The Dutch Dominicans, Revisited

This, from The Tablet, Feb. 9, 2008:

A LEADING theologian and key critic of Pope Benedict has rushed to the defence of the Dominicans’ Dutch province after it was silenced by the order for suggesting that lay ministers be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist if no priest is available, writes Tom Heneghan.

Professor Hermann Häring, a German theologian known in Germany as a ferocious critic of Joseph Ratzinger and who taught at the Catholic University in Nijmegen in The Netherlands for 25 years, called the analysis of the Dutch Dominicans’ booklet “Church and Ministry” by the French Dominican theologian Fr Hervé Legrand “a sword that stops all arguments”.'

In his analysis Fr Legrand warned the Dutch Dominicans not to risk schism by promoting the booklet, which he dismissed as a one-sided and theologically unfounded document (The Tablet, 2 February).

The Dutch Dominicans, who stressed in the booklet that congregations should be able to appoint lay  inisters only in emergency situations, have posted a Dutch translation of Fr Legrand’s French-language analysis on their website. In an open letter in German Professor Häring accused Fr Legrand of misrepresenting the Dutch Dominicans’ arguments and not understanding the Dutch Church. Professor Häring also rejected Fr Legrand’s charge that the Dutch Dominicans tried to overturn the Church’s  ierarchical pyramid, placing the laity over the bishops.

“Don’t forget that you are dealing with a completely democratic people. Wherever they are, the Dutch prefer to speak openly and directly. Opportunism is abhorrent to them, also in the Catholic Church.  That’s what creates so many problems for Rome,” wrote Professor Häring, an associate of Swiss theologian Fr Hans Küng.