At Homiletic and Pastoral Review (yes, it still exists), find the second part of important work by civil and canon lawyer Michael Mazza (whom I’ve known for a zillion years). He now works as a canonist especially in defense of priests. HERE
The Importance of the Value of Reputation, Part II
People who are accused of crimes have a right to proper process and to their good name (bona fama). Both of those often go out the door in the case of priests who are falsely accused and/or cancelled. In this offering, Mazza starts with some Patristic references to bona fama and then traces papal comments in the more modern Magisterium.
A sample:
We note in conclusion that such evidence stands for the proposition that the good of bona fama has been valued, in a variety of contexts and time periods, as a fundamental human good. This article has also referenced several well-known artistic works, emanating from diverse cultures and at various points in history, that also testify to enduring truths concerning the good of bona fama. The extent of all this evidence suggests that there would be something profoundly inhuman, and therefore deeply disturbing, about any community that neglects to care for the right to reputation of its members. Such attentiveness for reputation is particularly important when the prevailing cultural zeitgeist militates against the right to bona fama by demanding quick guilty verdicts so as to quench the popular thirst for vengeance.
Owing to the power of speech itself, along with the close link between a person’s name and his very identity, we saw how the witness of Sacred Scripture, the early Church, and centuries of theological tradition have established the foundations on which the current juridical framework protecting a cleric’s right to bona fama rests. Authentic developments in magisterial teaching on the issue of reputation support the conclusion that respect for bona fama is not only an essential element of any human community, but that it is particularly important in the life of the Church, especially for its clergy. In light of such evidence, it is incomprehensible for an ecclesial community professing fidelity to the incarnate Word of God to ignore or downplay a right so fundamental as the right to reputation. We have seen how our bona fama is linked to our physical, mental, social, and spiritual health; we have also examined how closely connected is a person’s name to his very life. In this light, then, we can more easily see the fundamental hypocrisy at work if one professes caritas but permits calumnia.
Ed Pentin, surely Rome’s best English language commentator on Church matters these days, has 
July 24th, 2023
Today is the Feast of St James the Greater, Apostle, brother of St John the Apostle Evangelist and a son of Zebedee. These brother were called the “Sons of Thunder… Boanerges“.
WVC on Daily Rome Shot 1671: “@revueltos67 – yes, thank you. I realized my blunder after I saw your first comment. I’m just glad I finally…”
