Sickness unto death: Canadian Religious Conference.

In March it became public knowledge that in early January the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) in Montreal had sent all Canadian bishops a document radically at odds with Catholic teaching (LifeSiteNews.com, March 7). The news media made much of the fact that the CRC represents some 230 religious congregations, for a total of 22,000 sisters, brothers, and priests.

The document sets forth what is presented as the collective opinion of Canada's religious about "the situation of our Church." It is said to be the result of a survey done between April and June 2005 which targeted five areas: the Church, Community life, liturgy, solidarity, and prophecy. Reactions were classified under "We hope;" We regret;" and "We recognize" (what has been accomplished).

The "We regret" sections complain about Canadian bishops not being receptive to the need for separation, divorce, and "new religious orientations chosen by family members;" of having a legalistic image; of rigidity and intransigent stands on moral issues; of failing to be open to Communion for the divorced and re-married; of an unwelcoming attitude towards homosexuals; of opposition to general absolution; of refusing to allow married priests; of having a "fear of dialogue with other Churches." Most importantly, they object to the bishops favouring "the unconditional alignment" of our "Canadian Church" with the directives from Rome, and giving "priority to the re-affirmation of dogma and traditional morals" (rather than listening to the people).

Under the "We hope" section one finds more of the same: requests for optional celibacy, married clergy, the ordination of women, "creativity" in the liturgy ("we regret the maintenance of strict liturgical laws"); "cultural integration;" more "relevant" rites and symbols; the welcoming of all "marginalized" persons; the acceptance of same-sex "marriage;" and, again, the revealing demand for a more "autonomous" Church and episcopal conference.

In short, the letter calls for a different Church, one without doctrine or moral standards except the most flexible and adjustable ones--and "with full equality among women and men in all ministries."

The covering letter claims that these "requests" are expressions of goodwill, of solidarity, of love of the Church, and the desire to "form a Church of faithful men and women animated by the constant call and process of conversion."

Comment

In response, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec City doubted whether the CRC really spoke for all members. "The majority of the 4000 members of religious orders in my diocese would not approve what is written in the document of the CRC," he said (LifeSiteNews.com, March 10, 2006). No doubt, he is right.

The Cardinal's doubt is pressed home by questions about the survey. The document acknowledges that 40 percent of the 230 congregations never responded; but the other 60 percent had the survey filled out by a select few, because ordinary religious are not members of the CRC, only superiors of congregations.

More importantly, the responses were not summarized according to numerical frequency but selected according to "insistence or [reflecting] deep convictions." Dissenters always loudly insist that they are right; so by the method of editorial selection their responses are weighted out of proportion to their numbers. In other words, the outcome of the survey is highly tendentious and does not represent the views of the average religious at all. That the CRC executive reveals its own radically impoverished understanding of the Church remains a shock (For their names, see News in Brief-Canada).

Twenty years ago Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, pointed out that the Church was in crisis. But where, he was asked, is the principal point of rupture? He answered: in the understanding of the Church, in ecclesiology. "My impression is that the authentically Catholic meaning of the reality 'Church' (ecclesia in Latin) is tacitly disappearing, without being expressly rejected. Many no longer believe that what is at issue is a reality willed by the Lord himself. Even with some theologians, the Church appears to bc a human construction, an instrument created by us, and one which we ourselves can freely recognize according to the requirements of the moment." (For text, see C.I., July/August 2005, pp.13-14).

What to do with the CRC? Religious sisters, brothers and priests, who persist in airing their objections to the Magisterium suffer from a sickness unto death (as Soren Kierkegaard wrote in 1849). They should be asked to leave. The others should demand a retraction of the letter or cancel their membership in the CRC.