Bernard Haring: a moral theologian whose soul matched his scholarship

German Redemptorist Fr. Bernard Haring, the foremost Catholic moral theologian of the 20th century and a leading advocate for church reform before, during and after the Second Vatican Council, died in the Redemptorist monastery in Gars-am-Inn, Germany, July 3. He was 85 and had been in active retirement in Gars since 1986.

Haring was a priest medic in the German army in World War II. He published a ground-breaking work Of moral theology, The Law of Christ, translated into more than a dozen languages. A professor of moral theology at the Alfonsian Academy in Rome from 1950 to 1986, he was a most influential peritus at Vatican II. He was also an indefatigable, globetrotting missionary for Christian spirituality and church renewal and a staunch opponent of legalism and hypocrisy in the church.

The objective facts of Haring's life can never capture the spirit of the person. On the other hand, I must admit to my own sympathies and prejudgments. Haring has been teacher, mentor, spiritual director, friend and supporter to me.

I first encountered him teaching moral theology at the Alfonsian Academy in Rome in 1959. His approach changed my thinking dramatically. I was instrumental in bringing him to the United States for the first time, in 1963. He later spent many months each year teaching and giving retreats in the United States. He was a bulwark of support for me in my own struggles with the Vatican. I thank God for his example, strength, advice and encouragement.

What made Haring the person he was? What explains his life and work? Like all Christians, he had to answer the gospel question of Jesus: "Who do you say that I am?" Haring's answer reveals much about him. "Jesus is for me Son of Man, which means above all that he is `one of us.' He is Son of God, the Father's unsurpassable offering and assent to us. He is the prophet, the nonviolent but also powerful unmasker of all false images of God, of every religious falsification, the perfect worshiper in spirit and in truth.' This basic commitment and faith help us to understand Haring the moral theologian, the church reformer and the deeply spiritual Christian person.

His 1954 The Law of Christ proposed a biblical, liturgical, Christological and life-centered moral theology. He pioneered a new approach to moral theology that opposed the method of the manuals with their concern for training confessors for the sacrament of penance by learning how to distinguish what is sinful and the degrees of sinfulness.

Haring's moral theology was based on the covenant -- the good news of God's loving gift for us and our grateful response. Christians are called to growth and continual conversion in their moral life and in their multiple relationships with God, neighbor, world and self. He staunchly opposed any legalism that made God into a controller rather than a gracious savior.

Two significant developments occurred in his moral theology. The earlier Haring, as indicated by the rifle of The Law of Christ, still saw law as the primary model of the Christian life. But in 1978 his new three-volume moral theology, written this time in English, was tiffed Free and Faithful in Christ, which indicates the move to a more relational model for the moral life and the rejection of a legal model.

The second development involved a growing emphasis on the healing power of nonviolence Haring was truly a person of peace who often candidly and forcefully stood up for his position, but ills manner was always nonviolent Even among nations the later Haring emphasized the need for nonviolence, although he did not totally exclude all use of force.

Some criticized Haring's moral theology for its lack of scientific rigor and its often homiletic style. There is some truth in these criticisms. Haring was never primarily an academic. He wrote for the church and the people of the church. However, his work crone from a deep and creative intelligence that helped to reshape the entire discipline of Catholic moral theology in the post-conciliar era,

The German Redemptorist was a prolific author, writing about 90 volumes in moral theology, spirituality and church reform. In addition he was an indefatigable speaker, going all over the globe to give lectures, conferences and retreats. Haring spoke fluent German, French, Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish and even learned Russian during the war. He traveled and lectured extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States.

Long before, Vatican II made it popular, he was involved in ecumenical dialogue. During the war he defied military orders and ministered as a priest not only to Catholics but to Protestants. On the Russian front he baptized many Orthodox children in the midst of the savagery of war. His doctoral dissertation, "The Holy and the Good," done in Tubingen, Germany, in 1947, showed his familiarity with many Protestant thinkers. After the council he served as a visiting professor for a semester at three non-Catholic institutions here in the United States: Brown University, Yale Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary,