Catholic theologian banned from giving talk over opposition to church teaching

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/catholic-theologian-banned-talk-opposition-church

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A prominent English Catholic theologian has been banned from lecturing on church property in Edinburgh because she has opposed the Catholic church’s teaching on sexual morality.

Tina Beattie, the professor of Catholic thought at Roehampton University in London, had a talk to a Catholic group in Edinburgh cancelled after the intervention of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Vatican’s watchdog on orthodoxy. Beattie has previously been forced to pull out of talks in San Diego, California, and Bristol after complaints from conservatives.

Archbishop Leo Cushley, of Edinburgh and St Andrews, wrote to the Newman Society, a lay Catholic group, telling them they should disinvite Beattie to give a lecture she had planned, and not advertise the event, in July this year. He has not responded to requests to justify his position beyond saying that Beattie “was known frequently to have called into question the church’s teaching”.

In 2012, Beattie signed a letter to the Times in favour of same-sex marriage, along with a number of other Christian intellectuals. At the time the Catholic church was campaigning as hard as it dared against the change, in both England and Scotland. Shortly after the letter appeared Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Cushley’s predecessor, was forced to resign after admitting improper behaviour with a number of his priests.

Suspicious liberals point to the role of Monsignor Patrick Burke, now an adviser to Cushley, in the attack on Beattie. If she is now an object of suspicion to the CDF in Rome, it may be because he used to work there. In that capacity he was involved in the intrigues conducted behind the backs of the Catholic bishops in the UK by Anglican opponents of female priests who wished to defect as a group to the Catholic church.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Catholic church has been criticised for the apparent commitment of the hierarchy to the yes side in the independence referendum. The archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, put out a press release on the resignation of Alex Salmond saying: “The bishops are especially grateful for your recognition of the important place of religion and faith in Scotland, for your support of Catholic education as making its own distinctive contribution to the good of Scotland as a whole, and for your sensitivity to the issues around religious freedom which are emerging in our country as they are elsewhere. You have also shown real concern for those in our society who are less affluent and less fortunate. And of course, you have always been a wonderful champion and ambassador for Scotland at home and abroad. We hope that your political successors will be inspired by your example and continue to protect and promote these same values.”

Both these developments suggest that the Catholic church in Britain is losing some of the carefully nurtured unity and political neutrality with which it has navigated the past 50 years, and importing from America the bitter wars between liberals and conservatives.