Pope John Paul II, Yes!
Fr. Charles Curran, No!
By Dr. JAMES LIKOUDIS
So stated a recent large advertisement in the “Rochester Democrat-Chronicle” (March 23, 1986) by a group of Concerned Roman Catholics in the Diocese of Rochester. The ad went on to state:
“Since his 1968 dissent from “Humanae Vitae”, Fr. Curran has repeatedly undermined Catholic teaching on faith and morals, giving scandal to faithful Catholics in this Diocese and throughout the world. In his writings and lectures, he has contradicted Catholic doctrine on premarital sex, masturbation, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, divorce, euthanasia, and in virtro fertilization. We call upon all Catholics to express their solidarity with the action taken by Pope John Paul II to restore doctrine and discipline in the Catholic Church. It has been an intolerable situation that Fr. Curran has been allowed to teach in the name of the Catholic Church while denying its teachings.”
We agree wholeheartedly with the above sentiments. Fr. Charles E. Curran has well-earned his reputation as the #1 dissenter-theologian in the “American Church,” and has long been cast in the star role of an American Hans Küng. From the moment that Fr. Curran led the rebellion against “Humanae Vitae” in 1968 at Catholic University of America, he has been engaged in tearing to shreds those Catholic moral teachings which our secular society particularly opposes and ridicules. The Holy See’s action taken to strip Fr. Curran of his unwarranted status as a “Catholic theologian” can only be welcomed by Catholics long scandalized at his public deviations from Catholic doctrine and at the harm done souls whose consciences have been malformed as a result of the spread of Curran’s false teachings.
Like his Swiss counterpart Hans Küng, Fr. Curran has publicly refused to recant his false teachings. It is an index of the corrupt state of what passes for “theology” in the U.S. that nine past presidents of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) and the College Theological Society (CTS) have rallied to Fr. Curran’s side in the latter’s struggle against the Chair of Peter. Among Fr. Curran’s supporters are such fellow-traveler dissenters as the ex-Jesuit Bernard Cooke; Fr. Richard McCormick, S.J.; David Tracy; Fr. Walter Burghardt, S.J.; and, of course, Fr. Richard McBrien, head of the Theology Department at Notre Dame.
Since Fr. Curran has led the revolt against the Papal Magisterium in 1968, the Church in the U.S. has been in disarray, racked by dissent and disobedience. He has much to answer for. May God give him the humility to disavow his errors and to heed these stirring words of the great 19th century convert from Anglicanism, Henry Edward Cardinal Manning:
“The Church of God is inflexible in the mission committed to it. The Catholic Church will never compromise a doctrine; it will never allow two opposite doctrines to be taught in its pale… It cannot hold its peace; it cannot cease to preach the doctrines of Revelation, not only of the Trinity and of the Incarnation, but likewise of the seven Sacraments, and of the Infallibility of the Church of God, and of the necessity of unity, and of obedience to the Holy See as to a sovereign principle of truth”.
(“The Perpetual Conflict of the Vicar of Jesus Christ”, Lecture 4)
As for those followers of Curran who would fan the flames of a revived (and essentially heretical) Americanism in our day, they would do well to meditate upon the famous words of the Comte De Maistre:
“They, who would eat the Pope will die of it.”
About Dr. James Likoudis
James Likoudis was an expert in Catholic apologetics. He is the author of several books dealing with Catholic-Eastern Orthodox relations, including “The Divine Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and Modern Eastern Orthodoxy: Letters to a Greek Orthodox on the Unity of the Church.” He has written many articles published by various religious papers and magazines.
Reprinted from an article published in “The Wanderer” issue of 4/10/1986
Dissent from the Magisterium…. is not compatible with being a “good Catholic”.
– Pope John Paul II –
