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Catholicism’s Worst Ever Theological Blooper

How did Catholic theologians ever justify the Inquisitions and the sufferings they inflicted - up to and including physical torture and burning at the stake?

If you were tasked with justifying that - with quoting a saying of Jesus that conclusively proved that he could ever have supported religious oppression and coercion - what would you quote?

To learn of the worst ever misinterpretation of a Gospel passage - the most catastrophic theological mistake ever made - a mistake implicating even the church's two greatest historical theological heavyweights - read the history of:

Dignitatis Humanae

the 1965 Catholic Church document that finally undid this mistake.

Lumen Gentium Article 37

Like all Christians, the laity have the right to receive in abundance the help of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially that of the word of God and the sacraments from the pastors.

To the latter the laity should disclose their needs and desires with that liberty and confidence which befits children of God and brothers of Christ.

By reason of the knowledge, competence or pre‑eminence which they have the laity are empowered ‑ indeed sometimes obliged ‑ to manifest their opinion on those things which pertain to the good of the Church.

...through the institutions established by the Church for that purpose ...
22552 days
have elapsed since November 21st, 1964, when this solemn Constitution on the Church, agreed by Vatican Council II was promulgated by Pope Paul VI.
2515 days
have elapsed since October 1st, 2019, when ACI presented to the Irish Bishops Conference at Maynooth a reminder of what Lumen Gentium promised in 1964 and Irish bishops never delivered - with catastrophic consequences for the Irish Church.

With the announcement by the Irish Bishops' Conference on March 10th, 2021 of their intent to lead the Irish Church on a 'Synodal Path' towards renewal - and now the commitment of Pope Leo XIV to synodality - there is hope that a longstanding injustice is to be addressed.

A top-level Study Group set up by Pope Francis in March 2024 - to advise on changes to Canon Law to ensure co-responsibility of lay people and clergy at all levels - is due to deliver a final report by Dec 31st 2025. Could the canonical obstacles to genuine lay co-responsibility at parish level soon be removed?

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The Common Priesthood of the People of God and the Renewal of the Church

It was Catholic parents and victims of clerical abuse who taught Catholic Bishops to prioritise the safeguarding of children in the church

ACI Submission II to Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference 2019

Jesus as Model for the Common Priesthood of the People of God

It was for challenging religious profiteering, hypocrisy and injustice that Jesus was accused and crucified. He is therefore a model for the common priesthood of the laity and for the challenging of injustice - in society and within the church.

ACI Submission III to Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference 2019

A Suggested Strategy for the Recovery of the Irish and Western Catholic Church

Recovery of the church depends upon acknowledgment of the indispensable role of the common priesthood of the lay people of God and the explicit abandonment by bishops and clergy of paternalism and clericalism - the expectation of deference from lay people rather than honesty and integrity.

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Catholic Church Internal Trials in the Diocese of Derry, Ireland, in 2019

A brief account of personal experience of more than five decades of clerical apartheid and inertia in Derry Catholic Diocese in the wake of Vatican II (1966-2019)

It was these experiences - and similar experiences by other ACI members - that led to the 2019 appeal by ACI to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference for the immediate honouring of the promise implicit in Lumen Gentium 37 (1964).

With the declaration of March 2021 of a Synodal Pathway for the Irish Church, and Derry’s own synodal discussions in the spring of 2022, there was hope for change in this inertial situation. However 'synodality' has not yet become embedded in the ordinary lives of Derry Catholics, and clerical enthusiasm for it is hard to find. It cannot yet be said that the process of decline in the diocese - an inevitable consequence of clerical aloofness - has turned a corner.

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