Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Our brother the pope CATHOLIC AUTHORITY, THEOLOGY, & IDENTITY Required reading New York, N.Y. To the Editors: Bravo! Bravo to William Shea for his article "The Pope,...
...Bravo to William Shea for his article "The Pope, Our Brother" [November 7...
...But it is important to remember that faith requires a realization of our limitations and a willingness to submit "our experience, our knowledge . . ." to the judgment of God's chosen leaders...
...At other times, I am sure, I rationalize...
...I believe that he may be speaking for millions of American Catholics...
...Quodlibetum, IX...
...He then responds, "You can't have half the church with women priests and half without" — as though we don't already have a western church that is celibate, and an eastern church with married priests...
...When it comes to "experience," Pope Paul said in Humanae Vitae, "not much experience is needed to know human weakness" and how the availability of contraceptives would be "offering some easy means of eluding the observance" of the moral law...
...I spend a lot of time attempting to understand...
...To the Editors: William M. Shea's advice on "how to cope with the pope" may be of interest to those who, in effect, regard the papacy as something' 'to resist as the plague...
...DENNIS M. DOYLE Vatican on sex Waltham, Mass...
...At other times Shea seems to consider the pope's position just another among many...
...By the same token, then, the pope should not be concerned with Curran, Hunthausen, and women altar servers...
...I regard this as a mistake for the church and for his office...
...For those who realize that it is impossible to obey God and at the same time defy His appointed leaders, the choice will not be a difficult one...
...A truly catholic church should embrace both with equal favor...
...or at least if I did, I would contextualize it more within praise of his encyclicals, within acknowledgment of cultural differences between him and us, within an attempt to understand more sympathetically why he is doing what some of us perceive as the terrible things he is doing...
...But for those who accept the leadership of the pope as an instrument of God's love and providence, refusing to rationalistically qualify loyalty under the guise of "fraternal correction," a bigger problem is how to cope with errant theologians whose arrogant individualism and skepticism, and not the suppression of dissent, has "devastated Catholic intellectual and spiritual life...
...Does (Continued on page 51) Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Book Review Index...
...The attack on dissent and criticism is on principle and not ad hoc, and if this is so can we expect the church to face any problem squarely...
...To the Editors: I appreciated and was thrilled by William Shea's wonderful article...
...As a long-time reader of your magazine, I can honestly say that it is one of the best articles that I have read in Commonweal in a long time...
...Sebastian Moore writing in the same November 7 issue ("Ideas of Consequence") seems to have the same idea...
...He habitually acts to reverse the creative energies loosed in the church by his two predecessors of happy memory and to bolster the notion that the bishop of Rome is the bishop of the entire church...
...I am forced to this on historical grounds (we have a plethora of vicious and mistaken ministers in our past) and on theological grounds (only the loyalty which has God as its object is unqualified...
...It has something of the ring of a cannon shot...
...CATHOLIC IDENTITY CORRESPONDENCE (Continual from nnor U) he really think that he knows the mind of the pope so well that he can suggest that the pope has no sense of perspective, no sense of irony, and no sense of humor...
...I am still left with Shea's question: how do 1 cope with the present situation...
...52: Commonweal Louis University raises the rhetorical question: "How far does pluralism go...
...To the Editors: I should like to add a postscript to the dilemma posed by William M. Shea in his superb article...
...It is not, then, a simple transport of 30 January 1987: 51 instinct and sentiment, but also, and principally, an act of the free will intended to endure and to grow, by means of the joys and sorrows of daily life, in such a way that the husband and wife become one heart and soul and together attain their human perfection . . . Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents...
...To my colleague and friend Dennis Doyle who wishes me to worry about "deeper, global problems," I say that larger and smaller injustices are not unconnected, and all should be opposed...
...The simple fact is that we're all on a pilgrimage together, and while the hierarchy has a pre-eminent place in the parade, the sensus fidelium, no less than Scripture and tradition, plays a vital Spirit-led role in the formation of contemporary church consciousness...
...Vatican II noted that the "tradition which comes from the apostles develops in the church with the help of the Holy Spirit," and that dogma is historically conditioned: "The institutions, laws, and modes of thinking and feeling handed down from previous generations do not always seem to be well adapted to the contemporary state of affairs...
...At root, the problem seems to come down to an inevitable and proper tension between a hierarchy (historically never totally oblivious to vested interests) which is exceptionally oriented to tradition, in the sense of passing on what went before...
...I think the divorce rate is soaring to one in two because too many marriages degenerate into sex object relationships...
...It would be sad enough if in fact such an extreme and vociferous minority could so effectively influence the Vatican...
...Doyle's other interesting comments I will take up with him over a scotch...
...Second, the American press has ascribed recent Vatican censures of certain Americans to "repeated complaints" of the highly conservative "15,000-member Catholics United for the Faith...
...Where can you find a better description of marriage than in Humanae Vitae...
...Aaron Bacall, Rothco...
...He calls the Vatican's approach to the twenty-four nuns who signed the pro-abortion advertisement in the New York Times "outrageous...
...The current leaders of the church attack the moral meaning, as did their predecessors, perversely collapsing the moral and political meanings...
...Archbishop Hunthausen and Curran affairs) seems to bring this face-off into sharper focus...
...But one cannot say everything at once...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...authoritative intervention should always be introduced at the lowest organizational level...
...More difficult to determine is whether the dissenters deny the power of the keys or simply resent not holding them...
...To the Editors: Theologian William M. Shea indicates he is so distressed about the Vatican's admonitions on dissenters that "the present bishop of Rome is, to my mind, perilously close to losing his claim on our trust, obedience, and loyalty...
...Rather, there are certain members in the church, as in a family, who are called to exercise authority as a loving service but who, nonetheless, must make certain and binding decisions, decisions that could never be carried out if contingent upon the endless process of "dialogue" so conveniently upheld by those who want salvation but not the cross...
...G. GREGORY DUDACK An easy choice Washington, D.C...
...Beyond this, though, I try my best to agree with and to comply with the teaching of the magisterium...
...Recent Catholic experience in the U.S...
...Historian James Hitchcock of St...
...Should he not be more hesitant to think that the pope has no inner struggles and that he takes himself too seriously...
...What I haven't done, and what Shea hasn't done, is to stop trying...
...Whatever the Vatican's intention, its present emphasis on doctrinal rigor seems effectively to be polarizing advocates of authoritarianism and proponents of a "share the wealth of the Spirit" school of thought...
...We should positively promote open and mutually forbearing dialogue after the method prescribed by Pope Paul VI (Ecclesiam Suam) which emphasizes clearness, meekness, trust, and prudence...
...1 wonder also what Shea thinks the precise status of papal positions should be...
...I remind myself that the church is in process, that it isn't finished yet...
...To counteract this, I wish to emphasize a couple of the more positive points that he makes...
...Few things could make us happier...
...and the sensus fidelium of all the People of God, in the sense that such reflects the current real-world distillation of the cumulative faith experience of the Christian community...
...I like to think that with all my fine distinctions and qualifications I follow the letter and spirit of Lumen Gentium when it comes to matters of assent, submission, and legitimate dissent...
...Which is it...
...Matters of freedom of communication, of the determination of moral and political values, of sexual morality, of the equality of women, are global problems for church and society, and they are not in any significant way restricted to an American or even Catholic perspective...
...Finally, I apologize for the apodictic character of both my responses and some of the remarks in my essay...
...But the moral meaning is the single most important element in a healthy church life, no matter what the church's political structure...
...I fathered five children and then, because of medical circumstances, practiced "rhythm" for the next twenty years...
...In the words of St...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...I could not have written that article...
...Illustrations: Cover and p. 43, Paul Valerry...
...Genuine dialogue is our only hope...
...I root moderately for the Kungs and the Currans and the Hunthausens...
...The papal policy toward Ameri30 January 1987: 53 can Catholics is of a piece with papal global policy that is affecting every aspect of church life...
...Whenever the Vatican talks about sex, it never seems to have in mind what people experience as sex, what they experience sex as," he says...
...It may bring about a defensive reaction and create unnecessary division and polarization...
...JACK WRIGHT If there is hope New Milford, Conn...
...p. 50, Carol Simpson...
...It bothers us deeply when we find that we cannot do it...
...p. 39, Bas.,Tachydromos...
...I do qualify it and do not thereby deny his leadership or God's love...
...DORIS C. O'NEIL The outhor replies: I am grateful for the many reactions,to my essay, and I will respond to the few that space permits...
...Shea has articulated for me things that I do not like to say or even admit to myself...
...On ecclesial-political grounds I am opposed to the restoration of papal rule over the church...
...Can we have it both ways...
...But there is another level on which I have personal questions about the pope's positions on a whole range of issues, questions deep enough to make me doubt the entire process...
...At times in his article Shea seems to allow the pope a special place as the legitimate leader of the church that he loves...
...Beyond that, persuasion should precede pronouncement, in virtue of the dignity of every human being...
...My personal experience and observations agree with the Catholic church's teaching on conjugal relations both in the positive and negative aspects...
...A growing crisis in the church today, it seems to me, is the alarming and increasingly acrimonious confrontation of those who see the church as an essentially hierarchical structure, and those who see it fundamentally as "the People of God" among whom the Spirit moves in many ways other than by caveats issued from on high...
...Mr...
...Americans have had the pill since the 1960s...
...34: Commonweal CATHOLIC AUTHORITY, CATHOLIC THEOLOGY...
...First, he shows that one can uphold papal primacy and infallibility and still call the pope firmly to account for what one perceives to be his misdeeds...
...It is becoming increasingly obvious that Catholics, in forming their consciences, must choose between the guidance of the Holy Father and that of the dissenting theologians...
...If we do not make a clear choice we at least need some clarifications and distinctions...
...Beyond that, it is certainly true that 20,938 signatures together with the support of 756 American Roman Catholic theologians failed to induce a more favorable disposition in the Curran affair...
...It is essential to the church that all loyalty to human beings be qualified...
...For all his many virtues and accomplishments, the present pope is an ecclesiastical restorationist first and last...
...I must confess that as.I read his article I was personally convicted of pope-coping...
...And yet I have to admit that I think Shea is fundamentally correct...
...Perhaps there will be opportunities to register qualifications...
...As an Orthodox Christian, I had hoped that the development toward collegiality would continue to expand in the Western church, but sad to say it now appears to be going backward...
...Greece...
...Wright put my own positive convictions neatly...
...This contribution is not something so simplistic as a poll...
...Conjugal love, Pope Paul VI wrote, "is first of all truly human, that is to say, of the senses and of the spirit at the same time...
...Copyright © 1987 Commonweal Foundation...
...Shea likens the church to a family but fails to realize that no family can live in harmony without rules and, consequently, that all members of a family are not "simply brothers...
...Both sides must listen...
...Thomas Aquinas, who would not only "be a Catholic were he alive today" but would undoubtedly support Pope John Paul II, "We must abide rather by the pope's judgment than by the opinion of any of the theologians...
...Second, he puts into words not just the dilemma of many American Catholics, but also one of our deepest desires: we would love to be able to agree with the pope virtually right down the line...
...Doyle's comment reminds me of that leveled at American feminists, that they shouldn't campaign for "bourgeois equality" while children starve...
...I see no reason why Catholics should sit by while they do this or applaud while the imperial papacy is restored...
...Yet his article may also do some harm...
...Of course we must be discriminating, and I place a high value on freedom of communication and the duty to dissent publicly on significant issues, and do so even in my well-fed backyard, for I believe that our "deeper global problems" will not be faced or solved without them...
...I would not speak about our brother, the Holy Father, like that...
...1, 1924, to current issues available through University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 and on Microfiche from Bell & Howell, Wooster, Ohio 44691...
...I have some questions for Shea...
...Shea reminds me to pray more and love more...
...Salvation is everybody's business...
...But then he adds a prophetic sentence on how contraceptives turn women into sex objects and can lead to the destruction of a relationship: "It is also to be feared that the man growing used to the employment of anticonceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment and no longer as his respected and beloved companion...
...Does Shea take himself too seriously with his litany of injustices which, important though they may be, pale in comparison with some of the deeper, global problems with which we the church are faced...
...They patronize us, they disregard our Christian life and intentions, and they thereby demean and injure their offices in the church...
...They apparently do not want anyone arguing with them even in the most respectful and serious way...
...It is possible to honor the man's office and leadership while disagreeing vigorously with his policies, and I insist on the right of every Catholic to do so...
...Wright explicates so judiciously...
...Shea says "a large portion of the Catholic people will not take seriously a teaching on sexuality that has not taken seriously their experience and understanding...
...To paraphrase Cardinal Suenens, it may be of multiple significance that God gave us two ears but only one mouth...
...JEFFREY GORDON Riding the wave Dayton, Ohio To the Editors: I find myself in the uncomfortable position of hating to agree that Shea is right...
...WILLIAM M. SHEA 54: Commonweal...
...She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations...
...Sometimes 1 ride the wave of a healthy tension...
...Gordon points to qualifications on my loyalty to the pope...
...p. 37...
...Pope John's words opening Vatican II still seem apt: "Nowadays...the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of mercy rather than severity...
...Democracy should not be identified solely with a political movement or structure, for it has as well the profound moral meaning which Mr...
...It should be required reading for all clergy in all hierarchical churches...
...But for all Shea's comments and observations it comes down to what he perceives as "the Roman Catholic leadership's inability and unwillingness to get itself straight on sex...
...Serials Data program No.: ISSN 0010-3330...
...It was exciting and refreshing, and I feel if there is any hope for a future for Catholics it is in thinking such as his...
...and confrontation should be reserved to essentials, with due regard for the "hierarchy of truths...
...The church can never be a democracy, but Vatican II did introduce a notion of democratic participation in its emphasis on the part played by the People of God in ecclesial development...
...LAWRENCE H. GRADY Hesitant to confront Silver Spring, Md...
Vol. 114 • January 1987 • No. 2
