'American Catholic Council' Meets Soon, Amidst a Sea of Errors

A dissenting group continues to attempt to deceive Catholics

Is it the hierarchy that has become "irrelevant" to the lives of some Catholics, or the faith that the hierarchy has been divinely instituted to teach? As the "American Catholic Council" convenes in Detroit next month, we pray that its participants find the guidance to discern the difference, and that they be led to the truth that sets us all free.

P>GRAND RAPIDS, MI--With less than a month before the so-called "American Catholic Council" (ACC) convenes in Detroit on Pentecost weekend, their recent press release continues to betray a disconnect from the authoritative teachings of Vatican II-in whose "spirit" they claim to act.

In a May 10 press release titled "Catholics Speak Out in Nationwide Listening Sessions," ACC said this of the nearly 100 sessions held nationwide in preparation for the gathering:

 "From the perspective of the vast majority of participants in these listening sessions, the hierarchy is increasingly remote, disengaged and irrelevant to the faith lives of rank and file Catholics.. Many see this failure to engage the diversity of the faithful as undermining the promise of a more inclusive Church that is central to the reforms called for by Vatican II. It is increasingly evident that the primary focus of the ACC when it convenes in Detroit will be to address issues of leadership, governance and structural reform."

The release continued:

"These dialogues [in the listening sessions] were informed by three fundamental tenets drawn from the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Vatican II).
--As baptized Catholics, all the faithful share in the ministry of Jesus, the Christ;
--Because all of us are in the Church, the common sense of faithful Catholics (sensus fidelium) is a legitimate agent of the Holy Spirit and serves to inform Church practice and teaching, in tandem with Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium;
--As adult Catholics, we are called to nurture an informed conscience that is the final arbiter of our actions."

[Parenthetically, it bears mentioning that ACC mistakenly cited the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), as a source for Catholic teaching on conscience, when in fact conscience is addressed in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). Interestingly, the obligation of conscience to obey the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium-as spelled out in Gaudium et Spes-is addressed in the document they cite.]

 Let's examine these three tenets in order.

"As baptized Catholics, all the faithful share in the ministry of Jesus, the Christ." In other documents ACC proposes this to justify their call for married and women priests. (On a related point, they also propose that anyone who has been baptized has an unconditional right to the sacraments, including divorced and remarried Catholics as well as practicing homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons.)

By rejecting the Magisterium's authoritative teachings and rulings on all of these issues, ACC contradicts the Vatican II document they cite, which states:

"Like all Christians, the laity should promptly accept in Christian obedience what is decided by the pastors who, as teachers and rulers of the Church, represent Christ. In this they follow Christ's example who, by his obedience unto death, opened the blessed way of the liberty of the sons of God to all men." [LG #37]

"The sacred synod consequently teaches that the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ (cf. Lk. 10:16). [LG#20]

The second tenet states: "Because all of us are in the Church, the common sense of faithful Catholics (sensus fidelium) is a legitimate agent of the Holy Spirit and serves to inform Church practice and teaching, in tandem with Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium."

Lumen Gentium says this about sensus fidelium (emphasis added): "The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, (cf. 1 Jn. 2:20, 27) cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples' supernatural discernment in matters of faith when from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals.. It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience to which the people of God accepts that which is not just the word of men but truly the word of God (cf. 1 Th. 2:13)." [LG#12]

Universal agreement among the faithful is not possible if "the faithful" includes both those who assent to authoritative teaching and those who do not. The faithful are those who assent to the faith. Additionally, sensus fidelium does not mean that universal consent of the faithful is necessary for a doctrine to be true, or that doctrine becomes true by such consensus. It means that universal consent is possible because the doctrine is true in the first place.

ACC also uses these first two tenets to justify their call for the democratic election by the laity of bishops and pastors. Such a practice is not supported by Lumen Gentium, which upholds the primacy of the apostolic succession of bishops chosen by other bishops (emphasis added):

"According to the testimony of St. Irenaeus, the apostolic tradition is manifested and preserved in the whole world by those who were made bishops by the apostles and by their successors down to our own time." [LG#20]

The third tenet states: "As adult Catholics, we are called to nurture an informed conscience that is the final arbiter of our actions." The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes it clear how Catholics are to inform their conscience so it can be this final arbiter (emphasis added):

"The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings." (#1783) Paragraph #1792 includes among the causes of culpable ignorance which can lead to erroneous judgment "assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, [and] rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching." Paragraph #1785 proclaims that the "education of conscience" must be "guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church."

So is it the hierarchy that has become irrelevant to the lives of some Catholics, or the faith that the hierarchy has been divinely instituted to teach? As the "American Catholic Council" convenes in Detroit next month, we pray that its participants find the guidance to discern the difference, and that they be led to the truth that sets us all free.

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James Penrice is a contributor to Catholic Online and author of nine books.

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