Monday, October 07, 2002

Structural Change
John Mallon asks Can someone please explain to me what is meant by "working for structural change within the Church"? My answer:

Okay, I don't like VOTF for about the same reason that John doesn't, but I do have a question: One of the reasons why this got out of hand was because appropriate canon law was not enforced by the bishops and their minions. The evidence that it wasn't JUST malicious malfeasance or dissent, but perhaps structural as well is that the problem is so widespread in diocese that are known to be all over the board theologically.

Question: is there some nonconstituative structural change one could make in the diocese that would compell the bishops or their underlings to be accountable, to actually use the canons we have? This wouldn't require change in Church doctrine or constitutive change in the structure of the Church. See what I mean? And I don't mean the Dallas protocol. That is structural change with a sledgehammer.

I'm no canon lawyer, and so have no proposals of a just solution to this question.

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