Theologian Elizabeth Johnson was recently critiqued by the US bishops. As the keynote speaker at assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in 2008 she spoke of the universal need to extend and accept forgiveness. A lesson she must now put into practice herself.
In the course of her address she quoted Bernard Haring: “At this time the church is the prodigal son. It is taking your treasure — your training, talent, reputation, contribution — and wasting it, feeding it to the pigs. The Spirit of Jesus calls you to be the father in this parable, not rejecting, but welcoming back the prodigal. Do you forgive the church?”
Haring was speaking to Charles Curran at a Eucharist he celebrated with him the day after Curran had an unsatisfactory meeting with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He knew he had failed to convince Ratzinger of his position. The disagreement was bound to engender personal, professional disaster for him.
Mercy Sr. Camille D’Arienzo reflects on these events
Sister Camille is former elementary-school teacher and college professor who for a time served as the president of her community, the Brooklyn, N.Y., region of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and as the president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious,
Read Sister Camille’s Article in National Catholic Reporter
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