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Catholica
Australia is pleased to be able to publish for the first time in
English the text of an extensive series of lectures by Dr Leonard Swidler,
Professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue at Temple University,
Philadelphia, examining the place of democracy in the Catholic Church
as a matter of theological principle, as a matter of simple justice, and
as a mechanism for protection against the sort of scandals stemming from
the abuse of power exercised by ecclesial leaders which we have witnessed
in recent times
Introduction...
These commentaries took shape as a result of a series of six Lenten Lectures
I was invited to give at Old St. Mary's Church in Center City, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, in the Spirng of 2006, at the invitation of the pastor,
Father Dominic Chiaravalle.
A word should be said about how the invitation came to be extended. In
the fall of 2005 a report on the very extensive clerical pedophilia scandal
was handed down by a Grand Jury of Philadelphia. The extent of the crimes
committed by many priests over many decades stunned the Catholic public
of Philadelphia. Some 63 priests were accused in 423 pages of having abused
children. The two previous archbishops were severely criticized for having
knowingly covered up the crimes. (See news
report [subscription req'd] as well
as the full text of the Grand
Jury Report.)
In the wake of this staggering report there was a loud outcry on the
part of many priests and laity. One such response was by Father
Chiaravalle, who decided to celebrate a special Sunday Eucharist
as both a public statement of repenitence to the victims and a commitment
to work to eliminate such travesties in the future. In so doing, Father
Dominic invited the known Catholic reform organizations which had chapters
in Philadelphia to co-sponsor the Eucharist and the discussion afterward.
The organizations which responded were Call to
Action (CTA), Voice
of the Faithful (VOTF),
Catholics Organized for Reform (COR),
and the Association for the Rights of Catholics
in the Church (ARCC).
The Eucharist was celebrated by Father Dominic Chiaravalle on Sunday,
October 30 (Reformation Sunday!). It had a special two-fold focus:
- To express, on the one hand, sorrow at the horrific misdeeds of sexual
abuse and consequent destructive mismanagement committed by many leaders
of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, and, on the other hand, to offer whatever
solace and aid we can to the victims.
- To commit ourselves to undertaking-each in our respective
capacities (and all Catholics have both a capacity and a responsibility
in this and related matters)-all the necessary reforms of the governance
structure of the Catholic Church universally (which, according to Vatican
Council II is semper reformanda, "always in need of reform"),
the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in particular, and indeed our own local
parishes and communities, so that these destructive deeds, and others
like them, are forestalled in the future. This includes working for
a Catholic Church governance structure-again, in keeping with the instructions
and spirit of Vatican II-characterized by transparency, accountability,
representativeness, and due process of law.
Recovering a sense of democracy in the Church
It is especially appropriate that this Eucharist of penitence and commitment
take place at Old St. Mary's Church, which was one of the vital centers
of lay responsibility at the very beginning of the Catholic Church in
the United States-under the leadership of John Carroll, our first U.S.
Bishop (who was elected by all the priests of the U.S.), who charted a
course of future election of bishops and shared decision-making responsibility
among laity, clergy, and bishop. That vision and initial reality needs
to be recovered and advanced. What better place to start than Old St.
Mary's Church!
In my remarks that Sunday as Co-founder (in 1980) and current President
of ARCC, I spoke about the need for reform in the governance of the Church
which had to come from the bottom up, and that the way to begin was to
work to get one parish at a time to go through the process of creating
its own Parish Constitution. Father Dominic was especially struck by that
idea and invited me to work with him to try to make it a reality in Old
St. Mary's Church.
Patron Saints of Democracy
Something further ought to be noted about Old St. Mary's Church, and
its Partner Parish Holy Trinity Church. Both these churches were founded
in the 18th century and are now Historic Landmarks. However, their historical
importance lies more in their actions back at the beginning of the American
Catholic Church than in the two buildings, beautiful architectural specimens
though they are. (Father Dominic is the pastor of the two neighboring
churches.)
They were are the headwaters of the Trustee
System which placed the ownership of church property in the
hands of the lay trustees of the parish. There were several disputes in
the early period at both Holy Trinity and St. Mary's, but both were settled
creatively. Both those churches and the entire Trustee System have been
defamed in subsequent centuries, doubtless largely to prevent the resurrection
of a more democratic Catholic Church governance, which prevailed under
our first American bishop (elected at his insistence to Rome by all the
priests of America), and was creatively expanded by that other early giant
of the American Church Bishop John England. It is for these reasons that
later in these commentaries I urge the traditional popular proclamation
of the two as Patron Saints of democracy!
ARTICLE
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PART I | PART II | PART III | PART IV | PART V | PART VI | PART VII | PART VIII | PART IX PART X | PART XI | PART XII | PART XIII | PART XIV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Catholica Australia would like to extend
our thanks to Dr Swidler for allowing us to be the first to publish the
text of these lectures in the English speaking world. A translation of
the lectures has already been published in Japanese.
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Dr
Leonard Swidler is Professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious
Dialogue at Temple Univierty, Philadephia. He is also one of the
founders of the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
(ARCC) and its current president. With his wife, Arlene Anderson
Swidler, he has written and been published extensively over the
decades. Further information about their work can be found at: http://astro.temple.edu/~dialogue/Swidler/
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What are your thoughts on Dr Swidler's commentary?
You can contribute to the discussion in our forum.
©2007
Leonard Swidler
[Index of Commentaries by Prof
Len Swidler]
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