The Spirit wonderfully at work in Boston
Sometimes, just when you get to despairing about the future of the Church, you hear these rumblings underground.
Two Boston priests refused to support a Massachusetts church drive for an anti-gay-marriage referendum("Priest pulled after refusing to support anti-gay marriage push - Boston.com".) Now, you know there were other Boston priests who, for reasons of charity toward outcasts or sharing a wonderful sacrament or simple church-state separation thought this was a bad idea. And throughout the state those priests damned the referendum with faint praise or genteely ignored it or spent their sermon talking around the theoretically good reasons for it or about how, you know, sometimes the Church moves slowly. But Father George Lange and Father Stephen LaBaire, they posted an clear-as-day announcement in their church bulletin: "The priests of this parish do not feel that they can support this amendment. They do not see any value to it and they see it as an attack upon certain people in our parish, namely those who are gay." The archdiocese forbid Father Lange from presiding for the week. God bless these two brave men.
You may already have heard of Father Walter Cuenin, whom Boston's Archbishop O'Malley forced to resign in what many saw as punishment for speaking out against bishops' coverup of sex abuse some years ago Priest sacrificed on altar of arrogance - The Boston Globe. Now it turns out Fr. Cuenin may be a worse sinner than we thought: it appears he allowed his flock to support fair treatment of gays! Letter may shed light on ouster of pastor - The Boston Globe. The peace and justice group at Our Lady Help of Christians, which sounds like an inclusive parish, righteous in the true Wayne's World sense of the word, decided they would like their parish to attend Gay Pride to show Catholic support for gay and lesbian people. They put an announcement in the bulletin. Heads are, belatedly, rolling.
Look at the love and trust expressed in these articles by the parishioners of Frs. Lange, LaBaire and Cuenin. Clericalism can't fake that kind of leadership.
Seems the free-speech battles of our age will be fought in folded two-sheets with mortuary ads on the back.
Let us pray for more brave and Spirit-led Catholics to come forward to deny the Church when it is wrong, and to stay with it until it is right.
God of Justice, your servants Father Lange, Father LaBaire and Father Cuenin spoke out against their beloved Church when it tried to wrong the people of God. Bless them and raise up others like them to build an open, inclusive, holy Church, to usher in the reign you promise us. Give us eyes to see when dissent is needed and brave hearts to do what you need us to. In Jesus' name, let it be done. Amen.
posted by Theologienne @ 11:20 PM
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6 Comments:
And now... at a time when there are nationwide shortages of priests ... now, the vatican is moving to ban gay priests regardless of a commitment to celibacy! What lunacy, and we have to ask: can this instituion change enough? is it moveable through democracy or dissent???
A point about your profile. When the whole thing shows on the home page, shouldn't fans be able to read a little more under complete profile,
While I feel the Archdiocese's response towards Fr. Cuenin was rather hard, I am refreshed to see a prelate who is unafraid to enforce true Church teaching.
Geez, I don't usually think of Church teaching as something to be "enforced." The Church is a group of brothers and sisters who come together out of free will, right, not a police state? (At least for the last four hundred years or so . . . ) I'd see it differently if the priests were members of Orders and had taken a vow of obedience that they were then breaking. But nowhere in the ordination rite, the Creed we profess as Catholics or the baptismal promise our parents make for us do we turn over our right to question or agree to be punished.
You're right about Boston's response, though--what a waste? With the priest situation as it is, we can't afford to make a good priest languish in nursing home chaplaincy for political reasons. (That's what we do with the pedophiles, eh?.)
I was only able to find an outdated version of the Ordination Rite online, in case anyone wants to check it. Unfortunately, it's from a weird schism site, but there you are.
Two more replies: Good point about my profile, and actually, I don't know how not to have the whole thing show on the front page! If anyone knows, please email me.
For the Church to change through democracy, first we'd need there to be a democracy, which could be change enough for one millennium. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I'd want that. Democracy is just as open to corruption and manipulation as any other form of governance--ask any Columbus resident. I would like to see a transparent hierarchy, accountable to the people who are not in it, including both the ordained and laity.
But dissent--yes! Many of the beautiful aspects of our faith that we take for granted, including the cult of Guadalupe and the feast day of the Blessed Sacrament, came about because individuals outside of the hierarchy believed passionately in them and agitated for them. And even our Creed was not sent down on a cloud from heaven--it was the product of a church council like Vatican II. The Creed codified what Christians had been believing before anyone told them to, and just so, change will come from the roots, from what people know in their hearts and practice.
And the heart of the question is this: how much of the Catholic doctrine can we espouse/reject and still consider ourselves Catholic? how much can we reject and have the Church consider us Catholic? Many disdain "cafeteria style" religion: some essentials, it seems, must be at the base of shared faith. But our church hierarchy seems to equate all that which jesus asks us to do, with conventions, such as priestly celibacy, that do not seem to have a basis in God's word, but in custom. I mean, IS there a biblical justification for so much taht we cling to ?
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