Excellent LA Times editorial by a theologian "disciplined" by Ratzinger

[Nothing Without Hope]

This is an excellent article on the issue of how Church doctrine is enforced and how it changes over time, and how this can impact the Catholics who disagree with some of the rulings of the hierarchy. I will be interested to see how the people in this forum comment on it. Before you do comment, you may also want to read these other two DU threads on prominent clergy who have been “disciplined” by Ratzinger - and be sure to go through the comment threads as well:

1. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=18845-- "Reflection on the Papacy by Matthew Fox (defrocked by Ratzinger)"
   
2. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3514470#3516159 -- "Ratzinger & the persecution of Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen")

(For those that did not know, Ratzinger was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the renamed Inquisition) for over 20 years:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3514470#3516159)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-curran21apr21.story
April 21, 2005
COMMENTARY

A Catholic Call for Dissent

By Charles E. Curran, Charles E. Curran is a professor of human values at Southern Methodist University and the author, most recently, of "The Moral Theology of Pope John Paul II" (Georgetown University Press, 2005).

I grew up as a typical pre-Vatican II Catholic. I entered the seminary at 13 and became a priest 11 years later, never questioning church teachings. But as a moral theologian in the 1960s, I began to see things differently, ultimately concluding that Catholics, although they must hold on to the core doctrines of faith, can and at times should dissent from the more peripheral teachings of the church.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the Catholic Church feel differently. In the summer of 1986, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the powerful enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy around the world, concluded a seven-year investigation of my writings. Pope John Paul II approved the finding that "one who dissents from the magisterium as you do is not suitable nor eligible to teach Catholic theology." Cardinal Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — told the Catholic University of America to revoke my license to teach theology because of my "repeated refusal to accept what the church teaches."

(snip)

Unfortunately, the Vatican — which was already moving toward greater discipline and orthodoxy — was having none of it. Seven years earlier, it had punished the Swiss theologian Hans Küng because of his teachings on infallibility in the church. Later, Cardinal Ratzinger "silenced" Brazilian Franciscan Leonardo Boff, an advocate of liberation theology, for a year. Just recently, Ratzinger said U.S. Jesuit Roger Haight could not teach Catholic theology until he changed his understanding of the role of Jesus Christ.

(snip)

But it doesn't have to be that way. History shows that the Catholic Church has changed its moral teachings over the years on a number of issues (without admitting its previous position had been wrong). A very sorry page in Catholic history, for example, is the fact that for over 1,800 years the popes and the church did not condemn slavery. And until the 17th century, popes, in the strongest terms, condemned loans with interest as violating God's law.

(snip)

[bloom]

1. I suppose it's obvious

that the (US)Catholics who are most likely to "dissent" - will be Democrats and that is why the Republicans are able to try to get the Pope/Bishops/etc. to try to get the liberal Catholics (Democrats) in line - even suggesting withholding communion from Kerry - trying to influence the vote, etc., encouraging a return to conservatism.



"Pope Gregory XVI in an 1832 encyclical condemned freedom of conscience in society as an "absurd and erroneous teaching or rather madness...."

History reminds us that change in Catholic moral teachings always comes from the grass roots. Interviews with ordinary Catholics mourning the death of Pope John Paul II indicated that even those who admired and loved him strongly disagreed with some of his specific moral teachings. Even the staunch defenders of the papal condemnation of artificial contraception for spouses recognize that the vast majority of Catholics do not follow the pope."

[realFedUp]

2. I always kick the LA Times

:-)