Have you ever not said something or not did something because you were afraid you might get in trouble with the church?
Yes.
Yes.
What idea do you think is the most important idea right now for the church to be talking about?
How to combat sex abuse.
How to combat sex abuse.
Have you ever said something or done something that was outside the boundaries of church rules because you knew it was the right thing?
Yes.
Link (here) to the full written interview of Fr. James Martin, S.J. with 21 questions Yes.
3 comments:
"Church rules"??? I wish Fr. Martin would have elaborated. What exactly are Church rules? Canon law? The Catechism? Smoking in the sacristy? Assuming that we're talking about the former two and not the latter, how did he discern that "it was the right thing to do" to violate "Church rules" despite the fact that he necessarily took an oath not to do so (because of their divinely inspired nature).
It's obvious from most of what Fr. Martin, SJ does that he believes his conscience to be on par with the Magesterium in terms of authority, yet he always says just enough so as not to cross the line behind which plausible deniability becomes impossible.
Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, Spring 2011:
Fr. Milton T. Walsh, "To always be thinking somehow about Jesus": The Prologue of Ludolph's Vita Christi
From the San Francisco Chronicle, October 5, 2002:
The Rev. Milton T. Walsh was booked on charges of two counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old and is free on $100,000 bail. He was placed on leave in August from St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, where he has been a professor of theology since 1997.
We should be obedient to God. Discernment is real. I’m describing Catholicism, not defending or attacking Fr. Martin.
I don’t know if Fr. Martin was discerning, or if he was exercising his free will to use his judgment in this existence.
I would not want to deny discernment without significant reason.
Post a Comment