What's in a name?

What’s in a name?

Over the past several weeks several MOJ contributors have spoken of Catholics in the context of “liberal Catholics.” Yesterday’s Boston Globe had a brief article by Globe columnist Joan Vennochi entitled “Should Liberal Catholics Leave Catholic Church?” HERE These are interesting views, and they have served as a catalyst for thinking about what other Catholics might exist? Of course, an immediate and obvious response is this: “conservative Catholics.” But then, if these modifiers are used, do they fully identify and describe all the categories of Catholics who might exist? Could there be “Maoist Catholics”, “libertarian Catholics”, “fundamentalist Catholics”, “orthodox Catholics”, “reformed Catholics”, “socialist Catholics”, “communitarian Catholics”, etc.? Then I had another question: what do these modifiers really mean, if anything, in the context of whether a person is a Catholic or not.

Ms. Vennochi’s categorization appears to rely on a simple dichotomy, although at one point she suggests that there might be “Neanderthal Catholics” since she asserts “our views [presumably meaning ‘liberal’ as she uses the term] are the enlightened ones” whereas “Rome’s represent the neanderthal.” But this columnist does not explain what the source of her “enlightenment” is that she possesses. While she appears to admit love for the ritual of the Mass, she is skeptical to endorse teachings on issues such as abortion, homosexual marriage and adoption, and married and women priests. She is silent on other Church teachings such as genocide and war, just to mention a few. She mentions nothing about sin, therefore it is not clear whether “liberals”, as she has identified them, believe that sin exists. She does express the opinion that the Church’s hierarchy is “out of touch with ordinary Catholics.” When I am back in the US serving the local church in a variety of states including Massachusetts from where she writes, I do not have this impression since I meet a lot of Catholics (who simply call themselves “ordinary Catholics”) who agree with the Church’s teachings and would not endorse the views of Ms. Vennochi.

Many of these other “ordinary Catholics” exercise, in spite of temptations to sin, extraordinary Christian virtues. One of them is charity. It is difficult to find Ms. Vennochi’s charity, but it might be present somewhere, if not in her article, then perhaps in her heart.

She is correct on one thing when she concludes her column by stating that Rome (presumably meaning Church authorities) does not think “in news cycles”.   RJA sj