Archbishop Chaput: Fr. Martin deserves respectful criticism, not trash-talking

Philadelphia, Pa., Sep 21, 2017 / 19:02 pm

Some of the verbal attacks on Father James Martin, S.J. have been "inexcusably ugly," Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has said in response to reactions to the controversial priest.

"Fr. Martin is a man of intellect and skill whose work I often admire. Like all of us as fellow Christians, he deserves to be treated with fraternal good will," the archbishop said.

"It's one thing to criticize respectfully an author's ideas and their implications. It's quite another to engage in ad hominem trashing."

Writing in a Sept. 21 essay on the First Things website, the archbishop said that everyone who claims to be Christian has "the duty to speak the truth with love."

"Culture warriors come in all shapes and shades of opinion," the Archbishop of Philadelphia said. "The bitterness directed at the person of Fr. Martin is not just unwarranted and unjust; it's a destructive counter-witness to the Gospel."

Fr. Martin, media personality and editor-at-large of the Society of Jesus' America Magazine, serves as a consultor to the Secretariat for Communication at the Vatican.

He has been the focus of controversy since the publication of his 2017 book "Building a Bridge," which outlined how he thought the Catholic Church and the LGBT community should relate to each other. His book received the endorsements of several senior Catholic Church leaders, but also criticism from leaders like Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

Some critics have faulted his book for avoiding discussion of the Church's teaching on sexuality and for its lack of engagement with Catholics who identify as LGBT and accept Church teaching on chastity and other issues.  Others have expressed concern that his public lectures about the book have repudiated Catholic teaching.

Several Catholic organizations had canceled speaking invitations they had extended to the priest. His most recent canceled appearance was at the Theological College, a seminary affiliated with the Catholic University of America. The seminary cited "increasing negative feedback from various social media sites."

Archbishop Chaput reflected on reaction to that controversy, saying professor and Catholic commentator Massimo Faggioli was right to worry about the vitriol that is "profoundly changing the Church," Faggioli wrote in an essay in La Croix's online international edition.

The professor had noted the archbishop's own rebuke of groups like the Lepanto Institute and Church Militant ahead of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

However, Archbishop Chaput questioned Faggioli's claim that these "conservative cyber-militias" were fostered by a generation of bishops appointed under Popes John Paul II and Benedict, who in Faggioli's words re-shaped "the U.S. episcopate in the image of the 'culture warrior'."

The archbishop, himself an appointee of Pope John Paul II, emphasized the Christian duty to speak truth with love.

He also added that Fr. Martin is not above criticism.

"The perceived ambiguities in some of Fr. Martin's views on sexuality have created much of the apprehension and criticism surrounding his book. There's nothing vindictive in respectfully but firmly challenging those inadequacies. Doing less would violate both justice and charity."

"Clear judgment, tempered by mercy but faithful to Scripture and constant Church teaching, is an obligation of Catholic discipleship – especially on moral issues, and especially in Catholic scholarship," he added.

The archbishop compared contemporary contentiousness to the widespread unrest ahead of the Protestant Reformation.

"The details of our moral and ecclesial disputes are very different from those of five centuries ago – none of the Reformers, Protestant or Catholic, could have imagined what they would loose or where it would lead – but the gravity of our arguments is just as real, and the results will be just as far-reaching."

"If we've learned anything over the past five hundred years, we might at least stop demonizing each other," he said. "On matters of substance, bad-mouthing the other guy only makes things worse."