Correspondence
CORRESPONDENC On reading Bishop Flavin CONNORS, HOYT & THEIR CRITICS Flavin had it right Washington, D.C. To the Editors: Robert G. Hoyt ["The Catholic Conscience," February 14] and Rev....
...As epigraph for the earlier book, Wills chose a quote from Lord Acton: "Knowledge has a freedom in the Catholic church which you will find in no other religion, though there, as elsewhere, freedom degenerates unless it has to struggle in its own defense...
...I agree...
...But when many of my colleagues (I was then a diocesan editor) responded by more or less reading Bill Buckley out of the church, piling anathema upon angry anathema, I demurred: "We could stand a lot of silence from Buckley, but we don't want it forced on him...
...Again, I wonder whether all three received defective copies of that issue of Commonweal, containing only fragments of my article...
...In a pedantic sense, we should all speak only of acts that are intrinsically evil (disordered), and, in that sense, no act is intrinsically "sinful," if by that we mean individuals must always take account of sufficient knowledge and sufficient consent for purposes of subjective responsibility or imputability...
...Connors next criticizes the bishop for the expression "sinful practice...
...On the pastoral letter of Bishop Flavin, the subtitle reads, "Bishop Flavin Has It Wrong," and the author says the bishop "misrepresented" and "distorted" the official teaching of the church...
...Like Rev...
...In a missive that barely rises above sheer sarcasm, Hoyt generously concedes that one should take the pope (any pope) seriously, but "an honestly formed conscience is to be followed...
...He continues: "Christ...is still in the world today as he promised, teaching us through his church what we must believe and how we must live...
...Connors has it all wrong and that Bishop Flavin is right on target...
...They know, for example, that in the wake of Humanae vitae a number of national hierarchies issued statements explaining what Father Connors said in his article, what I said (though with less precision) in my column, and what Bishop Flavin failed to say in his pastoral...
...Pope John Paul II teaches (June 5, 1987 and March 14, 1988) that this is not a matter of "free discussion" among theologians and pastors, and that there are no exceptions to this teaching for a correct conscience (November 12, 1988...
...one can act (or not act) on a certain and erroneous conscience...
...For a more nuanced study of the interrelationship between freedom and authority, conscience and command in the Catholic church, I would recommend (to liberals and conservatives alike) a reading of Politics and Catholic Freedom (Regnery, 1964), which Garry Wills undertook in order to examine the deeper implications of the anti-Buckley crusade of the early '60s...
...Father Connors next asserts "legitimate theological dissent," as if naming it "legitimate" makes it legitimate...
...The author replies (I): Fragments...
...REV...
...The writer is special assistant with Human Life International...
...His deviation from that language led him to distort Catholic teaching in ways that could have a damaging impact on some conscientious Catholics...
...Finally, Monsignor Smith probably has it right about my use of sarcasm...
...According to Rev...
...Who's in charge here...
...Bishop Flavin, of course, has been mandated by Jesus Christ to "teach the Catholic faith that comes to us from the Apostles," "correcting, reproving, appealing, constantly teaching, and never losing patience" (2 Tim...
...The letters from Professor May, Monsignor Smith, and Father Habiger cause me to wonder whether they received the complete text of my response to Bishop Flavin's pastoral letter...
...That is Bishop Flavin's point, and that is no distortion...
...MATTHEW HABIGER, O.S.B...
...The point is that Catholic tradition recognizes a very important difference between the two...
...Conventional theology does address a "lack of internal assent," but the conversion of that negative into an alleged positive right to dissent is more often stated than demonstrated...
...As with Connors, so with Hoyt, no mention whether that conscience is correct or erroneous...
...Presumably May, Smith, and Habiger think it's dangerous to qualify the binding character of authentic magisterial teachings...
...In a related attack, Robert G. Hoyt dismisses not only Bishop Flavin but also Pope John Paul II...
...May and Smith want to assure us of what Bishop Flavin meant to say...
...This is the basic message of Bishop Flavin, and it needs to be heard...
...This reflects the fact that the moral life is not simply a matter of obedience to norms and laws, but involves conforming one's life to the truth that the intellect is able to comprehend...
...and (b) that everything I will say here has been said before, then rebutted, then reaffirmed, and so on, many times since 1968...
...Gaithersburg, Md...
...The unguided missile (autonomous conscience) is something Cardinal Newman described as a counterfeit, something eighteen prior centuries never heard of and could not mistake for it it is the "right" of self-will...
...To the Editors: I think it would be a good idea for Commonweal to publish the full text of Bishop Flavin's pastoral letter, the subject of Rev...
...The whole point and purpose of the bishop's pastoral teaching is to contribute to a correct formation of a correct Catholic conscience, entirely in accord with the Vatican II decree (Dignitatis humanae) to attend to the "certain and sacred doctrine of the church" in this serious matter...
...I think that Rev...
...Lastly, Connors criticizes the bishop for his "silence about the role of conscience formation...
...but I don't believe that all the teachings of all the pastors of the church are always "Spiritfilled," or that every word of every encyclical or papal allocution binds the consciences of all Catholics in every respect forevermore...
...Connors, Bishop Flavin "has it all wrong...
...Some Catholics, undoubtedly, practice contraception "in good faith," erroneously thinking it to be morally permissible...
...and the voice of his church is the successor of Peter, now Pope John Paul...
...I will be told that counting noses doesn't determine moral norms...
...A final comment...
...He did not give this mandate to a single theologian...
...Neither do Professor May, Monsignor Smith, and Father Habiger...
...There need not be a conflict between the theological tradition and the ordinary teaching magisterium...
...MONSIGNOR WILLIAM B. SMITH The writer is professor of moral theology at St...
...In the realm of formal moral teachings, it's hard to think of a subject taught (Continued on page 28) 2: 8 May 1992 Commonweal CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 2) with more authority: semper, ubique, ab omnibus...
...I disliked Garry Wills's wisecrack, and I detested National Review's editorial (which described the encyclical as a "venture in triviality...
...If there is, the benefit of the doubt goes to the latter...
...Lumen gentium and Dignitatis humanae would not support him...
...So Professor May is partly right...
...Connors and all instructed Catholics, Bishop Flavin realizes that no one is subjectively guilty of mortal sin unless one realizes that the action one chooses to do is gravely immoral and nevertheless freely chooses to do it...
...Yes, one can act on a certain conscience...
...The living tradition of the church is not to be identified with theology, theologians, and their schools of thought...
...For Connors, the church can insist upon teachings of faith, but she can only speculate about matters of morality...
...In the limited space allowed me, I wish to comment on the first of Connors's objections, and only parts of that...
...On conscience formation, my article recalled that Catholics are charged to "diligently attend to" the teachings of the church in order that "their hearts might be moved by gospel values and their minds informed by the Spirit-filled teachings of the church so that they can make reasonable and loving moral judgments and decisions...
...Hoyt and Connors remind me of William Buckley who, commenting on Pope John XXIII's teaching in Mater et magistra, said "Mater, sí, magistra, no...
...Serious studies (Ford, Grisez) argue by Vatican I and Vatican II criteria that this teaching enjoys the status of ordinary, universal, infallible teaching to be held by all...
...it does not include use of the calendar, the thermometer, or cervical litmus tests to determine the woman's periods of infertility, during which periods the sexual act is said to be "open to the transmission of life," even though, according to proponents of "natural" family planning, the latest research shows that couples are most unlikely to make any babies while using the method...
...I do the same in fundamental theology, as I'm sure Father Connors does...
...This episode has some current, personal relevance...
...The moral teachings of the church are not foreign intrusions to the conscience of the Catholic, who ought to be connaturally willing to shape his or her life in accordance with them...
...A copy of my full critique of Connors may be had upon request...
...If so, these lacks are shared by hundreds of millions of lay Catholics, tens of thousands of priests and religious, hundreds or (more likely) thousands of theologians and ethicists, and, one suspects, not a few bishops...
...My subject was not contraception but Bishop Flavin's wholly unnuanced use of authority, but I'm willing to change the subject, while noting (a) that Monsignor Smith's own letter says nothing about why contraception is to be condemned, beyond reminding us that Humanae vitae and Casti connubii condemn it...
...Christ ensured that the faithful would have access to good moral guidance through the magisterium...
...Some other Catholics, undoubtedly, have abortions in some trying circumstances in "good faith," while others, undoubtedly, do other things that are objectively immoral in "good faith...
...If the magisterium can clearly declare certain kinds of human acts to be immoral, evil, contrary to God, then this confines theological dissent...
...They need to be reminded that the church is our God-given guide to life with Christ...
...28: 8 May 1992 Commonweal The magisterium, or teaching authority of the church vested primarily in Peter, the Twelve, and their successors, teaches on behalf of Christ on matters of both faith and morals...
...or that I have not tried hard enough to form my conscience with limpid openness to the church's guidance...
...It was a consensus I shared, a liberal stance toward most social and economic questions...
...I criticized the witch-hunt against Buckley for the same reason that I criticized Bishop Flavin: because what Buckley's foes said then and Bishop Flavin's supporters are saying now leaves out of consideration the careful and time-honored restrictions the Catholic church places on the reach of its own authority...
...Connors charges that Bishop Flavin's expressions presume a "theology of revelation" that eliminates distinctions about the degrees of authority in church teaching and excludes the possibility of legitimate dissent...
...Neatly, Connors assigns no theological note and nowhere reveals just what degree of authority this particular teaching has...
...and National Review...
...I have suggested that the contribution of a bishop's pastoral letter on this topic ought not simply be an appeal to authority but should include an attempt to shed light on the reasonable nature of the teaching...
...I remain convinced that the bishop's letter distorts Catholic teaching on this important point...
...bishops, "Conscience and Truth" (February 1991, Dallas...
...But the "good faith" of such Catholics needs to be challenged...
...But there may be readers who have come late to this party...
...No one, neither Robert Hoyt nor John Paul II, is exempt from the truth, no matter how "honestly" they have formed some "dishonesty" in conscience...
...Artificial" includes use of condoms, anovulant pills, intrauterine devices...
...If Bishop Flavin had stayed with the language of "intrinsically evil" rather than "sinful" I would not have written my critique...
...and his later book, Confessions of a Conservative (Doubleday, 1979), which appeared after the publication of Humanae vitae...
...To borrow a word from Monsignor Smith, I find it "amazing" that an appeal to use the language of Paul VI to describe contraception constitutes dissent...
...A couple of years after the "Mater, se' imbroglio John Courtney Murray said of Pacem in terris some of what National Review had said of Mater et magistra...
...Both essays in your publication could be greatly enhanced by a careful study of Cardinal Ratzinger's presentation to our U.S...
...The living tradition contains all that Christ revealed to his church but was never recorded in the written Scriptures...
...The author replies (II): Professor May has it partly wrong in his recollection of that once-famous 1961 flap over William F. Buckley, Jr...
...The truth is that there is within the church a more than human teaching authority, and that Catholics understand this and its significance for their moral life...
...No one other than God, of course, can read the human heart, and Bishop Flavin is not seeking to do this...
...It is one thing to judge an action to be objectively immoral or wrong...
...He can accept, on the strength of divine revelation, that Jesus is the Son of God, but he cannot accept the church's authority to teach that contraception is "gravely immoral, intrinsically evil, and contrary to the law of nature and nature's God," to quote Flavin...
...Their concerns and charges seem based on bits and pieces of what I wrote...
...On the official and normative teaching of the church, quite clearly the bishop has it right and distorts nothing...
...Russell B. Connors's criticism, to allow readers to see what the bishop was actually saying...
...To my knowlege, there is no sacred source to ground theological dissent...
...New moral questions emerge which demand an answer...
...WILLIAM E. MAY The writer is Michael J. McGivney professor of moral theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, Washington, D.C...
...it is quite another to judge persons to be personally, subjectively sinful, so much so that their participation in the Eucharist would be sacrilegious...
...To the Editors: Russell B. Connors's article is nothing less than amazing...
...But his point is that contraception is gravely immoral, and that Catholics ought to realize that it is...
...Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie...
...Connors thinks he has been mandated, by his degree from the Alfonsiana, to "explore and explain our theological tradition...
...4:2...
...no mention of the prior and primary responsibility to form a correct Catholic conscience...
...This, of course, is why we teach "fundamentals" in fundamental moral theology— one reason being, we don't then have to repeat every presumption in every chapter, on every subject in every talk or article...
...Moreover, as the Fathers of Vatican Council II remind us, "in questions of birth regulation, the children of the church...are forbidden to use methods disapproved of by the teaching authority of the church in its interpretation of the divine law" (Gaudium et spes, n. 51...
...Flavin teaches that Christ founded his church as the means "through which he would continue to teach and guide and sanctify mankind until the end of the world...
...From my limited knowledge of Bishop Flavin I can assure Connors that the bishop faithfully and fully accepts and teaches all the fundamentals of received Catholic moral teaching...
...Paul VI argued that anyone (Catholic or otherwise) who respects the natural law and studies the realities of gendered human nature will be able to see that using contraceptives divorces the unitive aspect of intercourse from its procreative aspect and thereby frustrates nature...
...Connors seems to accept the formal teaching that artificial contraception is "intrinsically evil" (the term is from Humanae vitae and Casti connubii before it...
...In any case, I believe I have done none of those things...
...The outcry against him, I said, confirmed the fear that "the American Catholic consensus is hardening into a party line that won't admit of argumentation, or strong differences of opinion...
...That does not sound to me like encouraging the faithful to reject Catholic teaching...
...Apparently what we do is not as important as what we believe...
...They ought to realize that it is because the church, which speaks with a more than human authority, has always, in its teaching, judged that contraception is gravely immoral...
...He is stunningly silent about the extensive and repeated teachings of John Paul II on this subject, but that, of course, would not help his broadside...
...Is it possible to miss so magnificently the bishop's obvious point...
...My critique of Bishop Commonweal 8 May 1992: 29 Flavin's letter has caused Monsignor Smith to label me one of those "nuanced dissenters...
...Amazing...
...That study has nowhere been refuted, only ignored...
...This could mean that I lack either the brains or the spiritual discernment to grasp what the pope called the "deeply reasonable" character of his argument...
...Similarly, their interpretations of the bishop's letter seem based only on parts of the letter rather than the full text...
...I said in my column that being Catholic entails being seriously and respectfully attentive to the pope...
...We have no other, no better...
...Russell B. Connors, Jr., ["The Church's Teaching," March 13] have taken Bishop Glennon Flavin of Lincoln, Nebraska [now retired] to task for a pastoral letter in which he said that Catholic physicians who prescribe contraceptives and Catholic couples who use them are engaging in seriously immoral actions and "may not receive holy Communion without committing sacrilege...
...Connors objects that this does not represent traditional Catholic teaching...
...I think Father Habiger would like to charge me with something worse...
...As with most nuanced dissenters, instead of arguing the merits or demerits of contraception, they change the subject to something else—usually questions of authority and conscience formation...
...I think it's dangerous not to do so, when the qualifications derive from equally authentic, centuries-old, and deeply Catholic traditions...
...Connors has three main objections...
...but Murray's comments appeared in America, a chief Buckley-basher, and he spoke in kinder, 30: 8 May 1992 Commonweal gentler terms, so that he remained in good standing with Catholic liberals...
...We know there is no conflict between divine revelation and the living tradition...
...Connors 'amazing' Yonkers, N.Y...
...Of course, if a teaching one disagrees with can be shown to belong to a lower level of teaching authority, then it can be effectively dismissed...
...That, in fact, is the whole point of NFP...
...First, the pastoral letter I read referred to the practice of contraception and physicians' cooperation with it not only as "intrinsically evil" or "gravely immoral," but as "gravely sinful" or simply "a grave sin...
...Let me offer these responses...
...Connors, like many other moralists today, can accept broad and vague moral principles which really do not touch us, but they are reluctant to endorse more specific moral norms like "contraception is always wrong...
...I have always said that what the encyclical says may be true but that I can't see it...
...When I first read Mater et magistra I practically swooned with joy...
...in short, that a couple's purpose in preventing conception is more important than the mechanics of the act...
...Second, in different ways, Professor May, Monsignor Smith, and Father Habiger express grave concerns that I have denied the teaching authority of the church, trivialized the authoritative status of the teaching in Humanae vitae, or even encouraged Catholics to reject the teaching...
...In sacred theology, it helps a great deal to locate something in one of the sacred sources: Scripture, tradition, and magisterium...
...RUSSELL B. CONNORS, JR...
...Surely, it is a subject much discussed and the degree of authority does not derive from a single mention in Humanae vitae but from a "constant doctrine" (HV, 11) before and since...
...Your authors may not like what Bishop Flavin, Cardinal Ratzinger, and Pope John Paul II teach, but please, spare us the pain and arrogance of saying they misrepresent or distort official church teaching, or that they have it wrong...
...therefore no couple should make love while using artificial means to avoid making a baby...
...Requests for his full text may be sent to him at 7845 Airpark Road, Suite E, Gaithersburg, MD 20879...
...Connors's more fundamental problem is that he does not think that the church's authority to teach the mind of God applies equally to matters of faith and morals...
...But Connors's view suggests that theologians sit in judgment on the magisterium, and that they will determine for the faithful whether papal teaching should be followed, or safely ignored because it lacks a sufficient level of authority or sufficiently compelling reasons...
...What I wrote points out that Humanae vitae's teaching about contraception is based fundamentally on the natural law, and therefore the "deeply reasonable" nature of the teaching should be accessible to all...
...He thinks that Humanae vitae was not proposed infallibly, is still debatable as to its being divinely revealed and obligatory, and that moralists can safely encourage Catholics to reject it, after thoughtful consideration...
...My critique concerns what he did say...
...In promoting our views on such issues and in debates with Buckley and his ilk, we American Catholic liberals made liberal use of the authority of Pius XII and John XXIII (both considerably to the left of the American mainstream)—sometimes exaggerating that authority to the point of contributing to what liberals now call "creeping infallibilism...
...But, as the pope teaches, no conscience, including his, is autonomous...
...Much of it had to do with a snippet that appeared in the magazine shortly after the publication of Pope John XXIII's first encyclical: "Going the rounds in Catholic conservative circles: 'Mater sí, Magistra, no.'" The sentence—a take-off on Fidel Castro's then-current slogan, "Cuba sí, Yanqui, no"—was crafted not by Buckley but by Garry Wills, who intended it not as a manifesto but as a wisecrack (one he later confessed was too flippant, therefore ill-advised...
...This is the traditional understanding of the church...
...The first is the source and authority of the church's moral teachings...
...In fact, my critique was that the bishop should have stayed with the categories and language of Paul VI in describing contraception...
...It seems to me obvious that both "artificial" and "natural" methods can be used by couples with a "contraceptive mentality" (antibaby, anti life, self-pandering) or by couples who want to solidify their marriages, to forge union, literally to "make love" at times or in circumstances when pregnancy would be medically dangerous or otherwise seriously disruptive...
...Monsignor Smith takes aim at "nuanced dissenters" who won't argue the merits or demerits of contraception but change the subject to questions of authority and conscience formation...
...ROBERT G. HOYT Commonweal 8 May 1992: 31...
...He thinks Flavin disregards distinctions among degrees of authority in Catholic teachings...
...It is worth noting that May and Smith—both experienced teachers of theology— avoid these latter terms to describe contraception, as does official Catholic teaching from Humanae vitae forward...
Vol. 119 • May 1992 • No. 9
