A STRAIGHTFORWARD MANNER

Flannery O'Connor tells an amusing anecdote about Henry James:

It's said that when Henry James received a manuscript that he didn't like, he would return it with the comment, "You have chosen a good subject and are treating it in a straightforward manner." This usually pleased the person getting the manuscript back, but it was the worst thing that James could think of to say, for he knew, better than anybody else, that the straightforward manner is seldom equal to the complications of the good subject.

Now, frankly, and with all due respect, it does seem to me that many of the bloggers who have disagreed with or outright dismissed the statements on Iraq from the USCCB and the pope have treated these statements "in a straightforward manner." And, in my humble opinion, I really think many of their explanations are not "equal to the complications" of the deep and long standing tradition of how Catholics are to receive official statements that are a prudential judgment on a current situation by bishops and the pope.

One glaring omission seems to be the sheer fact that the USCCB and pope have made statements about war with Iraq. If you're going to say that these bishops and the pope have overstepped their authority and competence, then you're faced with the fact that their own understanding of their authority and competence did not prevent them from making the statements. That, of course, doesn't necessarily mean they in fact do have the necessary authority and competence, but it ought to make one pause a bit. After all, how else does the Church determine what it does and does not have authority and competence about if not from bishops and the pope? But there's a more jarring problem with many of the explanations I've read.

Ham-fistedly separating prudential judgments from the rest of Church Teaching, or limiting the scope of such judgments to liturgy, governance, and directives to prayer, penance, and fasting, does two things:

1) it whittles the prudential judgments by bishops and the pope down to slivers of opinion that are basically personal and subjective.
2) it empties the very principles that are being applied in the prudential judgment of any real significance and clips them out of their context as principles that are designed to be applied to the world.

There's a kind of chicken or egg dynamic here. Church Teaching doesn't arise in a vacuum. In large part, it's the result of concrete, particular situations rearing up and demanding resolution. Flip through any history of Early Christianity and you'll see nearly every article of faith challenged by particular individuals with particular notions. There is an integral relationship between doctrine and its application that is not a one-way shot in the dark. Specific situations gave rise to doctrine and the further elucidation of that doctrine. Specific wars gave rise to the proposal and clarification of the Church's much bandied about just-war principles. For example, the nuclear arms build up and the potential for unprecedented destruction that existed in 1963 surely motivated the writing of the great and influential encyclical Pacem in Terris. But to admit this is to admit an intimate relationship between Church Teaching and current events.

Why, then, do some insist on denying that the moral authority of the bishops and the pope has weight and significance that ought to at least cause one some trepidation when publicly dissenting from its conclusions? Yes, yes yes, I know know know that these prudential judgments are NOT not not binding and DON'T don't don't require the assent of the faithful. Sheesh! Can we move past this objection? The reason they don't require assent is because they're applications to a particular situation that can't be universally applied or cover every possible circumstance that someone might find him or herself in. But they still pack a proportionate authority that makes such judgments different from your own personal opinion, the opinion of bloggers (yes, really), and the opinion of government officials.

And so, I'll say again what I mentioned before. Dissent from Church Teaching should never leave you feeling warm and toasty. For Catholics, the Church is so central to any application of moral theory, and the very basis of such an application, a well-formed conscience, has its roots so deep within the Church, that any dissent from prudential judgments that the bishops and pope make ought to be a cold comfort at best.


posted by Minute Particulars at 9:44 PM

"DISAGREEMENT IS NOT AN EASY THING TO REACH"(originally from March 2003)

This wonderfully counterintuitive statement from John Courtney Murray has been highlighted again by recent debate; this time it's the debate on exactly how Catholics ought to react to a statement on a current situation by bishops or the pope. I'm amazed at some of the negative responses my recent post, COLD COMFORT, received. I'm not amazed because they're negative responses, of course not; I get lots of those. I'm amazed because I'm still not quite sure what it is we're disagreeing upon. I know it must be hidden somewhere in all the "isms" that are being used to describe my position and others who have approached the issue in a similar manner.

The first impediment to genuine disagreement about this issue has been the terminology. At least in the discussions I've been involved with, there is an interesting resistance to the terms "official statement" and "dissent." Some hold that "official statements" by bishops and the pope are not official statements unless they are doctrinal or statements of principles that aren't applications to particular situations and current events. I don't quite follow this objection. On the one hand, we're not talking about an opinion by the pope overheard at dinner about a soccer match that day. On the other, we're not talking about an infallible teaching or even an ordinary teaching that requires the assent of the faithful. We're talking about statements intended for the public by bishops, the pope, or appropriate Vatican officials, about important current events. Yes these are prudential judgments. Yes they are not binding nor do they require the assent of the faithful. But if these aren't "official," if these don't reflect current judgments about current events by bishops and the pope from their "office" as bishops and pope, then I don't know what "official" means.

I understand that a Catholic might wince at the realization that he or she utterly disagrees with an "official statement" from the pope or USCCB. But I don't think limiting the scope of what's "official" is the best technique around this. While it might make it less awkward to, as Mr. Dreher put it, "stand by their president, and not their pope, in this matter," denying that there are official statements on an issue seems to water down the statements of bishops and the pope to mere opinion devoid of wisdom or inspiration from the Holy Spirit. And if we can't call statements on important current events by bishops and the pope "official," then our disagreement will only be about opinions, and underlying our conversation will be the assumption that bishops and the pope don't really have authority or competence to make statements on these matters. It would then follow that we really don't have to take them seriously. This seems the implicit and even explicit position of a number of Catholics.

The other disputed term is the word "dissent." Some insist that "dissent" exclusively implies an unfaithful break from the Church, though obviously the word has a much more general meaning as well. If the only objection to using "dissent" is that it has a strict ecclesial meaning then I'm happy to say "disagree" or some such term. But I used the word deliberately in previous post not to suggest that any dissent is necessarily unfaithful, but to suggest that one is disagreeing with an official statement of the bishops or popes that has a context and implications that "disagree" doesn't quite get at.

I actually wonder if avoiding the word "dissent" is really a very smart tactic. If you don't want to distance yourself from the context of a bishop or pope's prudential judgment, and authentic discussion ought to attempt to preserve the proper context of such judgments, then why not roll up your sleeves and get dirty? Why not claim that as a faithful, good-willed, intelligent Catholic, you are dissenting from an official statement by the USCCB or pope? Using "disagree" or some such term undermines the weight of the official statement and the impact that a contrary opinion might have; and yes, avoiding "dissent" waters the position of the bishops and pope down to mere opinion devoid of wisdom or inspiration from the Holy Spirit (you see the pattern developing).

By now many who have objected to the use of the above terms are probably seeing red, saying

That idjit at Minute Particulars is at it again! He's claiming that the statements from the USCCB or pope are binding on the faithful and anyone who disagrees is a devious, dastardly dissenter!

And this brings us to the next obstacle for our ever getting to the point of really disagreeing: the creative reinterpretation of comments and positions into straw men that can be whisked away swiftly and easily. I have not said many of the things that several blogs have claimed I've said. Most of them have kindly provided a link to my original post, and I'd simply ask the reader to look again at what I and others have actually said. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I could continue listing the other hurdles that seem to keep us from getting to and digging into our respective positions so that intelligent discussion can occur. But you've surely gotten my point and so I'll stop piecing together scaffolding and get directly to what bothers me in all this blog blather.

My concern from the start, when I first raised doubts about the wisdom of Catholics writing an Open Letter that seemed inappropriate, was that there have been motions, some subtle and perhaps unintended, some explicit, vigorous, and deliberate, to vitiate the Church's moral authority in secular matters. I get the impression that Catholics are being encouraged to look for loopholes, to walk within the letter but perhaps not the spirit of Church Teaching, to wiggle and squirm so they can comfortably dismiss the clear statements of concern about current events from the USCCB and the pope. I don't mean genuine, faithful dissent that may be heroic, objectively correct, and noble. I don't mean a humble, reverent shaking of one's head in disapproval. I don't mean the kind of disagreement that leaves one uncomfortable, causes one to look again for what is not seen, and hobbles one a bit by pangs of conscience. I mean the dissent of Catholics who boldly proclaim the bishops are wrong, the Vatican is wrong, the pope is wrong on an issue of utmost moral significance.

I don't understand the loud and booming dismissals of official statements by USCCB and the pope that many have offered for public consumption. I don't quite see how these Catholic pundits can be so confident; from my vantage point they only seem to be offering a simplistic notion of the difference between doctrinal statements and prudential judgments, a shallow reading of the Tradition, and subtle but definite resistance to letting the Lumen Gentium shine without filters or obstruction through the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

But more importantly I'm troubled by the following fact: most of this resistance is coming from faithful, good-willed, intelligent Catholics. Sure there are some frothing fringe folks, but many of these opinions are coming from those who, judging from what they've said in the past and on many issues, are wiser, smarter, and older than I am. It's as if the cap is stuck on the St. Blog's toothpaste tube and the current crisis is giving it a good, hardy squeeze; the toothpaste is squirting out in places I would have never suspected. And this is disturbing because it makes it clear that the consensus on many issues of earlier times was a little more brittle than I thought.

I simply don't know the reason this tendency to be so dismissive of statements from bishops and the pope has arisen in faithful, good-willed, intelligent Catholics. Surely it's complex and my dim words have not been an attempt to explain it. The perceived shaking of the foundations caused by the sexual abuse scandal is a likely contributor. And what some see as the brazen battering of U.S. policies by bishops and the Vatican is likely at play as well. But at some point a line gets crossed and new ground is stood upon that may seem to give one firm footing for a particular situation. But I wonder how well that ground will support the broader issues one inevitably faces once a crisis passes.


posted by Minute Particulars at 9:23 PM

COLD COMFORT (originally from March 2003)

It's interesting that one of the most cited texts from the USCCB on Iraq by those who disagree with the bishops is the following:

People of good will may differ on how traditional norms apply in this situation. The gravity of the threat and whether force would be preemptive are matters of debate, as are the potential consequences of using or failing to use military force.

I wonder if those taking comfort in the fact that a judgment doesn't require assent, in this case a judgment by bishops or the pope about the current Iraqi situation, might be dismissing the opinion in part because it doesn't require assent. I've read suggestions that the opinion of bishops and the pope on Iraq doesn't touch on faith and morals; but surely it's an application of these. I've also sensed that some think a prudential judgment is a kind of personal opinion about a matter that "people of good will may differ on" and thus, because they consider themselves people of good will, they implicitly or explicitly hold that their opinion is necessarily equal to the opinion of the bishops and pope. I'd like to suggest that there might be a bit more to disagreeing with bishops and the pope on prudential issues than the doesn't require assent mantra might suggest. But to do this we need to consider again the nature of a prudential judgment.

Here's a fine description of prudence from Josef Pieper:

The immediate criterion for concrete ethical action is solely the imperative of prudence in the person who has the decision to make. This standard cannot be abstractly construed or even calculated in advance; abstractly here means: outside the particular situation. The imperative of prudence is always and in essence a decision regarding an action to be performed in the "here and now."

The opinion of bishops and the pope on Iraq doesn't require assent because any application of moral principles requires a prudential judgment, a judgment in the "here and now" about a concrete situation, a decision upon which people of deep faith and good will might differ. If you think about it, in theory, there are very few if any applications (not principles or laws or doctrines, but practical applications) of Church Teaching that would necessarily and in every case require assent or agreement of the faithful given every possible permutation of intention, events, and circumstances. If you're thinking "the divinity of Christ" or some such thing you're missing the point; look again at the last few sentences and the parenthetical, I'm talking about "practical applications." How do you apply the doctrinal truth that Christ is divine? In the moral realm, even applying the straightforward and unequivocal prohibition against killing an innocent human being can get difficult when one must determine the particular aspects: intention, innocence, mitigating circumstances, etc. Certainly you can say it's always wrong to kill an innocent human being, but applying that in particular situations is often quite difficult.

A judgment requiring assent would have to be applicable to and anticipate every possible particular situation in advance. The reason judgments requiring assent are so rare is that it's nearly impossible to account for every possible mitigating circumstance when the judgment is applied to concrete, complex, and particular situations. Judgments by bishops and the pope that are prudential don't require assent in the manner that doctrinal declarations do because doctrinal declarations can have universal scope for every possible circumstance -- even if applying the doctrines to the world is difficult; prudential judgments don't have this same scope.

But judgments "not requiring assent" have somehow drifted to being perceived by many as "judgments that have the same weight and authority as my own judgments as long as I'm good willed about it." This, I would suggest, is a distortion. Judgments by bishops or the pope not requiring assent are still informed by the Holy Spirit, the teaching authority of the episcopal office, and the solicitude the Church has for the dignity of every human being.

A judgment of the bishops and pope, even a unanimous one that holds that the current conditions for a just war have not been met could very well be wrong. But if so, it will only be seen as such in hindsight. The purpose of these prudential judgments is to guide all men and women of good will in the "here and now." Dissent from these positions ought to be done with reverence, with humility, and frankly, with a little fear and trembling. I say this NOT because one is somehow not "faithful" if one dissents from the prudential judgments of bishops or the pope. Rather, I say this because one is deciding to go it alone or with others of like mind who have themselves decided to go it alone. This could indeed be noble and even heroic. History may show that those who have strongly disagreed with the present opinion of bishops and popes on Iraq were virtuous, faithful, brave men and women of good will who fought the good fight and were clearly right to dissent.

But this kind of dissent loses its authenticity if it stems from suspicion of the motivations of the pope or bishops, or is rooted in doubt that the Holy Spirit is working through the pope or bishops, or derives from a love for one's nation that surpasses love for the Light of nations, or is grounded in good old fashioned despair about the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ:

Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element. For this reason, by no weak analogy, it is compared to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body.

Finally, it seems to me that faithful dissent needs to be accompanied by an awareness of the fact that formation of conscience is very closely tied to Church Teaching:

In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path, we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church. (CCC)

Dissent from Church Teaching should never leave you feeling warm and toasty. For Catholics, the Church is so central to any application of moral theory, and the very basis of such an application, a well-formed conscience, has its roots so deep within the Church, that any dissent from prudential judgments that the bishops and pope make ought to be a cold comfort at best.


posted by Minute Particulars at 7:09 PM