Theologians criticize bishops' handling of book critique

The bishops don't know anything about responsibility in following guidelines, regulations and laws. They have shown that over and over.

Will they never learn ... our bishops feel themselves bound by nothing, even the rules they themselves craft. But, they are dealing with an academic, a nun -- a mere woman! Ninety-five percent of these men lack the theological depth to meet Sr. Elizabeth Johnson as an equal. What they lack in intellectual fire-power they more than make up with hubris. It is high time the "boys in magenta and red" accept the fact that theologians have a special role to play in the life of the Church and are humble enough to know when they as individual bishops or even as a Conference are out of their element.

This article is an intelligent and thoughtful answer to the Bishops attack on Sister Elizabeth Johnson book, "The Quest for the Living god." Unfortunately, the bishops did not follow their own procedures when dealing with an issue about theology. It seems strange that it has taken the bishops so long to condem sister's book since it was published in 2007. It may seem to many that this attack on Sister Johnson may be a "smoke screen" to distract the laity from thinking about the continued sexual abuse scandal exposed in Philadelphia. I think that the bishops need to pay more attention to some of the problems they have created through their action recently. The continued attempt to hide the sexual abusing priest in some diocese needs to be attended too if the bishops are to regain any credibility.

This is surprising that the U.S. Bishops Committee on Doctrine would even take a position like this given the long standing development over many centuries of the apophatic theological tradition. At our Parish we have a Lenten Reading Group that is reading and reflecting on the "Cloud of Unknowing" by the anonymous 14th Century Carthusian Author. In Chapter IV of this work the author's first sentence, an not without a little humor, begins with "But now you put me a question and say: 'How might I think of him in himself, and what is he?' And to this I can only answer thus: 'I have no idea'"

This work is not some esoteric writing but stands in a very powerful tradition going back to Pseudo-Dionysius, St. Gregory of Nyssa and moves on to include many of the great mystics such as St. John of the Cross. While we will always use language to try to articulate our faith and understanding of God, we must always be aware that language is limited and in the end does not even scratch the surface of the reality of God. Try to talk about what a person is, let alone God... in the end we are brought to stand in awe-filled silence knowing we are standing before a mystery that is beyond our human intellect to pierce. While we can certainly know about God's relationship to us, as revealed in scripture and through our living faith tradition, it would be absurd to assume that we "know" God - and do so puts us at risk of falling into fundamentalism and a childish level of faith.

Hooray! Thanks for having the Wisdom and Courage to take them to task.
It's about time we all start making them Accountable . . . to us!

I thank the theologians for stating the obvious. It is time for the arrogant, sharp tongue, mean spirited Tom Weinandy to be fired from the Bishops' Conference.

Why is anyone surprised? Those men of the cloth ignored their own guidelines on priestly sex abuse as well. Thanks to the theologians for the courage to stand up to these demagoges who claim to be upholders of all the is true and pure....yeah, look at the record...

Again, the Bishops show that they believe they are above the very guidelines and laws that they have put in place for themselves. The Bishops continue to demonstrate their pride and their inability to effectively lead the church. By their own hand they have destroyed any authority they may have held in my mind and in the mind of anyone else who is paying attention. The good news is that this is simply another symptom of an institution in collapse. Keep it up bishops as we await the birth of a new Church - one rooted in compassion, egalitarianism, collaboration, consensus, justice and peace. The Holy Spirit is on fire and burning off that which is no longer life-giving to make way for something new. AMEN!

Lauri Lumby
Authentic Freedom Ministries
http://yourspiritualtruth.com

I am so thankful for the CTSA and for its thoughtful and constructive response to the unjust criticism from the US bishops Doctrine Committee leveled at Sr. Beth Johnson, a faithful and faith-filled Catholic theologian. Sadly, as we all know, our bishops don't take criticism well, no matter how apposite or respectful it might be. I'm from the Archdiocese of Boston, and still recall with embarrassment "Archbishop Emeritus" Bernard F. Law's attack on CTSA when he accused it of presiding over "a theological wasteland"! For too many of our bishops, any disagreement equals dangerous dissent, and any attempt at self-defense equals disobedience. And when religious women are involved, it seems that all the episcopal hot buttons get pushed! As I said in a post on an earlier thread, any cloud that the bishops may have created over the good name or reputation of Sr. Beth Johnson must be removed immediately.

NOW THE TRUTH STRIKES BACK! The CTSA was faced with a dilemma--stand up to arbitrary bishops and their implicit threats or just fold their tents as real seekers of truth. Theologians chose truth--Amen! Now take the next step and endorse the call for reform bravely signed by the vast majority (over 300) of your fellow German speaking theologians. Many of them have put their teaching positions on the line in so doing. The English text is available at http://www.memorandum-freiheit.de//?page_id=518 . Realistically, the bishops are staggering under the weight of their disastrous "zero tolerance" fiasco in Philly and their compulsion to please a power obsessed Curia. The bishops insincere ploy of "zero tolerance" has only achieved "zero credibility". The CTSA members now have the providential opportunity to think, teach and write fully and freely in accordance with their conscience and their scholarship--just like their fellow theologians do at universities not subject to hierarcical pressure. CTSA members, if anything, have endeavored to date to be more Catholic than the pope and do not need overbearing bishops and their ambitious apologists ruthlessly abusing exemplary theologians. These theologians are only trying to offer yearning believers some understandable meaning of Catholic mysteries. The Inquisition and Index are dead--may they rest in peace, but may they rest forever! The Church hierarchy is sinking the Church rapidly in the swamp of child rape and abuse--theologians must grab the rudder and help steer it to dry land once again.

The Catholic bishops seem to be more persons of the mind and intellect, not persons of experience of God and the heart.

Absolutely priceless! A response will obviously be made to this jewel from the CTSA. But when? How? It will certainly become public whether the Bishops like it or not. I think they are boxing themselves into yet another corner, but how many corners have they left to populate, a triangle, a square, perhaps even an octangle. They seem never capable of figuring out all the angles. What a shame!

THE AMEN CORNER

It was predictable that the members the Theological Guild (The so-called "Theological Society of America") would come out of their ivory towers to circle their wagons and protect one of their own against the benighted members of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine (Cardinal Whuerl and his eight episcopal companeros).

I can well understand the Theological Society's hurt feelings. In their April 8 statement, they say their are "greatly disturbed" at the way the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine treated Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, "one of the society's most prominent members." I feel their pain.

It was equally predictable that the NCR AMEN CORNER --most of your letter-writers -- have never seen or read Sr. Elizabeth Johnson's book, but nonetheless have come out swinging against the "tyranny" of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. My God, how dumb can these nine bishops be! Maybe if we had a few women bishops on the commitee, we would have had a more "fair and balanced" evaluation of Sr. Johnson.

I'll take my chance on the nine theologian-bishops. I know most of them, and they are decent, honest and knowledgeable men. Thank God the Church is built on a Rock and not on the vagaries of the American theological guild or on the hapless NCR "theologian-writers" who have too much time on their hands.

How sad it makes me to observe how our Catholic Leadership addresses topics with such little depth on their part. Do they not realize that the "people of God" sitting in front of them are deeply confused about the actions and words of the Conference of Bishops. We are crying out for Christ-like guidance and understanding. The responses we receive leave us confused, sometimes angry and even disturbed by their actions. Please God send us leaders filled with the Holy Spirit and sensitive to the needs of those they serve. Amen.

I'm totally frightened by the lack of intellect and the "childish level of faith" these men, and they are all men of course, have; especially considering how much power they have over the lives of the faithful people of GOD.

Theology - ain't it grand?

HANS KUNG AND BOOK BANS. The bishops' heavy handed treatment of Elizabeth Johnson resurrects the earlier pummeling in 1980 of Hans Kung. It appears that his real error was less theological than political. He dared to question publicly the theological credentials of Karol Wojtyla. Having been weened in totalitarian regimes where the Church had to maintain by all means a disciplined, unified front, Wojtyla tried, but failed, to crush Kung's exercise of theological freedom. One of Joseph Ratzinger's first acts as pope was to spend four hours conferring with Kung. How many cardinals, bishops and even theologians have spent four hours in discussions with the pope? Of course, some will object that Ratzinger was only sizing Kung up "for the Curial rack" or some similar nonsense. The good news for the CTSA, its members and all believers is that Hans Kung, at 83 years, has just weighed in on the crisis currently facing the Church. He has once again proven there is life after hierarchical persecution. The issue is not whether everyone agrees with all of Kung's reasoning--it is that believers need to be encouraged to think honestly about God and divine mysteries, as well as about the Church's real history, not some carefully selected myth. Believers are not all parrots or sheep as the hierarchy apparently believes. Kung's books have been read by millions for good reasons and have filled a void that the oppressive hierarchical policies contributed to creating. Kung's new book is now out in German, with an English version to follow. It is entitled "Is It Too Late To Save The Church?". It reviews how Church history and theology have been utilized by the hierarchy to support their positions of power and privilege--to the detriment of the rest of the people of God. It also addresses the child abuse scandals and constructively and sincerely suggests ways forward for the Church. If the pope thinks Kung is worth a lot of his time, surely Kung's views are worth the time of all believers. Hopefully, CTSA members will review and discuss this important work as part of a broader effort to save the Church at this time of crisis.

The CTSA commenting on a "theologian" having her work questioned is like Barry Bonds and manny Ramirez commenting on steroid policy in baseball!

Congratulations to the Catholic Theological Society of America and their courageous stand, in supporting Sister Elizabeth A. Johnson. It was outrageous of the bishops' Committee on Doctrine to even issue a public comment on Sister Elizabeth's book, without calling her in to discuss her line of thinking (if they had questions---and apparently they did).

Secondly, they really did not read carefully what she wrote, but jumped to conclusions based upon what they THROGHT she wrote. Students in middle school are capable of doing better critical analysis than that. I believe that they 'spot' read what she wrote, and thus were not able to connect to her train of thought. They then condemned the work by stating “This judgment takes shape … by ascribing to professor Johnson the view that none of our words about God can be truthful. Beth didn't stated that. She stated that our human words, our human concepts about God are inadequate to describe the totality of who and what God is.

Finally, I believe that there are too many of our bishops with theological backgrounds have not made the jump past Thomas Aquinas. He was a marvelous theologian. But even he, an honest spiritual man that he was, would be the first to admit that theological understanding of God has taken quantum leaps beyond his 'Summa'. And even so----we have not scratched the surface of the wonder of God.

As Chairperson of Voice Of The Faithful Boston Area Council I offer thanks of our Board to the CTSA for a constructive, educational statement supporting theologian Elizabeth Johnson. Contrary to a previous post, she is not "ivory tower." She explores, listens, integrates, and conveys for the benefit of all in our Church. What was that important thread in Vatican 11 documents-oh yes,
"discern the signs of the times."

I haven't been following this closely, but curious, have the theologians ever found the exercise of the bishops' teaching authority over a theologian appropriate and proper? And I find it interesting that Wuerl issued the statement; he's not usually a bomb-thrower.

God said his name was "I AM" and Jesus said no one one knows the Father but Him.

"ID QUOD MAJUS COGITARI NO POTEST"

SAYS THE OLD TEXT ON ARISTOTELIAN THOMIST PHILOSOPHY TAUGHT IN SEMINARIES MANY YEARS AGO.....................For unschooled Theologians. All that revelation tells only that God loves us, which is all we really kneed to "KNOW". But do we really know what "ENS UT ENS EST" means?

Homo Simplex

One thing that the Bishops succeeded in doing is greatly increasing the sales of "Quest for the Living God". The wait for the book orders is several weeks because of all the sales. God's Spirit can bring good out of pathetic circumstances!

the bishops have become the modern day american republican party: close minded, cult like, narrow thinking group of men who are afraid of women, have been embarrassed by their own lack of integrity when addressing the child sex abuse allegations and afraid of moving forward. The Bishops are afraid, they really lack faith that Jesus is with us. Otherwise, they would be addressing the future enthusiastically instead of going back into the past to make change instead of reaching into the future. There is no VISION in the CHURCH, it is all about the hierachy and preservation there of.

Actually Sr. Elizabeth Johnson should be grateful. She'll probably sell more books now than she ever would have if the bishops hadn't opened their yaps. After all, it was the Vatican the made a star out of Hans Kung.

Too bad the bishops didn't ban Sister Elizabeth's book - that would have helped her to sell more copies than their paltry criticism.

Theologians are not the be all and end all. Bishops are. As I have stated earlier, the good sister knew when she wrote her book that her views were out of line. The bishops are merely pointing out what she knew when she wrote it and what we know if we read it. Another drama made larger than life by the NCR. Where are the stories of faithful clergy and religious and laity? It's like the secular press I guess...good news does not sell papers. But Jesus came to bring the Good News so maybe NCR should ask itself which master it is trying to serve, Satan or Jesus. As Bob Dylan says, you gotta serve somebody NCR.

Of course Guidelines were not followed for discussing the work of Elizabeth A. Johnson.

This involves a WOMAN, right?

The USCCB does not recognize a woman as a PERSON, much less a THEOLOGIAN!

"Let us not let a woman seem to be more intelligent than we are.
After all, Mary of Nazareth did not write any books.
You think the general population will fall for this line of reasoning?"

It is further incredible that lay people have nowhere to go to complain:

Their diocesan bishop is in on it.
The cardinal is in on it.
The top cardinals and Pope are the ones who wrote the rules for the treatment -- or should I say MISTREATMENT --of women, so, naturally, they will be no help at all.

This unjust treatment of women is reminiscent of the way VICTIMS of priest-pedophiles were (and are) treated.

I believe that taking these matters to the civil courts is the only way to receive justice for wrongdoings by bishops.

JUSTICE certainly is not going to happen in the hallowed halls of the USCCB, they are too busy salivating over the New Missal translation!

Is there not one American bishop who disagrees with this condemnation and is willing to openly say so? Not one.

This is a perfect example of how the hierarchy does not see the need to change the manner in which they "rule". The abuse crisis has forced then to act and listen with humility, (at the least many seemingly go through the motions). This has happened only because their ineptness has been revealed to the world, costing them to give away much of the faithful's donations. However, when it comes to other aspects of "leadership", it's business as usual. Well, the "boys will be the boys." So let's have another "welcome home" program and we will offer "forgiveness" to you for straying. Welcome back to the same nonsense.

A past "president" of Catholic Theological Society has problem with doctrinal/theological orthodoxy problem. Just imagine how many of its members are of the same theo-ideological bent.

Johson should have present the Church's uncderstanding of the topic first (if she knows or willing to express it) before her own speculations and freedom of speech/writing.

This way, her book will less likely to lead to misunderstanding, especially among the non-theologian faithful.

This is definitely permission!
Even the bishops are ignoring the bishops!

Why is it that this website is full of articles by idiots who want to be men but aren't?

Silly theologians! Don't they know the bishops don't have to follow their own guidelines?

Guidelines are only for the little people.

I am still waiting for my Comment -- sent twice, Apr. 10 and Apr.11 -- to appear here. I suspect that many others wrote on those dates and were not included in the above Comments.

I wonder why?