It’s strange to think the Baha Men had any relevance to the
selection last week of a new pope. But with the reputation of Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger — who’s been variously labeled “The Enforcer,” “Cardinal No,” and
“God’s Rottweiler” — “Who Let the Dogs Out” has, yet again, taken on odd
meanings.
Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, has been commonly
stereotyped as an unthinking reactionary. As prefect for the Congregation for
the Doctrine of Faith, a post he’s held since 1981, he’s literally been the
enforcer of the Catholic orthodoxy. But his deeply intellectual approach to that
role belies the public perception that he’s simply operating on reflex. At his
core, Ratzinger rejects the reasoning of legendary philosopher Immanuel Kant
and other Enlightenment thinkers by arguing that “truth” is not subjective and
that there’s only one way, and one God, to that truth.
This conclusion has left a wide range of targets in
Ratzinger’s sites — liberation theology, religious pluralism, or even basic
religious interpretation. He’s suggested that supporters of abortion rights be
denied communion. And through the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith,
Ratzinger has censured, warned, or suspended some of the church’s most
progressive thinkers. So it’s no wonder Ratzinger’s got a hefty and
particularly alarming rep, especially among reform-minded western liberals.
Even closer to home, Ratzinger’s had a direct effect on the
life and calling of a priest in the Diocese of Rochester. Pastor Jim Callan was
suspended from priestly duties and fired from his position at Corpus Christi
Church, 880 East Main Street, in 1998, after Cardinal Ratzinger sent a letter
to Bishop Matthew Clark asking to have Callan removed and replaced with a
“trustworthy” priest.
Ratzinger found Callan guilty of committing three “errors”:
distributing the Eucharist to non-Catholics, blessing same-sex unions, and
allowing a woman to serve at the altar. Callan’s still a Catholic priest —
he’s not been defrocked or laicized — and he’s working out of five area
churches to serve a 1,500-member delegation called Spiritus Christi. “The Roman
Catholic Church says our sacraments are valid but illicit,” he says.
We sat recently with Callan to get his perspective on the
Ratzinger appointment and his thoughts on the state of the church, and of
churchly dissent, moving forward. There are advantages to his suspension,
Callan says. And the Ratzinger appointment, he says, could galvanize
progressive Catholics to reclaim their church. Following is an edited
transcript of that interview.
City: What’s your status as a Catholic?
Callan: Still Catholic.
There’s a lot of Catholic churches. One of them is the Roman Catholic Church,
which is the biggest. But there are other Catholic churches. So we just call
ourselves Catholic. We actually like that term. “Catholic” means universal,
all-embracing. When you say Roman Catholic, it’s an oxymoron.
City:Are you disappointed by the Ratzinger
selection?
Callan: It’s
heartbreaking that the church would elect a leader who has a known record for
discrimination against women and gay people. It’s one thing for the cardinal to
hold those views. It’s another thing for 70-plus cardinals to vote for a man
who’s already on record as saying that women are excluded from priesthood and
gay people cannot express themselves sexually or get married.
Maybe you could forgive them if this was an unknown
candidate from some country in Africa and we don’t know where he stands and all
of a sudden he comes out with these conservative views. But we already know
exactly where Cardinal Ratzinger stands, and they chose him. To me, it’s very
sad and disrespectful of the church. It seems the people in power just want to
keep the old boys’ club in power.
City: Did you see this coming?
Callan: No. I’m
surprised. I could not believe it when I heard Cardinal Ratzinger was the one.
I just could not believe it. I thought for sure people would see the need for a
new church. The particular cardinals who voted apparently don’t share the
viewpoints of the church.
City: In some of the reports on the death of Pope
John Paul, there have been references to one of his predecessors, the reformist
Pope John XXIII. Could you refresh our memory of Pope John XXIII and contrast
him briefly with Pope John Paul?
Callan: Pope John
XXIII was 77 when he was made pope in 1958. [John XXIII died in 1963.] He was
supposed to be a transitional pope like Pope Benedict, just in for a couple of
years, holding things together until they figured out where they were going.
And all of a sudden he called the Vatican Council, which turned the church
inside out and did great reforms with recognizing the laity.
They started calling the church “the people of God,” which
is great, instead of an institutional, hierarchical organization. There were
advances in the laity, advances in ecumenical relationships. It was great.
There was “subsidiarity,” with decisions affecting the people being made on the
most appropriate, lowest level. And there was collegiality, sharing power with
fellow bishops. There was great movement toward reaching out to people of other
religions, allowing priests to get married, having women priests.
Pope John Paul II turned many of those reforms back. He was
very autocratic, making all those decisions on his own without consulting
people.
City: Some of Cardinal Ratzinger’s supporters
describe him as a humble, shy, gentle, and serene person. Others refer to him
as “the Grand Inquisitor.” What’s your perception?
Callan: I think
he’s both of those things. I think he is shy and loving. I think he’s a good
man. He’s also the person who’s been in charge of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of Faith since 1981, which is the new name for the Inquisition, so
he’s been the enforcer of orthodoxy.
City: Could it be the nature of that position that
made him a lightning rod for criticism from progressives in the Catholic faith?
Some Catholics seem to believe that he might act differently — that perhaps
the position as pope might change him.
Callan: It’s
always possible, but I really doubt it. I think he was chosen because of his
views, and they expect him to keep enforcing things. Some of the American
cardinals have said they want to get a clear definition of the church: “This is
what we stand for, like it or leave it.” And I think that was the thinking
behind getting Cardinal Ratzinger in there. And I don’t think we’re all of a
sudden going to see a human face on this vocation.
City: What, specifically, are your concerns about
Cardinal Ratzinger as pope?
Callan: The three
issues I got removed for and that we got in trouble for were doing gay
weddings, having women on the altar, and giving communion to people who aren’t
Catholic. Those are three huge issues that affect the church. And the
presumption is that Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is going to be
the same man facing those issues.
Those are issues I expect him to have consistency on, which
is bad for the church. It’s bad because of the first two issues: women and gay
rights. That’s discrimination. Another word for discrimination is sin. It’s
always wrong for one group to put down another, for one group to dominate or
exclude another.
If Cardinal Ratzinger said, “I think black people ought to
be subjugated and deprived of their rights,” would people vote for him? I don’t
think so. We need to see it in the same light. Discrimination against women is
not just an opinion that can be debated and talked about. It’s a moral issue.
It’s wrong. You can’t exclude women just because of their gender.
City: What do we know about his pronouncements on
poverty and the responsibility of wealthy people and wealthy nations to help
the poor, issues on which John Paul was eloquent?
Callan: That
remains to be seen. I don’t know. It would be nice if he had a lot to say on
that, or especially against the war in Iraq, like his predecessor. That was
nice.
City:Isn’t it assumed that he would be opposed to
the war in Iraq, that it’s not a Just War?
Callan: I don’t
think so. I think that was John Paul’s momentum. It would be nice if Pope
Benedict followed that. But it’s not a given. It should be a given for people
who follow Jesus, but it hasn’t been.
City: In his homily before the cardinals gathered
to select a new pope, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of the “dictatorship of
relativism.” Explain the meaning of that phrase. And do you believe that
signals how he will act as pope?
Callan: I think
he will be an absolutist leader, all black and white. He probably considers the
gay issue a relative issue, so believing that gay people should have the same
rights as straight people, that’s something he would consider “relativizing” a
moral issue. And to me, that’s more an unawareness of people who are gay.
I speak from my own experience, because I came from a pretty
ignorant position to an enlightened position only because I got to know gay
people. And that was very important for me, to hear their stories and listen to
them over and over again. I just listened to them. And that’s what changed me
to start doing their unions and weddings and just understanding something I
didn’t understand before.
So when Cardinal Ratzinger has these rigid viewpoints on gay
sexuality, I think he hasn’t listened enough. He hasn’t been exposed enough to
people who are gay.
City:Are there positive things about his
selection? What good do you see his papacy bringing?
Callan: People
will see that the church will not move forward in its renewal and that it’s up
to them to start standing up and reclaiming the church. I think that’s quite a
possibility.
City: How does that happen on a practical level?
Callan: By more
Spiritus Christis. Women, for example, who want to be priests will say, “Look,
we were waiting for the pope to die, and now we’ve got more of the same.”
They’re going to go with other Catholic bishops who do ordain women. I think
we’re going to see that. Because people are finite. And if you’re a 45-year-old
woman and you’ve got X number of years to answer your call to the priesthood,
and you think a pope or two are going to bar you from it, then you might do
that.
And I think there will be congregations who just decide: “We
can’t do this. This is not right. It’s wrong, and we’re going to do things
differently.” I think that might be a real possibility.
We get invited all over the country to speak to groups.
There are little Spiritus Christis all over the place. We get a lot of
publicity, because we’re big [1,500 people]. But there are little groups of 12,
15, 150. And a lot of them are congregations led by priests who’ve gotten
married and decided, “Wait a minute. I’m still a priest.”
City: Are they all suspended priests?
Callan: Yeah,
they’re all like me.
City: So they all assume the penalties that come
with making such moves. But it’s not preventing them from doing what they’re
doing.
Callan: Correct.
And in most cases, there aren’t any penalties because they’re too small. The
reason they moved on us is because we’re big.
City: Describe what some of those penalties are,
how they affect you practically. Obviously you’re still practicing; you still
have a congregation. How have things changed since your suspension?
Callan: I’ll give
you the improvements first: We’re much more free. We now have solved the
vocation shortage crisis. We have three priests because we don’t discriminate
with gender. So my job has gotten much easier. Now there are three priests to
do weddings, funerals, answer emergencies…. So it’s better for my health,
personally.
And we now have a mixture. It’s better for the congregation
to see married people and single people, women and men, as their leaders, as
priests. There’s a huge advantage to that.
It’s a huge advantage to gay people, because now they can
get married in church. They don’t have to do it in restaurants or their
backyards. They don’t have to hide. They can do it right up front. That’s a
huge advantage.
The disadvantages to me would be that I’m not allowed to
function in the Roman Catholic churches. For example, this past Sunday I was
invited to concelebrate the mass for a sister who’s celebrating 70 years as a
sister of St. Joseph in Johnson City. So she was all excited; she invited me to
come.
She said her pastor knew I was suspended, but he’d let me do
it anyway. But the other concelebrant was Bishop Costello from Syracuse, and
when he heard about it, he called the pastor and said Callan can’t. So just
when you think there’s an opening, it closes. That’s a disadvantage.
And I don’t get invited too many times to speak at Roman
Catholic gatherings. On the other hand, that’s been offset by open doors
elsewhere. Actually, we lost one church and gained five. We have five churches
right now. On Tuesday we have mass at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Every Sunday we
have a mass in Riverside United Methodist Church in Elmira. We have the
Downtown United Presbyterian Church, and we have Hochstein. That used to be a
church. Finally, we have the Ascension Episcopalian Church in Buffalo that we
use once a month. So anyway, we have open doors from the other Christian
communities we didn’t have before.
The Roman Catholic Church says our sacraments are valid but
illicit. It’s strange, I know. But I’ll explain it: Let’s say I’m a surgeon and
I do my surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital, and St. Mary’s doesn’t like me so they
revoke my license. But I can still do surgery and the job works. It’s illegal,
but it works. In other words, if I baptize a baby, the baptism holds. If I
marry someone, they’re married.
So there really aren’t too many disadvantages. Even if they
went ahead and laicized me, that wouldn’t make any difference, either.
Actually, to me it would be contradictory because they always said priests are
priests forever, no matter what.
City: How do progressive Catholics reconcile the
need to hold on to some teachings and discard or broadly interpret others? Are
progressive Catholics becoming an endangered species?
Callan: I think
they’re becoming disillusioned. A few stay with it, but probably most do not.
So the church is becoming more and more conservative, because the others are
squeezed out or bail out. The same thing happened in the priesthood. All the
colorful ones, all the ones who had a sense of excitement got out of it. You’re
left with all the ones who want to stay safe and loyal, and you’re missing the
cutting edge, the risk takers.
You’ve got to allow some tension in the church. If you
really believe the Holy Spirit is in charge of the church, then you can live
with some diverging views. The Vatican Council said a nice thing: “Let there be
unity in the things that are necessary, and freedom in the things that are
unsettled, and let there be charity in every case.”
City: Our perception is that the church has not
encouraged dissent and discussion — in fact, that it has stifled and punished
dissent.
Much of the world,
including many people of other faiths, disagrees strongly with the Catholic
Church on the issue of birth control and the role of women. And many people of
strongly held faith disagree with the Catholic Church on the issue of
homosexuality.
Could you describe the
importance of the church encouraging dissent? Can the church inspire liberal
Catholics or even atheists, and not just conservatives?
Callan: I believe
the seeds of a broader church are still there. There’s no expression for
dissenters right now, but it’s in our history. Certain historians say when
Protestants disagree, they start their own sect; and when Catholics disagree,
they start their own orders, like the Basilians, the Jesuits…. Those were done
by people who were disgusted with where the church was going. So there’s been a
history of dissent.
City: Does the appointment of someone like
Ratzinger cause a chilling effect among potential dissenters?
Callan: People
operate out of fear: “Am I gonna lose my job?” But we follow Jesus — and he
lost everything. You’ve got to be able to take some chances if you believe in
the truth. Right now everyone’s very timid and very fearful. It’s orthodoxy
versus the healing mission of the church. Jesus had a lot of different choices:
to stick to the rules or to be faithful to his healing mission. If a gentile
woman needed help, he wasn’t supposed to deal with her. If he stuck to the
rules, he wouldn’t be able to help her. But he felt his mission to heal was
superior to the rules. To be true to our mission as a church, we have to break
the rules.
City: The new pope seems to be rigidly tied to the
notion of “truth” as he interprets it from Scripture.
Callan: People have
written about the need to hold on to power. It’s a power issue. The sexual
abuse issue was a power thing. Instead of protecting the people, they protected
their own base.
It’s telling when you look at the pictures of the pope’s
death. He was surrounded by men. All men. Imagine how that limits perspective.
I grew up in Irondequoit and went to school with white
people. But I came to a church where I met Latinos for the first time, black
people for the first time, Protestants, gay people. People would come up and
say: “You can’t speak that way. It’s demeaning to gay people.” And I listened.
I can’t thank those people enough for that. I’m very happy they had the courage
to come up and talk to me.
But how can white men who are in power give you a perspective
on the world? I think it’s a huge problem.
City: A recent editorial in The Nation ends with
an intriguing question: whether “Catholics who identify with the opening to the
world of Pope John XXIII will now reclaim their church.” Is that likely to
happen?
Callan: It’s more
likely to happen now than it was last week. Because I think a lot of people
believed things would change at the death of John Paul II. People told us:
“Don’t rock the boat. This pope will die.” People said it like that. And now
they have someone who is even more conservative.
But I think this is the opening. And I think change will
have to happen at a grassroots level. I think this is the John XXIII moment.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 3, 2005.
