U.K. priests challenge Vaticans attitude of
fear
The following letter from the National Conference of Priests of
England and Wales was adapted Sept. 10 and sent to the Symposium of European
Priests meeting in Strasbourg, France, Sept. 21-28.
We, the National Conference of Priests, representing the priests
of England and Wales, send greetings from our 1998 meeting in Birmingham to our
brother priests in Europe, and we would like to share with you a concern that
may find echoes in your own pastoral experience.
As priests committed to pastoral care in dioceses and parishes, we
find ourselves naturally in the vanguard of the churchs mission. Our
ordained ministry is increasingly focused on discovering and developing the
gifts of a parish people, many of whom are now sharing a range of formal
ministries within the church, as well as exercising their priesthood in the
world at large.
We find that there is a growing anxiety among them, which we also
share, about the increasingly restrictive and sanction-based directives that
come from the Holy See and the Roman curia. Recent attempts to foreclose on
some theological discussions, which are at present unresolved, alarm us and are
even a cause of scandal. Efforts to silence and even to outlaw discussion are
proving grave impediments to people accepting the credibility of the church as
institution. We are acutely aware of the way in which the churchs
teaching, for instance, on the right to religious freedom and on the values of
ecumenism have radically developed over the last century. These developments
frequently come about after the conscience of many of the people of God had
rejected the older view. The churchs traditional teachings often need new
forms of expression and fresh applications to the varied problems of our
time.
In England and Wales we were greatly encouraged by our
bishops recognition (especially as found in their Meditation on a Jubilee
Church in September 1995) of the actual frailty of our communion. They conceded
that in the church there are people who feel angry or hurt or
excluded. We value their saying that we need to become a church
more conscious of our own need for repentance, not least because we
find ourselves sometimes excluding people whom Christ may well have invited
into his company, and we were especially impressed by the humility with
which they recognized the Lords call to follow him joyfully along a
path that is not always clear to us.
In the light of such a reflective leadership by our bishops, many
of our lay people are totally puzzled by the attitude of fear that seems to
underlie certain statements from Rome. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit in their
baptism and confirmation, they realize that they are called directly to the
work of the churchs mission and would like their insights on problematic
issues to be taken into full account.
We have great confidence in the continuing presence of the Holy
Spirit among us and the whole church. We are ready to face all kinds of
uncertainties and the possibility of mistakes as we move forward in a
fast-changing and confusing world. People no longer expect simple,
authoritative decisions from a church leadership that does not appear to take
their understanding into account.
It is possible that a more extended voice from the priests of
Europe may encourage change wherever this is necessary for the good of the
church.
National Catholic Reporter, September 25,
1998
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