Recent letter to the editor...

NOTE:  What follows is my recent letter to the editors of our local newspaper re: the on-going retrenchment from Vatican II ideals within the Roman Catholic Church.  The presenting issue was the local bishop's request that Anna Marie College disinvite Mrs. Vicky Kennedy, the spouse of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, from bringing their commencement address.  The reason given for this request to disinvite Mrs. Kennedy was, of course, her outspoken pro-choice and GLBTQ rights commitments.

This sad act, however, is only the tip of the iceberg.  Within the past week Rome has also chosen to call the authenticity of Roman Catholic women religious into question because they have given more energy to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoners and educating the poorest of the poor than opposing rights for gay and lesbian people. Add that to the renewal of the Latin Mass - and the odd and clumsy revisions of the English Sacramentary - as well as the 2007 declaration that Protestant churches are not "real churches" because we serve "man-made rather than apostolic" traditions (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/11/catholicism.religion) and it is hard to conclude that the joy and openness of Vatican II are anything but distant memories.

Sister Joan Chittister once said that she remains within her order because by faith she has learned to "see the eagle within the egg."  I admire her faithfulness and stand with her and countless others who grieve the current emphasis on obedience instead of faith.  All of my spiritual directors have been Roman Catholic priests and lay people.  I have joyfully con-celebrated Eucharist with brother clergy.  I have shared jail cells with fearless nuns. And I have been blessed by the wisdom of Roman Catholic theologians like Henri Nouwen and Gertrud Mueller-Nelson for over 30 years.

It is with great sadness that I sent this letter...

Dear Editors:

There is a systematic retrenchment from the commitments of Vatican II taking place throughout the Roman Catholic hierarchy that will reverberate in the lives of ordinary people with tragic consequences for years to come.  Recent examples include the insistence by Bishop Robert McManus that Anna Maria College disinvite Mrs. Victoria Kennedy from their commencement exercises (Berkshire Eagle, April 27, 2012) and the Vatican’s appointment of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to a leadership role over American women religious in order to enforce doctrinal purity.

It is, of course, the institutional prerogative of both the Bishop and the Holy Father in Rome to pursue such actions.  What worries me as a Protestant clergy person with a lifelong commitment to seeking common ground with the Roman Church, however, is the way these acts confuse obedience for faith.  I fear both the Church and the common good will be harmed.

For generations, faithful nuns and lay people have cared more about compassion than abstract doctrinal purity.  Like Mrs. Kennedy, they have based their lives on the only non-negotiable of Jesus:  “Whatever you do unto the least of these my sisters and brothers, you do unto me.” (Matthew 25: 31-46) Consequently they have fed, clothed, educated and nourished people in need without worrying whether they were people of faith, unbelievers, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, the rich, the poor or anyone in-between.

My experience with women religious goes back to the early 1970s and our work with Cesar Chavez and his movement for farm worker justice:  We prayed together, shared jail cells together, studied the Bible together, fed one another and asked people of good will to join La Causa on behalf of the forgotten and abused.  I was blessed to share similar acts of compassion with Roman Catholic nuns and lay people in my ministries in Saginaw, MI as well as Cleveland, OH and Tucson, AZ. 

Such endeavors are now being questioned because of this confusion between obedience and faith. Sr. Simone Campbell, a member of the Sisters of Social Service and executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic political lobbying group, got it right when she said: “The (Roman Catholic) church is not used to a democratic culture, which leads me to think that the real fight is about the inculturation of our faith into a democratic culture. The culture in Rome is a monarchy, and in a monarchy you can control what everybody says. But in a democracy, we experience the truth, and it's found when we have questioning and vigorous debate. And in the end, truth emerges.”

St. Francis once admonished us to “Preach the gospel always – use words if necessary.” I stand with Mrs. Kennedy and the American Women Religious as they make the difference between faith and obedience clear for all who have eyes to see.

I long for the day when we can find common ground again.  Lord, may it be so for us all.