Fr. Fessio Weighs In . . . Why Did Pope Choose Homosexuality-Activist Priest For Pontifical Council?

By DEXTER DUGGAN

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, former master general of the Dominican order, isn’t unique among certain well-known, dissident Church figures whose cultivation of a “Spirit of Vatican II” far exceeds anything officially done by that council a half-century ago.
Still, many faithful Catholics were dismayed by the May 16 announcement that Pope Francis chose Radcliffe as a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Once again the direction of the Church seemed up for grabs, rekindling an issue of uncertainty for both the 2014 and 2015 sessions of the Synod on the Family.
The announcement by Vatican Radio indicated nothing controversial about Radcliffe’s reputation. It said:
“Ordained in 1971, Fr. Timothy is a longtime friend and contributor to Vatican Radio’s English Service. He is a well-known preacher and speaker, and author of several books including What Is the Point of Being A Christian? He served as master of the Dominican order from 1992 until 2001 and is now resident at the Dominican Priory at Blackfriars, Oxford (UK). He has been a member of the Las Casas Advisory Board and director of the Institute. He is an Honorary Doctor of Divinity at the University of Oxford.”
The liberal Crux blog, citing some of Radcliffe’s controversial statements, posted on May 16:
“As a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Radcliffe is one of 40 or so people from around the globe who help ‘draw the broad lines of the action of the Counsel [sic], according to their sensitivities and their professional and pastoral commitments,’ according to the Vatican.”
The blog article linked to a Vatican description of various aspects of the pontifical council. “Objectives and Mandate” included this statement:
“It will assemble and evaluate various types of information and the results of research on justice and peace, the development of peoples and the violations of human rights. When appropriate, it will inform episcopal bodies of the conclusions drawn. It will foster relations with international Catholic organizations and with other bodies, be they Catholic or not, that are sincerely committed to the promotion of the values of justice and peace in the world.”
“Homosexual rights” seem to be on the march on various fronts today, and Radcliffe is well-known for promoting them.
Among his appearances in 2014, Radcliffe was invited to speak to the annual official priests’ convocation in the Diocese of San Diego, generating shock and opposition by traditional Catholics there.
The Wanderer published two front-page stories, “Dissenter Invited to Address Priests; Diocese of San Diego Won’t Comment” (September 11, 2014 issue), and “In San Diego Diocese, Dissenter Celebrity Receives A Warm Welcome” (October 9, 2014 issue).
Citing some of Radcliffe’s contentious statements, the second of these stories included his startling-sounding comment on homosexual sexuality and its Eucharistic nature. This appeared in The Pilling Report, the working document published in November 2013 for the Church of England’s decision-making process concerning issues including “same-sex marriage.”
On page 77 of the report, after mentioning fertility, Radcliffe is quoted: “How does all this bear on the question of gay sexuality? We cannot begin with the question of whether it is permitted or forbidden! We must ask what it means, and how far it is Eucharistic. Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual, and nonviolent. So in many ways I think it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.”
The first of the two Wanderer stories quoted from a letter by five San Diego-area Catholics warning San Diego diocesan officials. It said in part:
“Fr. Radcliffe openly dissents on the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, frequently celebrated Mass for the gay dissent group the Soho Masses Pastoral Council. During the reign of Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe was stopped from speaking at the General Assembly of the Catholic development agencies. Fr. Radcliffe is well known for his liberal positions on morality, including his public opposition to the Church’s teaching on homosexuality.”
The five Catholics’ letter also said:
“This is not just an issue of really bad theology or poor speaker selection. In the larger agenda of the culture war for America, your decision to host Radcliffe will not be viewed as a nuance of theological debate, but as a deliberate flouting of Church teaching on one of the most serious moral issues of our day, homosexuality — a moral issue and mortal sin that steals our religious liberty and condemns souls to hell if they are not instructed to repent of it.”
The recent Vatican announcement of the honor for Radcliffe electrified the Catholic blogosphere. Under a headline about “Good times for dissident Dominicans” that called the priest “Über-liberal Timothy Radcliffe,” the orthodox Rorate Caeli blog raised some pertinent issues.
“The former master general of the Dominican order is a prominent supporter of the Kasperite proposal in favor of communion for the ‘divorced and remarried’,” Rorate Caeli said. “He has also spoken out in favor of the ordination of women, if not to the priesthood, then at least to the diaconate….
“However he is more famous for his frequent public interventions pushing for greater acceptance of homosexuality, having been a frequent celebrant of the infamous ‘gay Masses’ in Soho, London,” the blog added.
The Wanderer contacted Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, for his observations on Pope Francis conferring the new honor on Radcliffe.
Fessio, a native Californian and internationally known Jesuit, studied for his doctorate in theology at the University of Regensburg, West Germany, under thesis director Joseph Ratzinger, who went on to become Pope Benedict XVI, the immediate Predecessor of Pope Francis.
Among Fessio’s activities, he is founder and editor of the prolific, San Francisco-based Ignatius Press.
In a May 19 telephone interview about Francis’ action, Fessio told The Wanderer:
“I don’t know much about it. It certainly seems odd to me. My best interpretation would be that the Holy Father, who still is a shrewd Jesuit, appointed someone with very liberal credentials to a position that has very little influence in the Church.
“The Pope can soothe the wolves at the door — or so he thinks — while he carries on his mandate of preserving the Deposit of the Faith,” Fessio said.
Asked if he thinks the Pope took into consideration the upset that would be caused to faithful Catholics, Fessio replied: “Sometimes it seems that the Holy Father’s tactic is to encourage the Church’s enemies and to discourage its friends; but maybe this is only a tactic which is part of a larger, more fruitful strategy.”
Did Fessio have any additional comment? “Maybe he’s [the Pope] trying to help the Dominicans by removing Fr. Radcliffe from whatever he was doing for them.”
Fessio said he follows Italian reporter Sandro Magister, who, in his view, is the most well-informed Vaticanista regarding what the Pope does.
In a May 19 blog, Fessio said, Magister wrote that since the October 2014 Synod on the Family, the Pope “has not said a single word more in support of the ‘openness’ demanded by the innovators. On the contrary, he has hit hard, with at least 40 statements in less than seven months, in defense of the traditional doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church in the matters of abortion, divorce, homosexuality, contraception.
“But these statements of the Pope,” Magister continued, “have received very little coverage in the media. Overlooked and buried. While at the same time, the bishops and clergy of Germany — but not only them — continue to move forward unperturbed as if the go-ahead for Communion for the divorced and remarried were already a given.”
(See: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1351052?eng=y.)
The Wanderer also contacted Allyson Smith, one of the orthodox Catholics who wrote the letter to the San Diego Diocese last year protesting Radcliffe’s speaking there, to ask what she thinks of the Pope’s new recognition for him.
In a May 18 email Smith replied:
“I am sadly unsurprised that Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Timothy Radcliffe as consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Fr. Radcliffe’s well-publicized, unorthodox views about homosexuality, Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried, and women’s ordination should disqualify him from such an appointment, but today’s Vatican seems to appreciate clerics who hold such views despite the harm they cause the Body of Christ.
“Although I don’t entertain any hope that Pope Francis will rescind this appointment, I pray that Fr. Radcliffe will use his new position to advance true peace and justice based on Christ-centered faithfulness to perennial Church teaching, and not to further a ‘progressive,’ anthropocentric (man-centered) agenda,” she said.