A Survival Guide for Thinking Catholics: Conscience and the Roman Catholic Life

by Miriam Schulman

Noting that both conservative and liberal Catholics are questioning "what is going on in the Church," Thomas Reese, S.J., former editor of America magazine, offered some guidelines for how thinking Catholics should deal with their questions at a lecture April 26, 2006, at Santa Clara University.

"I would insist," Reese said, "that a questioning mind is not just an affliction of liberal Catholics; it is also alive in many conservative Catholics. Liberals may question the ban on artificial birth control, married priests, and women priests. Conservatives, on the other hand, question the church's opposition to capital punishment and the war in Iraq and the church's support for welfare programs and illegal immigrants."

Disagreements within the Church, Reese pointed out, are nothing new. The Acts of the Apostles records a disagreement between Peter and Paul at the Council of Jerusalem. For Reese, the crucial point is the manner in which Catholics disagree.

Reese argued for a careful study of the other side's point of view including not just an intellectual and historical understanding but also one that tries to "get inside the other's heart and feelings." Differences, he said, should be seen as among friends in the Lord: "They should know that we are Christians by our love, rather than know that we are Catholics by our fights."

Reese also urged Catholics to learn the difference between Church doctrine and Church law. While doctrine includes the unchanging values of the Church, laws may be transformed over time:

If you are a conservative and want a return to the pre-Vatican II liturgy, don't let anyone tell you that you are a heretic. If you are a liberal and believe that married men should be ordained priests, don't let anyone tell you that you are a heretic. The questions of married priests or Latin in the liturgy are not doctrinal issues. These are matters of canon or liturgical law…. Laws have changed over time. Laws can change again.

While Catholics may disagree about law, Reese said that the stress in Catholicism has been on preserving unity within the community of believers. In fact, he argued that the Church sometimes "uses words that are open to multiple interpretations as a way of covering over differences and maintaining unity."

As an example he cited the recent Vatican instruction on homosexual seminarians, which has engendered a debate over what is meant by "homosexual tendencies." If the document is interpreted to mean "orientation," as it has been on both the left and the right, it would bar even celibate homosexuals from ordination. But the middle, "represented by most American bishops and seminary officials," according to Reese, believes the instruction leaves room for "mature, celibate homosexual seminarians."

In discussing controversial issues such as this, Reese emphasized that Catholics must consult their own consciences but also be humble about their conclusions. As he put it, "One must pray, not simply for the conversion of one's opponents, but for the conversion of oneself. Humility and charity are the virtues that are necessary for any community, whether it is the family, a parish, a diocese, or the universal Church."

Reese's talk was sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and co-sponsored by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. "A Survival Guide for Thinking Catholics" was the 2006 Regan Lecture, made possible in part by a gift from New York Life Insurance Co. in honor of William Regan III.

Miriam Schulman is the communications director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.