Twenty Third Ordinary Sunday Year A
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious
(LCWR), which claims representation from more than 80% of American nuns, is
being investigated by the doctrinal watchdog of Vatican, the Congregation for
the Doctrine of Faith, for “manifest problematic statements and serious
theological, even doctrinal errors.” In April 2012, the Vatican appointed Archbishop
Sartain of Seattle as the LCWR's "archbishop delegate" and gave him
authority to revise its statutes and programmes. Of course, his appointment has
been criticised as heavy-handed interference. For its part, the Holy See has
maintained that this intervention is not to be regarded as a 'sanction,' but
rather “a point of dialogue and discernment."
It is really difficult at this point to see how
there is going to be a breakthrough, when the sisters persistently claim the
right to “faithful dissent” and their own understandings of faith, ecclesial
authority and religious obedience. There seems to be no backtracking from or
lessening of or remorse felt for the frequently negative
and critical position vis-a-vis Church doctrine and
discipline and the Church’s teaching office. From both the speeches and actions taken by individual members as well
as by the LCWR collectively, they seem to be conveying this clear message to
the rest of the Church: “We are the Magisterium. The bishops know nothing. The
bishops are backward, misogynist, heartless, fools who live in the past,
useless old tyrants. If this means that the LCWR is no longer recognised by
church authorities, so be it. Though we have given our lives to the church, we
have not given our consciences to anyone but God. We renounce Rome’s authority,
i.e., we have all authority.”
Perhaps, in the ensuing “battle royale” between this group of nuns
and the Vatican, it is so much easier to depict the former as the powerless
underdogs and the latter as the big bully, especially when the discussion is compounded
by the gender-war hermeneutics of men trying to put defenseless women in their
place. Many would certainly sympathise with the cause of LCWR, even though they
may not be aware of the real issues at stake. So, should Vatican and the US
Bishops leave this group of nuns alone? Should they even assume an Orwellian
“Big Brother is watching you” stance with regards to the LCWR and similar
groups of dissidents? From the time Cain
asked his evasive question, after conveniently murdering his brother, Abel, “Am
I my brother’s keeper?” the answer has been an unequivocal and indisputable
‘Yes’! We are indeed “keepers” of one another in the Lord.
In today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel’s perception of his
vocation as a prophet is more aptly described as that of a concerned brother
watching out for his brothers and sisters in the faith. A prophet was
considered to be the conscience of the nation, and we know from experience that
the conscience often pricks and convicts. Ezekiel, therefore, compared his role
to that of a sentinel or watchman who searches the moral horizon for impending
disaster and then sounds the warning so that others take heed. He did not
relish being thought of as a busy-body who waits to pounce on every fault of his
wayward brethren. His vocation flowed from his love of God and his love for his
people. He was willing to be the voice of reason and Truth, and even to be at the
receiving end of hostility and misunderstanding, if only he could convince his
brethren to cease following the route to self-destruction.
St Paul, in the second reading, also waxes eloquently on the matter
of love. St Paul too claimed that love was the basic principle on which hinged
all the precepts of the law. He understood that love, however, did not just
free one from the prescriptions and rigours of the law. Rather love demanded a
much higher standard from us. St Paul emphasises that right living in all
spheres of one’s life should be motivated by a higher imperative (and not just
on the basic requirements of the law). He writes, “Love is the one thing that
cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the
commandments.” Most everyone would agree that love is the answer but to
interpret love as inaction and silence is ludicrous.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus provides us with a concrete
illustration of how love is translated into fraternal correction. He indicates
the three escalating levels of fraternal correction. First, we are to correct
the sinner privately. Then, if he refuses to listen, we bring one or two
others. Finally, if necessary, the sinner must be brought to the Church. If he
refuses even the correction of the Church, and if the matter is serious, he is
to be excommunicated. The last stage seems harsh and even at odds with the
first two, but a careful reading would reveal that all three stages serve one
single purpose. In the verses immediately preceding today’s text, Jesus speaks
of searching for the one lost sheep. In a sense, brotherly and sisterly
correction should follow the same idea. Therefore, correction’s goal is not
retaliation but reconciliation, that is to lead back into the sheepfold the one
who has gone astray and who has gotten lost along the way. Fraternal correction,
therefore, is not punitive but as St Thomas Aquinas teaches us, “fraternal
correction is a work of mercy” and he cheekily adds, “Therefore even prelates ought to be corrected.”
Love isn’t something that makes us feel good. There are times when
we are asked to love at a great cost. Our refusal to correct may have less to do with charity than to do with a
self-serving motive. In all honesty, it’s always
difficult to correct because we don’t want to appear as the bad guy. We don’t
want to lose the friendship of the other. Silence and inaction is never the
solution, and both definitely do not flow from the well-spring of love. Love, by contrast, places a duty on us to
confront the evil that our brother and sister has done. Ultimately, if we truly
love them and others who may be hurt and misled by their actions, we must
always wish and work for their salvation. Pope Benedict XVI had always emphasised the intimate connection between
charity and the Truth. Charity is always at service to the Truth, it can never
be a cover up for a lie. In one of his homilies, the erudite Pope refers to an
important part of the regalia of the bishop, his pastoral staff, and uses this
to speak of the Church’s authority to correct – the crosier now seen as a
disciplinary rod. “The Church too must use the shepherd’s rod, the rod with
which he protects the faith against those who falsify it, against currents
which lead the flock astray.” One can imagine the Pope reminding us of that age
old adage, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
At the end of the day, the chief issue in the
LCWR interventions by Vatican is not a bunch of aged, authoritarian chauvinists
using the Church’s power to bully innocent sisters into conformity, as some
defenders of the LCWR are alleging. The obedient are never held captive by Holy
Mother Church but it is the disobedient who are unknowingly enslaved by the
world, and who must be freed. Such fraternal correction is about the Church’s
desire to help sisters who are veering from the understanding and teaching of
the Catholic faith to come back into doctrinal communion and to prevent their
wounding the understanding of faith among others who look up to them. When the
Church seeks to correct us, it is only because she wishes to inspire us to
greater fidelity, not less. And when the Church extends the rod of authority, it is not to beat us into submission, but to gather us into the safety of the sheepfold. If the Church seeks to impose its sanction on us,
it is only because she wishes to provide the moral parameters for our actions
so that we may be guided back to the path of salvation. And that is why we
should always be grateful that the Church continues to speak with the prophetic
voice of Christ, and that is most certainly why we should always pray for those
who deliberately choose to take their own path, that they be led back to the
sheepfold and respond, not with the language of power, but with true Catholic
faith.
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