The “California Catholic Daily” has posted an article that everyone should read. The article (http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=2782389d-da2c-40ce-8d7f-071d2345291c) is written by Cardinal James Francis Stafford, who recalls the reaction to Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae in August 1968. The cardinal discusses the American clergy’s rejection of the encyclical and the persecution he himself suffered as a supporter of the papal document.
A few days after the encyclical was released, Cardinal Stafford was invited to join other Baltimore priests in a meeting at the St. William of York parish in southwest Baltimore to discuss the pope’s encyclical. “After welcoming us and introducing the leadership, the inner-city pastor came to the point. He expected each of us to subscribe to the Washington ‘Statement of Dissent.’” All of the priests in attendance, except then-Father Stafford , agreed to sign the letter. (One priest did change his mind later in the evening). The inner-city priest’s response to Stafford ’s refusal reads like an excerpt from a 1950s’ Teamsters Union meeting:
“The leader’s reaction to my refusal was predictable and awful. The whole process now became a grueling struggle, a terrible test, a Peirasmòs. The priest/leader, drawing upon some scatological language from his Marine Corp past in the II World War, responded contemptuously to my decision. He tried to force me to change. He became visibly angry and verbally abusive. The underlying ‘fraternal’ violence became more evident. He questioned and then derided my integrity. He taunted me to risk my ecclesiastical ‘future,’ although his reference was more anatomically specific. The abuse went on.”
Cardinal Stafford believes that the dissent directed at the Vatican today by the American clergy has its roots in the events surrounding the release of Humanae Vitae. He may be right.
Read the article.
Donald Tremblay
