Sir, – I brought up my children to respect the truth and to freely express their opinions, even if I disagreed with them. It seems I was guilty of grave error like Fr Tony Flannery and other clergy, who sincerely question and challenge controversial “church teaching” and like so many of their brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church.
Am I to understand that the Holy Spirit confines Herself to the Vatican compound? I remain hopeful, however. St Ignatius of Loyola was hauled before the Inquisition, St Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake as a witch, the Apostle to the Apostles St Mary Magdalen was downgraded to the status of a prostitute and, oh yes, Jesus Christ, the Word of God was crucified for speaking His truth.
Take heart lads, your time will come! – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It is hardly surprising that The Irish Times is to the forefront in highlighting “strong reaction to silencing of clerics”. Thankfully, you did strive for balance in quoting Dr John Murray, lecturer in moral theology at the Mater Dei Institute in Dublin, that “the church has a responsibility as well as a right, especially where priests and theologians were concerned, to ensure they truly believed in the faith and communicated it well”.
No one is forced into the Catholic Church and people are free to leave at any time. However, it is hardly unreasonable to expect that, particularly those who promote its teaching, at least adhere to it. Those opposed to the church’s teaching, especially in positions of responsibility and influence, do untold harm to those who look to them for guidance.
Pope Benedict (World News, April 7th) puts it in true context when he refers to “those who hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the magisterium” and “we preach not private theories and opinions, but the faith of the Church, whose servants we are”.
Those with strong private theories and opinions have plenty of churches to choose from and, if they find none to their liking, they can always set up another. The Catholic Church is under constant attack because it tries to preach the truth in season and out of season. If it were otherwise, it would be like the popular false prophets and we know what Jesus said about them. – Yours, etc,