A New Church? Dissenter umbrella group forms

7/15/2009

California Catholic Daily (calcatholic.com/)

A coalition of dissenting organizations and individuals called the American Catholic Council forms.

SAN DIEGO (California Catholic Daily) - A coalition of dissenting organizations and individuals called the American Catholic Council are calling for “discussion at every level of the Catholic Church in the United States to consider the state and future of our Church.” The council plans to hold the council on June 10-11, 2011 (Pentecost), in Detroit...

We seek nothing short of a personal conversion of all to create a new Church, fully in tune with the authentic Gospel message, the teachings of our Church, and the American context in which we live.”

The website’s press release page contains one item: a release from “Voice of the Faithful.” The release is headlined: “Historic move for VOTF and U.S. Catholics--VOTF instrumental in launching American Catholic Council...”

’The way the Church is now is not the way it was meant to be,’ says John Hushon, a VOTF board member who serves as council’s co-chair. ‘The Gospels make it abundantly clear that Jesus envisioned a community that welcomes and encourages the gifts of all. The two-tiered clerical system that separates the ordained from the non-ordained was never meant to be, and it has caused enormous harm. Vatican II attempted to recapture the universal call to ministry, but this promise has not been fulfilled.’”

While the webpage and release avoid specific policy statements, they do mention those who have joined the organizing efforts, including Sr. Joan Chittister, whom is described as a “well-known author on issues of contemporary spirituality.” Chittister was the keynote speaker at Women's Ordination Conference in Dublin, Ireland in June, 2000. Another endorser is former priest Dr. Paul Lakeland, professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue at the (Jesuit) Fairfield University.

Dr. Lakeland was recently in the news for his public support of Connecticut bill 1098, introduced by homosexual activist state Senators Mike Lawlor and Andrew J. McDonald. Bill 1098 sought to use legislative means to restructure the governance of the Catholic Church in Connecticut. The bill was tabled after intense opposition. On March 10, 2009, the Catholic News Agency reported: “The bill, which bears resemblance to Voice of the Faithful’s Strategic Plan, is being supported by Dr. Paul Lakeland, who believes that in this case it’s appropriate to use state legislation to force the Church’s hand…

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• A New Church? Dissenter umbrella group forms

Related:

• Voice of the Faithful facing financial collapse

Voice of the Faithful facing financial collapse

A lay Catholic organization founded in 2002 in the wake of the clerical abuse scandal is facing financial collapse. “I think a lot of people were energized by the crisis and wanted to do something, and Voice of the Faithful was there at the right time,” Philip Lawler, founder and editor of Catholic World News, told the Associated Press. “Now, with the crisis having passed, the organization's agenda is not so popular.”

The organization “has used the current crisis in the Church as a springboard for presenting an agenda that is anti-Church and, ultimately, anti-Catholic,” Archbishop John Myers of Newark wrote in 2002. “Altering Church teaching on sexual morality and defiance of the apostolic authority that has guided the Church since its founding 2,000 years ago by Our Lord Jesus Christ have all found a place in the ranks of Voice of the Faithful.”

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"Great Leap Forward"

"The major Catholic Church reform organisations in the United States are in the process of organising a large scale, joint meeting in 2011 tentatively titled an "American Catholic Council". Catholica is aware discussions have been underway between leaders of the largest reform organisations such as Call to Action (CtA), Voice of the Faithful (VoTF), and the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) and leaders of a number of other major lay organisations have also been involved in the discussions and are at various stages of consulting their wider memberships. Combined these organisations have tens of thousands of members. The scale of this initiative is of particular interest as it could well be the largest lay-generated reform initiative that has ever occurred anywhere in the world. The development might suggest that the continued attrition in Church membership is now cutting into sectors of the population who are no longer prepare to leave the Church without voicing their criticisms of where the ecclesial leaders have been taking Catholicism.

The idea has been promoted for a number of years by the President of ARCC, Professor Leonard Swidler, but recent developments including Pope Benedict's visit to America earlier this year and the clearly decisive divisions that have emerged between the outlooks of the lay faithful in America and their bishops in the recent Presidential election appear to have added impetus to the initiative.

In a newsletter sent to ARCC members on Friday Professor Swidler writes:

The Reform Movement of the Catholic Church in America — in the spirit of Vatican II — is on the cusp of a "Great Leap Forward", to borrow a phrase from Mao. ARCC has for several years been promoting the idea of all the major Catholic Reform groups in the U.S. joining together in an American Catholic Council to move our common agenda forward. That Great Leap Forward is now being launched! The largest of the American Catholic Reform organizations– Call to Action and Voice of the Faithful–are on board, along with, of course, ARCC, and others.

Professor Swidler goes on to outline four major points that have been agreed upon in the discussions that have taken place at the leadership levels of the reform organisations. They are:

1. The basic Resources of the American Catholic Council are the documents of Vatican II and the processes and documents of the 1976 Call To Action led by the National Council of Bishops and involving massive numbers of laity, religious, and priests.
2. The major focus will be on church governance. None of the diverse concerns of the various U.S. Catholic reform organizations will be attainable unless there are structural means to work toward their implementation. That means, minimally, striving for Catholic Church decision-making structures that are built on the democratic principles of accountability, transparency, representativeness, and due process of law.
3. There will be the widest possible solicitation of input from all levels of Catholics around the country. Techniques that have already been discussed include national public hearings (as was done in 1976), approaches to parish organizations as well as organizations of laity, religious, and clergy, internet and other electronic means. Concrete suggestions in this area are especially solicited from you!
4. The initial aim will be the coming together of thousands of chosen delegates and interested Catholics from around the country in an American Catholic Council in the year 2011.

The proposal will be of interest to Australian Catholics following the recent call by one of the organisers of last year's 17,000 signature petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops, Frank Purcell, for the calling of a Synod of the Australian Catholic Church."

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"Great Leap Forward." What an appropriate name for this:

"The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social plan used from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform mainland China from a primarily agrarian economy dominated by peasant farmers into a modern, agriculturalized and industrialized communist society. Mao Zedong based this program on the Theory of Productive Forces.

The Great Leap Forward is now widely seen – both within China and outside – as a major economic failure and great humanitarian disaster with estimates of the number of people who starved to death during this period ranging from 14 to 43 million."

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• Major US Lay Catholic Reform Organizations plan American Catholic Council...


• Great Leap Forward
  

Cardinal Mahony Bars Australian Bishop With “Doctrinal Difficulties” From Archdiocese

Cardinal Roger Mahony / Bishop Geoffrey Robinson

Los Angeles, May 19, 2008 / 07:10 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Roger Mahony has denied an Australian bishop permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued a statement warning of “doctrinal difficulties” present in the bishop’s writings.

In 2007 Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, the retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney, published a book titled “Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus.” Bishop Robinson argued in his book that because the Church refuses to reexamine Catholic teachings on extramarital sex, women priests, homosexuality, and papal power, the Church is not serious about responding to clerical sexual abuse but is only “managing” it.

In a May 8 statement, the Australian bishops said that Bishop Robinson’s questioning of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the truth definitively is connected to the bishop’s “uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself.”

Bishop Robinson is presently on a U.S. lecture tour sponsored by Voice of the Faithful, an activist group formed in response to the clerical sexual abuse scandal. He responded to the Australian bishops’ statement in a May 15 letter, which is posted on the web site of Voice of the Faithful. He said the statement was “disappointing,” and continued:

“In their statement, the bishops appear to be saying that, in seeking to respond to abuse, we may investigate all other factors contributing to abuse, but we may not ask questions concerning ways in which teachings, laws, and attitudes concerning power and sex within the church may have contributed.

“This imposes impossible restrictions on any serious and objective study, and it is where I have broken from the Bishops Conference. We must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads.”

Pope Benedict XVI in his April visit to the U.S. had encouraged academics “to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you,” but he also said “any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church” would obstruct the academic duty to teach the truth.

Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in a May 9 letter asked Bishop Robinson not to speak in his archdiocese.

Saying he was “once again” writing regarding Bishop Robinson’s scheduled June 12 speaking engagement in the archdiocese, Cardinal Mahony said, “Your letter informing me of your coming appearance made it clear that you were not seeking my permission or approval, that you were planning to come regardless.”

In his letter, Cardinal Mahony said he had recently learned of the Australian bishops’ statement about the bishop’s book. He also said he had learned that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, has urged Bishop Robinson to cancel his U.S. visit.

Cardinal Mahony requested Bishop Robinson to cancel his visit, citing Canon 763 of Canon Law. The canon pertains to a bishop’s duty to safeguard the teachings of the Church in his diocese.

“Under the provisions of Canon 763, I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,” the cardinal wrote. He also urged Bishop Robinson to cancel his entire speaking tour and to work with the Australian bishops’ conference, saying he would expect him to “follow exactly” their recommendations.

Dan Bartley, president of Voice of the Faithful, criticized Cardinal Mahony’s refusal of permission to Bishop Robinson’s Los Angeles lecture.

“Why is a loyal Catholic bishop prevented from asking honest questions in his search for the truth in the aftermath of the worst scandal in the modern Church?” Bartley said.

A statement from Voice of the Faithful said the ban would harm the Church, saying Bishop Robinson “obviously loves the Church.” The statement suggested that the Australian bishops’ statement was questionable in its conclusions about Bishop Robinson’s doctrinal stands.

Bishop Robinson’s lecture tour has scheduled events in Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

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