Priests who can't agree with the Pope's encyclical

1W A STAFF REPORTER
ESPITE strenuous efforts by Cardinal Heenan, Archbishops Dwyer and Beck and Bishops Worlock and Cashman to take "the heat out of the debatethe number of priests in Britain who in conscience cannot accept all the conclusions of Pope Paul's birth-contril encyclical is mounting daily.
More than 100 of them have written to the ad hoe committee of laymen who are promising to put their views anonymously to the bishops. and it is understood that an even la rger number haye written privately to their bishops.
Even so the few hundred "disturbed" by the Pope's ruling are very much in the minority when seen against the total of nearly 8,000 priests in England and Wales and a further 1,300 in Scotland. Although the word "crisis" is heard frequently in clerical circles, Archbishop Cardinale, the Apostolic Delegate, has described it as "a little crisis" from which good will emerge.
Archbishop Cowderoy of Southwark by suspending Fr. Paul Weir a fortnight ago and two more priests last week, has appeared to intensify an already emotion-charged situation.
Even priests who have accepted the encyclical have been shocked by the disciplinary measures against Fr.
Weir, 31. curate at North Cheam; Fr. David Payne, New Malden, Surrey; and Fr. Brocard Sewell, the Carmelite Friar of Aylesford, Kent, and editor of the Aylesford Review.
1 he action of Bishop Cashroan of Arundel and Brighton in allowing two of his priests to speak their misgivings publicly and then retire for reflection and prayer was widely welcomed.
Fr. Andrew Beer, 45, of St. Dunstan's Church, Woking, Surrey, told Sunday Massgoers: "The traditional arguments from natural law, which have been restated, seem to me to be shot through with inconsistencies. I do not believe that contraception is necessarily sinful and I do not see how I can honestly impose that teaching on others, as I would have to do.
"I have had an interview with Bishop Cashman to explain my position. Here I would like to emphasise that the bishop has treated me with the greatest kindness and consideration.
"What the outcome will be. I do not know. I earnestly hope I shall not have to leave the priesthood. I shall not leave the Church."
Fr. Beer. who became a Catholic 14 years ago, and a priest six years ago. said he first began to have doubts about the Church's teaching on birth control at his first parish in Eastbourne, when he was asked to speak on the subject at a series of lectures. organised by the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council.
The other priest. Fr. Anthony Burharn. 31, of Our Lady of the Assumption, Englefield Green. Surrey. said: "The Pope's encyclical has led to a great deal of heart-searching and anxiety among very many Catholics. both laity and priests.
"I have been among them. I have found, and still find myself. unable to accept the Holy Father's teaching.
In Hexham and Newcastle, Bishop Cunningham has taken similar action to Bishop Cashman. and has allowed Fr. P. J. Fitzpatrick. assistant priest at St. Cuthbert's, Hartlepool, who spoke against the encyclical, to retain his priestly faculties.
The bishop has requested Fr. Fitzpatrick not to give further public statements and not to give pastoral advice in an official capacity.
The 4.500-strong parish of Burnham, Slough. Bucks. however, has given a lead which is almost certain to be copied in other areas.
Immediately after the encyclical was published its three priests thought it their duty to say something that would reassure married couples. They .called parishioners together and discussed the encyclical section by section.
The debate was not one of protest or criticism but one of inquiry and mutual help, the married couples comparing their experiences.
Fr. David Woodward commented that so far a calm, dispassionate debate had ensued.