How does the Church deal with dissent?

The Church has a responsibility to articulate what is and what is not Catholicism

How should the Church deal with priests and religious who hold views at odds with the Church’s core teachings?

It’s been a challenge from the Church almost from day one as people grapple with faith. At a certain level, there is a necessity – particularly for theologians – to push the boundaries of faith. St Anslem defined the journey of a believer as fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding). Some of the greatest moments in the evolution of the Church’s self-understanding of the faith have been at times of great controversy when beliefs incompatible with Catholicism are excavated and, ultimately, shown to be wrong. The early centuries of Christendom are marked by great controversies as theologians and Church Fathers struggled to explain and understand Divine Revelation in a fuller fashion. Of course, ever conscious of the advice of St Augustine that “if you understand, it is not God” theology is always limited before the omniscience and omnipotence of God.

A number of Irish priests currently have restrictions placed on their ministry as a result of interventions by the Church authorities. Fr Seán Fagan, a well-known moral theologian, has reportedly had an alleged threat of dismissal from the clerical state lifted. However, it appears that other restrictions on Fr Fagan are still in place.

Fundamental question

Inevitably, when theologians overstep the mark and the Church is forced to act to point out that their beliefs and opinions are at odds with Church teaching, there is a public outcry. People speak of inquisitions and a lack of free thought in the Church.

But the fundamental question that many people are unwilling to answer is: how free is the Catholic Church to be what the Catholic Church is? Can the Church define what is and – crucially – what is not Catholicism? Is it tenable for people teaching and preaching in the name of the Church to teach and preach their own opinion (regardless of how harebrained that might be) and views?

Of course, the Church must always set limits. There are certain truths and essentials of the Catholic Faith which, frankly, if people no longer believe they ought to have the honesty to stand up and say so and accept the consequences of their position. It’s not credible to insist that one is a Catholic while holding views diametrically opposed to the Church’s core teaching. Nor is it credible to draw an income from the Church and use the pulpit to undermine the faith of Catholics. After all, priests have taken solemn vows to uphold the teaching of the Church. On the eve of ordination priests swear an oath to faithfully preach the Church’s teaching which includes the line “whatsoever teachings are contrary I shall shun”.

So, how should the Church respond in such circumstances? The Church is first-and-foremost a communion of love. So, people should be given the benefit of the doubt. Credence should be given to the fact that those priests and religious who hold views at odds with Catholicism may have arrived at these views sincerely. It is for this reason that the Church asks theologians to have a docility towards the Church. To accept, when they are in error, the guidance of the Church.

Responsibility

Pope Francis has given clear indications that he would like more decisions made at a local level in the Church. In should be pointed out that it is with reluctance that the Vatican ever intervenes on these matters. The caricature of high-minded clerics in Rome scouring columns in newspapers in the west of Ireland for heresy is laughable. Rome is usually forced to intervene after local Church officials ignore an issue. Catholics are often left bewildered and confused about what the Church actually teaches. Is it what the Pope says in Rome or is it what Fr X said at the parish mission? Bishops are failing in their responsibility when Catholics are in doubt about what the Church actually teaches.

The procedures that are put in place to evaluate a case when a doubt emerges must be just. Pope Paul VI wrote that for the Church to speak of justice, the Church itself must be just.

The maxim – often attributed to St Augustine – “unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things” is pertinent. The Church has a responsibility, and must always have the freedom, to articulate what is and what is not Catholicism.

The ironic thing in all of this is that some of those expressing most outrage when the Church acts are the same people who acted as cheerleaders for Taoiseach Enda Kenny when he excommunicated TDs who refused to betray their conscience and vote to introduce abortion.