Madam, – May I strongly disagree with David Irby’s strange assertions (April 17th) that “very few” follow Hans Küng’s “gripes”, “rantings” and “hissy-fits” which have “nothing to do with the life of the people in the pews” (Opinion, April 16th).
Mr Irby is obviously unaware that many people “in the pews” read and respect Fr Küng’s work not only because Küng writes about issues which are very important to their lives, but also because they find both consolation and encouragement in Fr Küng’s vision of what the future church might be. Mr Irby also does an injustice to Catholic bishops in doubting their interest in reading the carefully considered views of a theologian who has spent many years encouraging the spirit of Vatican II. I hope he is wrong in asserting that none of the bishops will act upon Fr Küng’s advice.
At a time when church reform is vital, an important step must be for bishops to reclaim real collegiality, as Fr Küng suggests, and as decreed by Vatican II. I join with Tony Flannery (April 17th) in hoping that bishops may take this step and may begin to act in a new way which will allow the church to become the humble, collaborative, pilgrim Church of the People envisaged by Vatican II. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – David Irby’s comment (April 17th) that Hans Küng’s letter has little or nothing to do with the sex abuse issue is alarmingly off the mark. Is he blind to the shadows cast by secretum pontificium over church and papacy?
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, finding greater good in truth being kept untold, kept victims away from healing light and prolonged for them the bitter night. By passing on the problem, the church unwittingly became evil’s conspirator and by holding the abuse away from light, the Congregation drew the papacy and the church itself into shadow.
Does he seriously believe this corruption of eternal truth is unconnected with the clinging to power by the papacy and Curia contrary to Vatican II and protested by Hans Küng? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lastly can he not see that all in authority who have erred so grievously, the bishops, the Curia, the Pope himself, are men? Did evil done by men, from men take toll, because the church sees not the woman’s role? Just as the therapy for those who suffered from abuse is the healing light of naked truth so it is for the church as an institution. Only the courage of independent-minded bishops will haste the day of perfect light that will no shadows cast, nor yield to night. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a convert Lutheran minister now Catholic priest, I’m appalled by the distortions and inner inconsistency of Hans Küng’s letter which he writes with such vehemence.
If I didn’t suspect the condition of his mind, I would fear for his soul. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Fr Tony Flannery (April 17th) supports Hans Küng’s call for bishops to start leading independently from Rome in their own territories.
“As for us priests”, he says, “we are in a sad state. We have no structure, no organisation, to give us a voice at this urgent time.” Why does Fr Flannery need “structure” and “organisation” to bring good news to people? Jesus did an excellent job without either. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Hans Küng’s letter to the bishops is not just a diagnosis of what has gone wrong in the Catholic Church: the resistance to change and the missed opportunities for reform. It seems to me also one of hope that the faithful themselves, who, as the writer says, “have no voice in the current situation”, must take steps to put matters right within the church, which forms a great part in our lives.
Its six proposals for reform should not only be read, but made the basis for a fresh renewal of a church in serious crisis. Now Hans Küng, in a very important document from one who has been closely involved in the Second Vatican Council, has shed the light of his wisdom and experience on the future of the church after a long and dark night of the soul. – Yours, etc,
Madam – Dr Hans Küng’s accusation that Cardinal Ratzinger as leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) “engineered” a “worldwide system of covering up cases of sexual crimes committee by clerics” is simply false, if the reports of informed journalists like John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter are to be relied on. (See Allen, “A Papal Conversion”, New York Times, March 27th, 2010; also the item on his blog “Keeping the record straight on Benedict and the crisis”, http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/keeping-record-straight-benedict-and-crisis). The CDF did not deal with such cases of clerical paedophilia at all until 2001, when, partly as a result of Cardinal Ratzinger’s pushing, motivated by his concern over the failure to deal decisively with certain cases in the 1990s, they were transferred to the CDF. That was a progressive step, since it was the first time that a Vatican department began to take the issue very seriously. Mr Allen suggests that the traumatising experience of reading all the files now sent by bishops to him led Cardinal Ratzinger to direct the CDF officials to take a much tougher response to such criminal behaviour, and to do so with far greater speed.
US bishops were afraid that the Vatican would insist on trials in all cases, which would have made the whole process very slow. In fact, the CDF directed bishops to conduct trials in only 20 per cent of cases. In 60 per cent of the cases, since the available evidence was so strong, the CDF authorised the bishop to take immediate action in removing the priest permanently. Some canon lawyers have raised concerns about such summary procedures, without benefit to the accused of due process. But what cannot be denied is that under Ratzinger’s leadership the CDF was taking expeditious and decisive action.
As for the “oath of secrecy” involved in canonical proceedings, reading of the text shows that there is no prohibition on reporting the matter to the police. The “oath of secrecy” was a rather ham-fisted way of trying to protect names and reputations, and to preserve the integrity of the canonical process. Other legal systems also have rules of confidentiality or “secrecy”.
The church needs much reform in this area. Wild accusations won’t help, and only feed lynch-mob frenzy. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I was as much delighted to read Vincent Twomey’s words of praise concerning Pope Benedict XVI (Opinion, April 19th) as I am disheartened at the continuing assault against the Christian faith and the Catholic Church by mainstream media outlets such as yours.
The goal of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is to unite all Christians in prayer and Pope Benedict has proven himself a faithful and diligent leader in this respect.
The seething malcontent of his detractors; the willingness to misinterpret his words; the obsession with seeking out the bad in all that is done by him and the church he leads – all this has not dampened his spirits one bit.
One might even say, he is strong in his faith. – Yours, etc,