Bishops 'march to Rome's orders'

Canon law expert says Cdn. prelates lost their authority

By ART BABYCH
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

"The bishops in Canada are no longer pro-active," said Oblate Father Francis Morrisey, professor of canon law at Saint Paul University. "Everything is centralized at the level of the Holy See and for all practical purposes, it's the Holy See that determines the agenda."

Morrisey, who is also a consultant to the Vatican, called the situation "sad" in light of the "very, very creative period" in the immediate years after the Second Vatican Council.

In an address Nov. 15 to a symposium at Saint Paul University marking 40 years after the beginning of Vatican II, Morrisey said, "Despite all the protests to the contrary" the CCCB is struggling with division between the English and French sectors. He did not elaborate.

Much of the real work of the Canadian bishops is done at the regional level, Morrisey said. "I would not be at all surprised to see that someday the conference would just be purely pro forma (operating as a formality) and then it will be the (four) regional groups that will at last have recognition. It is certainly the way things are going right now."

The episcopal conference "is not functioning," he said. "It takes about three years to get any decision through the conference."

But Msgr. Peter Schonenbach, general secretary of the CCCB, disagreed. He said a number of major decisions have "moved very quickly" through the conference in the last few years.

"For all practical purposes, it's the Holy See that determines the agenda." - Fr. Francis Morrisey

However, he said, "The fact remains that there are things which take time (but), it's not the problem of the conference, it's the problem some times with the relationship with Rome."

He said some decisions requiring a response from the Vatican were held up in Rome over the last few years, but that was prior to the recent appointment of Cardinal Francis Arinze, as the new prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The conference now looks forward to "an unblocking of a number of things," the CCCB general secretary said.

"While there is more centralization in Rome than there has been for a while, it's certainly not a one-sided street," said Schonenbach.

Schonenbach, along with CCCB president Bishop Jacques Berthelet and vice-president Archbishop Brendan O'Brien, returned Nov. 17 from a nine-day visit to curial offices in Rome and a meeting with Pope John Paul.

Morrisey, whose talk at Saint Paul University was about the reception of Vatican II at the institutional level of the Church, suggested that a national plenary council may be needed to generate enthusiasm in the Church in Canada.

Legislative powers given to the council, which could also hear from participants other than bishops, would be subject to the approval of Rome.

But the canon law expert said a plenary council in Canada "might be a very bad thing" because some of the newer bishops may be considered "reactionary" and "might want to bring things back to a restoration era."

The result, he said, may be to "suppress some of the structures" of the Church in Canada.

"I'm sad to have to say that, because we had a lot of impetus, we had a lot of creativity, but it just hasn't worked out that way."

The canon law professor also suggested that bishops and theologians are "afraid to take a stand, afraid to act" because of the "climate of the denunciation" in the Church. "It's not creative, it's not helping our theologians, and somewhere along the line, we're going to need a clarification."

The dreams of Vatican II "are still there" observed the Oblate canonist in concluding. "It's a question now of finding a new catalyst to bring them to reality."

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