IN MEMORY OF ARCHRBISHOP ROBERTS

...On more than one occasion, he made it clear to me in private conversations that, if he could be shown a valid theological justification for the condemnation of "the pill," he would accept it...

...The report I have is that the present Apostolic Delegate asked the Jesuits to be permitted to serve as chief concelebrant at the Requiem in which he was joined by ten other bishops and 40 priest concelebrants, not counting the many more priests in the congregation...

...The Archbishop's frequently expressed wish-and I recall hearing it from him on more than one occasion -was that he be cremated and his ashes scattered in the sea he loved so much...

...Even so, the passing of a friend is never to be taken lightly, and I am sure the readers of Commonweal expect more than the retelling of one of his more famous quips-the one about discouraging the kissing of his episcopal ring by carrying it in the back pocket of his trousers-to mark the loss of Archbishop T. D. Roberts, S.J...

...It is perhaps natural, but still lamentable, that the obituary notes have stressed the "controversial Jesuit" and "maverick archbishop" side of his character and failed to put this in its proper context...

...simply because he had so little patience with that sort of display...

...That is to say it was a reasoned and motivated obedience, the obedience of a 'reasonable man,' not the automatic reaction of 'the stick in the hands of an old man...

...It was no small thing, for instance, that he took it upon himself to challenge the arrangement whereby English and Portuguese clerics took turns in serving as Archbishops of Bombay and saw to it that the post was opened to native Indian clergy instead...

...That he loved the church and his Order with the purest intensity should be clear enough from the long and devoted service he gave to both-and, not the least of his many accomplishments, from the profound influence he had upon the many who came to him for spiritual care and guidance throughout his years of residence at London's Farm Street Church...

...Though not a pacifist, he gave support to the movements designed to ban nuclear weapons and end the threat of nuclear war...

...his principal opposition to what he regarded as an unjustifiable attempt to reduce the issue to a simple question of authority and obedience...

...His contribution to this cause-he preferred the term "conscientious abstention"-cannot be valued too highly...

...From this, by direct logical progression, stem his endorsement of conscientious "abstention," his openness toward chemical (as distinct from mechanical) means of contraception, his support of the work of Amnesty International and all the other stands which contributed to his not always favorable image as a storm center of ecclesiastical controversy...

...The one consistent note in all his work was the dedicated opposition to the abuse of authority, to the arbitrary imposition of authority beyond its proper sphere...

...I am sure Roberts himself would have no objection if this somewhat distorted picture were the only memory he left behind: he did enjoy adding a bit of spice to an otherwise dull intellectual or theological atmosphere...

...I recall on one occasion when I was serving briefly as one of his unofficial "periti" at Vatican II, he made a point of not attending a formal canonization ceremony (which, if the truth be known, I would have loved to witness...

...Critical though he may have been of some of the personage in the Curia or even on the Throne of Peter and of the policies they imposed upon the church universal and the faithful, he did not deny the legitimacy of the authority vested in their institutional roles...

...To see him simply as the unpredictable "maverick" or, even worse, as the "rebd" for the mere sake of rebellion is to have a totally false impression of the man and what he was about...

...THE DISNEY VIRGIN...

...He was, for a time at least, virtually the only Catholic ecclesiastic of bis rank willing to speak out in favor of official church recognition of and support for conscientious objection...

...We strolled about the gardens overlooking Rome instead, and-who knows?-his may have been the better idea after all...

...At the same time, we should realize that such bitter opposition to him personally, and more important, to the positions he had taken were present within his Order as well as at other and higher levels of the institutional church...

...This, of course, is the theme that unites all the positions that brought him so much attention and, with it, so much misunderstanding...

...A tribute by Peter Hebblethwaite published in the London Tablet makes the point: "Roberts' obedience, however paradoxical this may seem, was deeply Jesuit...

...And if, as it seems clear, his impatience to see this change accomplished required that he take actions which forced the papal hand, he simply went ahead and took them...

...Already the object of an official complaint to Rome filed by Archbishop O'Hara, an American then serving as Apostolic Delegate in London, because of "indiscretions" allegedly found in his writings and public statements, Roberts' willingness to strike out on a predictably unpopular course is further evidence of his courageous commitment to the truth as he saw it...

...Be that is it may, it is extremely gratifying to those of us who benefited so much from knowing him as a friend to note the extent to which he was finally given a measure of recognition and honor at the end...

...Roberts prepared an intervention on the topic for Vatican II but was unable to deliver it in person...

...He was about to leave for Rome, he told me, to protest and, if possible, block the participation of "a pinko Archbishop from Bombay...

...Other prelates may have been "open" to the practice, some even willing to give private assurances of support, but it was Roberts who was prepared to go publicly on record when doing so was certain to be interpreted by his critics as just one more proof of an ungovernable urge to "embarrass" the church...

...The intervention became part of the written record, of course, but the satisfaction and the recognition he would have drawn from actually addressing his fellow bishops were denied him...

...On the other hand, since it involved something he would have regarded as relatively inconsequential, the disposition of his earthly remains, it is unlikely he would have raised much of a fuss...

...In one of the shabbiest episodes in the history of that august assembly, he was maneuvered out of the opportunity to speak even though more than the required number of bishops had signed petitions to assure him the floor...

...I recall a breakfast discussion with a prominent American Jesuit shortly before the first session of the Council was to open...

...This was not done...

...The issues that brought him most notoriety and criticism, of course, were his open opposition to the arbitrary exercise of ecclesiastical authority (especially in his book Black Popes and his contribution to John Todd's Problems of Authority) and his daring challenge to the traditional condemnation of all forms of artificial contraception...

...He made too many important contributions to issues this journal has supported, and his leadership cost him far too much in the way of personal alienation and occasional indignity, to simply let it go at that...

...There is little doubt that he would have seen this decision, too, as an arbitrary exercise of authority and voiced some protest...

...He was a courageous man, and that courage did find its expression in a continuing sequence of forward-looking statements and actions for which he should be remembered long after the testy and chuckle-provoking one-liners have lost their point...

...He did delight in poking fun whenever possible at the extravagant pomposities of ritual and ceremony and, with a certain added touch of sharpness, at those who, in his opinion, placed altogether too much stock in such things...

...The funeral address was delivered by Bishop Christopher Butler, O.S.B, auxiliary in Westminster, a man well known here as in England for his intellectual eminence and for the many crucial contributions he made to Vatican II...

...His reputation for the sly and sometimes irreverent witticism (often enough with himself as the butt of the joke) was well earned...

...He was, if the fact be known, the most "loyal" of Catholics in the best sense of that term...

...Even more important, it would be somewhat out of character for him to be overly concerned with what people thought of him while he was alive or after he was gone...

...We can be grateful that his efforts did not succeed...

...His "breakthrough" article in Search opened a heated debate with Britain's Cardinal Heenan and the entire hierarchy of England and Wales...

...This is not to say, of course, that Roberts would not have enjoyed such a brief and jolly farewell wave...

...Instead of basking quietly in the prestige associated with the status of a retired archbishop once he returned to London, he chose instead to lend that prestige to a variety of relatively unpopular causes...

...instead he is buried in the Jesuit plot in a West London cemetery...

...These could not have gone unnoticed by a man of Roberts' keen intellect and sensitivity, and the knowledge must have hurt him deeply...

...Of course, he may have been lucky to be there at all...