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Catholic Bishops Call for Rare Council
Want Unified Reaffirmation of Moral Teachings, Last Such Plenary 1884
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By Mary Jo Anderson © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
A scandal-weary U.S. Catholic Church continues to battle the
homosexual clergy crisis. Eight American bishops have called for a
controversial and seldom-used plenary council to seek a unified means
to reaffirm Catholic moral teachings.
A plenary council is the highest-level council possible for a national
conference of bishops. No such council has been held in the United
States since the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884.
In a confidential letter dated July 18, the eight bishops urged their
colleagues to consider the council in order to attack the "root
causes" of the scandal in the United States.
"There is no mystery, here," said a Washington D.C.-area priest. "The
'root causes' are the bishops themselves. It is a failure of fidelity
to the teachings of the Church. Our bishops have abandoned their role
as shepherds in order to accommodate the popular culture."
The letter specifies that a council is needed to answer painful
questions: "What has happened to the life and ministry of bishops and
priests that makes us vulnerable to the failings that have humiliated
us all? What things need to be going on so that in this cultural
milieu priests and bishops will preserve their celibate chastity along
with all the other virtues that constitute the life of holiness proper
to pastors? How can the purification upon which we shepherds have
embarked help us, in turn, support our people in achieving greater
holiness?"
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops gathers twice per year to
discuss administrative concerns. The circulated letter requests that
the proposal for a plenary council be brought before the entire body
of bishops for a vote at their next scheduled meeting in November.
The publisher of the Catholic periodical Crisis magazine, Deal Hudson,
broke the news of the surprising letter in an email to subscribers
July 30. Hudson wrote, "Notice the absence of wishy-washy bishop
speak. These men know there's a problem, and they're going to face it
squarely."
Conservative critics of the special June meeting of the U.S. bishops
in Dallas insist that the prelates did not tackle the thorny issue of
homosexuality. Rather, the focus was on pedophile priests, though 97
percent of the victims were teen boys, not children or girls.
Priests who spoke to WND on the condition of anonymity pointed to the
1961 Vatican directive that prohibited the ordination of homosexuals.
"If the U.S. bishops had been obedient to the pope's directives we
would have avoided this debilitating crisis," said a 36-year-old
Florida priest.
The bishops' letter acknowledges that lapse. It lists key goals, among
them the need to refocus the U.S. Church on Catholic moral teachings:
"Solemnly receiving the authentic teaching of the Second Vatican
Council ... on the identity, life and ministry of bishops and priests;
on matters of sexual morality in general ... on celibate chastity as
an authentic form of human sexuality renewed by grace and a share in
Christ's own spousal love for His Church."
Liberal Catholics, however, propose a new power structure for the
Catholic Church. The Boston area watchdog organization, Voice of the
Faithful, attracted over 4000 people to its first conference in late
July. Leaders urged participants to explore various measures that
would change Catholic policies and open the administration of the
Church to the laity.
Speakers at the Voice of the Faithful gathering included former
priest, Thomas Groome. Groome and others at the Voice of the Faithful
support the ordination of women, a policy counter to Catholic
teaching. Catholic theology teaches that the priest is "like Christ"
who is the "bridegroom" to the Church. The marital imagery between
Christ and Church is inconsistent with women priests, according to
Church doctrine.
Charlotte Allen, author of "The Human Christ" has doubts about the
intent of lay groups with "not entirely desirable, agendas," such as
Voice of the Faithful. In a Wall Street Journal editorial Allen wrote
"there are signs that Voice of the Faithful wants to transform itself
into a large, well-financed interest group, agitating for a
restructuring of the Catholic Church in the U.S."
Part of the call for "restructuring" of the Church includes permitting
Catholic priests to marry. The bishop's letter calling for a plenary
council, however, outlines a more stringent observance of celibacy "to
foster the acts of virtue required of pastors and the means needed to
achieve those virtues, especially celibate chastity (e.g., daily
celebration of the Mass, frequent Confession, daily meditation,
regular acts of asceticism, obedient submission to Church teaching and
discipline, simplicity of life)."
That goal reflects the challenge given to the U.S. bishops in April by
Pope John Paul II when he urged the bishops toward "purification of
the entire Catholic community ... a holier priesthood, a holier
episcopate and a holier church."
According to the letter, the proposed plenary council would assist
priests in teaching the gospel "in regard to sexual morality, so that
we can support the lay faithful in responding to their call to
holiness."
The authors of the letter calling for the plenary council are: Bishop
Raymond L. Burke of La Crosse, Wis.; Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford,
Conn.; Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Sioux City, Iowa; Archbishop James
P. Keleher of Kansas City, Kan.; Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of
Mobile, Ala.; Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Helena, Mont.; Auxiliary
Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit; Archbishop John G. Vlazny of
Portland, Ore.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law, the legal framework for the administration
of the Catholic Church, sets out the terms for a plenary council: "A
plenary council, that is, one for all the particular churches of the
same conference of bishops, is to be celebrated whenever it seems
necessary or useful to the conference of bishops, with the approval of
the Apostolic See."
It remains to be seen if Pope John Paul II would approve of the
proposed council. Some observers caution that the council could be
"hijacked" by those who will use the urgency of the crisis to attempt
to reconfigure the Catholic Church as an "American church" operating
independently of Rome.
The July issue of WND's popular monthly print magazine, Whistleblower,
is a groundbreaking look at the issue of homosexuality in America.
Subscribe to Whistleblower at WND's online store, ShopNetDaily.
Mary Jo Anderson is a contributing reporter to WorldNetDaily.
