William P. Leahy Quotes

I think there are a number of bishops - and I put Cardinal Mahony in that category - who listen too much to his lawyer and not enough to his heart.

Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.

I'm really happy I went to a Catholic school because a lot of the repressive tactics they use make for great senses of humor.

The difference between me and most Protestants is most Protestants have no problem at all saying 'The Lord told me this' or 'The Lord told me that,' but they won't believe that the Lord speaks through the pope. You know, at least this guy has some credentials.

If I should say anything that is not in conformity with what is held by the Holy Roman Catholic Church, it will be through ignorance and not through malice. This may be taken as certain, and also that, through God's goodness, I am, and shall always be, as I always have been, subject to her.

I did attend Catholic schools up to the ninth grade, and I admire much in the Catholic Church.

I didn't really start writing about the church in earnest until the mid-2000s, so I wasn't present for or a participant in a lot of the John Paul II-era debates about papal authority.

I totally respect the pope, and I totally respect the Catholic bishops and cardinals on doctrine.

As a proud Catholic, I know the impact that faith-based education can have in our society and have witnessed it first hand in my district.

Catholicism is a wide tent in terms of political and legal positions. We could have nine Catholics on the Supreme Court and a great deal of diversity toward the law.

It's hard for the Catholic Church to accept change. When the mass was no longer said in Latin, loyalists went into mourning for years.

I do believe in the infallibility of the Pope, because I think we have to believe in something.

'The Fifth Gospel' is set entirely inside the Vatican and told from the perspective of a Catholic priest. I'm not Catholic myself, yet authenticity and factual accuracy are very important to me, so the novel required an enormous amount of research.

Accusations are made directly to Rome about theologians from persons who are not theologians. Some of these accusations are anonymous. The local bishop should be the one to relate to theologians to determine orthodoxy.

The Catholic Church is an innately conservative rock - they call themselves the 'rock of Peter' - and its resistance to change is, ironically, what has kept it constant throughout the ages.

By no means do I anticipate screening those who come on to campus... And I have no difficulty if a bishop across the country or some local pastor may say that's not Catholic teaching - that's fine.

Catholic schools in our Nation's education have been paramount in teaching the values that we as parents seek to instill in our children.

How many Catholic schools do you think teach the students to question the authority of the Pope? Do you believe Christian schools teach students to question or challenge the authority of Jesus Christ? Do military schools teach the cadets to challenge the authority.

If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary.

I think the strength of the Catholic church is that when it does finally identify a problem, it works to resolve it.

If Catholic moral doctrines have changed, how can the church still claim to preach the same message Jesus and his disciples did?

The king of England, though in certain respects he is not as religious as we would wish, still shows himself to be more acceptable than other kings... he neither destroys nor sells the churches of God.. and he bound priests by oath to dismiss their wives.

Under the control of the Church are two swords … the spiritual is wielded … by the hand of the clergy. The secular is to be employed for the Church by the hand of the civil authority, but under the direction of the spiritual power.

If the earthly power errs, it shall be judged by the spiritual power ... but if the supreme spiritual power errs it can be judged only by God, and not by man ... Therefore we declare, state, define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.

Protestant Christianity ... tutored the first generations of Americans. It provided what we today would call the value system of the society.