Correspondence

...According to Coleman, neither the pope nor Cardinal Ratzinger is an "integralist," but both "often play, wittingly or not, into the integralists' hands...

...While Coleman is to be congratulated for his clear explanation of the threat that integralism poses for our ecclesial life, the necessary remedy will not be "a new, good Benedict XV to warn us again of its dangers and to call a halt to its insidious growth...

...His reasoning seems to be that some Catholics are fundamentalists because they are "integral-ists...

...Father Coleman doesn't like inter alia Opus Dei, Catholics United for the Faith, anti-Communism, The Wandere r,etc., etc...

...Moreover, they bypass the ecclesial rule of Matthew 18: 15-18 which demands that we confront each other directly in charity before going to the whole church (or to the Vatican with denunciations...

...JOHN A. COLEMAN...

...As "substantiation" he quotes an editorial in the London Tablet which asserts that remarks by the pope "could be used to put every kind of teaching on the same level," and refers to "the extreme claims made by John Paul II for the papal teaching authority...

...Crumlish's letter underscores a point in my article...

...Cameron...

...Although Coleman claims to distinguish between fundamentalists and "genuine conservatives," of whom he speaks with approval, he offers no concrete examples of the latten and, as "evidence" of the Wanderer Forum's "integralism" he cites its support for the Nicaraguan con-tras and for a "pro-market economy and conservative politics and politicians...

...The magis-terium is normata...

...This breaks down the needed atmosphere of mutual trust in the church...

...Clearly, Coleman disapproves of such activities, but he fails to explain how they justify labeling CUF "integralist...

...She should seek out in L'Osservatore Romano the papal speeches for October 15 and November 12, 1988...

...Similarly, many clergy...

...MARY M. ASH The author replies: Mary Ash wonders "which remarks" of the pope tend to put every kind of teaching on the same level...

...Ironically he even takes a swipe at the use of terms that were not "value neutral...

...2) Human experience ("I'll match mine against yours any day...

...Laity, too, need to be convinced of this, for after all, it is only from the laity that the ordained come...

...A social science perspective would show Catholic integralism to be linked to that ongoing struggle for position and power that is intrinsic to societies wherein divisions like that of lay/clergy exist...

...Ignatius of Loyola, learned a lesson from his mishandling by the Inquisition...

...To the Editors: I found John Coleman's recent article ["Who are the Catholic "Fundamentalists...

...Father Coleman defends modernism and definitely does not like integralism particularly because of what those integralists did to the modernists in times past...

...What is wanted above all is an account of Christian reality that presents a comprehensive, meaning-filled alternative to those materialist, consumerist views pressed on us by contemporary American culture...

...With teachers like these, no wonder the church is in trouble...

...For, despite the fact that this is a matter of faith, there has hardly been a thorough or continuing catechetical effort on the subject of the infallibility of the church...

...Integralists appear to be groups he dislikes, or at least doesn't agree with, whether they are within the fold or (like Lefebvre 's followers) outside...

...Neo-integralist groups such as Catholics United for the Faith start with suspicion...

...Namecalling may be fun but what good comes of a pastiche painted by an artist gone berserk instead of presentation of a coherent whole picture...

...Father Coleman likes "democratic voluntarism" ("a thousand points of light...

...It is such bypassing of ordinary ecclesial charity that leads me to label CUF as integralist...

...And while I think he has done an exceptional job, he has overlooked the distinction so fundamental to and so determinative of Catholic church life: the division of the church into clergy and lay...

...According to Coleman, "papal fundamentalism" or "integralism" denies that there is a "hierarchy of truths even among doctrines" and "makes all statements of the pope and curia equivalently infallible...

...We start with and presuppose trust in one another...

...Neither have laity been reticent to use clergy to achieve their own specific purposes...

...For example, Catholics United for the Faith is identified as a "major actor" in the conflict between Rome and Archbishop Hunthausen, and is said to engage in "extensive correspondence with Vatican offices" regarding sermons, theologians, liturgical practices, and other details of church life...

...To the Editors: John A. Coleman's piece seems brilliantly confused...

...History shows that, from time to time, clergy have not been above manipulating laity to secure their own advantage....I would argue that "creeping infallibilism" has been made possible in large part by the failure of the hierarchy not only to make it absolutely clear to the lay members of the church that there are indeed prescribed boundaries and limits to papal and episcopal infallibility, but more importantly, a failure to spell out precisely what these limits are...

...The truth is, most laity-and rightfully so-earnestly wish for a synthetic vision of Catholic life, especially one capable of positing religious meaning for their everyday life in the world...

...JOSEPH D. CRUMLISH Claims & tactics Stanford, Calif...

...Innuendo and ad hominem attacks as substitutes for reasoned argument have grown increasingly common in the secular liberal academy, and it's distressing to see such tactics employed by a professor at a Jesuit School of Theology...

...In the last paragraph of his letter, Joseph Crumlish discounts appeals to warrants based on human experience (thus, seemingly, throwing away a traditional Catholic-and magisterial-reliance on natural law) and recourse to the sensus fidelium (enshrined in one of the oldest Catholic theological formulas, lexorandi, lex credendi i.e., we test our doctrine against the spiritual experience and practice of our people...

...Bureaucratic insurgency," "a highly polemical form of discourse," and spying are part of their "reign of terror...

...Identification and resolution of integralism's causes then is indispensable if laity and clergy are to engage in the collaborative task of evangelizing the modern world...

...He also belittles the received Catholic view of Scripture as a norm for the church, itself above all other norms (norma normans non normata was the classic way of putting it...

...GEORGIA MASTERS KEIGHTLEY Brilliant confusion Washington, D.C...

...C ontinued on page 253) CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 226) And he apparently abhors reliance on the magtsterium...

...and (3) Sensus fidelium ("My sensus is as good as yours...

...Furthermore, they should engender skepticism about the validity of Coleman's position...

...Among genuine conservatives whom I admire or respect I would cite, for starters, Archbishop John R. Quinn and-among Catholic intellectuals-Toronto's J.M...

...i.e., under the norm of Scripture...

...S.J...

...this has also been done in deliberate awareness that causes having the affection and commitment of the clergy stand a far better chance of winning acceptance, both within the church and without...

...Although he views its "insidious growth" with alarm, he offers no evidence that such views are held by any significant number of Catholics or even by the handful of groups he labels "integralist...

...Whatever happened to the Jesuits' insistence on defining one's terms...

...Thus, he stipulated as a presupposition formaking the spiritual exercises that we should be prepared, when faced with an expression of faith that puzzles us or which we suspect may not be totally orthodox, to put, as a first move, the best interpretation on it, unless we are absolutely compelled to do otherwise...

...Richard McBrien, and "progressive Catholics" (including Charles Curran...

...need to be reassured and convinced anew that their unique charism is truly indispensable to the church's life and mission...

...Within the body of the hierarchy itself is sharp disagreement over the proper reaches of papal, episcopal, and curial authority...

...The founder of my religious order, St...

...By allowing a climate of confusion and misunderstanding to prevail among the laity, it is easy for church officials to claim an authority for their teaching (even if only implicitly) that such may not warrant...

...Laity have not only sought official church support in order to cloak with the aura of the divine what are public, political, and social agendas...

...Ash may think talk of "papal fundamentalism" an invention of progressives...

...To the Editors: John Coleman's article on "papal fundamentalism" lends credence to the charge that it's an invention of progressives/liberals to justify their own disagreements with the Vatican while discrediting their theological and political opponents...

...Instead of pasting people with pejorative labels, wouldn't it have been clearer to compare the activities of each so-called integralist group with his definition of the term...

...Don't trust self-proclaimed traditionalists who truncate the tradition to the years 1870-1958...

...Nothing I've written in recent years has brought to my door so many notes of thanks from Catholic university presidents, bishops, clergy, and laity in this country and abroad...

...Which "remarks" and which "claims" aren't specified...

...January 27] to be both provocative and insightful...

...Evidently lots of folks out there think papal fundamentalism is, indeed, a real problem for our church...

...Instead he calls for reliance on the magisterium balanced by three other sources of authority (and confusion for the faithful): (1) Scripture (as if it did not come to us from the magisterium, its consistently correct interpreter...

...and even if they fail to fit the integralist definition and refuse to accept the integralist label...

...My main objection to Catholic neo-integralist groups (besides the obvious fact that they truncate our rich, many-sided Catholic tradition) is their failure in charity...

...Coleman himself cites several examples of this....Movements like Opus Dei, Cornmuniono e Liberation, and CUF could not exist if they did not have a solid measure of lay commit-tnent and impressive financial support, the one ecclesial resource on which the lay church does hold the upper hand...

...Archbishop Hunthausen, Rev...