Disciplining Dissidents

Ever since Pope Paul's controversial anti-contraception encyclical, more and more priests and theologians have felt compelled to publicize their disagreement. Their actions inevitably raise a question of discipline; the answer depends on the attitude and personality of the bishop involved. In some cases the response has been stern indeed.

In Buffalo, 14 of the 18 priests who make up the faculty of St. John Vianney Seminary were called into the chancery chapel last week by Bishop James A. McNulty. Eleven of them were asked to state their views on the encyclical. The Rev. Christian Puehn, dean of studies at the seminary, reported that the bishop's questions "focused on the area of loyalty to the teaching authority of the Pope and McNulty's own authority." At the conclusion of the meeting, said Puehn, "the bishop called six of us aside and indicated he was severing our connection with the seminary." The Rev. Thomas G. Dailey, dean of men at the seminary and one of 600 who had signed a petition organized at Catholic University of America criticizing the encyclical, had already been transferred to a pastorate in Batavia, N.Y.

The Rev. Russell Karl, a pastor in Oxnard, Calif., wrote to Los Angeles' James Francis Cardinal Mclntyre two weeks ago, disagreeing with the encyclical. When he met Mclntyre later, Karl said, he was handed a letter relieving him of his parish duties. Mclntyre's office announced that Karl had "requested a leave of absence." What the "leave" involves, according to the 50-year-old priest, is "a new career in Texas, possibly as a social worker or insurance salesman." Washington, D.C.'s Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle has issued "canonical admonitions"--formal warnings that, under canon law, are a prelude to possible suspension--to approximately a dozen priests who have spoken out against the encyclical.

Invitation to Think. In England, nine priests have been suspended or more subtly censured. Father John Challoner of the Oratorians in Birmingham has been given no church duties since he attended a prayer meeting organized by opponents of the encyclical. Father Anthony Burnham of Surrey, at his bishop's suggestion, has taken a leave from his parish "to think."

The total number of outspoken dissidents is still relatively low. But the list is growing, and with it, inevitably, a crisis of authority in a church whose structure is basically authoritarian.

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