|
|
|
|
|
|
In
a hard-hitting lead editorial, the Jesuit journal America (April
9, 2001) described the current procedures of the Vatican Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith and concluded that its "inquisitorial methods"
were in violation of human rights and should be dismantled without delay.
Citing the track record of the CDF which harassed such theologians as Leonardo
Boff, Yves Congar, Bernard Häring, Henri de Lubac, Richard McCormick,
John Courtney Murray, Karl Rahner, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Edward Schillebeeckx
the editorial says that confession of past wrongs is not enough.
"Along with confession should come a firm purpose of amendment.q |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Paul
was an ARCC board member for several years in the 1980s when he lived and
taught in Michigan. More recently he has been an international liaison.
In 1996 and 1997 he led highly successful international panels at Call
to Action in Detroit. As you might guess, the Internet helps us experience
the Australian Church as our immediate neighbors. Their joy is our
joy; their pain is our pain.
During the past three years Paul has been
the object of a papal investigation because of his book Papal Power:
A Proposal for Change in Catholicism's Third Millennium. [still available
from ARCC for $20]. Since the beginning of the investigation Paul
has insisted to the CDF that he will only play above board. There
will be no secret communications with him. All will be put on the
Internet for the world to observe and judge. The Vatican has rejected
this method of operating.
Recently the CDF has begun to pressure
Paul's religious superiors to act as a go-between and used them to get
Paul to change his mind. He knows the MSC will be caught in the cross-fire
and the scenario that Jeannine Gramick's religious order endured will be
repeated. Paul does not want such scandalous behavior to occur.
[His forthcoming book From Inquisition to Freedom relates the stories
of the four well-known persons mentioned above in addition to those of
Tissa Balasuriya, Lavinia Byrne and himself.]
Paul states the main reason for his resignation:
"I can no longer conscientiously subscribe to the policies and theological
emphases coming from the Vatican and other official church sources."
How Paul arrived at this decision, he states in a lengthy document entitled
"Reasons for Resignation," which can be found on the ARCC website at: http://arcc-catholic-rights.org/collins2001.htm
I hope you can take the time to read this document and and also Paul's
latest response to the Vatican judgment, and thus better understand Paul's
position.
Recently, the Jesuit Jacques Dupuis, 77,
who also endured a Vatican investigation for 2 1/2 years, only to be ambiguously
exonerated, remarked: "When Leonardo Boff, [the Brazilian Franciscan
liberation theologian and the object of a papal investigation], resigned
in 1992 because of Vatican pressures, I did not understand why. Now
after my own experience with the Vatican, I do understand Boff's decision."
Our sympathy and support reach out to
our brother Paul as he moves into a new phase of his Christian life.
And he is always welcome in our ARCC circle of friends. Remember
Paul in your prayers--for courage, consolation and joy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
