Cardinal yes, cardinal no

There are still some people who look at the Church as a monolith. It is a conglomeration of look-alikes, sort of. Such people think that in the Church there is room for one opinion and that is the opinion held by those in authority. Quite naturally they are confused when even those in authority hold different opinions!

Fortunately the Church is not such a drab and boring place or organisation. It is alive and buzzing with different opinions and initiatives. The Church is a colourful organisation. It is the natural home of the children of God, one of whose main characteristics is freedom. This freedom implies disagreements, different opinions and pluralism. We should look at these characteristics as positive marks and not as minuses.

Sometimes these disagreements are between people in high places. Let us take, for example, the recent controversy between Germany's leading conservative prelate, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, and Germany's leading progressive churchman, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Archbishop of Mainz.

Cardinal Lehmann is also the president of the German bishops' conference.

Cardinal Meisner is one of these who sees conspiracies, heresies and dissent in every nook and cranny of the Church. He has recently bitterly criticised Lehmann for allowing dissident theologians to express their views at last month's annual Katholikentag conference.

Cardinal Meisner wrote a hard-hitting article in his diocesan newspaper attacking Cardinal Lehmann. He accused him of liberalism and excessive doctrinal tolerance, which he claims was manifested at the conference in Ulm.

Cardinal Meisner is forming a group of conservative bishops, priests and lay people together to denounce liberalism in the German Church.

The bishops in the group include those of Regensburg, Eichstätt and Speyer as well as Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg.

Cardinal Meisner criticised the invitation to the conference of Eugen Drewermann, a theologian suspended from the active priesthood in 1992 for his views on Church hierarchy and teaching. "Does not (his) appearance in Ulm add to the disorientation? Can that no longer be criticised?" Meisner asked.

He went on to criticise also the appearance at the conference of Bishop Jacques Gaillot, who was dismissed from the diocese of Evreux, France, in 1995 for opposing official Church positions on such issues as priestly celibacy, women priests and the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. Bishop Gaillot had "called, to applause, for a new kind of priesthood, independent of gender and only for a limited time", Cardinal Meisner said.

Cardinal Meisner also attacked Cardinal Lehmann for his silence during a discussion at the conference with the Swiss theologian Hans Küng, whose licence to teach was revoked by the Vatican in 1979. At the conference Dr Küng called on Cardinal Lehmann to persuade enough cardinals at the next conclave to vote for a "Pope John XXIV" to carry out much needed Church reforms (The Tablet, June 26).

"Hans Küng, known for his attacks on and aversion to the Holy Father, who is treasured all over the world, was able in Ulm on a high level to release his theses," wrote Cardinal Meisner. "He, whose teaching authority has been withdrawn by the Magisterium, was offered here the chance of being fêted by Catholics as a theological authority. His closing remarks, that Cardinal Lehmann should ensure that a Pope John XXIV be elected next, expresses more than clearly Küng's low estimation of Pope John Paul II. That Cardinal Lehmann, who has been called into the College of Cardinals by this Pope, found no answer, makes you think."

Cardinals Meisner and Lehmann have a very different vision of the Church and its role in the world. When Cardinal Meisner looks around him he sees "disorientation" and "confusion of belief". When Cardinal Lehmann looks around him he sees challenges and possibilities. For him the meetings that scandalised Cardinal Meisner and his ilk are an example of harmony.

In the Church there is a place for both Cardinal Meisner and Cardinal Lehmann. The former emphasise the fortress Church, the latter the open Church.

We believe more, much more, in the ideas of Cardinal Lehmann than in those of Cardinal Meisner. We also believe that there will only be a future for the Church if such ideas take the upper hand. But there are those who, like Cardinal Meisner, believe exactly the opposite.

Whatever one's ideas it is essential that the dialogue between Cardinals Meisner and Lehmann and all they represent continue in a spirit of fraternal love and without any recriminations.