ARTICLES

You Can't Dialogue with Serfs

San Francisco Conference Calls for a New Church

BY DANIEL NICHOLLS

University of San Francisco's Lone Mountain Conference Center steamed with controversy as an aging crowd filled the main conference room and overflow seating on Saturday, March 27, for a conference titled, "Imaging the Future Church." Despite official spurning of the conference by Bishop Allen Vigneron of the Oakland diocese, the crowd, numbering over four hundred, gathered for what had been billed "a forum for creative, collaborative and constructive dialogue on the future of the Catholic Church."

In the overflow rooms down the hall, University of San Francisco president, Jesuit Father Stephen Privett in suit and tie, was projected onto the large screen taking up the fore of the room. Not long thereafter, Privett dove right into the controversy involving Bishop Vigneron, wondering aloud how anyone had come to find out about the conference -- a quip that earned him the day's first (but certainly not last) round of laughter.

Controversy over the conference arose as Bishop Vigneron officially precluded any advertisements for or coverage of the conference in his diocese. Bishop Vigneron, according to the March 26 San Francisco Chronicle, refused to support the conference because one of its sponsors, Voice of the Faithful, questions Church teaching, specifically the issue of ordaining women. The March 23 Contra Costa Times reported that the bishop's concern arose from "critical comments on church doctrine he [Vigneron] heard from group members" and VOTF's refusal to "affirm some elements of authentic magisterial teaching." Bishop Vigneron had met with members of Voice of the Faithful's Oakland chapter on November 24, according to the chapter's published minutes, where he addressed many of the issues that prompted his recent action.

The Chronicle's report cited conflicting sources as to whether Archbishop William Levada supported and/or requested a blackout of the conference in his archdiocese. It is alleged that the archdiocese also refused to run ads for the conference. According to Catholic San Francisco editor Maurice Healy, there were no plans for covering the conference either. Archbishop Levada, in a pastoral meeting last September, discouraged parishes from hosting Voice of the Faithful meetings, since this would "promote disunity," and has refused to endorse the organization. Bishop Vigneron has neither officially endorsed the Voice of the Faithful chapter in his diocese nor banned its use of parish facilities.

In response to criticism, Saint Ignatius Institute director Dr. Paul Murphy, in the Chronicle, countered that while Voice of the Faithful's theology is diverse, "they are good Catholic people." More recently, he stressed that there has been no "backlash" from the archdiocese and that the university's "relationship with Archbishop Levada is positive and respectful." The archbishop has been a guest lecturer for Saint Ignatius Institute before.

Robert Kaiser, director of the university's Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, when moderating the conference's panel discussion, suggested that the prominent issues of restructuring in the Church, addressed by the conference, had nothing to do with doctrine but with politics. Several speakers mentioned that they did not think the crowd gathered was looking to challenge Church doctrine. Dr. Shawn Copeland reiterated this point, telling this reporter that the conference was "very positive. I thought people were there not to flaunt authority but to be collaborative."

Dr. Copeland's address at the conference centered around the story of South Carolina's Catholic Hill, a community of African-American slaves that kept the faith alive after being left without sacrament or church, "abandoned and forgotten." Through catechesis and efforts spearheaded by Vincent DePaul Davis, a lay ex-slave, the community kept its Catholic faith going for forty years, until 1897, when a traveling priest found the group and set to reconstructing the church and administering sacraments. Copeland likened this scenario to the current situation of the Church, whose ordinary structures of ecclesial life, she said, are no longer operative.

"They [Church structures] are not working for us, are no longer effective," expounded Copeland in a phone interview with me. "The Second Vatican Council picked up on that, jogged us a little bit, challenged us to become active." In her speech, Copeland explained that Vatican II disrupted the Church's "superficial security" and demanded a more active participation from its members. She cited the baptismal responsibility, not option, to become a part of the mission of Jesus. In fact, "if we have nothing to say about the mission of Jesus, then [Gaudium et Spes] rings hollow." Applying the three-fold dictum of "formation, conversion, and transformation" to Church structures, Copeland reminded the audience that "not even the best church is an end in itself." Post-Vatican II Catholicism must then not fear transformation. She went on to point out examples of Jesus transforming convention and the reactions to it, particularly Mary's washing Jesus' feet (in which He affirms her role in His mission, despite tradition) and the Lucan account of the excited and then violent reception of Jesus' reading and explanation of scripture in the synagogue. The issue was brought back to Catholic Hill, acknowledging challenges that lay ahead and encouraging personal sacrifice to get through the "wilderness" of institutional crisis. Copeland, during her question and answer period, traced back the "wilderness" two years.

Some characterized Copeland's question and answer period as the "statement and silence period," as many audience participants used their time to say something instead of inquire. One attendee announced her intention soon to be ordained to the deaconate, and hopefully later to the priesthood, by a female Austrian "bishop." This audience member thanked Copeland for being "on the front lines" for her. Copeland was silent through the resulting round of applause and decided not to comment on the incident over the phone. When asked about the controversy over the conference, Copeland was very guarded, saying that while she would encourage the bishop to embrace transformation, she was not from the area and was not overly familiar with the situation. She also warned against judging too quickly, since all are in need of continual personal renewal. While life goes on, despite the decisions of the hierarchy, she stressed being there for the bishops, not against them, even if that motivation may be misunderstood.

Immaculate Heart sister Mary Ann Hinsdale then spoke on "Transforming Ecclesial Imagination." She started by stating that she is a radical Catholic theologian. She dedicated her speech to then-ailing Michigan bishop Kenneth Untener. (Bishop Untener died on March 27, the day of the conference.)

The sexual abuse scandal is the biggest ecclesial culture change since Vatican II, claimed Hinsdale. Asking why the response was so large at this time, she answered by noting the large difference between appearance and reality. The amount of difference between the two engenders shock. Though this disparity has sent some away from the Church, particularly to the Episcopal Church, Hinsdale commented that doing so was not her "vocation." No, Sister Hinsdale is not ready to leave the Church, but rather rallies behind the univocal reaction of Church moderates, conservatives, and liberals on the issue.

Hinsdale's speech centered on "lived realities." She noted the hierarchy's loss of moral authority, called the current urge towards reform a belated coming of age, and opened the question of what Catholic identity really is. American Catholicism, she said, has very much been a composite of immigrant Catholics, and a new immigrant population defines the modern American Church. Here she also cited contradictions between the old Catholic train of thought, following rote rules, and the "Protestant private judgment" of newer American Catholics. She likes, in class, to compare Pope Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors with the Bill of Rights: the readings line up almost identically, except every one in the Syllabus begins, "Let him be anathema..." -- which not only contradicts the Bill of Rights, she claimed, but Vatican II. Hinsdale marked four shifts in Vatican II: Church is in the world, but not identified with it; the retrieval of the local or particular church; retrieval of collegiality (which, she said, has not been realized, but has regressed); the role of the laity.

Hinsdale then went on to observe that the episcopal erosion started long before the sex abuse scandal, not two years ago but decades ago, with the lack of lay adherence to Church teaching. In order to help address this divorce, Hinsdale suggested temporary vocations (a regular Buddhist practice, where aspirants enter religious orders for a limited time to "test the waters") and urged lay conversation with bishops. When asked about reaching the youth (the demographic core highlighted in her speech, along with the Latino population) about distinction in Catholic identity, particularly the meeting of "me-me" and radically inclusive mindsets, Hinsdale concentrated on reaching out in the diocese first, and then going where the students are (i.e., bars and the renowned program Theology on Tap).

During the panel segment of the day, remaining attendees crammed into the main room because of a technical breakdown. Father Donald Cozzens and Dr. Leonard Swidler presented their arguments, with Dr. Sally Vance-Trembath synthesizing in order to give the audience themes to address in their questions. Cozzens started out, affirming that the Church would be different no matter what course it takes from this point in time. He identified two options: irreversible decline or thoroughgoing reform.

Father Cozzens predicted "single digit Mass attendance," as in Western Europe, if things continue as they are and the laity is excluded from diocesan government -- an outcome he predicted would happen within twenty years. He asserted that clericalism and feudalism contributed to sexual abuse and decried Pope Pius X's vision of the Church as flawed. U.S. bishops, he said, are called to establish peace first and the ministry second but hold onto Pius X's "controlling vision," which fears dialogue and patronizes the lower rungs in the power structure. Dialogue with serfs, after all, is impossible. Feudalism rests on unquestioning loyalty, Cozzens argued, which is how it has survived this long and why the sexual abuse was able to go on for so long. Catholicism adopted feudalism and exchanged a land economy with an "economy of grace." That is, the fear of damnation is the power of the institutional Church.

Cozzens was quick to point out, however, that it is a mistake to think we do not need authority. He suggested that community elders can be found in all walks of life: gay, lesbian, separated, divorced, and poor faithful. He reiterated that he did not mean to diminish the institutional portion of the Church. How it would remain was the main topic of his vision for "thoroughgoing reform."

The remaining institutional aspect of the Church would, Cozzens proposed, be a softened distinction between clergy and laity. The emphasis would be on charism and less on office or title. In order to find who is called to lead, the discernment would be communal, with the laity having a voice in the elections of their pastor and bishop. Cozzens also claimed that a priest's ability to marry would be unimpeded, women deacons would be ordained, and there would be serious "discernment" over the ordination of women priests. Like Hinsdale, Cozzens proposed a revised structure for religious life, with Buddhist-inspired temporary vocations.

Dr. Swidler spoke on the viability of a series of constitutions for every level of the Catholic Church. Swidler handed out a document, titled "A Catholic Constitution for the Catholic Church," which he read from extensively. It's a how-to for constructing parish and diocesan lay constitutions, which urges readers to pursue the implementation of "Catholic responsibility-sharing, of a democratic Catholicism, and a Constitution for it." Distributing copies of his presentation, which he warned was not "sexy," Swidler framed his contention as fulfilling a papal mandate. Pope Paul VI had established a commission to work on a universal constitution of the Church, a document that came to be known as Lex Fundamentalis Ecclesiæ. In 1980, however, Pope John Paul II decided not to promulgate it. The document was never finalized nor implemented.

Swidler argued for the right to a democratic structure within the Church on the basis of mankind's created nature ("knowing good and evil") and Vatican II's mandate for all members to "undertake ... the task of renewal and reform." The latter, he said, derives from "all the faithful" gathering to elect a successor to Judas in Acts, from the Didache's instruction for the election of the episcopate, and from the First Epistle of Clement, among others. According to Swidler's "Catholic Constitution" document, "the first seven Ecumenical Councils ... were all convoked, presided over, and promulgated ... by laymen and -- shocking! -- a lay woman!" He went on to quote Pope John Paul II in support of democracy, though admittedly not democracy within the Church.

University of San Francisco professor Vance-Trembath then said she would synthesize the talks, beginning with the claim that Vatican II "was a radical revolution" which has stalled (something she said that is done at one's own peril). She invoked Catholic revolutionaries like St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Paul -- the latter in his revolution at the "so-called Council of Jerusalem." She defined the challenge as realizing that the Holy Spirit (apart from being a "snazzy idea we came up with after the Resurrection") is the presence of God in man, where God and man meet. The Spirit is ultimately what impels the proposed reform forward.

Dr. James Post, president of Voice of the Faithful, made the closing speech, mostly on the problem of sexual abuse, the purpose of his organization, and the role of dioceses in redressing the problem. He identified sexual abuse as a systemic problem which must be dealt with systemically: namely, by lay participation (i.e., parish councils), episcopal responsibility, and diocesan financial transparency. He also called for bishops to stop preventing Voice of the Faithful meetings and preventing ads for conferences like this one.

Although the conference was advertised in Voice of the Faithful circles as part of its Western States Conference, Dr. Paul Murphy maintained that it was not a Voice of the Faithful conference. Rather, he said, it was a university event in which, apart from Sunday's strategic workshop, Voice of the Faithful coordinated with University of San Francisco programs, the Saint Ignatius Institute, and the Leo T. McCarthy Center. The university, said Murphy, invited theologians based on their ability to address the current topic, not on their politics.

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