By Hilary White
LONDON, April 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Tony Blair Faith Foundation has announced that after his retirement as Archbishop of Westminster in May this year, Cormac Cardinal Murphy O’Connor will become the first Catholic member of the Foundation’s International Religious Advisory Council.
The move comes two years after the cardinal received his friend Tony Blair into the Catholic Church without requiring the former Prime Minister to publicly apologize or recant his anti-Catholic positions on abortion and human embryonic experimentation or for his championing the cause of the homosexualist movement during his political career.
Tony Blair made headlines this week when he was quoted in a homosexualist magazine saying that the Catholic Church needs to “rethink” its “position” on homosexuality. He said that Pope Benedict’s “entrenched” views are a result of “generational issues” and “fear” of change.
He described the work of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as encouraging “faiths” to come together, overcoming differences in “doctrine.” A large part of his work, he said, is to urge religious leaders to reinterpret “religious texts” metaphorically rather than literally. He said religious leaders need “to treat religious thought and even religious texts as themselves capable of evolution over time.”
He said, “I think that for all religions, the challenge is how do you extract the essential values of the faith from a vast accumulation of doctrine and practice? For many people, the reason for their religious faith is less to do with the doctrine and practice, and more to do with the values like love of God and love of your neighbour.”
To express concerns:
Congregation for Bishops
Cardinal, Prefect, Giovanni Battista Re,
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
Piazza Pio XII, 10
00193 Roma, Italia
Phone: 06.69.88.42.17
Fax: 06.69.88.53.03
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Tony and Cherie Blair Attack Pope on Homosexuality and Condoms
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/apr/090408.html#5
Blair Championing Religion in Westminster Cathedral Leaves Catholics Outraged
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08040311.html