The oft-quoted verse from the book of Proverbs, ‘where there is no
vision, the people perish,’ (chapter 29, verse 18) opens a new book by
Gerry O’Hanlon, A New Vision for the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland (Columba Press, 2011).
That verse could be considered an apt summary of the current state of
the Catholic Church in Ireland, which has been mired in scandal and
seems to be suffering from a serious vision deficit.
O’Hanlon, a staff member of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Milltown
Institute, has been one of the prominent public voices attempting to get
a conversation started about meaningful reform in the Irish Catholic
Church.
This book is based on a series of lectures he delivered in October
2010 at Mansera Jesuit Centre of Spirituality in Dublin on the theme of,
‘what is our vision for the church?’
O’Hanlon asserts that the ‘current basic model of church’
cannot and should not survive, and sees the present crisis in the church
as ‘an opportunity to imagine something different, new, more faithful
to Vatican II and to the New Testament’ (p. 94).
The book, though a slim 116 pages, covers a lot of ground.
The first
three chapters are a quick gallop through church history, in which he
demonstrates how significant changes have occurred in the church. This
reminds us that the church structures and practices that we see today
were not inevitable.
The second and third chapters cover the key points
of the first and second Vatican councils, providing a useful primer for
readers unfamiliar with these events.
In the fourth chapter, he argues that the ‘key issue’ that both the
Irish and the universal Catholic Church should explore is the tension
between papal primacy and collegiality (the greater involvement of
Catholics outside the Vatican in the governance of the church).
His fifth and final chapter outlines ‘seven theses’ for his way
forward, which would re-form structures within the church and allow more
significant contributions from laypeople.
These are:
1. Emphasise the centrality of prayer
O’Hanlon
says this is necessary because prayer can keep ‘us going over the
long haul, through that ‘long march’ through the institutions that
can be so painful that it really is a paschal experience, involving
cross and resurrection’ (p. 95). Comparing the re-formation
process that he envisions to that central experience of suffering
in the Christian faith gives us some idea of how difficult O’Hanlon
thinks change will be!
2. The voice of the lay faithful needs to be heard
O’Hanlon says particular attention should be paid to the voice of
women, and provides a useful list of various initiatives that he
believes are already bearing fruit throughout the island, such as
parish councils, parish assemblies, the creation in Dublin, Armagh,
Down and Connor, Kerry and elsewhere of diocesan structures in
which laity participate, and the ‘structured dialogue’ of Cardinal
Brady and the Bishops’ Council for Pastoral Renewal and Adult Faith
Development (p. 97). He also recommends that ‘some kind of data
base’ of these initiatives be developed (p. 98).
3. Bishops need to exercise real leadership
Throughout the book, O’Hanlon articulates what is a common view
among some Catholics: that the Irish bishops have deferred to Rome
and have not adequately grasped or communicated the concerns of the
Irish laity to the Vatican. He also recommends questioning the
‘custom’ whereby Rome now appoints bishops exclusively, noting that
this was not always the case.
4. The Episcopal Conference (also known as the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference) needs to act more effectively
For those unfamiliar with this body, the Episcopal Conference describes itself
as ‘the assembly of the Bishops of Ireland exercising together
certain pastoral offices for Christ’s faithful on the whole island
of Ireland.’ O’Hanlon says that this body should ‘empower lay
involvement in the church, according to the vision of Vatican II’
(p. 102). To that end, he recommends the convening of a National
Assembly of the Irish Church, to include ‘an outreach to the
disaffected and already alienated from the institutional church’
(p. 102).
5. Engagement of the Irish Church with Rome
Though
O’Hanlon admits that it is unlikely this will happen anytime soon,
he says he would like to see the Irish church raise questions in
Rome about: ‘canon 129 (the role of laity in decision making),
about the proper authority of Episcopal Conferences, about the
canonical status of synods, about … other controversial issues …
around ecclesial teaching on sex and gender’ (p. 104). He thinks that it
‘would help’ if the ‘Irish bishops alerted Rome to the simple fact
that certain teaching has not been received in peace by the Irish
church’ and it would be ‘a wonderful service to the universal
church if Ireland was able to request a Third Vatican Council to
broach such issues, including … the reform of the Roman Curia’ (p.
104).
6. We need to recruit the skills of many disciplines in our project
This
is simply O’Hanlon’s call not to overlook the skills of Catholics
from secular fields – political scientists, social psychologists,
cultural experts, group facilitators, etc – when implementing
reforms, especially if the process includes the proposed National
Assembly of the Irish Church.
7. To be a ‘light to the world’ – emphasise the insights of Catholic social teaching
O’Hanlon laments that the insights of Catholic social teaching –
including an emphasis on ‘the dignity of all, [and] the implementation
of a model of government that values subsidiarity, solidarity’ –
have not been applied to the church itself (p. 105).
O’Hanlon concludes by recommending that the years 2012-2015, the 50th
anniversary of Vatican II, be declared ‘the years of the council … when
we recall its memory and expose ourselves to the transforming light and
force of the Spirit’ (p. 106).
What I most appreciated about the book were O’Hanlon’s practical
suggestions for re-form in the church, some (a National Assembly) more
realistic than others (the Irish bishops leading the way for a Vatican
III).
What the book lacked was a sense of Ireland’s inter-church and
inter-faith contexts, including any detailed consideration about how
this impacts on the current crisis in the church, as well as the
possibility that other churches and faith communities might
constructively engage with the Irish Catholic Church in its process of
reform.
But this is a small criticism compared to the disillusionment many
already feel about the re-formability of the Irish Catholic Church, as
detailed in Patrick Corrigan’s post on justice for abuse survivors and summed up by Patsy McGarry with the headline ‘Latest Actions Show Church is Unreformable.’
Are O’Hanlon’s visions simply doomed to perish?