Traditionalists have no right to impose ‘false orthodoxy’

QUESTIONING failing structures and policies in the Church does not amount to disloyalty, but may well be “the most promising form of loyalty”, according to the master of St Benet’s Hall, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

Professor Werner Jeanrond, who is head of the Benedictine  hall at Oxford University, was speaking at the launch of Irish theologian Fr Gabriel Daly’s new book, The Church: Always in need of reform, at Trinity College in Dublin last week.

Noting that Fr Daly is an alumnus of St Benet’s Hall, Professor Jeanrond said it was not without irony that the Pope and “Ireland’s greatest living priest theologian” are united in their fight against clericalism and centralism.

“Obviously, they do not question the gift and grace of priesthood, but they question any magic view of the role of priests and their resulting power claims in the Church,” he said.

Published by Dominican Publications, the new book explores why conversations about pluralism and truth in Christianity immediately come under suspicion as lacking in orthodoxy. It raises questions about what has gone wrong in the Church and what needs to be done to reform it.

At the launch Professor Jeanrond warned that any church office that attempts to orchestrate “sameness” and to control “otherness” is doomed, adding: “While today’s traditionalists have every right to hold reactionary opinions; they have no right to impose them on others, in the name of a false conception of orthodoxy and authority.”