Father Bernard Haring dies: ... in order to establish a necessary balance, the following sketch emphasizes this disagreeable side of the moral theologian.

Redemptorist Father Bernard Haring, influential moral theologian and author of 90 books and 1,000 articles in several languages, whose pre-Vatican Council work brought about changes in moral theology, died in Germany at age 85, following a stroke on July 3,1998. His three-volume Law of Christ, published in 1954, took a biblical approach to moral theology, unlike the philosophical texts of his day. Thus his theology appeared as a breath of fresh air. Yet, later on, his disdain for "pure philosophy" would bring him troubles.

The German theologian suffered for many years from cancer of the throat. In 1979 surgeons removed one vocal chord, after which Fr. Haring spoke only with difficulty. The cancer was overcome but new health problems beset him in 1997, leading to his death last July.

During the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the theologian served as secretary of the commission that drafted the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes), from which he derived a "theology of experience" which shortly thereafter turned him against the traditional Church teaching on marriage, which he began to attack as "legalistic."

Already in 1964 Haring's views that the "Pill" could be used legitimately for a number of reasons, including spacing of births, were circulated in North America. However, the theologian readily allowed that "the final decision, as always, remains with the teaching authority of the Church" ("Theology and the Pill", Cath. Reporter, 1964). Unfortunately, when Pope Paul VI published his `final decision' in July 1968, Fr. Haring had already committed himself to the opposing view and was no longer willing to grant the Pope final authority.

Rebellion

Among his supporters was the American Father Charles Curran, a former student of his. With the Canadian Father Gregory Baum, and the support of Fr. Haring, Curran organized the rebellion of North American theologians against Humanae vitae in August of 1968. Father Haring justified his own stand in a brief work, Love is the answer (1968).

Later on, like Curran and others, Haring widened his disagreement to other areas of moral theology. He used to introduce them as possible "interpretations" of papal teaching, but then defended them as the absolute truth. Thus in a 1973 book, Medical Ethics, he defended sterilization, artificial insemination and contraception as possible means of "responsible parenthood." On abortion and rape he presented as "an opinion" the position that "before the twenty-fifth to the fortieth day, the embryo cannot be considered a human person."

A further argument of Fr. Haring was that in a "pluralistic" society the Church should stop discussing ethical-medical issues in "religious" terms. Instead, it should discuss them in terms of the common good, or as justice towards the weak, or as the protection of commonly agreed upon values. He did this at a time when Western countries were legalizing abortion, disregarding any "commonly agreed upon values."

On marriage and contraception

In 1975, Haring accused the Church of undermining her own stand against abortion by failing to support contraception. ("Abortion stand damaged by ban on contraception," Western Catholic Reporter, Sept. 1,1975.) Again Haring's naivete overlooked the evidence of history--namely that abortion becomes acceptable after society first embraces contraception.

He now also argued that Church laws on marriage and divorce should be revised because they "often inflict cruel hardships, especially on the young." The Church's "marriage tribunals live in sin," he said. He accused militant Catholic conservatives of "fighting change mindlessly."

In 1976 Haring belittled the rhythm method--an early form of natural family planning (NFP), claiming it led to babies born with defects and more miscarriages. Invited to defend these accusations before an International Symposium on NFP, he declined. The Symposium refuted Fr. Haring's claims in a lengthy press release distributed in over 30 countries. The German editors of the original article refused to print the refutation.

Ten years later, in August 1986, Father Haring vigorously defended and praised his former student Charles Curran when the Vatican declared the now professional dissenter "unsuitable to teach Catholic theology."

One-sided "dialogue"

In 1989, in an article in the Italian magazine Il Regno, Haring called for the debate on contraception to be re-opened in order to stop the "catastrophic polarization" in the Church. He attacked by name Msgr. Carlo Caffarra, head of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies of the Lateran University.

His charges followed several affirmations of Humanae vitae by Pope John Paul II, as well as the conclusions of three Congresses in Rome in November 1988 held in honour of the document's 20th anniversary.

According to the moral theologian, the 1968 encyclical was just a debate about the legitimacy of artificial versus natural means of contraception in spacing births. What is really important, he stated, is not whether a couple uses one or other means, but how the spouses come to the decision to responsibly transmit life. In other words, according to Haring, morality is not based on the objective nature of the action, but on the subjective process used by the individual to arrive at his or her decision. The Vatican answered in a lengthy article in Osservatore Romano (Feb. 27, 1989) refuting Father Haring's views one by one, reiterating that the foundation of morality rests on whether the intended action is in itself right or wrong.

Haring's reactions became increasingly strident. When Pope John Paul II published the 1993 encyclical Veritatis splendor, he questioned the Pope's competence in matters of moral theology and sexual ethics and stated: "We should let the Pope know that we are wounded by the many signs of his rooted distrust . . . ."

Father Bernard Haring harmed the Catholic community with his 30-year long dissent from Catholic moral teaching.

"The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" (1 Cor. 20).

Fr. Alphonse de Valk