof Monachino was not in a position to decide what was and not appropriate regarding the Imprimatur. That was clearly an inappropriate decision. The protocols regarding the Imprimatur require a new one for every new edition, each new language a text is published in. It certainly does not apply to an expanded version of a text that contains new information and new assertions regarding the subject at hand.
So I think it is quite clear – the Imprimatur on the current books printed by Bacchiocchi do not apply to the books it is printed in, and it never applied to his thesis as a whole. It is being used inappropriately, and he should stop. It is misleading.
The comes the fact that the Imprimatur still is not what he claims it is – approval of the contents by the Catholic Church. The contents are not in agreement with the Catholic faith, and nobody ever thought they were. Bacchiocchi admits it was a lengthy and difficult process, involving a number of favours, to get it. So, assuming it ever existed, it is still not approval from the Catholic Church. As Bacchiocchi admits elsewhere in his part 2, Imprimatur means “It can be printed”. For my discussion of the subsections of the Imprimatur, of which Bacchiocchi obtained the least important in terms of approval of contents, see my previous post.
Bacchiocchi says:
In some dissertations the same approval is given with the Latin word imprimatur, which simply means “It can be printed,” obviously because it has been approved.
Actually, if it had been approved, it would have stated so, with a Nihil Obstat. Bacchiocchi’s thesis lacks that.
I also still want to know why “Gregorian University Press” is placed in a prominent position on his book, even so long after when they clearly no longer print it. I feel it is misleading.
My next step is to repackage all this information in an official document that will be sent both to the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and to Bishop Murray of Kalamazoo.
Finally. Apparently that is what Bishop Murray has been waiting for for 2 years now. It seems there was some confusion there, as Murray waited for Bacchiocchi to submit a written report, and Bacchiocchi waited for a personal interview with Murray.
Taken from the website of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, here are contact details for Bishop Murray’s people:
Write letters to:
Most Reverend James A. Murray [he has since retired]
Diocese of Kalamazoo
215 N. Westnedge Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49007-3760
E-mail:
Most Reverend James A. Murray [retired] | Diocese of Kalamazoo
Telephone:
+1 269 349 8714
Contact them and encourage them to deal with this.
The Gregorian University can be contacted:
By post:
The Rector
Pontifical Gregorian University
Piazza della Pilotta, 4
00187 Roma
By e-mail:
Segreteria Generale
By phone:
Centralino: Tel. +39 06 6701 5295
Segretario Generale: Tel. +39 06 6701 5117; Fax +39 06 6701 5419
It’s time for them to respond.
The Gregorian Controversy series is listed in full here. Click here to go to the next post in the series. And here for the previous post.
Comments imported from the old blog:
Posted by Jared Olar on December 8, 2006, 11:16 pm
Thanks for letting me know about this, Stephen. So far all I’ve written is this comment, but there will be more to come soon: Link here
Posted by Jared Olar on December 22, 2006, 11:41 pm
Okay, I’ve finally begun to comment in detail on Part Two of Dr. Bacchiocchi’s response: Link here
Posted by stephen on December 23, 2006, 7:23 pm
Thanks … some good points. Bacchiocchi says his submission to Gregorian and Bishop Murray should be ready in about 10 days.