Read Online The Silence We Keep: A Nun's View of the Catholic Priest Scandal by Karol Jackowski - Free Book Online
Authors: Karol Jackowski
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disobeyed papal decisions regarding doctrine and practice. At thedawn of its darkest and most decadent age, the Catholic Church moved to centralize all power even in its most errant of popes. It was a kiss of death on the Holy Spirit who speaks in and through the people. Blind obedience became an essential part of the priesthood and the church in the Middle Ages. We Catholics have been blindly obedient for a very long time.
Obedience to God became obedience to the Catholic Church, which in turn became obedience to the pope. The pope, in effect, becomes God on earth, the infallible voice of God to be followed not only by all Catholics, but by everyone in the world. Thomas Aquinas (1225—1274), as influential as Augustine in Catholic thinking (including his disgust of women), is the first to proclaim unequivocally that obedience to the pope is absolutely necessary for the salvation of humanity. Along with the universal goal of perfect celibacy in the Catholic Church grew the universal goal of perfect obedience to the Catholic Church. While Jesus invited into his community all non-Jews, not so Catholicism, which demands unconditional acceptance of its teachings, always identified as absolute truth, divine revelation. And contrary to the sacred traditions of equality and inclusiveness in the early church, the hallmarks of the church in the Middle Ages were its Crusades and Inquisitions.
The Inquisition became an essential defining characteristic of Roman Catholicism, so much so that it was believed to be approved by Christ. And lest we think that this is something we’ve outgrown, think again. While the Vatican may be less physically violent with those who question its divine authority and teachings, the Catholic Church still deals in an equally despicable way with any criticism and dissent, especially within its priesthood and sisterhood. There is today a litany of those who’ve been “silenced” by the Vatican, especially those for whom the voice of God speaks a truth contrary to that proclaimed bythe Catholic Church as infallible. Teilhard de Chardin was silenced for expressing his beliefs in The Divine Milieu , and Hans Kung has been censured for his writings on the Catholic Church. Within the sisterhood, Benedictine nun Joan Chittister has been challenged by Vatican attempts to stop her from speaking out in favor of women’s ordination. Church authorities alone define all matters of faith and morals, and those who refuse to obey their “infallible” voices must be silenced. Who is that God? The Inquisition may have changed its murderous methods, but there remains an unbroken tradition in Roman Catholicism of suppressing criticism and dissent, especially that of priests, nuns, and all believers compelled to follow a divine voice different from that of the Catholic Church.
While the history of the church in the Middle Ages is one view of Catholicism, the history of how Catholics live the Christian life is quite another. Not everyone in the Catholic Church is as corrupt as its leaders. There always was and always will be those who refuse to obey any voice other than the voice of God, no matter how forceful clerical efforts are to silence and condemn them. Among popes, monks, nuns, priests, and laity alike there are always those who continue to live authentic Christian lives, uncorrupted by the hypocrisy and scandal of the institutional church. And nowhere is that glad truth more clear than in the Middle Ages with the rise of mysticism. The mystical tradition rises out of Catholicism’s darkest ages, like a pure divine light that not even the most errant of popes with their most evil Inquisitions could extinguish.
The mystical tradition that became an essential part of priesthood and sisterhood in the Middle Ages is a clear sign of divine intervention. Regardless of what happens in the institutionalchurch, there’s a priesthood among the people that remains faithful, prayerful, and full of good works. When the
Obedience to God became obedience to the Catholic Church, which in turn became obedience to the pope. The pope, in effect, becomes God on earth, the infallible voice of God to be followed not only by all Catholics, but by everyone in the world. Thomas Aquinas (1225—1274), as influential as Augustine in Catholic thinking (including his disgust of women), is the first to proclaim unequivocally that obedience to the pope is absolutely necessary for the salvation of humanity. Along with the universal goal of perfect celibacy in the Catholic Church grew the universal goal of perfect obedience to the Catholic Church. While Jesus invited into his community all non-Jews, not so Catholicism, which demands unconditional acceptance of its teachings, always identified as absolute truth, divine revelation. And contrary to the sacred traditions of equality and inclusiveness in the early church, the hallmarks of the church in the Middle Ages were its Crusades and Inquisitions.
The Inquisition became an essential defining characteristic of Roman Catholicism, so much so that it was believed to be approved by Christ. And lest we think that this is something we’ve outgrown, think again. While the Vatican may be less physically violent with those who question its divine authority and teachings, the Catholic Church still deals in an equally despicable way with any criticism and dissent, especially within its priesthood and sisterhood. There is today a litany of those who’ve been “silenced” by the Vatican, especially those for whom the voice of God speaks a truth contrary to that proclaimed bythe Catholic Church as infallible. Teilhard de Chardin was silenced for expressing his beliefs in The Divine Milieu , and Hans Kung has been censured for his writings on the Catholic Church. Within the sisterhood, Benedictine nun Joan Chittister has been challenged by Vatican attempts to stop her from speaking out in favor of women’s ordination. Church authorities alone define all matters of faith and morals, and those who refuse to obey their “infallible” voices must be silenced. Who is that God? The Inquisition may have changed its murderous methods, but there remains an unbroken tradition in Roman Catholicism of suppressing criticism and dissent, especially that of priests, nuns, and all believers compelled to follow a divine voice different from that of the Catholic Church.
While the history of the church in the Middle Ages is one view of Catholicism, the history of how Catholics live the Christian life is quite another. Not everyone in the Catholic Church is as corrupt as its leaders. There always was and always will be those who refuse to obey any voice other than the voice of God, no matter how forceful clerical efforts are to silence and condemn them. Among popes, monks, nuns, priests, and laity alike there are always those who continue to live authentic Christian lives, uncorrupted by the hypocrisy and scandal of the institutional church. And nowhere is that glad truth more clear than in the Middle Ages with the rise of mysticism. The mystical tradition rises out of Catholicism’s darkest ages, like a pure divine light that not even the most errant of popes with their most evil Inquisitions could extinguish.
The mystical tradition that became an essential part of priesthood and sisterhood in the Middle Ages is a clear sign of divine intervention. Regardless of what happens in the institutionalchurch, there’s a priesthood among the people that remains faithful, prayerful, and full of good works. When the
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