VENERABLE BISHOPS,
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active. I have always understood my theological work as a service to the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, I am making this appeal to you in an open letter. In doing so, I am motivated by my profound concern for our church, which now finds itself in the worst credibility crisis since the Reformation. Please excuse the form of an open letter; unfortunately, I have no other way of reaching you.
Kung lists the missed opportunities, the directions Benedict XVI could have taken and did not. He notes the regressive actions of the pope which moved the Roman Catholic Church away from the spirit of Vatican II.
I know that many of you are pained by this situation. In his anti-conciliar policy, the pope receives the full support of the Roman Curia. The Curia does its best to stifle criticism in the episcopate and in the church as a whole and to discredit critics with all the means at its disposal. With a return to pomp and spectacle catching the attention of the media, the reactionary forces in Rome have attempted to present us with a strong church fronted by an absolutistic “Vicar of Christ” who combines the church’s legislative, executive and judicial powers in his hands alone. But Benedict’s policy of restoration has failed. All of his spectacular appearances, demonstrative journeys and public statements have failed to influence the opinions of most Catholics on controversial issues. This is especially true regarding matters of sexual morality. Even the papal youth meetings, attended above all by conservative-charismatic groups, have failed to hold back the steady drain of those leaving the church or to attract more vocations to the priesthood.
You in particular, as bishops, have reason for deep sorrow: Tens of thousands of priests have resigned their office since the Second Vatican Council, for the most part because of the celibacy rule. Vocations to the priesthood, but also to religious orders, sisterhoods and lay brotherhoods are down – not just quantitatively but qualitatively. Resignation and frustration are spreading rapidly among both the clergy and the active laity. Many feel that they have been left in the lurch with their personal needs, and many are in deep distress over the state of the church. In many of your dioceses, it is the same story: increasingly empty churches, empty seminaries and empty rectories. In many countries, due to the lack of priests, more and more parishes are being merged, often against the will of their members, into ever larger “pastoral units,” in which the few surviving pastors are completely overtaxed. This is church reform in pretense rather than fact!
And now, on top of these many crises comes a scandal crying out to heaven – the revelation of the clerical abuse of thousands of children and adolescents, first in the United States, then in Ireland and now in Germany and other countries. And to make matters worse, the handling of these cases has given rise to an unprecedented leadership crisis and a collapse of trust in church leadership.
The letter is brilliant, and, in my opinion, demonstrates the words of a prophet. Fr. Kung lays out his suggestions for six steps to move forward to turn the dire situation around. The final step is for the pope to call an ecumenical council.
6. Call for a council: Just as the achievement of liturgical reform, religious freedom, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue required an ecumenical council, so now a council is needed to solve the dramatically escalating problems calling for reform. In the century before the Reformation, the Council of Constance decreed that councils should be held every five years. Yet the Roman Curia successfully managed to circumvent this ruling. There is no question that the Curia, fearing a limitation of its power, would do everything in its power to prevent a council coming together in the present situation. Thus it is up to you to push through the calling of a council or at least a representative assembly of bishops.
Kung notes what I consider to be the pope's slap in the face to Anglicans.
He refuses to put into effect the rapprochement with the Anglican Church, which was laid out in official ecumenical documents by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, and has attempted instead to lure married Anglican clergy into the Roman Catholic Church by freeing them from the very rule of celibacy that has forced tens of thousands of Roman Catholic priests out of office.
Although I've quoted large chunks of the letter, I suggest that you read the entire missive. I hope the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, including the Bishop of Rome, read the letter and give serious consideration to the implementation of Kung's suggestions.
PEggy Noonan also takes it on, from a different perspective, here
ReplyDeleteI called on the pope, John Paul II, to begin to show the seriousness of the church's efforts to admit, heal and repair by taking the miter from Cardinal Law's head and the ring from his finger and retiring him: "Send a message to those in the church who need to hear it, that covering up, going along, and paying off victims is over. That careerism is over, and Christianity is back."
The piece didn't go over well in the American church, or the Vatican. One interesting response came from Cardinal Law himself, whom I ran into a year later in Rome. "We don't need friends of the church turning on the church at such a difficult time," he said. "We need loyalty when the church is going through a tough time."
and
Many—not all, but many—of the men who staff the highest levels of the Vatican have been part of the very scandal they are now charged with repairing. They are defensive and they are angry, and they will not turn the church around on their own.
..... And when those inside fight for what they think is the life of the institution, they feel fully justified in fighting any way they please. They can do this because, as they rationalize it, they are not fighting only for themselves—it's not selfish, their fight—but to protect the greatest institution in the history of the world.....
Once, leaders of the Vatican felt that silence would protect the church. But now anyone who cares about it must come to understand that only speaking, revealing, admitting and changing will save the church.
A brave, impassioned, and eloquent letter from a man who loves his church more than it loves him.
ReplyDeleteI've posted it myself and credited you, cher Mimi.
I'm not holding my breath that it will go anywhere with the Roman episcopate. Now among the laity and the lower clergy ... ?
As I recall, that's where the Counter-Reform started in the wake of the Sack of Rome. It was not, to my knowledge, a pontifical or curial initiative.
IT, Peggy also said this:
ReplyDeleteThe great second wave of church scandals appears this week to be settling down. In the Vatican they're likely thinking "the worst is over" and "we've weathered the storm." Is that good? Not to this Catholic. The more relaxed the institution, the less likely it will reform.
Noonan is wrong to say that the scandals are settling down. I fear there's worse to come. However, she is right in much of what she says in this piece, especially that Cardinal Law should have his basilica, his mitre, his ring, and his title taken away.
I've noticed that those defending the Pope and his actions (or inactions) point out that the Roman Catholic Church will still be around long after we are all dead.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it might; but, as a museum relic, a religious ghetto, or a viable institution?
Cher Counterlight, you know what they say about imitation. Welcome to the letter, and thanks for the credit.
ReplyDeleteWhat is impressive about Kung is that he never tries to defend the indefensible. He does not believe in the pope's infallibility, either, which makes easier to call him to account. The pope is human, no more, no less, just like the rest of us.
Grandmère, I appreciate your keeping us all up-to-date on these RC stories. I went and read Kung's letter, and it is dynamite (in the best sense).
ReplyDeleteIt would be marvelous if, as Kung urges, the RCC could have its own Reformation to bring about the promise of the 2nd Vatican Council.
Lisa, I don't see the Vatican putting Kung's suggestions into practice. He was stripped of his license as a Catholic theologian in 1979 but taught ecumenical theology for many years.
ReplyDeleteI know. That's why I merely said "it would be marvelous," not that I think there's a snowball's chance that they'll do it.
ReplyDelete