The tiff between Archbishop Martin and Archdeacon Linney reflects serious perceived slights, writes Patsy McGarry
There was a sad puzzlement in Church of Ireland circles yesterday at the "hurt" expressed by the Catholic Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, on Sunday over comments by Dublin's Archdeacon, the Ven Gordon Linney, on attitudes to homosexuality among Christians.
In St Patrick's Cathedral Archbishop Martin referred to hurt he felt as a result of "words attributed in the press to a Church of Ireland figure, which somehow gave the impression that those who hold different theological positions to the author on the subject of homosexuality, were perhaps less sincere, even fundamentalist, or were associated with having been 'devious' on other serious issues".
He was referring to an address by the archdeacon in Monkstown, Co Dublin, last Tuesday. Discussing homosexuality, the archdeacon said: "The Roman Catholic tradition, along with Protestant fundamentalism, has taken a very strong and definite stand. My own Anglican Communion struggles and suffers. But I have to ask how people who are so certain about homosexuality being evil could have been so indifferent and even devious when it came to facing up to the issue of child abuse. Which has done the greater harm?
"Jesus never mentions homosexuality but has very severe warnings for those who cause one of these little ones to stumble. And how come so many people are so exercised about the gay issue and indifferent to homelessness and deprivation in our own city; or paramilitary violence in the North; or the greed of multinationals who exploit the poor of the Third World and deny medicines to AIDS victims in Africa because they cannot pay . . .
"Where is the religious passion and the anger about these and many other matters that could compare with the hatred and sometimes the violence offered to gay people who, yes, are different but rarely offensive or troublesome? I think the explanation lies in the fact that we like to feel we are moral when it does not cost us anything - when someone else bears the pain."
Archdeacon Linney would not respond yesterday to Dr Martin's remarks.
The sadness in wider Church of Ireland circles about what Dr Martin said was occasioned by the very positive impression he has made, even in the brief period since his appointment last year. Though still something of an unknown quantity, this goodwill has been evident when he and Church of Ireland clergy have met, not least at Rathfarnham parish church on March 4th last when he and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, spoke most affably about their common vision.
The puzzlement at his hurt arises from confusion over how Dr Martin could not be aware of the background against which Archdeacon Linney spoke. Some Anglicans admit that the Archdeacon's references to indifference and deviousness may have been strong, but few query their accuracy.
It is clear that Dr Martin's hurt results from the unexpectedness and surprise of the language. It is clear Archdeacon Linney speaks from a context of seemingly gratuitous injury inflicted by Rome, and not just on Anglicans. Specifically he appears to be referring to the utterances of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Last August the congregation issued a document on same-sex unions in which it said: "The approval or legalisation of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil."
Last summer also the cardinal, in a surprising intervention in the affairs of another church, sent a message to 2,600 Episcopalians/ Anglicans from all over the US who were mobilised in Dallas to oppose the appointment of Canon Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as (Episcopalian) Bishop of New Hampshire. "I hasten to assure you of my heartfelt prayers for all those taking part in this convocation. The significance of your meeting is sensed far beyond \ and even in this city \, from which St Augustine of Canterbury was sent to confirm and strengthen the preaching of Christ's gospel in England . . . I pray God's will may be done by all those who seek that unity in the truth, the gift of Christ himself," he said.
The intervention deeply irritated many Anglicans, not least because the cardinal had presided over a description of all other Christian denominations in the congregation's 2000 Dominus Iesus document as "not churches in the proper sense".
Cardinal Ratzinger has also been perceived widely as wilfully minimising clerical child sex abuse. For instance he insisted that in the US just 1 per cent of priests had been/were involved in such abuse. Research carried out on behalf of the US's bishops, published last month, showed that at least 4 per cent of priests had been involved in reported cases of abuse there since 1950. Some would suggest that, at best, the cardinal has been disingenuous on the issue.
And his views have found echo among some senior Catholic Church leaders on this island, where "hurt" has also been an Anglican experience.