Curran speech spotlights reforms of Pope John XXIII

When Charles Curran gave talks at Catholic universities 25 years ago, newspaper headlines the following day would read, "Radical priest disappoints."

But Curran got a very different reaction Thursday night during his talk, "The Life and Legacy of Pope John XXIII" at St. Edward's University.

Curran is best known for reaffirming the need for a ban on artificial contraception and questioning the Catholic Church's authority on teaching moral issues, including premarital sex, abortion and homosexuality. He was removed from the faculty of the Catholic University of America in 1986.

Actually Curran is infamous for his outspoken dissent against the Church and the natural moral law because of his affirmation of and support for artificial contraception, and the other moral issues above. But he is not alone in this widespread dissent. The author rightly notes that he was removed from the faculty of the Catholic University of America in 1986 - BUT, this was 18 years, almost 2 decades, after his tirade and denunciation of Humanae Vitae! And it took the Holy Father to do the job of the bishops who were supposed to be in charge of CUA, to evict this malcontent from the university.

"He is known for his book 'Loyal Dissent' that says you can be a faithful Catholic but disagree with the pope," said assistant history professor Anne Martinez. "For a lot of people, this approach is American Catholicism."

For far too many professed Catholics, this is their approach - it's been called "cafeteria Catholicism" and worse. The fact is, there is no such thing as 'loyal dissent.' It's analogous to claiming that there is such a thing as a 'square circle.'

Curran did not discuss the controversial issues that surround Pope John XXIII, but instead talked about his life and achievements.

What controversial issues surrounded the life of Pope John XXIII?

Pope John XXIII was best known for the reforms he enacted when he called the second Vatican Council, where he changed the way the Catholic Church operates its services to include the congregation, said engineering junior Julia Rosinski, a member of the Catholic Students Association. The former pope recommended that masses be conducted in the language of the people, while retaining Latin as a language of worship.

"It is beautiful in Latin, but it was harder for general public to connect with God and the mass," Rosinski said. "That was the biggest thing. He helped people relate to the church."

Now here's a gal who studied her church history and read the documents of Vatican II. Her professors must really be proud. Soon to be a Summa cum laude graduate, for sure.

Before John XXIII, Catholics were leaving the church because they couldn't connect. The new church was set up to help better connect people with Christ, Rosinski said.

Where does one go to learn this?

From the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University we see these statistics from Jan 2005:

Slightly more than 20 percent of Post-Vatican II Generation Catholics [born after 1960] say they attend Mass at least once a week or more.

By comparison, 52 percent of Pre-Vatican II Generation Catholics [born before 1943 ] and 38 percent of Vatican II Generation Catholics [born between 1943 and 1960 ] report weekly Mass attendance. The levels of attendance by these generations are unchanged from CARA’s September 2000 poll.

Somebody must have slipped her some bad data in class...

Curran said it was unfortunate that the Catholic Church may be pulling away from the issues important to John XXIII's Vatican.

Curran still thinks that he is the authentic interpreter of the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Who needs a Church, when we have the likes of Curran and others repudiating the Holy Father and the Church? Some must think that Jesus said, "He who hears Charles Curran and his companions, hears Me!" It's probably to be found in the latest translation.