Notes on moral theology authority in the Church

Theological Studies

Volumn 63, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 107-122

  Hoose, Bernard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67651219430     PISSN: 00405639     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/004056390206300102     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Nicholas Lash, "Authors, Authority and Authorization," Authority in the Roman Catholic Church, ed. Bernard Hoose (London: Ashgate) forthcoming
2. Richard Gaillardetz, Teaching with Authority: A Theology of the Magisterium in the Church (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1997) 293
3. See, e.g., David McLoughlin, "Authority as Service in Communion," in Governance and Authority in the Roman Catholic Church: Beginning a Conversation, ed. Noel Timms and Kenneth Wilson (London: SPCK, 2000) 123-36
4. Enda McDonagh, "A Theology of Governance," in Governance and Authority 121
5. Early reactions to the encyclical were discussed by Richard McCormick in "Some Early Reactions to Veritatis splendor," Theological Studies 55 (1994) 481- 506
6. See also The Splendor of Accuracy: An Examination of the Assertions Made by Veritatis Splendor, ed. Joseph A. Selling and Jan Jans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995)
7. Richard Gaillardetz, "Richard McCormick and the Moral Magisterium," Louvain Studies 5 (2000) 361-62
8. Charles Curran, The Catholic Moral Tradition Today: A Synthesis (Washington: Georgetown University, 1999) 216
9. Alberto Bonandi, "Il magistero 'morale' secondo la teologia récente," Scuola Cattolica 127 (1999) 735-89. Included among the scholars whose thought is examined in this article are Rahner, David, Schüller, Schillebeeckx, Mackey, Demmer, Böckle, Sullivan, Grisez, and Connery
10. "L'autocomprensione del magistero morale," Scuola Cattolica 128 (2000) 365-415
11. Frank Mobbs, Beyond Its Authority: the Magisterium and Matters of Natural Law (Alexandria, NSW, Australia: E.J. Dwyer, 1997)
12. Mobbs later reiterated his argument that moral truths which are known through our awareness of natural law lie outside the scope of Revelation. See his "Is the Whole of Morality Contained in Revelation?" Irish Theological Quarterly 66 (2001) 157-64
13. He was responding to an article by Lawrence Welch, in which the latter argued that, because Veritatis splendor "teaches that Christ is the decisive answer to our moral questions, it can teach that the magisterium's authority in moral matters is coincident with its authority to interpret revelation" ("Christ, the Moral Law, and the Teaching Authority of the Magisterium," Irish Theological Quarterly 64 [1999] 16-28)
14. The "correspondence" was, in fact begun by Mobbs criticism of a 1993 article by Harrison, as is evident from the title of Mobbs article: "Gasser's Relatio: A Reply to Father Brian Harrison," Irish Theological Quarterly 63 (1998) 379-92
15. Harrison's original article was "The Ex Cathedra Status of the Encyclical Humanae vitae," Faith and Reason 19 (1993) 25-78
16. Brian Harrison, "The 'Secondary Object' of Papal Infallibility: A Reply to Frank Mobbs," Irish Theological Quarterly 65 (2000) 319-34
17. Pastor aeternus no. 4. trans. Norman P. Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils (Washington: Georgetown University, 1990) 2.816
18. The equivalent statement of Vatican II might be said to make a more explicit claim: ". . [the pope's] definitions are rightly said to be irreformable by their very nature and not by reason of the assent of the Church, inasmuch as they were made with the assistance of the Holy Spirit promised to him in the person of blessed Peter himself; and as a consequence they are in no way in need of the approval of others, and do not admit of appeal to any other tribunal." Lumen gentium no. 25 (trans. Austin Flannery, Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents [Northport, N.Y.: Costello, 1975] 380)
19. Robert Murray, "Who or What is Infallible?" in Infallibility in the Church: An Anglican-Catholic Dialogue, Austin M. Farrer et al. (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 1968) 39
20. Richard Gaillardetz, "The Reception of Doctrine: New Perspectives" in Authority in the Roman Catholic Church, forthcoming
21. Joseph A. Selling, "Magisterial Authority and the Natural Law," Doctrine and Life 47 (1997) 334-42
22. "The Authority of Church Teaching on Matters of Morality," in Aiming at Happiness: The Moral Teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: An Analysis and Commentary, ed. F. Vosman and K.-W. Merks (Kampen, The Netherlands: Kok Pharos, 1996) 194-221
23. and "Authority and Moral Teaching in a Catholic Christian Context," in Christian Ethics: An Introduction, ed. Bernard Hoose (London: Cassell, 1998) 57-71
24. Francis A. Sullivan, "The 'Secondary Object' of Infallibility," Theological Studies 54 (1993) 536-50. Since no official English language version existed at that stage, Sullivan made his own translation of the paragraph in question
25. David Stagaman, Authority in the Church (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1999) 63
26. The Catholic Moral Tradition Today 218
27. A number of scholars, including myself, have not only highlighted this fallibility, but pointed to specific errors. In an earlier edition of these "Notes on Moral Theology," James Keenan listed a number of works behind which "are not simply claims of inconsistency, contradiction and even incoherence, but also again the insight of both Johnstone and Merks that continuity with the tradition is not itself the guarantor of the truth of any teaching." See "Moral Theology and History," Theological Studies 62 (2001) 86-104, at 89-90
28. Kevin T. Kelly, New Directions in Moral Theology (Washington: Geoffrey Chapman, 1992) 150
29. Kevin T. Kelly, "Serving the Truth," in Readings in Moral Theology No. 6: Dissent in the Church, ed. Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick (New York: Paulist, 1988) 479-80
30. Linda Hogan, Confronting the Truth: Conscience in the Catholic Tradition (New York: Paulist, 2000) 178-79
31. Jayne Hoose, "Conscience in the Roman Catholic Tradition," in Conscience in World Religions (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1999) 75
32. Theodore Davey, "The Internal Forum," The Tablet [London] 245 (July 27, 1991) 905-6
33. Joseph Ratzinger, Letter to The Tablet [London] 245 (October 26, 1991) 1310-11
34. Denzinger-Schönmetzer, ed. 32, no. 1483
35. John Heaps, A Love that Dares to Question (Richmond, Vic., Australia: Aurora, 1998) 37-38
36. Gabriel Matagrin, "Une expérience de dissentiment," Lumière et vie no. 229 (1996) 39-52, at 46
37. It seems unlikely that the initiative of the three German bishops of the Upper Rhine Province regarding this matter does not find wide support among their episcopal brothers. Their pastoral letter, dated July 10, 1993, and their "Principles of Pastoral Care" are reproduced as appendices, along with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's "Letter to the World's Bishops concerning the Di-vorced-Remarried and Holy Communion," dated September 14, 1994, the comment of the three German Bishops on the CDF letter in the form of a message to their people (October 14, 1994), an article on the German initiative by Ladislas Orsy first published in The Tablet, and an article by Kevin Kelly on the apparent conflict, which also first appeared in The Tablet, in Kevin T. Kelly, Divorce and Second Marriage: Facing the Challenge (New York: Geoffrey Chapman, 1996) 98-141
38. Bernard Hoose, "Towards the Truth about Hiding the Truth," Louvain Studies 26 (2001) 63-84, at 78
39. Richard R. Gaillardetz, Witnesses to the Faith: Infallibility and the Ordinary Magisterium of Bishops (New York: Paulist, 1992) 133
40. Hoose, "Towards the Truth" 79
41. John R. Quinn, The Reform of the Papacy: The Costly Call to Christian Unity (New York: Crossroad, 1999) 113-14
42. Richard A. McCormick, "Dissent in Moral Theology and Its Implications: Some Notes on the Literature," in Readings in Moral Theology No. 6, 533
43. I am not claiming that Acton concerned himself only with papal power. Hugh A. MacDougall writes: "Acton's strictures against the papacy can only be understood within the context of his protest against the abuse of power in all sectors of society down through the centuries." Lord Acton on Papal Power (London: Sheed and Ward, 1973) 22
44. Reproduced in Louise Creighton, Life and Letters of'Alandell Creighton (London: Longmans, Green, 1904) 371-72
45. It was not so in the 19th century. One of Acton's contemporaries and acquaintances was John Henry Newman, who was not entirely happy with all things Roman when he wrote to Lady Simeon: "We have come to a climax of tyranny. It is not good for a pope to live for twenty years. It is anomaly [sic] and bears no good fruit, he becomes a god, has no one to contradict him, does not know facts, and does cruel things without meaning it" (The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, Vol. 25, ed. Dessain and T. Gornall [Oxford: Clarendon, 1973] 224)
46. Bernard Hoose, Authority in Roman Catholicism (London: Matthew James) forthcoming
47. Stagaman, Authority in the Church 130
48. Heaps, A Love that Dares 37
49. Bernard Häring, "A Distrust that Wounds," in Readings in Moral Theology No. 10: John Paul II and Moral Theology, ed. Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick (New York: Paulist, 1998) 42-43
50. Richard A. McCormick, "Some Early Reactions to Veritatis splendor" 490
51. Avery Dulles, "Authority and Conscience," in Readings in Moral Theology No. 6, 111. Needless to say, Dulles holds that dissent should be exercised within certain bounds
52. Curran, The Catholic Moral Tradition Today 227
53. Francis A. Sullivan, "Sense of Faith: Sense/Consensus of the Faithful" in Authority in the Roman Catholic Church, forthcoming