A Priest's Protest

In the Roman Catholic rectories of Los Angeles, the fathers sometimes make wry mention of the C.C.C.--the Cardinal's Carpet Club of parish priests who have incurred the wrath of James Francis Mclntyre, 78, the tough-willed, conservative Roman Catholic archbishop. Last week a leading member of the club, the Rev. John Coffield, 50, pastor of Ascension Church, announced that after 23 years of service in the archdiocese, he was going into voluntary "exile" to work in Chicago. His reason was the same one that impelled young Father William Du Bay eight months ago to call for the cardinal's removal from office: Mclntyre's refusal to allow his priests to speak out firmly in favor of the civil rights cause.

"A Buddhist monk could use self-cremation as the strongest form of protest," said Coffield in a farewell address to members of his former parishes. "I go into self-imposed exile as the strongest protest I can make. Emotionally, this is a tearing experience: on the one hand, not to feel in union with my cardinal whom I admire and love in so many ways; on the other hand, not to be permitted what I know Christ wants me so urgently to do--to be at the heart of the pain and suffering of the modern day."

Unwanted Vacation. Unlike Du Bay, a lowly parish assistant, Coffield is widely respected in Los Angeles as a longtime pastor learned in modern Catholic theology and devoted to youth work and urban renewal. Last May he began to preach against Proposition 14, a referendum to void state laws against racial discrimination in housing by establishing the "absolute discretion" of any property holder to "decline to sell, lease or rent" to anyone. About the same time, Coffield invited a San Francisco Biblical scholar to speak to a group of priests. Weeks later, the cardinal told him that the invitation violated canon law and ordered Coffield to take a "vacation" outside the archdiocese.

Coffield did not return until after the election. By then, Proposition 14 had been opposed by every major California church leader except Mclntyre, but had been approved by two-thirds of the voters. Convinced that his cardinal's silence was wrong, Coffield asked for a three-year leave of absence from the archdiocese.* In Chicago he will work in a South Side Negro parish, study psychology at the University of Chicago.

Clerical Unrest. Chancery officials pointed out that "no administrative discipline" had been imposed on Coffield, and that despite his complaint against the cardinal, "Catholic clergy and laity are and always have been united in their support of racial equality." In fact, many Los Angeles Catholics think that their cardinal's otherwise excellent record is marred by an inability to understand the Negro's demand for equal rights now. Last year about a dozen priests took leave--more quietly than Coffield--from the archdiocese. Despite this clerical unrest, Mclntyre--a prince of the church subject only to the orders of the Pope--has the power, and doubtless the will, to weather the protests.

* Since the Council of Trent, priests who do not belong to a religious order have been bound to serve for life in the dioceses for which they are ordained. In order to leave Los Angeles, Coffield had to get explicit permission from both Mclntyre and Chicago's Albert Cardinal Meyer.

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