Punishment

Dr dear Dr: Is there any especial reason why Roman Catholics seem to be fixed and fixated on punishment as a solution to life's problems, why punishment is so high on their agendas here in Britain?

British catholics slightly more solid than most of their European counterparts - many women of the catholic persuasion though do not feel especially punished by their monsignors and canons. This Question to be Answered comes from one of the Ladies in Waiting of my acquaintance. The good lady is to be respected in her apercue and it certainly seems possible that a detached observer might just come away from the Church in Britain with such a perception at least at some official level, what with laws and the like, as there is much punishment that is often talked about by church monsignors of the catholic kind.

Historically, in terms of recent or moderne history, there have been instructions which were embraced regally by catholic monsignors such as "Populorum Progressio" 44 and in this document it was stated as a matter of official papal policy that in a case of long-standing tyranny the oppressed people within some state in South America for instance could easily take it upon themselves to remove their dictator or process him or execute him or assassinate him too. Strange to tell. Theologians who disagreed with such a policy were hunted down in that time period of the Sixties.

Likewise too, in 1968, a document came out of the SCVs called "Humanae Vitae" 14 which described the problems of rape within marriage, discussed artificial contraception, and then also delineated a green theology of the human relationship, and this too was imposed on the country with a certain non-chalance, and theologians who dissented from its sentiments were hunted down too, and removed, sometimes en masse as per Corpus Christi college, by a team of enthusiastic prelates in conference, but there too at the press launch of that document, solemn and sober undertakings were given to the press corps that never again would the privacy of couples be invaded, never again would monsignors invade and monitor bedrooms, never again would moral faiblesse among clergy be punished canonically, never again would a leader sit on the Throne of Westminster and would show all the lack of delicacy of an Irish bricklayer - obviously such nuncios and monsignors have never seen an Irish bricklayer do his job, and with great skill. But anyway, solemn and blood curdling oaths of promise were made on that occasion to avoid the punishment option on such tricky highly personal subjects. Within a few years, all those assurances were blindly traduced. Punishment was back on the agendas.

Anyway, then along comes the 1983 Codex in time and what began as a mouth watering introduction to a schema of Magna Chartula rights, within a few years became a list of punishments and impositions with force. Likewise when the 1990 Codex came out, it too was turned into a Code Civil of a Napoleon 1804, so even the 1990s Codex which was more elegantly written, this too died a death and was degenerated into a list of punishments. After Codex 1983 and Codex 1990, just to add salt to the wound, truckloads of canon lawyers were sent to Rome to study the new documents and yet the only lectures those boyos attended were the lectures on sanctions and you guessed it, punishment, given by the brilliant young jurist Fr Velasio. So all the canons that interested this raft of young canon law students for Britain were canons like 220, 221, and 1399 the cracker of the lot. Punishment, punishment, and punishment. So I understand how the grieving lady in waiting is feeling, she must be left somewhat red raw at this juncture, but until a new philosophy breezes in to the country, then it will be punishment for a little while yet. Jesus was different - he let the girl caught in adultery go.