Rite and Reason: The Catholic Church has too often, both in the past and the present, lost sight of its real mission, and instead given its energy and attention to its own preservation. The real mission of the church is to preserve and promote the message of Christ, or as Lumen Gentium, the second Vatican Council document on the church, puts it: "The social structure of the church serve(s) the spirit of Christ, who vivifies it", writes Fr Tony Flannery
Obsession about its own maintenance has been a particular feature for the past 400 years of Catholic Church history, since the Protestant Reformation.
To the extent that it has been focused on its own preservation, it has become an obstacle rather than a vehicle for the message of Christ. I would like to give two topical illustrations of how this has worked.
I think it is fair to say that the doctrine of infallibility has caused more harm than good since it was promulgated at the first Vatican Council in 1870. For centuries the papacy had struggled to achieve primacy in the church.
Pius IX introduced the notion of papal infallibility as part of his effort to increase his power. As such it was a teaching that had everything to do with institutional control, and little or nothing with Christ. Down to this day it has caused confusion.
What exactly does it mean? The best explanation I have come across is that given by Bernard Haring, the greatest moral theologian of the 20th century.
He says that for infallibility to be present the Pope needs first to have listened carefully (the word he used is "received") to the consensus of the church, and that includes laity as well as bishops and clergy. Having received the consensus of the church, and promulgated his statement, it in turn needs to be received by the church.
If either of these conditions is not present, then infallibility is not possible. Considering that there has been no real opportunity for open and free discussion in the church in recent years, and that there is no structure by which the laity can be heard, it is hard to see how Haring's conditions for infallibility could be present.
I believe that the doctrine was ill-conceived in the first place, and that it would have been better if it had never happened. Again it is worth recalling what the second Vatican Council document says about the church: "The church, although she needs human resources to carry out her mission, is not set up to seek earthly glory, but to proclaim, and this by her own example, humility and self-denial."
It is hard to equate the concept of infallibility with humility.
The second illustration of the church being over-concerned with the institution is seen in how it dealt with the issue of contraception. At the Lambeth conference in 1929, Anglicans decided that contraception was permissible in certain circumstances.
This was followed within a year by a sharp response from Pope Pius XI in the form of the encyclical Casti Conubii, which, according to Haring, labelled contraception as a crime. Haring had no doubt that this encyclical was inspired more by a desire to contradict the Anglicans than to interpret the message of Christ.
When the issue re-emerged after the second Vatican Council, and Paul VI ignored the recommendation of the large majority of his commission, he was certainly influenced by his fear of being seen to contradict his predecessor.
One pope could not be seen to imply that another one was wrong. It would damage the papacy. This was an illustration of a belief that in my view has caused untold damage for centuries, namely that the church could not be in error.
This unwillingness to admit to mistakes has been one of the biggest obstacles to the mission of the church. The past 40 years have seen the church pay a massive price for allowing its teaching on contraception to be influenced by its desire to shield the institution.
For most of the past few centuries the church has tried, and been successful, in keeping very tight reins on its followers.
The Syllabus of Errors, the Index of Books Forbidden to Catholics, the banning of theologians, are examples of the means used by the church to keep people in submission. In all of this the church was more concerned with its own power and control rather than with the message.
I think Haring put it well when he said: "Liberation is absolutely unthinkable without freedom of speech."
It is because I believe that the Catholic Church has to some extent lost its way that I decided to write Keeping the Faith. I believe that, either the Catholic Church once again puts the liberation of humanity at the centre of its message, or it will become increasingly marginalised and irrelevant.
Fr Tony Flannery has been a Redemptorist priest for over 30 years. His book Keeping the Faith, which deals with the above themes, was published recently by Mercier