Only one document was specifically condemned in the recent doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious: a training manual called the Systems Thinking Handbook. Why? What was wrong with it?
Posts Tagged Obedience
8,235 signatories in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking half of Belgium), including politicians and intellectuals as well as about a tenth of all Flemish priests, deacons and lay Church workers, have called for reforms including ordination of women and married people. The head of the Belgian bishops’ conference accepted the petition along with the Flemish bishops and thanked the group.
An anonymous priest observes: “To the extent that we make a choice to ‘obey’ misguided authority, then, prima facie, we are complicit, and are at least materially co-operating with this misguidedness…We cannot prevent the abuse of authority and many of its effects on our liturgical life, but we can at least maintain our integrity by seeking for and striking feasible compromises, as creatively and non-violently as possible. “
Ignatius Press has just published a third (!) edition of A Bitter Trial, correspondence between Evelyn Waugh and Cardinal Heenan in the years from 1962 till Waugh’s death in 1966.
Paul Vallely’s article echoes a number of quite pained reactions I have been hearing from balanced, committed UK Catholics over the past weeks.
Just Obey?
Jul 25
What I think is problematic is the idea that church leaders can resolve controversies simply by calling for religious submission or by branding those who disagree as lacking in faith.
Organic Abuse?
May 9
For at least as long as there has been codified liturgical law every “organic development” has begun life as a “liturgical abuse.”
“I had hoped that what we got would be basically OK; from what I have seen so far, it’s mostly not OK. If it is a done deal, and if we are facing a sure implementation of this text, then all we can do is pray it as best we can and give it our best shot.”
Critics of the soon-to-be-implemented translation find themselves in the position of learning from those whom they might normally consider their opponents, namely, those who enthusiastically welcome the new translation after having spent years praying a translation that they dislike.
Fr. Anthony has published an open letter to the Bishops. I think it is important and the act of a dedicated man. In commenting I want to make what I think is a needed observation about obedience and collegiality. I also provide a link to the entire letter, in case PrayTell readers have missed the full text.