Tina Beattie is in the Guardian today, and I am positively outraged by her insult to the integrity of our bishops. She says this:
"I think it's a really important time for the Church in this country because we have so far been not divided by this kind of ugly rupture," Beattie told the Guardian, calling on the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales to show a "very strong united front" in the face of any attempt to stifle dissent. "There's been a creative atmosphere of people being able to hold different positions in this country without it causing this kind of ugliness and I really think it's vital that the Bishops collectively stand up to protect that now."Now, our Bishops might not be experts in history or sociology or even theology, one might even suspect some haven't read many books in recent years, or are able to read a Vatican document, one can even accuse them of turning a blind eye or being just a little too silent about some issues but to suggest that they might have any inclination whatsoever to join with her "to show a "very strong united front" in the face of any attempt to stifle dissent" is really outrageous and insulting. This would be totally contrary to everything that a Catholic bishop is about.
She is not unintelligent, so why should she ever get the impression that the bishops might be interested in any way in promoting dissent?
What she is really doing is setting herself up against the Pope who said to the bishops at their last Ad Limina visit, "It is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate" it is on my sidebar.
I am sure she has more contact with our bishops than me but I simply cannot understand how she might have gained the impression that they might actually be in favour of dissent. Is it the contact she has with the paid professional of Ecclesdon Square, are they giving this intelligent women the impression they are on the side dissent, or is it her contact with Cafod or the Tablet? Somehow she has gained this impression that the bishops are actually on the side of unorthodoxy, this is a very grave charge and should not only be rebutted but also the reason for her believing what she does abou them really does need investigating.
It is very worrying.
I am told that Bishop Egan is the only bishop with a doctorate, it is about time we took the intellectual life of the Church in E&W seriously, to think Professor Beattie is the counted as a leading Catholic theologian is a sad relection on the state of learning in Catholic England.
10 comments:
If she's really a Catholic theologian, she'll know where she's wrong. If she can't see where she's wrong, she shouldn't call herself a Catholic theologian.
Your comments are spot on Father. You'll be in the running for next year's 'Stonewall' award - assuming they can't give it to themselves.
The word "Magisterium" is obviously not part of her vocabulary.
Her version of dissent does not include dissent from the push for same-sex marriage nor dissent from gender inclusive clergy. Her dissents are all dissents from the truths of Catholic teaching.
"There's been a creative atmosphere of people being able to hold different positions in this country without it causing this kind of ugliness".
Translation: I'm a pick and mix Catholic but I'm too cowardly to say so so I'll hide behind fine sounding words and pretend I'm a victim. What bs.
Never did trust Eamon Duffy. The Stripping of the Altars is excellent in many regards but he insists on referring to the 'traditional religion' of the people of this country not their Catholic faith. He plays games. I'm not surprised to see him supporting Tina. He doesn't have a spine and the truth is flexible to him as is evidenced by the liberal spin he puts on the situation.
Eamon Duffy’s remarks do not surprise me at all. He is neither a “conservative” nor a “traditionalist” in Catholic terms. He has conservative devotional (especially) and liturgical predilections, and over the past twenty years he has written articles decrying the changes made in the funeral rites of the Latin Rite after Vatican II, and attacking the old ICEL translation of the collects, secrets and postcommunion prayers of the Roman Rite — but in his attitude towards Church authority generally I would describe him as an ultramontanist liberal. In 1998, for instance, he stated in a conversation in which I was one of the three participants that all it would take to authorize the pretended ordination of women in the Catholic Church was a stroke of the papal pen on a document allowing their ordination (without any preceding dogmatic definition declaring it to be possible, nor, necessarily, any theological rationale for it; the mere exercise of papal authority would suffice). I hope that he does not embrace the same view as regards giving permission for same-sex pseudogamy to be “blessed” by and within the Catholic Church.
Those interested in Duffy’s religious background and views may find this religious autobiography of his useful:
http://www.thepastoralreview.org/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?priestsppl-00018
Blimey. The Judas-Syndrome seems alive and, well...
Tins should contain what it says on the label.
People must be free to dissent from Catholic teaching but then they should not purport to be teachers of Catholic theology.
"it is about time we took the intellectual life of the Church in E&W seriously",
I agree, and Rome should do the same. I have long argued that our Bishops are intellectually challenged. A nine year old child when I was at school knew more theology and more about the Truths of the Catholic Faith than many of our bishops appear to know. I do not suggest we understood the Truths...but at least we knew them.....and in later life they served as 'hooks on which to hang our hats'.
Can you really see their Lordships rallying to Tina's support? When the Pope has told them in no uncertain terms to "recognize dissent for what it is"? When the Holy Office is reportedly about to step in and do their job for them in re "gay Masses"? Expect a deafening silence, even from her number one fan Declan.
I suspect that the Bishops will be wary of supporting Beattie having seen how she has twisted the words of the late Cardinal Hume.
As Marx said of John Stuart Mill "His eminence is entirely owing to the flatness of the surrounding country".
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