To the Editor
The Connecticut Post

Bud Hewitt’s letter of July 13 betrays a static vision of the Catholic Church and an apparent lack of knowledge of its rich history. His caricature of the Church assumes that it has never changed during the last two thousand years and that its present condition is exactly the same as it was in St. Peter’s time.

From the earliest times great religious questions were debated and voted upon by Church councils. In modern times, however, the papacy has claimed for itself the sole right to decide all major issues. The unquestioning submission of mind and will demanded of the faithful by the pope and the bishops, our self-proclaimed moral teachers, allowed them to countenance and cover-up the sexual abuse of our children.

Jesus warned against that kind of totalitarianism when he said: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave” (MT 20:25-27).

Using the word dissident as a pejorative term, Mr. Hewitt seems to condemn such eminent scholars as Yves Congar and Hans Küng who challenged the Church to reflect anew on its understanding of itself.

The history of the Church is replete with examples of honorable dissidents who summoned the People of God to better things. St. Paul, for example, tells us that he disagreed with St. Peter about whether to require Gentile converts to adhere to the practices of Jewish law: “I opposed him to his face because he was clearly wrong” (Gal. 2:11) .

St. Paul also reminds us that, while there is a diversity of gifts that are essential to the well-being of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27-31), we are all, by virtue of our baptism, equal as disciples of Jesus: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:27-28).

The task of restoring the good name of the Church that we love requires that all of us work together in harmony to achieve that goal. As a step in that direction Mr. Hewitt might wish to join the members of Voice of the Faithful in their convention in Boston on September 14-15. For the details see www.votf.org. Or he may wish to attend our meetings held on the second Thursday of every month at the First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk. See www.votfbpt.org. Whether in Boston or Norwalk he will surely find a warm welcome among his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Joseph F. O’Callaghan
Professor Emeritus of Medieval History, Fordham University
Former Chair and current Board Member of Voice of the Faithful in the Diocese of Bridgeport