ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE OPENS CHURCH IN GLASGOW

Glasgow, Scotland (RNS) — While the Vatican is cracking down on theological dissent from the left around the world, right-wing Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre continues to ordain priests and encourage his supporters. On a recent visit to Glasgow, he dedicated St. Andrew's Catholic Church in a building on Renfrew Street that was formerly owned by the Free Church of Scotland. The church will now house a congregation devoted to the Tridentine Latin Mass. "Now this church is a true church because it is a Catholic Church," said Archbishop Lefebvre. The 80-year-old prelate told his Glasgow supporters that "we must pass through Christ's sacrifice if we are to save our souls. So we must have a true church, with a true Mass and true priests. It is sad, it is a pity, that many in our Church have abandoned true altars to be like Protestants."

HUNTHAUSEN, VATICAN EXCHANGE CHARGES AS DISPUTE ESCALATES

New York (RNS) — In a rare public airing of a dispute within the Catholic hierarchy, the Vatican and Archbishop Raymond J. Hunthausen of Seattle have accused each other of making misleading statements about the circumstances surrounding recent disciplinary action against the Archbishop.

Amid increasingly vocal support for Archbishop Hunthausen among Catholics nationwide, the Vatican issued a four-page statement explaining events which left the prelate stripped of much of his authority within the Seattle archdiocese.

The statement, made public on Oct. 27, said the Vatican had let the Archbishop know it considers him "lacking the firmness necessary to govern the archdiocese." It also disputed Archbishop Hunthausen's version of the dispute, saying the disciplinary measures were part of an agreement rather than mandated by Rome. Further, the Vatican expressed displeasure that the Archbishop had publicly announced the arrangement.

In September, the Archbishop announced that he was ordered by the Vatican to hand over authority in five key areas of ministry to an auxiliary bishop. The action followed a two-year inquiry into charges that he had tolerated a wide range of liberal practices that violated Church teachings, such as sterilizations in Catholic hospitals.

The new statement, for the first time, disclosed details of the Vatican's discontent with Archbishop Hunthausen. It came in the form of a chronology of events prepared by Archbishop Pio Laghi, the Vatican's delegate to the United States, and sent to all American bishops. It was released by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose more than 300 members will discuss the Hunthausen case behind closed doors at their Nov. 10-13 meeting in Washington, D.C.

The Vatican's decision to take the highly unusual step of publicly refuting a member of the hierarchy and his supporters underscored the volatile nature of the controversy. Release of the chronology had the immediate effect of escalating the dispute, with arch-diocesan officials and Hunthausen supporters criticizing its timing and sharp tone.

In detailing its criticisms of Archbishop Hunthausen's ministry, the Vatican said the 65-year-old archbishop, in his eleven years of leadership, has:

Archbishop Hunthausen also has stirred controversy for his advocacy of withholding income tax payments in protest of nuclear weapons production. On the day before the Vatican released the chronology, the Archbishop was among 400 protesters at the Trident Nuclear Submarine Base in Bangor, Washington. The Vatican has repeatedly maintained that such stands had nothing to do with the disciplinary action against him.

"The concerns are strictly and solely of a doctrinal and pastoral nature," said the chronology.

VATICAN DOCUMENT URGES MORE SEVERE STAND AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS

Washington (RNS) —In a challenge to pastoral practices underway in the United States, the Vatican has directed Catholic bishops to take a more militant stand against what it termed the "intrinsic moral evil" of homosexuality.

While acknowledging the need for Church ministries to homosexuals, a new Vatican document warns bishops against becoming too accepting of homosexuals and allowing them to use church buildings for meetings and services.

In cities such as Baltimore, Seattle and San Francisco, bishops have permitted special services for groups of "gay" Catholics. This has been part of efforts toward greater cooperation and understanding between homosexuals and the Church, which considers homosexual acts sinful.

But the 14-page document urges bishops to distance themselves from such groups. It declares that homosexual activists are seeking to change Church doctrine by espousing "deceitful propaganda" and "misleading" well-meaning pastors.

In statements prepared for a news conference outside the residence of Archbishop Pio Laghi, Pope John Paul II's delegate to the U.S., homosexual Catholic groups criticized the document as another crackdown on widespread pastoral practices in the American Church.

In a key section, the document by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, goes beyond traditional Church teachings by criticizing inactive homosexuals. "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin," the document said, "it is a more or less strong tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."

The Church has traditionally taught that sin lies in same-sex activity rather than in homosexual orientation. This teaching has made it possible for some bishops to remain neutral on, and sometimes endorse, legislation granting homosexuals full civil rights. But the Vatican document takes aim at legislation as well, calling such initiatives an effort to affirm the morality of homosexual conduct.

While condemning physical violence directed at homosexuals, the document adds that "when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right," it is not surprising when "irrational and violent reactions increase."

In issuing the document, the Vatican said it was responding to groups which seek to change Church teachings on homosexuality, and, according to Church officials, the document is aimed primarily at the United States and some Western European countries.

The document is seen by some Church observers as being linked to the Vatican's attempt to limit dissent from official Church teachings in the United States. It also follows recent disciplinary steps by Rome against Archbishop Hunthausen and Charles Curran who were accused, among other things, of permissive attitudes toward homosexuality.

LAITY IN CATHOLIC SEMINARIES CRITICIZED IN FIRST VATICAN REPORT

Washington (RNS) — In a long-awaited report on American Catholic seminaries, the Vatican has criticized the rapidly growing presence of lay men and women in programs traditionally designed for the training of future priests.

The Vatican voiced concern over liberal trends in a report on the first phase of a study of American seminaries, which have undergone vast changes over the past two decades. Pope John Paul II, concerned about innovations in theological schools, ordered the study in 1981.

The report comes as the Pope is seeking to bring the American Church into line with orthodox views. And, according to experts on seminaries, it could have a tremendous impact on these institutions, where lay men and women and nuns now often outnumber those bound for priestly ordination.

Although describing the theological schools "as basically good," the Holy See's Congregation for Catholic Education cited what it viewed as problems ranging from "confusion" over official Church teachings to the practice of giving lay people spiritual leadership roles.

Based on visits to 38 seminaries by teams of American bishops and priests, the Congregation's report also warned that some course offerings are too trendy and fail to address adequately the essentials of the Faith. The document also disapproved of the increasing numbers of middle-aged and recently widowed men who "too hastily" enter seminaries after personal crises.

While praising what it termed a "powerful thirst for the spiritual life" in American seminaries, the Vatican also said there was a need to attract more students from low-income and minority families and for seminarians to lead more modest and simple lifestyles.

In its sharpest criticism, the 23-page report, released Oct. 5 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, declared that there were too many lay people studying side by side with celibate future priests in the seminaries.

While welcoming what it termed a "rising demand" for adult education and training of lay ministers, the report, signed by William Cardinal Baum of the Congregation, said that in some seminaries this trend "has led to a fragmentation of the enterprise, confusion about the priesthood and lowering of theological standards."

Pressure to serve all types of students, according to the report, has deprived priesthood candidates of the "specialized formation" they need. Such changes, it said "neither correspond nor adhere with" the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council, which emphasized seminaries as "distinct institutions for the formation of priests."

At the same time, the Vatican acknowledged the need to train lay people for various ministries in the Church and said that many seminaries, with declining numbers of priesthood candidates, would simply be unable to survive without tuition-paying lay people. But it called on the American bishops generally to "foster and further their [the seminaries'] special nature and purpose."

Bishop John A. Marshall of Burlington, Vt., who has served as the Holy See's representative during the study, said in a telephone interview that the report reflected the pope's displeasure with what he regards as a blurring of the roles of lay people and clergy in recent years.

He said the report by Cardinal Baum, which came in the form of a letter to American bishops, is intended as a set of guidelines which the seminaries must begin to carry out over the next year. Each seminary will also receive "individual letters which are based on the visits," he said.

Sister Katarina Schuth, an expert on seminary studies at the Jesuit-sponsored Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., said the Vatican study is likely to have an "enormous impact" on American seminaries.

Citing figures in a nationwide study to be released next year, Sister Schuth said lay people and nuns now make up approximately 2,500 of the 6,500 students enrolled in the nation's 53 Catholic seminaries. There were hardly any lay people in seminaries twenty years ago, she said.

In addition, 93% of all those studying for the priesthood are in "mixed settings," she reported, while only 7% are in schools where there are no lay students.

Criticism of the lay presence in clergy-formation programs will probably be sharper in the next report, according to experts. This is because those not covered in the first one include some of the largest centers of lay ministry training, including seminaries run by consortiums of religious orders in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Berkeley.

One role which the non-ordained have begun to fill—and which the Vatican rejects—is that of spiritual director in seminaries. "We have asked for a realignment of spiritual direction in these seminaries," the report says. Candidates for the priesthood, the report said, must receive their spiritual training from a "priest-director" who can serve as a role model.

CANADIAN BISHOP SAYS CHURCH CANNOT EVADE ISSUE OF WOMEN PRIESTS

Washington (RNS) —The Catholic women's movement showed signs of renewed vigor as nearly 2,500 women attended a major conference marked by calls for change in Church policies.

The gathering, held Oct. 10-12, heard appeals from leading theologians, Church women's leaders, and even a Canadian bishop to continue pressing their causes despite resistance by Vatican leaders.

The participants, more than half of whom were nuns, examined a wide range of theological and social issues relating to women. Speeches often gravitated toward the increasingly volatile issue of priestly ordination, barred to women under Church law.

Canadian Bishop Remi De Roo of Victoria, British Columbia, declared that the Church can no longer sidestep the question of women priests and that to continue doing so will cause serious harm to the Church. The ordination issue has become "a symbol of the willingness or refusal of the Catholic Church to come to grips with the challenges presented by contemporary society," declared the prelate.

Bishop De Roo, who is President of the Western Conference of Catholic Bishops in Canada, warned that refusal to address the issue of women's ordination will also jeopardize "ecumenical initiatives leading to Christian unity."

"Evading the problem will cause irreparable harm to the credibility of the Catholic Church," warned the bishop, who was interrupted several times by loud applause.

The conference came amid growing attention to the issue of women in the Catholic Church. A committee of Catholic bishops is currently drafting what has already become a controversial document on women in Church and society.

Members of the bishops' committee examining the concerns of women have said they have been amazed by what they describe as the "deep hurt" felt by American Catholic women. Reflecting this was the keynote address by Sister Joan Chittister, a Catholic nuns' leader and nationally-known speaker and author.

"We live in a society where women are still not allowed into the Holy of Holies," Sister Chittister told the gathering. "We live in a society where they turn women away from their empty seminaries in droves, while in a sacramental Church people lack the sacraments."

Sister Chittister, who is Prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pa., and has served as head of national and international leadership organizations of Catholic nuns, gave a litany of Catholic women's grievances.

"We live in a society where a girl-child, ironically, may not even carry a cruet to the altar, because the Church that teaches that 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' can, apparently, be brought to its knees by a little 11-year-old girl," she declared to repeated applause.

"We live in a society where women are not allowed to preach the Gospel, or administer the sacraments or teach Scripture to an ordination student," Sister continued. "Oh yes," she added, "the message is very clear and it is still the same: there is nothing that a man of the Church can learn about God and Faith from a woman of the Church."

At a news conference afterward, Sister Chittister called a new Vatican report on American Catholic seminaries "a step back."

"It is regressive, limiting, unfortunate and not good for the Church," Sister Chittister said, describing the document as an attack on efforts toward equality of women in the Church.

LITURGICAL VESTMENTS FOR WOMEN DISPLAYED AT CATHOLIC MEETING

Washington (RNS) — Exhibits displayed during a gathering of Catholic women here offered an illustration of vast changes quietly occurring in the Catholic Church.

As conference speakers lamented the limitations on the role of women in the Church, an exhibition area downstairs at the Shoreham Hotel showed how innovations are underway regardless of how widely-publicized disputes such as priestly ordination of women turn out.

For instance, it might seem unusual for a Catholic seminary or supplier of liturgical vestments to set up a booth at a women's gathering, but Robert Barry, development director of St. John's School of Theology in Collegeville, Minn., remarked while standing in front of his exhibit, "We believe the Catholic Church right now is in a position where women are a definitely strong resource in professional ministries."

Mr. Barry said women now make one-third of those enrolled at St. John's, which up until recently was filled almost entirely with men preparing for the priesthood.

"We realize that the decreasing number of priests has presented a vacuum that can be filled with lay women and men," he added.

Of the thirty-one exhibits, at least five were those of Catholic seminaries. Just as surprising was an exhibit of the Holy Rood Guild, which distributes liturgical vestments and is operated by the Cistercian Monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Mass.

A full-color catalogue handed out included photographs of men and women dressed in full vestments—the outer chasubles as well as white albs underneath—and holding ceramic chalices for eucharistic celebrations. A Holy Rood representative pointed out that women are an important market because their role in worship and liturgical celebrations has broadened significantly.

SCHILLEBEECKX UNDER ATTACK FOR BOOK ON NATURE OF THE PRIESTHOOD

Vatican City (RNS) — Controversial Belgian-born theologian Rev. Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., has come under new Vatican attack for his latest book on the nature of the Roman Catholic priesthood.

In a public notification issued Sept. 23, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that Father Schillebeeckx's 1985 work, A Case for People in the Church: Christian Identity and the Ministries of the Church, goes against Church teachings.

"The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is forced to conclude that the conception of the ministry as set forth by Professor Schillebeeckx remains in discord with the teaching of the Church on important points," the notification said. It said that the Congregation's mission towards the faithful "obliges it to render this judgment public."

Father Schillebeeckx, formerly theology professor at the Roman Catholic University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and now retired, repeatedly has come under Vatican fire.

The 71-year-old Dominican priest was investigated in 1979 for possible heresy on the grounds that he questioned the divinity of Christ and held ambiguous views on the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection and related subjects.

Father Schillebeeckx has argued in his writing that in exceptional situations non-ordained Catholics can take on the role of priests. He said that the community can elect a man to exercise an "extraordinary ministry" even though he has not received the sacrament of priestly ordination through what the Church refers to as apostolic succession.

The Vatican Congregation warned Father Schillebeeckx in June 1984 that these ideas "were not reconcilable with the teaching of the Church" and invited him to make a public retraction.

Father Schillebeeckx asked the Congregation to wait for the publication of his new 1985 book, which he said would clarify matters, and the Congregation agreed.

"As regards this book," said the new notification, "the Congregation feels it has the duty now to make the following observations regarding the question of the ministry.

"In effect the question of the 'extraordinary ministry' is no longer mentioned. On the fundamental problem, it must be stated with regret that the author continues to conceive and present the Church's apostolic succession in such a manner that apostolic succession through sacramental ordination becomes a factor not essential to the exercise of the ministry and consequently to the power to consecrate the Eucharist—all this in opposition to the doctrine of the Church," said the notification, which was dated Sept. 15 and was approved by Pope John Paul II.