National Catholic Reporter
Subscribers only section
September 21, 2007
 

Letters

Evangelical Catholicism

Regarding John L. Allen Jr.’s article on evangelical Catholicism (NCR, Aug. 3): His phrase is an oxymoron. “Evangelical” refers to a communal body or system of beliefs that finds its authority in the Gospel, sometimes interpreted literally. “Catholicism” refers to a body of beliefs rooted in the teaching power of the magisterium, which supersedes scripture and accepts only its own interpretation as valid. It would appear that not only are we moving back to a Tridentine form of the Mass but to a Counter-Reformation stance that there are two sources of revelation, scripture and tradition, and that tradition, or the magisterium, supersedes scripture. It’s an economical solution to safeguarding the revelatory utterances of the curia and its minions for it effectively locks up the only other source of revelation that might threaten the one they represent. It also provides for a delightfully simple response to those who disagree: “You are no longer part of our group if you do not agree with all that we say.” This is even more effective when those who disagree believe the response.

With regard to Mr. Allen’s reporting from the Vatican, the only thing that remains for you to do is add the spin, “fair and balanced reporting from the Vatican ” to his tagline. Assign some other reporters to the Vatican to provide different points of view with regard to what’s really going on. If the present Vatican administration had an official cheerleading squad, Mr. Allen would be heading it.

JAMES DAVID
Harwich Port, Mass.

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Defending the hierarchy’s assertions of absolute authority and the Catholic church’s exclusive possession of Christ are signs of both hubris and fear.

It is not the “church from below” that is undermining the so-called “church from above” but the lies and silences of the hierarchy itself: hierarchical complicity in the clerical abuse of boys, girls and women, protecting priests rather than the people they are supposed to serve. Jesus condemned the hierarchy of his day with words that, sadly, can be said of many today: “For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.”

DORIS ISOLINI NELSON
Los Angeles

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John L. Allen Jr. tells us recent moves to “dust off the old Latin Mass and to declare Catholicism the one true church” are signs of the triumph of evangelical Catholicism. Evangelism is marketing, selling. What is the church selling? Latin? Papal authority? In the light of papal and episcopal botching of the church’s response to clergy sex abuse, clearly it can’t be selling the kingdom of God proclaimed by the Jesus of the Gospels where the kingdom belongs to the poor, the oppressed, the abused. Before anything Catholic rises or triumphs, the pope and the bishops must come clean, completely clean, about their role in clergy sex abuse of children and vulnerable adults.

FRANK DOUGLAS
Tucson, Ariz.


Haitian history

Trevor Snapp’s account of malnutrition therapy in Haiti is heartening but after the Catholic press’s failure to challenge Washington’s repeated defamations of Haiti President Jean Bertrand Aristide and the low-intensity warfare after his 2000 election, I’m disappointed to see inaccurate representations of recent Haiti history in “Haiti’s political instability” (NCR, Aug. 31).

Aristide did not “suspend” but abolished the army. The 2000 elections challenge was prompted by a U.S. official’s belated discovery, after the Electoral Commission had certified legislative elections, of a repetition of 1990 and 1995 shortcutting of Haitian election law -- adding up only the votes of the top three candidates to determine whether a runoff was required for a majority. The opposition used this accepted irregularity -- not fraud -- to demand that the entire election be repeated and that Aristide step down. A low-intensity warfare de-legitimization tactic was followed by U.S. blocking of foreign aid, promotion of protests and violence, and removal of the elected president by kidnapping. We then gave the green light to the ruling thuggery’s open season on democrats that imprisoned a thousand and killed thousands.

Certainly gangs would turn to drug smuggling in such desperate times, but after the Cedras coup the military was responsible for introducing big-time Haitian drug smuggling. Historical accuracy is critical here. Altogether unwarranted U.S. interference is largely responsible for Haitian malnutrition and failed institutions. To illustrate, Parish Twinning of the Americas funnels about $6 million in aid annually through 300 Haitian parishes; that is less than 1 percent of the aid to Haiti Washington blocked in Aristide’s first year as president.

URSULA LUKAS SLAVICK
Portland, Maine


Lay synod

Regarding your article on the lay synod (NCR, Aug. 31): I was much heartened to read of the parish in San Francisco that successfully held a lay synod. I lived in northern California for many years and can attest to the fact that the church on the West Coast is years ahead of some parts of the rest of the country. When I returned to my native New England 11 years ago, it felt like I was stepping into a time warp, and things have only gotten worse.

People need to understand that the Latin Mass will not be an isolated phenomenon but part of a package deal. It is the ultimate manifestation of a mindset that in practice privileges the magisterium above the Gospels and the person of the pope -- or bishop or priest -- above that of Jesus Christ. Just as in the Latin Mass the congregations are not active participants but passive observers, so in my view the church is inexorably sliding back to the days when the “proper” role for the laity was pay, pray and obey. It saddens me greatly because with Vatican II there was the hope that finally the laity could come into active participation in the governance of the church in an adult rather than infant role.

Regarding praying for the Jews, Nostra Aetate speaks of the Jews and other major religions with the utmost reverence and respect, saying: “Nor can she [the church] forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles. Indeed, the church believes that by his cross Christ, our peace, reconciled Jews and Gentiles, making both one in himself.” Given that we are one in Christ, it hardly makes sense to pray for the Jews as though they were a separate and vaguely inferior entity.

PATRICIA MELESCO
Rockingham, Vt.


The feminization of the church

I experienced the article about the “feminization” of the church by John Allen (NCR, Aug. 17) rather like Alice falling through the looking glass. First, as women increasingly do liturgical tasks in the church is there any thought of equal pay, not to mention ordination? John Allen certainly does not want to return to a situation in which “woman’s work” is a service and calling and done on the cheap and a wonderful savings for management. Second, if men express their religious impulses “watching football” should this be catered to? Imagine a worship service with a half-time break right after the offertory complete with scantly clad women leading liturgical cheers. Or perhaps a monster truck competition could be used in some of our larger venues. Many men and boys I know misplace their religious feelings into sports, nationalism and supporting structures of patriarchal domination. I still hope the church could challenge these beliefs in us men and not confirm our harmful delusions. Third, I disagree with what this article implies about the status of the feminine in the church. If there was an adequate female image of the divine, we would not be having this conversation again and again.

MARK SHUMWAY
Georgetown, Calif.

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My Christian formation is indebted to the careful biblical scholarship of the late Jesuit Fr. George MacRae, who wrote on church ministry as the ministry of reconciliation. I was reminded of Fr. MacRae reading John Allen’s speculations on the current possible feminization of the church. As a psychotherapist interested in adult development theory, I know it can be broadly stated that both genders’ development is characterized by stages of achievement orientation and relationship orientation, whether in that sequence typically for men or in the reverse order typically for women. Pauline images of church ministry, however, are understood to give primacy to the Christian’s relationship to Jesus and to the Christian community. This does not imply an unbalanced feminization of the church or a failure to “get the job done,” although when one contemplates the suffering Paul believed also marked church ministry, it can be daunting for both men and women to embrace the way of the suffering servant. In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote: “All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation ... God was in Christ ... entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation.” Perhaps we can consider inclusiveness and the rough ride it takes us on to accomplish its final goal as a function of the ministry of reconciliation rather than as a lessening and shifting with respect to privilege.

RACHEL FITZGERALD
Berkeley, Calif.


Cardinal Mahony

Once again I was saddened to see a letter defending Cardinal Roger Mahony written by Robert Kraus (NCR, Aug. 31). Considering that sexual abuse of children occurred on his watch, I find it hard to have much sympathy for an adult as opposed to vulnerable children. I would suggest that Mr. Kraus view the movie “Deliver Us from Evil,” which shows Cardinal Mahony sitting next to his lawyer while being questioned in court about what went on in the diocese that he oversaw. It will make you want to weep. Yes, I do believe in forgiveness because our dear Lord told us that is the right way, but to call the articles about sexual abuse “relentless pounding of Cardinal Mahony” boggles my mind.

JOAN KENNEKE
Bethesda, Md.


Handling clergy sex abuse

While speaking about the clergy abuse scandal at the Knights of Columbus convention Aug. 8, Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone stated that the church in the United States “faced this trial with great dignity and courage.” He went on to say he hoped that “other institutions and social agencies will face this same problem with their members with an equal degree of courage and realism as the Catholic church has done.”

It is incredible that such a high Vatican official believes that the U.S. hierarchy has behaved with dignity and courage in a scandal of which they have been aware for more than 50 years. Until the public outcry forced them to acknowledge the crisis five years ago, their modus operandi was to cover up the problem by paying hush money to survivors while transferring abusive priests from parish to parish where they could abuse again.

Our definition of handling the clergy sex abuse crisis with dignity, courage and realism demands that church officials validate that the abuse happened and admit their involvement in the cover-up. Addressing the crisis with dignity would mean that the church takes responsibility for the abusers and monitors them for the rest of their lives. Although a few dioceses have made efforts to assist victims and monitor abusers, the efforts are not consistent across all dioceses. We need the Vatican to better understand how the church has put innocent children at risk in order to save face. This effort has failed. U.S. bishops continue to risk losing all credibility among Americans, Catholics and non-Catholic alike.

MARY PAT FOX
Boston

[Mary Pat Fox is president of Voice of the Faithful.]


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National Catholic Reporter, September 21, 2007