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Buffeted
by
ogitotion ond turmoil from within,
the Cotholic Church stonds ot
o
hozordous
crossroods.
by
Thomas Rogers and Dibar Apartian
T
HE
CATUOLIC CHURCH has
often been compared to a
living organism. She has had
periods of sickness and health.
Today, she is
not
in good health.
What has gone wrong?
Flare-ups Around the World
Since the close of the Second
Vatican Council in 1965, Catholics
around the world have seen their
church shaken by the shock waves
of controversy, st rife and uncer–
tainty.
1n the past three years. instances
of revolt and criticism have been
without recent preceden!. Columnist
Robert Serrou summarized the
growing problem in
Paris-Match:
"The Roman Catholic Church ...
finds itself profoundly divided. As
for papal authority, it has never
been as strongly contested."
In Toulouse, France, for example,
when a priest was suspended from
his duties for living with his girl
friend, his parish colleagues, in–
cluding five pricsts and a nun,
handed in their resignations - in a
show of solidarity and protest.
8
In Spain, the recent publication
of a controversia! new missal was
one episode, among others, in the
continued struggles between two
factions of Spanish Catholicism.
In Portugal, a serious conflict
erupted between the archbishop of
Braga and severa! priests in his dio–
cese. Three of the contesting priests
were suspended from their duties.
In Amsterdam, a married priest
celebrated mass despite a bishop's
formal prohibition. The priests in
charge of the parish were threat–
ened with disciplinary action if they
allowed a repetition of the act. Also,
a Dutch catechism textbook was
branded as heretical and "gravely
deficient" by the Vatican.
A quiet but serious decline of
Catholic inftuence has been noted in
Canada's giant Montreal archdio–
cese. A spokesman there categorized
it as a "widespread disaffection"
with the Church.
Bishops in Mexico have loosened
papal restraints on birth control by
granting qualified sanction toa gov–
ernment birth-control program.
They now approve of any method of
family planning that married
couples,
in good conscience,
deem
necessary to use.
Whether one is talking of laity or
clergy, of French, American or
Spanish Catholics, the brush tires of
division are burning, much to the
growing chagrín and concern of the
Vatican.
Grave Dutch Dissent
A widening rift between Rome
and the Church in Holland has been
one of the most painful sources of
trouble for Paul VI. A small but
forceful group of progressive priests
has been prone to cal! into question.
and even reject, the most deeply
rooted doctrines of Catholic theol–
ogy and morality. In less than ten
years, a country which used to be a
pillar of Catholic conservatism has
turned into a hotbed of liberal
thought.
Out of Holland's five-and-a-half
million Ca tholics (comprising
roughly 40% of the population), not
even half now attend church regu–
larly, whereas over 60% attended
regularly six years ago. The number
PLAIN TRUTH
June
1973