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Dr. Edward Peters holds a Chair at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He has written a balanced article about the rights of British priests to express their opinions on matters pertaining to the good of the Church. He writes:-
'British Priests Have Canonical Rights, Too
There isn't a word - not one single word - in the short, open letter signed by hundreds of British Catholic priests to the Catholic Herald (London) defending Church teaching on marriage and sacraments that any Catholic could not, and should not be proud to, personally profess and publicly proclaim. The priests' letter is a model of accuracy, balance, brevity, and pastoral respect for persons. It fortifies the soul to know it exists. It gladdens the heart to actually read it.
I am at a loss, therefore, to understand why Vincent Cardinal Nichols seems to chastise priests who signed the letter for their allegedly ''conducting a dialogue, between a priest and his bishop... through the press.'' The priests' letter is a statement of Catholic belief, not an opening gambit in a negotiation; it is addressed to a journal editor, and through him to lay and clerical public, not to a particular prelate. Moreover, the letter is a text-book example of clergy exercising a canonical right guaranteed to all the Christian faithful, namely, ''to manifest to sacred pastors (Code for 'bishops') their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.'' Canon 212 (3), my emphasis.
The Cardinal, of course, need not have said anything about the letter; frankly, his responding via the press is what might turn the event into a dialogue in the press. But, if a response was to be made, anything less than ''I am delighted to know that so many priests love our Church, her teachings, and the people served by both'' makes the direction of that dialogue suddenly worrisome.'
(From the blog of Dr. Edward Peters).Â
