The Catholic Church and radical change

Sir, – Fr Brendan Hoban and Fr Gerry O’Hanlon SJ (Letters, August 23rd) claim that Breda O’Brien (Opinion & Analysis, August 20th) is overlooking the fact that church doctrine changes over time. Of course it does. Yet in affirming doctrinal change in so unqualified a manner, Fr Hoban and Fr O’Hanlon unfortunately imply far too malleable a view of doctrine, one whereby doctrine is not rooted in anything well-defined, authoritative, and essentially unchanging. On this view there would seem to be few if any real limits to the ways in which doctrine could change.

But such a view is false. Authentic doctrinal change must be both rooted in and consistent with the teachings revealed by Jesus which were communicated to His apostles and, under the guidance of His Spirit, handed on to the New Testament authors and wider church. Those clearly asserted, authoritative teachings concern not just matters of “faith” narrowly understood but extend also to moral teaching, including on sex ethics, marriage, and human embodiment. It might surprise readers to learn what Jesus taught about sexual morality and marriage and how he linked those moral-spiritual truths to communion with God. The teaching authority of the Church, from Saints Peter and Paul onwards, including Vatican II, did not construct a sex ethics out of thin air.

And so one cannot summarily dismiss as “fear mongering” Breda O’Brien’s concerns over the unity of the Body of Christ (the church) in light of calls for “doctrinal change”. For within the Irish synodal process, including in positions of influence within that process, there does seem to be a desire for doctrinal change beyond that of a “reformulation” or “pastoral application” of authoritative teaching. From what has been said and left unsaid, there seems to be a desire for “doctrinal change” that would amount to an outright contradiction of teachings traceable to those asserted by Christ Himself. Moreover, there is evidence of a widespread lack of awareness around, and even lack of concern for, the spiritual effects of rejecting Christ and His teachings. This apparent lack of concern is by no means restricted to the field of Jesus’s sex ethics – it is wholesale in its subject scope. Too often today the local church is more concerned with generating feelings of affirmation and inclusion than with co-operating in the mission of Christ, ie, actually incorporating sinners, all of us, into His eternal life.

Deep down, that’s probably the main faultline in contemporary Irish Catholicism. And, fundamentally, it’s not a matter of being “conservative” or “liberal” or “traditional” or “progressive”. – Yours, etc,