Conservative Catholics need to think again
However, this conservative outlook seems to be far more concerned with preserving a culture of obedience within Catholicism which, in turn, reinforces an image of the church that is preachy, dogmatic and unsympathetic to the lives and circumstances of ordinary people.
This kind of a Church, far from being an influential institution for the promotion of morality, would become increasingly irrelevant to most people.
Many conservatives fail to recognise that morality is not something that is static and unchanging. It is dynamic and evolves over time to keep in tune with changing human circumstances and the growth of knowledge.
Scientific discoveries have completely transformed traditional thinking about the nature of humanity, sexuality and sexual behaviour, and our moral understanding of such matters has also changed accordingly.
The Catholic Church is a human institution which has made moral pronouncements about these actions based on its own reasoning and as a human institution it is liable to make mistakes, revise its position, or abandon certain teachings altogether.
Incidentally, it is worth noting that the Catholic Church's teachings on the morality of contraception, abortion, divorce, etc, is far from written in stone. Contrary to what many people believe, there have been many shifts in orthodox thinking in the Church over the centuries.
Jesus was a figure who embraced all of humanity, so presumably he would not have turned his back on homosexuals who are frequently condemned by some claiming to speak in Jesus's name.
In addition, the gospels have nothing to say about the morality of abortion, contraception or the ordination of women priests. Popes have argued about divorce and abortion throughout the centuries and have come to many different conclusions. The Church's current teaching on contraception, Humanae Vitae, was introduced by Pope Paul VI despite much dispute among officials within the Catholic Church.
Pope John Paul II was very conservative with regard to matters of personal and sexual morality, and his thinking about women, while well meaning, was antiquated at best.
But he was also a man who preached the virtues of love, compassion and peace, and it was this humanity that endeared him to most people.
Cardinal Ratzinger was the enforcer of Catholic doctrine during John Paul's papacy, and only time will tell what his legacy as Pope Benedict XVI will be.
However, one indisputable truth is that the Catholic Church will lose even more influence in the Western world if Pope Benedict XVI puts the enforcement of these conservative principles at the top of his agenda, as a population of largely educated, affluent and autonomous individuals are not going to allow a celibate man to tell them how to behave in their private lives.
Those who believe that the primary duty of the Catholic Church is to make pronouncements on issues of sexual morality an area in which celibate men are in no position to legislate effectively due to their lack of practical experience seem to be neglecting the original teachings of Jesus, which was an inclusive doctrine of love, compassion and neighbourliness.
In an era where war has once again devalued human life, and rampant consumerism evaluates human beings and their culture in limited financial terms, the values which Jesus promoted are now more important and necessary than ever with peoples of all faiths and none.
Hopefully, Pope Benedict XVI will lead the way in these troubled times.
John McSweeney
Rose Arch
Old Blackrock Road
Cork
