A coalition for canceled priests?

These are priests who were laicized, or otherwise prohibited from their duties, because they were too political, or too conservative.

Coalition for Canceled Priests

Here’s a ChatGPT summary of very long email I got on the subject.

The Coalition for Canceled Priests, an organization founded in 2020, held its second annual conference in Rosemont, Illinois. The conference brought together dozens of Catholic priests who claim to have been “canceled” by the Church for expressing conservative views on issues like abortion, homosexuality, and politics. They feel betrayed by the Church and are critical of Pope Francis, whom they see as a “woke pope” leading the Church astray from its traditional teachings. The attendees seek a return to a more orthodox and rigid version of the faith, reminiscent of pre-Vatican II times. The conference reflects a growing divide within the Catholic Church over social and theological issues.

I’ve heard stories about bishops shutting down conservative priests, but I didn’t think there were enough of them to make a “coalition”! Wacky.

Free will and moral responsibility

I’m listening to the “Philosophize this” podcast about consciousness, and (doggone it!) there’s a section on whether free will is an illusion. The host mentioned the alleged connection between free will and moral agency. I.e., if we don’t have free will, we can’t be responsible for our actions.

What came to mind was a society (perhaps shortly in the future) in which we have humanoid robots.

I can easily imagine a scenario where (1) we do not believe the robots have free will, but (2) we still hold them accountable for their actions. E.g., we would dismantle bad robots, or limit their sphere of action or influence, even if they thought of that as a punishment.

IOW, it doesn’t seem obvious to me that a lack of free will therefore means that we are not responsible for our actions.