Father McCormick is wary, however, of pre-embryonic experimentation and urges that it be subject to national regulation.

Father McCormick contended that the document had misrepresented proportionalists, none of whom would recognize themselves, he said, in the encyclical's description.

By all accounts, Father McCormick never tried to construct a major theological synthesis.

Father McCormick was known for his unpretentiousness and his pastoral instincts.

Starting in 1973, Father McCormick lived and worked by himself for seven years.

"The first concern of the church ought to be the love commandment," Father McCormick said.

Father McCormick pointed to the area where disagreement with the church's official teaching is most widespread among Catholics, contraception.

"This is a parish church, and it's our intention to leave it as a house of worship," Father McCormick said.

Or are they even more imperiled by a refusal to alter an untenable teaching, as Father McCormick suggested?

Father McCormick said that the bishop gave no deadline for a decision about defrocking the priests.