The guest speaker will be Melicia Antonio, who holds an S.T.L. in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and a Ph.D. in Moral Theology and Christian Ethics from the University of Notre Dame. Currently, she serves as a Professor of Ethics at Anahuac University in Mexico City. Antonio’s presentation will explore the influential Hermandad Sacerdotal, a group of priests active during Francoist Spain.
Between the Spanish Civil War and Vatican II, the Catholic Church of Spain was allied with the authoritarian government of General Francisco Franco. When the Council mandated the separation of church and state, Spain’s leading cardinal- Enrique Vicente y Tarancón, began the decade-long task of convincing clergy and lay members to support the Spanish church’s separation from Franco’s government.
An influential group of priests, the Hermandad Sacerdotal, arose in opposition to Tarancón and defended the alliance of church and state under theological and prudential premises. Naturally, Franco’s government was eager to support this group and thus avail of its moral authority at a time when it could no longer count on the endorsement of the Spanish bishops.
In her presentation, Antonio will describe how Tarancón sought to integrate the Hermandad’s concerns under the criteria of “unity in diversity,” but was unsuccessful. The political backing this group received was a significant obstacle, as well as the “imprudent” actions of the Hermandad’s leaders. The experience demonstrated to Tarancón how a dissenting group can fail to contribute positively to church policy and doctrine, despite its proclaimed intentions.
The event will take place entirely online.
For registration and additional details, email: clnr@theol.eu.