SILENCED IRISH PRIEST TONY FLANNERY ON THE NEW BOOK FROM THE CENSURED SWISS CLERIC AND REBEL THEOLOGIAN HANS KUNG
Hans Kung is a remarkable man.
Now in his mid-eighties, the famous
Swiss theologian continues to write and publish books, and to play a
significant part in Catholic Church debate.
He has long ago come under censure from the Vatican, and hasn't been
allowed to teach in a Catholic college or seminary for many years.
But
that has in no way restricted his work or his influence. If anything, it
has given more weight to his voice during the long years of the
pontificates of John Paul and Benedict.
His new book is very readable, accessible to people who have no
theological training. It is also extraordinarily timely. Pope Francis is
only six months in office, and already he has changed the atmosphere in
the church, talking openly about the urgent need for change.
Even before he was elected, during the six-week interregnum after the
resignation of Benedict, most of us were amazed at the open way in
which the assembled cardinals spoke about the need for reform,
especially reform of the Vatican Curia.
If people want to know why the
Pope is talking like this, and why the call for change is so urgent, I
cannot recommend anything more appropriate than this opportune book.
In it, Kung traces the historical development of what most people now
recognise to be the problematic and even damaging aspects of church
life. He goes back to the beginning, to the preaching of Jesus about the
Kingdom of God, and what this constituted, how there was no sense that
Jesus wanted a large, hierarchical structure.
"I have come to serve, not
to be served", Jesus said, and his followers were not to "lord it over
each other".
But by the 3rd Century, under the influence of the Roman Empire, this
was exactly what had begun to develop. Popes and bishops began to lord
it over the people, in imitation of the Roman emperors, wearing the
trappings of wealth and power.
Kung then outlines how the Gregorian reform of the 11th Century
greatly increased the power of the papacy. But for those of us who grew
up and were educated as Catholics, he is at his best in writing about
the period of the Protestant Reformation.
In Catholic schools, we were presented
with a version of the reformation which placed all the blame on Martin
Luther and the other reformers.
But Kung shows that most of what the
reformers initially called for were badly needed reforms in the church,
and that if the church authorities had had the wisdom and humility to
enter into real discussion with them we could have a dramatically
different and better church and avoided the slaughter that took place
during the long years of the wars of religion.
Furthermore,
in reaction to the reformers, the church turned in on itself and became
reactionary and dogmatic, with disastrous consequences for the next
four centuries.
As a consequence, it developed an attitude of hostility
towards the enlightenment and scientific thought.
Kung shows that the
declaration of Papal Infallibility in the 19th Century was what we might
call today a 'power-grab' by the Vatican and resulted in a church that
was totally centralised and authoritarian.
Kung played an
active part in the Second Vatican Council in the middle of the last
century, and he spells out the dramatic new impetus for reform this
proved to be.
But in the following years, the powers-that-be in the
Vatican, with the active assistance of John Paul and Benedict, gradually
blocked and dismantled most of the reforms and returned the church to
the centralised power structures of the past.
For people
who want to understand how the church got itself into its current
difficulties, this is a marvellous book. Kung finishes with a list of
what he considers necessary reforms.
The one that stands out for me is
his suggestion that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith be
abolished, and that an end be put to all repression in the church.
The
book is a wonderful service to the church at this time, and yet again
we owe a debt of gratitude to Kung.
Despite being effectively shut out
for most of his life, he still clearly has a deep love for the church,
and is possessed by a passion to see it become a more effective vehicle
of the message of Christ.
I recommend this book to all those who share his passion and his faith.
* A Question of Conscience by Fr Tony Flannery is published by Londubh Books