Thought police

I must confess that I was unaware of this matter before my pastor, Fr. Tom Stahel, mentioned it in last Sunday's church bulletin. It seems the Vatican's thought police forced the editor of the Jesuit magazine, America, to resign. His sin: public disagreement with the Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith. The story has been covered in the UK and the USA; see also editorials in America and Commonweal.

What does this man in the pews think? That suppression by the hierarchy pushes the hierarchy toward irrelevance. I hope someday they realize that they don't hold a monopoly on thought, or intellect, or spirituality, or God. They, like the rest of us, are blind men trying to figure out an elephant. We need each other to do that, which means that they need us as much as we need them. The converse is also true: to the extent they don't need us, we don't need them either.

What do you think? The comments are open. After all, blogs are about free expression of heartfelt disagreement. And unlike the Magisterium lately (ever?), I could be wrong.

Comments

[kiwi]

So my though (or question?) here is this. The blind men (and women) trying to figure out an elephant is an excellent metaphor. But in that context, what then is the purpose of a hierarchy in the first place?

I never got far with the catechism, so chances are I missed the doctrinal underpinnings for the hierarchical structure of the church. The best I can recall is that the institution of the papacy is founded on Jesus' instruction to Peter to establish His church. But did that instruction require a hierarchical structure? Or, for that matter, did it require a human being to exercise authority?

Thanks for the thought provoking post. I look forward to reading people's thoughts.1

[Ray]

I don't know. My problem isn't so much with a hierarchy as with the hierarchy's attempt to silence dissenting voices. To me, that diminishes the credibility and authority.

[kiwi]

And maybe that's just my distorted view of hierarchy, but what function does a hierachical structure serve if not to impose its authority? Like the court system -- if a trial deviates from accepted doctrine, the appellate court's job is to quash that "dissent." Isn't that basically what the church hierarchy has done here?