The Tragedy of Good Intentions. When Saints Unknowingly Place Discipline over Mission.

This is not to tarnish the saint. Not at all. I wish we reflected more on how the saints could have done better or acted differently. Too many people think that sainthood is out of the question for them because they’ll never live up to those standards. That’s untrue.

My hope is that you read this article and understand how to separate the good from the complicated. And use that to follow Saint Thomas More’s example in the best way possible for 2025.

Historically, there was an uncomfortable understanding between kings and the Church that they needed each other, and that together they could make society something to be proud of. Behind the scenes it was rarely so simple, but at least they generally knew to demonstrate respect for the other.

This works out well in a society where the Church is the organizer of society. Schools, charities, hospitals, etc. If you wanted to be social and part of the community, you generally had to be connected to your parish in some ways. This is no longer the reality.

By lamenting our past powers, we sometimes get distracted from our mission to live a sacramental life (one that encounters Christ through unity with the people of God and in the sacraments), and instead try to project a way of “Christian life” onto others.

This tragic loss is best understood through the lens of Lieven Boeve’s “theology of interruption.”    [Watch this lecture by given by him titled “Interrupting Love”]

In some parish communities, the obsession with rules and tradition ultimately misses the point. When we prioritize the institution over the wellbeing of the person, we create individuals who experience a deeply theological sense that they are unwanted.

Lieven Boeve says that when Catholicism becomes too focused on “continuity” or preserving established customs, doctrines, and institutions – it risks becoming static. No one fears a dying institution. This blind tradition can make it difficult for the faithful to experience the living God when they receive the sacraments. Almost like an addition to the Eucharist, a “quick hit” that rapidly fades instead of being conformed to the living Christ—the very God who showed us how to go into the streets, to encounter people, and accompany them.

Boeve teaches that the genuine encounters with Christ happens in the moments of “interruption.” Interruptions are the surprises, the crises, or challenges that disrupt what we assumed to be true and force us to rely on a faith-filled response in order to be creative and overcome what is now causing us to stumble.

From the perspective of moral theology (which on this site we define as the branch of Catholic theology that works through the messiness of life to help you discover and become everything that God made specifically you for), the ultimate good is not the preservation of the institution of the Church, but a faithful and compassionate response to the difficult ongoing conversion of the world in accord with God’s vastly creative design.

Lieven Boeve believes tradition is not a static object, but a living stream of faith that must be re-interpreted and re-engaged in every historical moment.

Back to the Crisis of 1514 and Saint Thomas More

A cloth merchant by the name of Richard Hunne had just lost his 5-week-old son, Stephen. The family was grieving. And like any good Catholic family of the time they went to their parish for a funeral and burial. These days, it’s a custom to request a financial stipend from the family (in some parts of the United States it can be $300 or more. However, it is not allowed to deny a funeral because someone cannot afford it). It’s a nasty reality of living in this world. It costs money to run a parish, and we rely on the faithful to give what is needed to keep it running.

But perhaps during that time in London, the people were sensing a bit of greed from their clergy. As if the money were more important than providing the sacraments. That’s a cultural problem, but the people increasingly felt as if they had no recourse.

The priest in this case demanded the baptismal garment of the deceased infant as a form of payment. The grieving father refused. After all, how many other belongings would the father have to remember his infant son by? Let’s give the priest the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was more concerned with upholding the tradition of respect for the Church and its authority.

This dispute led to a tit for tat, public and ugly dispute between the father and the priest.

Theologian Lieven Boeve would point out that the parish in demanding a payment for the funeral is an example of an institution sensing a threat to “continuity.” And the raw grief and sincere sense of injustice—and probably accompanied by a sense of rebellion and anger—was a powerful “interruption” to the predictable routine of the parish collecting a fee and enforcing a custom.

Richard Hunne was ultimately accused of heresy. A grave misstep that made matters worse. The man ended up in the church jail inside the Cathedral in London. It was there that he was murdered.

Now enters Sir Thomas More, who was then serving as the Under-Sheriff of London. Despite his history of being a champion for principled and compassionate Catholicism, Sir Thomas More was unable to overcome his loyalty to the priests in order to see reality.

Hunne’s murder was staged to look like a hanging, but the coroner determined that he had marks consistent with a struggle. The general public had already been aware of an escalating dispute between this grieving father and the parish.

Saint Thomas could not bring himself to believe that the clergy would have done anything to violate Richard Hunne’s dignity. And after the fact, he was present at the trial where the decaying body of this grieving father was put on display and tried for heresy.

The public outrage was widespread.

And behind the scenes, I am willing to believe that Thomas More was outraged too. The record of his life shows that he wanted a just society firmly rooted in a sacramental life. On the record, he was a stern enforcer of the law.

The Moral Lesson

There is a lot of irony in how this dispute paralleled Saint Thomas More’s own fateful execution two decades later. The public outrage and dismay seemed to have swayed in the saint’s favor at that time.

We can see how loyalty to the law and tradition above mercy and charity can cause spiritual harm.

Saint Thomas More’s loyalty to the Church is admirable and something I hope we can all take to heart. If I had the opportunity to interview him today, I would want to know how a “theology of interruption” would lead him to take a different path in handling cases much earlier in his career.

And in the ways that we as a Church body failed to recognize the dignity of Richard Hunne, how can we prevent the same tragedies today. How can we prevent the unnecessary sense of “being unwanted” that so many people feel in the pews.