DISSENT

Of the truths taught by the Church as revealed by God, some are solemnly “defined” by the Magisterium in a definitive way. In other words, they are proposed, in very precise formulations, “in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith” (CCC 88).

Many other points of Catholic teaching, while not solemnly defined in this technical sense, are also authentically proposed as revealed doctrine: expressions of what God wants us to believe or do (or avoid), in order to be saved. Examples in the moral field could be Catholic teaching on abortion or contraception. Without being defined as dogmas, these points of magisterial teaching are no less part of the Catholic faith, of the belief that necessarily distinguishes a Catholic. They should be received as such, for they too have behind them that guarantee of Christ: “Whoever listens to you, listens to me” (cf. Lk 10:16).

Even if not the object of a solemn definition, such matters cannot therefore be considered open questions theologically. The Second Vatican Council (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 25) and the 1983 Code of Canon Law (Canon 752) say that a “religious respect” (obsequium) of the will and intellect must be given to such authentic teaching. The Latin word obsequium does not just mean submission and does not imply mere obedience, less still of an unthinking type. The word carries overtones of the attitude that a thinking person should naturally take before what is seen to be higher than his or her own mind. It is therefore the rational acceptance of the humble person who has a minimum of faith.

The person concludes: “Even though I do not see the truth of this point of teaching, if the Church proposes it officially, Christ’s guarantee must stand behind it. Perhaps it may be expressed – defined – in a more precise way in the future (always in the same fundamental sense), but meanwhile I offer God the rational gift of my acquiescence – of will and mind – in what the Magisterium proposes.” That is the free and intelligent conclusion of the person with faith, who wants to have the mind of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 2:16) and knows it must be found in communion with the Church.

The Nature of Dissent • The Catholic who dissents refuses to accept something taught by the Church’s solemn or ordinary Magisterium. This is different from the attitude and behavior of a theologically qualified person who privately and respectfully withholds assent from some element of teaching he or she has not yet been able to make fully his or her own, while remaining “open to deeper examination of the question” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, 31 [1990]).To dissent is not only to substitute one’s own judgment for that of the Church; it is to show a lack of understanding of Christ’s presence in the Church: “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Lk 10:16). One thereby risks losing one’s Catholic identity and rendering oneself ineffective for the work of evangelization.

In the Church, there is a legitimate pluralism that should not be confused with dissent. Pluralism, working from full acceptance of the teaching of the Magisterium, suggests diverse analyses or applications of certain aspects of this doctrine, aspects on which the Church herself has given no definitive answer. It is one thing to see and present the same truth from different angles or to suggest how it can be understood or applied in varying ways, and another to hold and defend a position clearly opposed to what is taught by the Church.

“Dissent . . . is opposed to ecclesial communion and to a correct understanding of the hierarchical constitution of the People of God” (Pope John Paul II, encyclical The Splendor of Truth, Veritatis Splendor, 113 [1993]). One who dissents is not in living communion with the mind of Christ present in the Church’s Magisterium, and is not in a proper condition to receive the sacraments. Pope John Paul says: “It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a ‘good Catholic’ and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. This is a grave error” (Address to the U.S. bishops, Los Angeles, September 16, 1987).

Dissent is not a happy position, for happiness lies in communion with others in Christ. Dissent is not a humble position; it shows an over-readiness to subject God’s ways or the ways of his Church to one’s own personal judgment. Dissent is an attitude not of affirmation but of negation; it tends to take away a person’s peace, and can induce an aggressive mood that leads to bitterness.
A person may be tempted into real dissent and adopt it for a time. God’s grace, often making itself felt through the interior tension of maintaining such a position, is always there calling him or her back to a way of humbler, more joyful, and more rational communion with God’s Revelation, to a surer way of personal salvation and of apostolic service.

See: Assent and Dissent; Catholic Identity; Communio; Evangelization; Magisterium; Pluralism.
Suggested Readings: CCC 157, 162, 166-169, 181, 185, 197, 949, 1816, 2088. John Paul II, The Splendor of Truth, Veritatis Splendor. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian. C. Burke, Authority and Freedom in the Church, Chs. 6-7.

Cormac Burke




Russell Shaw. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. Copyright © 1997, Our Sunday Visitor.

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Last Updated: Sunday, April 01, 2001 01:25:11 PM