wfn.org | Nuns ask Pope to silence Ratzinger

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http://www.ecusa.anglican.org

2000-186

Nuns ask Pope to silence Ratzinger

     (ENS) Last fall, they were protesting a Vatican silencing. This fall, 
they're calling for one.

     The National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) has written an open letter to 
Pope John Paul II, asking him to silence the prefect for the Congregation for the 
Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, just as he did Sister 
Jeannine Gramick in 1999 for refusing to say if she agreed with the church's 
position on the "intrinsic evil" of homosexual love.

     "In your encyclical, That all May Be One (1995), you asked, `What changes 
need to be made in the exercise of papal authority that could make the papal 
office a source of unity rather than division among Christians?'," the letter 
said. "We would like you to consider silencing Cardinal Ratzinger."

     At a recent annual board meeting in Mankato, Minnesota, the group expressed 
dismay that Dominus Iesus, recently published by the CDF, might undo "the 
progress of four decades of interfaith dialogue and experience."

     In his 1995 encyclical, they tell the Pope, "you moved us toward 
deeper ecumenical dialogue. So we are appalled by Cardinal Ratzinger's 
issuing of Dominus Iesus which is contradictory to your openness and
 invitation to dialogue . . Cardinal Ratzinger sees the goal of dialogue 
as the conversion of the other party. This attitude creates barriers to 
dialogue and fosters religious arrogance and bigotry." 
     The letter contrasts the Pope's encyclical with Dominus Iesus, 
"where humility appears to be replaced by haughtiness and love 
for the truth by as certitude of possessing the fullness of the truth". 
     The letter also called on theologians teaching at Catholic colleges 
and universities to refuse to seek permission to teach theology from 
their local bishop, as required by the instruction Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 
and applauded the stand of Sister Jeannine Gramick in choosing to 
be faithful to her conscience. 
--Based on a report by Patsy McGarry in The Irish Times.