A Parish Dismissal
O'Brien, Dennis
of my fellow Christians who defend just wars. But in the end, none of these arguments convinces me. How could they when, as a Christian, I believe in a God who chooses to suffer violence on...
...Both are individuals of real stature and moral sensitivity...
...The bishop of Rochester...
...Early on, Corpus Christi became known as the church from which to bury victims of AIDS...
...Yes, but if individuals consciously reject any authority in the utterance which consecrates, it is not clear whether it is gracious or demeaning to invite them to partake of the central Christian sacrament...
...A performative utterance doesn't describe, it does something...
...The local bishop may be placed in an impossible middle between an exaggerated papalism and whatever local "prophetism" may arise...
...I certainly look forward to the day when women wear the stole in full grace and communion...
...How could they when, as a Christian, I believe in a God who chooses to suffer violence on the Cross rather than to sponsor it...
...Or is it a symbolic recognition beyond all authority, like our recognition that the Don is truly noble in his very madness...
...It is because of ambiguity that local enthusiasms need to enter the larger dialogue of a universal, historically developed church...
...But for the time being one may have to draw a line between convinced parish practice, mere symbol, political theater, and potential travesty...
...In Corpus Christi Parish there does exist a community which grants an "authority" to Ramerman's stole...
...There is no simple explanation of how performative gestures take hold...
...As for ecumenical outreach, Bishop Clark has established a covenant relation with the Episcopal church, and a formal agreement with the Jewish community to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism as well as to share resources on mutual social concerns...
...Commonweal 9 September25,1998...
...It may be that CaUan's gestures are genuinely prophetic and will eventually gain standing in the wider church...
...That the story is more complex may be illustrated from the fact that Michael Mascaluso, leader of the conservative Catholic Citizens for a Decent Community, has also sided with Callan...
...Over and over Christ commands us to love each other as he has loved us, to take up our cross and forgive rather than do harm to our neighbor...
...Don Quixote, wishing to be knighted, seeks the ministration of the local tavern keeper...
...About half the "parishioners" are non-Catholics...
...So what was Callan doing that could result in "firing'7"reassignment...
...Establishing a whole range of vigorous ministries to the poor, prisoners, refugees, the homeless, the parish went on to welcome all manner of the "marginalized": alienated youth, the physically or mentally handicapped, then, of course, women and gays who had many reasons to think of themselves as "marginalized" by official decree and dogma...
...In an op-ed piece in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (August 18), Callan cited the reasons for his dismissal: his ministry to women, Protestants, and gays...
...Jim presided and he consecrated...
...Much as I admire Callan and the community of Corpus Christi, I believe that there has not always been sufficient sensitivity to the ambiguity from sacrament to travesty...
...The pope, the solo royal "we...
...After first suspending him from priestly duties, then Bishop Joseph Hogan finally assigned him as assistant to the dying urban parish of Corpus Christi where the pastor was in failing health...
...Society and institutions may change, but as of this moment, a "gay marriage" can only be a political statement, not a reality...
...Is not everyone invited to Christ's table...
...Start with the parish...
...Evidently Jews, non-Christians, and nonbelievers were invited to Communion...
...At Corpus Christi, the parish associate, Mary Ramerman, assists at the Eucharist in vestments and all Christians are welcomed to the Communion table...
...The service was packed to overflowing, the bishop was applauded for his sermon-but he was greeted as he left the cathedral by Masculuso and his group protesting the apparent condoning of serious sin...
...On August 15, 1998, the pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Rochester, Father James Callan, announced at the Saturday evening Mass that, at the insistence of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he had been "fired" from the position he had held for twenty-two years...
...I am convinced by the thinkers who affirm that Christians must not go to war and must eschew all violence...
...But which "We" is the church...
...The meek will inherit the earth--if proud warriors don't destroy it first...
...Mass at Corpus Christi was a happening: a rousing gospel choir with a splendid black leader at the piano, a kiss of peace that was a universal hug-in lasting Commonweal 8 September25,1998 for ten minutes or more...
...says the accommodating barkeep--but, alas, no knighting is actually accomplished...
...Mascaluso believes that Callan is a mere scapegoat...
...Beyond these facts, it has been suggested, without clear corroboration, that Callan officiated at gay marriages...
...There have been communications from Cardinal Ratzinger's office about Corpus Christi, but it seems clear that no directive was issued against Callan...
...Whenever we had nonCatholic friends visiting--or when we wanted to prove to our own children that church need not be deadly dull --we went to Corpus...
...The basic issue in Rochester may well be the authority of local bishops...
...The national bishops' conference...
...The bishop is the designated mediator of that dialogue...
...Does wearing the stole convey any real authority...
...The end result is an enthusiastic parish which has grown from 200 to 4,000 devoted parishioners, a parish which has rallied to Callan's side in the current crisis, demanding his reinstatement...
...To Mascaluso, it is the bishop who has been too forthcoming in his ministry to women, gays, and Protestants...
...Dennis O'Brien, president emeritus of the University of Rochester, is the author of All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education (University of Chicago Press...
...that Mary Ramerman in vestments also raised her hand to accompany the lifting of the chalice seemed a sign of openness...
...During our time in Rochester, Corpus Christi was certainly our favorite place of worship...
...The issue at hand is one of fundamental ecclesiology...
...So-called good violence is losing its moral authority and can hardly remain firmly differentiated from bad violence...
...Twenty-two years ago Jim Callan had refused to accept the "luxury" of living in a parish house...
...The words of consecration are what the philosophers call a "performative" utterance...
...Shortly after coming to Rochester, Clark issued an extended and sensitive pastoral letter, "Fire in the Thornbush," on the problems experienced by women in the church...
...Jim Callan may be the best Mass presider I have ever experienced...
...I am also increasingly convinced that choosing violent measures too often produces "chain reactions of uncontrollable violence...
...The parish in its protest has received support from "We Are the Church" in Europe...
...True in Rochester as in Rome...
...The present-day diocese of Rochester seems to be playing out yet another "departure from Rome...
...Contrary to Callan's claim, Matthew Clark, the bishop of Rochester, has stated unequivocally that Callan's "reassignment" was his (Bishop Clark's) decision alone...
...Only "truthforce" (to use Gandhi's word) and good will toward opponents can end destructive cycles of hate...
...For performatives to perform, there has to be some established community that gives standing, authority to the utterance...
...Where is the church...
...Eucharist to all...
...I didn't exactly notice the stole...
...He has been quoted in the past as saying that he would gladly ordain women if that were permitted...
...Karl Rahner acknowledged the "anonymous Christian...
...The pope in council...
...The law recognizes no such thing as gay marriages, so whatever the words uttered and worthy sentiments expressed, there just is no marriage...
...If I say "I promise," I have done it--I have promised...
...He had a way of speaking the liturgy which communicated to the congregation as a parent at a Thanksgiving feast might recall some special, happy memory...
...Similar considerations would apply to Mary Ramerman's stole...
...In November 1997, Bishop Clark held a special service for gays, lesbians, and their parents at the cathedral...
...Corpus Christi...
...Is it an empty gesture like the sadly comic knighting of Quixote...
...Dennis O'Brien A PARISH DISMISSAL Tough decisions in Rochester // ~ t may be symbolic that Bernard McQuaid, the crusty nineteenth-century bishop of Rochester, New York, departed the First Vatican Council before the vote on papal infallibility (July 18, 1870...
...Take the Eucharist: The priest pronounces the words of consecration which proclaim the bread and wine as Christ...
...Mary Ramerman's vestments included a stole, the official mark of ecclesiastical offices not open to women...
...In his book, Can't Hold Back the Spring: The Blossoming of Corpus Christi Church (Mercury Print Productions, 1997), Callan recounts the resurrection of Corpus...
...To be sure, the Roman Catholic idea of church is Roman, but it would be well to emphasize that it is to the bishop of Rome that one grants peculiar authority--and well before Leo I's "ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia," Ignatius of Antioch proclaimed "ubi episcopus, ibi ecclesia...
...However, the current trend in Rome toward a centralizing judicial orthodoxy tends to undercut local episcopal authority-and creates as backlash the sort of isolating opposition being expressed by some at Corpus Christi...
...In the Callan situation, if in fact there were "gay marriages" performed, these would be as empty as the Don's claim to knighthood...
...But is Corpus Christi the church...
...Reaction in Rochester has been almost universally proCallan, who is viewed as the victim of narrow-minded authoritarianism...
...The question requires understanding church doing...
...I dub thee 'Knight of the Woeful Countenance...
...Bishop Clark, a remarkably warm and pastoral figure, both for his diocese and his priests, has supported Callan for many years while urging him to shape his ministry in ways that would not divorce it from the larger life of the church...
...It is not the words alone that do the deed--that would be magic...
...Papalists and prophets, being stubbornly certain of the mind of the church, always find it difficult to dialogue and compromise...
...Having lived in Rochester for ten years, I know both Bishop Clark and Father Callan...
...We must overcome evil by good and struggle for justice only by nonviolent means...
...Despite what the generals would have us believe, only those willing to suffer and struggle nonviolently can save civilization...
...the real sinner is Bishop Clark, whose removal from the diocese has been a focus of Mascaluso's repeated petitions to Rome...
Vol. 125 • September 1998 • No. 16
