The Church admits its mistakes

'The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation.'—Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini



Carlo Maria Martini, SJ
(15 February 1927 - 31 August 2012)

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, 85, died Friday and his interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera was published the next day. In the interview, Martini urged the church to enact radical changes. He lambasted the church for being “tired as our culture has aged and is at least 200 years behind.  Our churches are big and empty while our rituals and our cassocks are pompous. So why doesn't it rouse itself? Is it afraid?".

Martini also emphasized that “The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops. The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation."

Once the archbishop of Milan, the Cardinal had been tipped as a possible future pope. During his time leading the largest diocese in Europe, he was outspoken and often critical in his remarks and writings about the church. Martini retired in 2002, suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

His criticism of the church covered a wide area and frequently came into direct conflict with  church governance and its doctrine.

For example he called for greater collegiality in the governance of the Church and urged continued reflection on the structure and exercise of ecclesiastical authority. He demonstrated a desire for further theological enquiry on issues relating to human sexuality and the role of women in the Church. He expressed support for the ordination of female deacons.

In a September 2004 message to a symposium on the Holy Land and interreligious dialogue, the cardinal wrote that Christians who visit Jerusalem should suspend judgment on the political situation there and simply pray for both sides. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict had become so complicated and painful that even an expert would have trouble sorting it out, he said.

In a November 2004 speech at Rome's Gregorian University, he told Catholics they could not understand their faith unless they understood the Jewish faith practiced by Jesus and his disciples.

 

In March 2007 he openly criticised the attitude of the Church authorities, while speaking at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to a congregation of over 1,300 visitors, he remarked that "The Church does not give orders." Martini stated that "It is necessary to listen to others, and when speaking to use terms that they understand."

In his book Credere e conoscere, published shortly before his death, Martini set out his disagreement with the Catholic teaching against homosexual civil unions. “I disagree with the positions of those in the Church, that take issue with civil unions”, he wrote. “It is not bad, instead of casual sex between men, that two people have a certain stability” and that the “state could recognize them.” Although he stated his belief that "the homosexual couple, as such, can never be totally equated to a marriage" he also said that he could understand (although not necessarily approve) of gay pride parades when they support the need for self-affirmation.

The cardinal also said the reformed liturgy that came out of the Second Vatican Council marked "a real step forward" in nourishing Catholics "with the word of God, offered in a much more abundant way than before," with a much larger selection of Scripture readings.

In 2007, in a letter to an Italian newspaper, Cardinal Martini expressed qualified support for a patient’s right to die, urging the Vatican to honor the requests of terminally ill patients who ask “in all lucidity” for life-prolonging treatments to be withdrawn.

In a 2008 book-length interview titled "Nighttime Conversations in Jerusalem," Cardinal Martini said Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae" ("Of Human Life"), which taught that artificial birth control was morally wrong, led many Catholics to distance themselves from the church and from listening to and being challenged by the Catholic vision of human sexuality.

To think I had never before heard about this incredibly courageous individual before?       

War on Catholics

The Catholic Church or at least the Catholic bishops in both Canada and the US are  on the defensive mode.   The Ontario Bishops are fighting a desperate battle to defend their position on GSA’s while the American bishops, acting as Republican pawns, are trying to unbalance Obama’s attempt to provide for a nation-wide public health plan.  What are Catholics to make of all this?  In this day of Robo Calls, information overload and dirty politics it is easy to become confused about many of the issues presented as fact or truth.

For Catholics and other Christian believers it is important to stay grounded in Gospel values and take personal responsibility to discern the voice of the God within and in others. Remember the bishops have been wrong before but are sworn to uphold Church teachings and therefore more likely to be influenced externally and risk challenging dogma and doctrine.  Hence the Vatican’s current strong commitment to oppose the primacy of individual conscience over Church teaching.

One of the voices I have come to respect a great deal is that of Professor Daniel Maguire. His view of the U.S. bishops’ current position regarding Obama’s plan to introduce a national health plan will help Catholics understand who’s wrong in this war on Catholics.    

 Who’s Wrong in ‘War on Catholics’?

February 7, 2012

Exclusive: GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich claims President Obama has declared “war on the Catholic Church” with a ruling that contraception must be included in health plans for employees of church-led institutions, but Catholic moral theologian Daniel C. Maguire says it is the U.S. bishops (and Gingrich) who are wrong.

By Daniel C. Maguire

The decision of the Obama administration to ensure health care coverage including contraception in Catholic institutions has enraged American bishops who lobbied hard against it. The bishops claim their religious freedom is violated by this ruling, but the bishops are wrong and out of the mainstream of Catholic teaching, including the teaching of bishops in other parts of the Catholic world.

A number of bishops, including Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa, have spoken strongly on the need for condoms, especially in areas ravaged by sexually transmitted diseases. The U.S. bishops are even at odds with the pope who approves the use of condoms “where the intention is to reduce the risk of infection.”

The papal change on condoms effectively ended the taboo on condoms since it says that health concerns may require their use, and there are many health concerns aside from HIV/AIDS. The nonpartisan and well-respected Institute of Medicine, on which the Obama administration relied, says contraceptives can be used to treat reduce the risk of endometrial cancer and pelvic inflammatory disease and other diseases mainly affecting women.

Also use of contraception is linked to the decline in infant death. Obviously contraception limits the number of abortions since it prevents unwanted pregnancies.

But the American bishops say the administration’s decision on Jan. 20 was a case of religious freedom. In that, they are right but not in the way they intend it. The bishops are claiming the religious freedom to violate the religious freedom of those who are employed in their institutions or who are served in their tax-supported hospitals. By denying contraception as part of employee health plans, what the bishops seek is more like religious fascism than religious freedom.

Furthermore, traditional Catholic teaching rests on a tripod, including the hierarchy, the theologians and the sensus fidelium, the experience-fed wisdom of the laity. These three sources of teaching are, as Cardinal Avery Dulles said, “complementary and mutually corrective.” An accurate look at Catholic teaching on contraception today shows strong support for the position that contraception is not only permissible but even mandatory in many cases.

Catholic theologians overwhelmingly support contraception. Dozens of Catholic hospitals and universities cover prescribed contraceptives. Ninety-eight percent of Catholic women have used contraceptives. Only 2 percent of Catholic women use the “rhythm method” of birth control favored by conservative Catholics.

Therefore the decision of the Obama administration, rather than threatening Catholic teaching on contraception, is actually more attuned to actual Catholic teaching than are the American Catholic bishops with their idiosyncratic taboo on contraception.

Daniel C. Maguire is a Professor of Moral Theology at Marquette University, a Catholic, Jesuit institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is author of A Moral Creed for All Christians.

the culture that allows sex abuse to happen

There have been numerous occasions throughout this blog that I have spoken out about the Catholic Church’s struggle with the ongoing sexual abuse crisis, as well as its growing militant attitude on abortions and other areas of human sexuality such as homosexuality, celibacy, condoms masturbation, same-sex marriage, partcularly when they are expressed in absolute terms.

Why does a religion remain so fearful about a gift from God when those sexual abuse issues are clearly threatening to destroy the very fabric of the institution?  THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD. When will the hierarchy finally accept its duplicity in creating a culture that allowed the sexual abuse to bring so much pain and suffering in the world? THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD. Why does the church still remain in denial? THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD.  Considering the recent advances to help us break through a better understanding of human behaviour why does our Church still rely on theological definitions established by St. Augustine in the fourth century A.D.- especially in light of his own struggle with sexuality.  The Church continues to uphold its traditions as unchangeable and from an exclusive patriarchal point of view.  God, on the other hand moves with us through time, even though his unconditional love for humankind remains unchanged. God meets us where we are – not where others would have us be. Does the Church truly believe that God does not play a role in the discoveries in science and human understanding?  Surely, the revelations made known by individuals such as Galileo made this all too painfully clear? THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD.

Most religions today, particularly those with a fundamentalist background, appear unable or unwilling to accept change and will quickly condemn anyone with different views. Christians do well to recall the price Jesus paid for attempting to introduce change in his community.

There are a few people who have the strength and courage to challenge our beliefs and understandings.  This week one such person spoke up at a gathering on April 4 at Marquette University Law School, Milwaukee - his name is Archbishop  Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland.  Here follows his complete address as it appears on the Archdiocese of Dublin website.  A condensed version is also  available on the National Catholic Reporters website of April 5th.      For full video of Martin's talk, visit the page on the Marquette University Web site.  The two day conference took place under the banner 'Restorative Justice Initiative' includes many speakers, including several victims of sexual abuse as well as Archbishop Martin.  

Having read and watched significant portions of this debate I am encouraged by the positive approach to this crisis which continues to impact our society at large. THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE TOLD.

Pope Benedict XVI on condoms

The Holy See Press Office issued a statement Nov. 21 in response to wide international coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's comments on condoms in a new book-length interview with the German journalist Peter Seewald.

The Pope’s remark has opened a crack in the Church's ban on contraception because of the aids epidemic, particularly in Africa. Catholic moral theologians have been discussing for years the theory of what the Pope has now openly expressed in terms of accepting the lesser of two evils. This marks a major shift in Vatican attitudes, if not in the formal teaching of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI said the use of condoms might be justified in exceptional circumstances. He gave the example of male prostitutes using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS which could be seen as an act of moral responsibility, even though condoms were "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. It was only a year ago (2009), while visiting Cameroon, that Pope Benedict XVI said that handing out condoms might actually make HIV infection worse.

The Pope's response reversing the Church's teaching on the use of condoms was most unfortunate - but reminiscent of several comments in the past made in the same vain. In trying to avoid saying,'we made a mistake' he wanted to reflect on what other more compassionate theologians have been saying for years. "the use of condoms is permitted for the prevention of AID's as the lesser of two evils. In other words how many children can we allow to die or become orphaned as their mother passes on the AID's virus and dies before the child(ren) reach the age of independence?

A spokesman speaking on behalf of ‘Catholic Voices’ suggested that this was the first time the Pope had voiced such a contrary opinion on condoms. Still other groups now believe what while this is only a small concession it could easily become a collapse in the whole edifice of Catholic teaching on contraception.

Meanwhile Vatican officials are scrambling to play down the Pope’s comments in the light of established Church teaching prohibiting the use of condoms under any circumstances. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, for example, quickly suggested “the Pope was speaking about "an exceptional situation and is not reforming or changing the teaching of the church, but reaffirming it by placing it in the context of the value and the dignity of human sexuality as an expression of love and responsibility.” Such language, true to Vatican form, almost intimates that the Pope may have been misunderstood and misquoted. That not being the case many will be left wondering if the Vatican will ever admit they were wrong! After all that is the basic premise under which the laity are instructed to commit themselves every-time they celebrate Mass - Mia Culpa, Mia Culpa. An institution that cannot admit to error cannot ask its followers to do the same.

Is it possible therefore that the gap which has now been created could in fact open the way for the Church to reconsider some other associated Aids issues such as the case involving Sr. Jeannine Gramick. Since 1971, she worked for justice and peace for sexual minorities by offering a church ministry to lesbian and gay people. However, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) declared in 1999 that she should no longer be engaged in pastoral work with lesbian and gay persons. Perhaps the Catholic Church is now able to re-examine their grossly prejudiced and offensive views against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and a host of other sexual ‘sins’. It might just relieve them of these pressures and allow them to deal more effectively with the far greater sin of having covered up hundreds of cases of sexual abuse for decades. This gap might just present an opportunity to admit to and learn from its mistakes in the past.

There is another aspect about the Pope’s surprising statement on condoms and that concerns the sticky question of collegiality.  Collegiality is of course the instrument through which the bishops including the Pope collectively represent the teaching office of the Roman Catholic Church.  If anyone had asked a member of clergy about the use of condoms prior to Benedict’s revelation the other day, they would have received a definite ‘no’ not under any circumstances!  Since the Pope’s remarks have now definitely made an exception to the rule it does suggest that exceptions to other dogmatic teachings are possible.  At the same time it highlights the marked deficiency that exists within the Vatican on the matter of collegiality. Benedict along with his predecessor seems to prefer a ‘from the top down’ approach even to the exclusion of his bishops.  When this abuse of power is mixed with a hint of ‘infallibility’ it is easy to see how church teachings become so polarized and absolute.

Pope Paul's message was that it is immoral for a married couple to have sex merely to express mutual love, that they must also preserve the possibility of procreation. His logical mistake was to claim that the hapless rhythm method of birth control (periodic abstinence) could be approved because it retained an intrinsic link to procreation -- when, in fact, both partners were seeking to avoid procreation.

A few theologians pointed out Paul's errors publicly and incurred the wrath of the church. Charles Curran, for example, who led a group of protesting theologians, was forbidden to continue teaching moral theology at Catholic University.