Seattle pastor to parishoners: 'authority never supplants conscience'

Dan Morris-Young
National Catholic Reporter
Oct. 11, 2012

The pastor of Seattle's St. Joseph Parish has urged his parishioners to evaluate Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain's call for defeat of a same-sex marriage referendum next month in light of the "call of conscience" and underscored that "authority never supplants conscience."

Jesuit Fr. John D. Whitney's Sept. 24 "e-blast" to parishioners specifically refers to a column by Sartain carried in the Sept. 13 archdiocesan newspaper. Whitney asked parishioners to review the narrative dispassionately and ask themselves "if this referendum refers to the same object as does the Church's understanding -- that is, is the civil marriage to which the referendum is addressed, the same as the sacramental marriage described by the column?"

In that column, Sartain wrote, "Suffice it to say, that should marriage be redefined in our state, the very foundational nature of marriage for the good and strength of human society would be harmed beyond repair." It was requested that copies of the column be carried in parish bulletins. Some parishes also have video clips of the archbishop speaking about Referendum on their websites.

If Referendum 74 is passed Nov. 6 in Washington state, the marriage equality law passed by the state legislature in February would take effect.

The state's four Catholic bishops and the Washington State Catholic Conference were high-profile supporters of securing signatures for the referendum to qualify for the ballot and have been outspoken in efforts to defeat it next month. The referendum language duplicates the earlier legislation itself. Voters may accept or reject it.

Asking Catholic voters to reject it, Sartain's recent column repeated that he and fellow bishops' opposition to same-sex marriage "is not 'against' anything, and especially not 'against' anyone."

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In Whitney's commentary, titled "Conscience and Referendum 74," he said Catholics are "morally obliged to form our consciences well, through study and through practice" and that "a person acts morally only when following his or her conscience, despite the sometimes opposite calls of public pressure, self-interest, fashion or authority."

"That being said," he continued, "it may appear from the outside that Catholics are governed more by authority than by conscience. ... The role of authority in Catholic conscience formation is, indeed, complex; but, authority never supplants conscience."

The "call of conscience" is "the Catholic categorical imperative," Whitney wrote.

Whitney said Catholics "must take the teaching of the Church seriously" and "accept that those whose ministry is to lead the Church in the world are graced for that mission, just as every Christian is given the grace to live out her or his mission as a baptized person."

"But," the pastor added, "we know such grace is not a guarantee of infallibility, and -- as the story of Galileo makes clear -- the grace of the Church, interpreted through individuals, is still subject to the deeper truths planted in Creation. No matter how great the authority of the Church official, the order of Nature -- the rising of tides, the movement of the stars, the operations of DNA -- does not change by human dictate. Indeed, God's guarantee of grace, given to the Church and to those in authority, is not an answer-key for all kinds of judgments, just a promise that our failure to judge wisely will not be irredeemable."

In an email response to NCR, Whitney said, "I very much do not want to make this about a clash of the archbishop and me. To me, this is not about persons but about visions of the Church. I truly believe that the movement of the Holy Spirit among the People of God can only work if people receive the tools to responsibly decide issues of public policy and personal morality."

"I know there are people in the archdiocese ... who believe I am sowing seeds of discord and would prefer to have me out of town, but I have heard nothing of that nature from the archbishop's office," he said.

Whitney said parish feedback has been "mostly positive" on his reflection and on "all that we have done around Referendum 74."

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"The other message was also from an older woman who said that the issue had driven a wedge in their family, until they read my article and found a way to talk to each other. This is why it is so important, not that people vote my way, but that people are told they can be good Catholics and discern various responses. The absence of this teaching is the greatest tragedy in the Church's current course, I think."

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"Between Referendum 74 and the intervention in the (Leadership Conference of Women Religious), the Catholic community in Seattle has been severely hurt, in my experience," Whitney told NCR. "It has not just exposed polarities, but it has made people feel -- with incredible power -- how little their voices or their prayers matter in the deliberations of the Church leadership in the United States and in Rome."

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Full article in National Catholic Reporter