If there were any “losers” in the election of Pope
Benedict XVI, they certainly will not be found among the
faithful, or the Latin American or African Catholic churches. No,
the biggest losers are here in the United States, where
influential, liberal Catholic priests who have actively and
publicly defied the Vatican, along with several Cardinals selected
late in the reign of Pope John Paul II, find themselves in a bit of
a political pickle.
“Pope Benedict knows better than any one else who the trouble
makers are in the United States, and he knows who has worked
against the Church’s teachings there,” says an ordained source at
the Vatican. “You will be seeing changes soon.”
Sooner than expected. Late last week it was announced that the
Rev. Thomas Reese, the editor of the Jesuit weekly
America, was leaving his position at the magazine to be
reassigned to new duties.
Reese was one of a number of American commentators in Rome
during the recent pontifical election, and while he was often
restrained in his remarks about then-Cardinal Josef
Ratzinger, he made it clear he was not a supporter of his
candidacy.
America magazine, the public organ of the Jesuit order
in U.S., is one of the most liberal Catholic periodicals, second
only to the National Catholic Reporter, an independent
publication.
That America was essentially viewed by the mass media
and a number of American Catholics as an official church
publication only confused matters. Under Reese it published
articles with views that opposed the Roman Catholic Church’s
teachings on homosexual priests, stem-cell research, whether
Catholic politicians can be denied communion if they support
abortion rights, and homosexual unions.
“Most of the major media sees this publication and thinks,
‘Well, if the Jesuits are writing this stuff, then American
Catholics must be thinking this, or living this way,’” says the
Rome insider. “It created confusion and allowed the media to
portray a divided, confused American Church. It may well be, but
from Rome’s perspective, there is only one truth, and
America isn’t publishing it.”
In certain Catholic circles it has been known for some time that
a number of American Jesuits actively opposed Pope John Paul II,
particularly his attempt to bring American Catholic universities
into line with Roman Catholic theological teaching. At one time it
appeared that as many as 30 Jesuit theology professors at such
schools as Georgetown, Creighton, San Francisco, and Santa Clara
would be barred from teaching theology or philosophy due to their
refusal to adhere their teachings to established Roman Catholic
doctrine.
“The Vatican has been having problems with the Jesuit order in a
number of areas, including doctrine and celibacy,” says an American
theologian. “It isn’t just the Jesuits, but because of their higher
visibility, they have garnered more attention. It is safe to say
that the Jesuits have been out of favor with the Vatican for some
time. This resignation may be just the beginning of a greater
effort to bring the order in line.”
Reese resigned, according the Jesuit insiders in New York, after
the order received word from Rome that the Vatican’s Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith has received complaints from several
American Catholic bishops about the magazine and its content.
America in the past had made a point of attacking the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, openly questioning its
positions on a number of issues where American Catholics differ
with Rome.
IT ISN’T JUST JESUIT journalists who are getting put in their
place. In the coming weeks and months it is anticipated that a wave
of retirements and re-assignments will occur elsewhere in the
American Catholic Church.
Already, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, of
Washington, D.C., has announced that he will submit retirement
papers when he turns 75 later this year. Such retirement papers are
pro forma for all cardinals; they serve at the pleasure of the Holy
Father, and oftentimes are allowed to remain in office after they
turn 75.
But McCarrick’s situation may be different. He is known to have
not been a supporter of Pope Benedict before his election.
“Cardinal McCarrick has to be wondering where he stands right now,”
says another American priest from Rome with insight into the
machinations of the Vatican. “This is a man who went out of his way
to cross then-Cardinal Ratzinger and the Doctrine of the
Faith.”
McCarrick is believed by many in conservative Catholic circles
to have been the individual who in June 2004 leaked to the
Washington Post and other newspapers a memo written by
Cardinal Ratzinger instructing American bishops to detail to their
congregations the Catholic Church’s longstanding doctrine on life
issues and on the responsibility of Catholic politicians to live
both their private and political lives in union with the Church. As
Ratzinger’s letter stated, those politicians out of step with the
Church should be turned away from the communion rail.
The letter, a version of which is almost always sent out to the
bishops around election time in the United States (across the
country, many Catholic priests take the time in homilies before
election day to remind parishioners of the Church’s policies in
such matters), took on greater meaning in 2004 because Sen.
John Kerry made such a production of attending
Catholic services and receiving communion during his campaign.
It didn’t help McCarrick that he allowed the Kerry campaign to
make public meetings he had with Kerry and his advisers. When, on
one occasion, McCarrick went out of his way to hide the meeting,
Kerry’s aides leaked word of it anyway.
McCarrick is also known to have prevented the founding of at
least one orthodox Catholic studies program that was seeking his
support to open a small two-year college in Washington, D.C. Known
as Campion College, it would have served as a feeder school to
Catholic University, Christendom College in Virginia, and the
soon-to-open Ave Maria University in Florida, and offered
philosophy and theology courses to young professionals in the
Washington area interested in expanding their Catholic faith. The
program had the support of a number of high-ranking conservatives
in the Vatican.
In Rome, after the election of Pope Benedict, rumors swirled
that McCarrick, along with several other prominent American
Cardinals, had initially thrown their support behind Cardinal Carlo
Maria Martini, a political moderate, but one in line with the
Church’s important teachings.
ANOTHER CARDINAL PERHAPS looking over his shoulder is Los Angeles’s
Roger Mahony, who more than any other American
Catholic leaders except Cardinal Bernard Law, is
stained by the covering up for pedophiles in the Catholic
Church.
But Mahony has other issues that have caught the eye of Rome in
the past few years, not the least of which were his attempts to
block Los Angeles parishioners from taking part in traditional
Latin masses in his diocese. At one point, Mahony claimed that only
Catholics who attended such masses back in 1965 would be allowed to
participate in the Tridentine Mass.
“That hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, but Mahony’s maneuvers
in that case have been remembered here,” says the Vatican source.
“Some of these gentlemen may have thought they would outlive the
strict enforcement of doctrine. The confirmation and ascension of
Pope Benedict is evidence that they will not.”
Why would the Tridentine Mass controversy stand out? Perhaps, in
part, because Pope Benedict XVI has often spoken and written about
the beauty and spirituality of the Latin Mass, and its focus on
Christ and His sacrifice. As recently as two years ago, then
Cardinal Ratzinger reaffirmed his belief that there was a place for
portions of the Latin Mass in today’s liturgies.
