October 2004 Archives

Here is a link to the article on Zenit, where we read of the presentation of the "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church," made in a press conference by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

If anyone finds a link to the actual text of the Compendium, I'd appreciate if you could post the link here. Thanks. I presume it's only a matter of time before an e-copy will be available. In the mean time, here is Zenit's brief commentary on it.

Maybe I'm a bit behind with this, but I was very interested to find Barbara Nicolosi's comments on the release of this new movie about St. Thérèse of Lisieux. She basically thinks it was a colossal waste of time and money, because the story and the acting are weak.

I'm very glad I didn't sink any money into this project. It's one thing to trust in God for the success of the project, but I thought that a famous Saint said we are supposed to pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on us. Stated differently, God's grace works through our efforts, not in their stead. Trying to undertake such a large and important project, without the necessary skills, is irresponsible at best and scandalous at worst.

[Via Catholic Light]

In John Allen's recent column, he gives some insights on Vatican-American relations. At the risk of over-simplifying, in order to give some highlights, I have the following. Note that these are brief bullets. If you want the more nuanced explanation, see the column itself.

Firstly, here are five premises to keep in mind:

1. There is no such thing as "the Vatican". Instead, the Vatican is a complex bureaucracy in which different officials hold different ideas.
2. It's worth recalling that American Catholics are six percent of the global Catholic population. There are 65 million Catholics in the United States, out of a global total of 1.1 billion Catholics.
3. Despite the Catholic church's image as rigidly hierarchical and ultra-centralized, it actually is one of the most decentralized institutions on earth.
4. There is a cultural gap between Main Street USA and the world of the Holy See that often skews perceptions.
5. In trying to understand what someone else is saying, it's more productive, and usually more accurate, to assume that the other party has good reasons for the convictions they hold, and seek to grasp what those reasons might be, rather than to impute ill-will.

Here are some positive impressions that the Holy See has of Americans:

1. There is tremendous respect in the Holy See for the technical competence and the can-do spirit of Americans.
2. There is awareness that parish life in the United States is remarkably dynamic.
3. There is appreciation in Rome for the underlying religiosity of American culture.
4. There is a lively sense of the generosity and good-heartedness of Americans.
5. There is a growing appreciation in the Holy See for the special challenges facing the American church, created by the press, the legal system, the size and diversity of the country, and its unique cultural tradition.

Now for some negative impressions.

1. The Holy See is a European institution, which means that general European prejudices about the United States find echoes in the Vatican.
2. Some in the Holy See, including some of the deepest thinkers, believe there is something profoundly un-Catholic about American culture that too often finds it way into the church.
3. There is a sense in the Vatican, again one that reflects broader European attitudes, that Americans sometimes have a messianic self-understanding, and a dualistic way of dividing the world into "us and them" that reflects the country's Calvinist heritage.
4. Some in the Vatican believe that American Catholicism sometimes suffers from a weak ecclesiology that reflects the country's Congregationalist tradition.
5. There is a fear that America's youthfulness, and the dizzying pace of change in the culture, produce a certain lack of historical memory.

Finally, here are a few reflections on what American Catholics should keep in mind about the Vatican.

1. Communication across cultures is always a difficult business.
2. Dialogue between Rome and America has never been more important.
3. Finding a way forward is a long-term project, and Catholics will increasingly need to draw comfort and sustenance from their common faith that ultimately the Spirit will not desert the church.

In this recent column by George Weigel, we have the central passage of a letter sent by Pope John Paul II, to Patriarch Aleksy II in Moscow, on the occasion of the Vatican delegation's return of the venerable icon of the Madonna of Kazan to the Russian Church.

By a mysterious design of Divine Providence, during the long years of her pilgrimage, the Mother of God in her sacred icon known as "Kazanskaya" has gathered around her the Orthodox faithful and their Catholic brethren from many parts of the world, who have fervently prayed for the Church and the people whom she has protected down the centuries. More recently, Divine Providence made it possible for the people and the Church in Russia to recover their freedom and for the wall separating Eastern Europe from Western Europe to fall. Despite the division which sadly still persists between Christians, this sacred icon appears as a symbol of the unity of the followers of the only-begotten Son of God, the One to whom she herself leads us.

The Bishop of Rome has prayed before this sacred icon, asking that the day will come when we will all be united and able to proclaim to the world, with one voice and in visible communion, the salvation of our one Lord and His triumph over the evil and impious forces which seek to damage our faith and our witness of unity.

It's like the Holy Father has envisioned the eventual reunion of the two great lungs of Christianity (i.e West and East) as almost an inevitability. In other words, we are saved by the same Lord, and both plead for the intercession of His Holy Mother, so it's only a matter of time. God bless him for his efforts.

In John Allen's recent column, he reminds his readers of some basic history of the ITC. Then, he gets into three topics that the most recent session is getting ready to tackle. I've highlighted one of them, because I thought it relevant to discussions we've had on this blog.

The International Theological Commission, a body of 30 Catholic theologians from around the world that advises the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, can function as a kind of "early warning system" for gathering theological storms. In 1976, the commission produced a document on liberation theology, "Human Development and Christian Salvation," ahead of Rome's crackdown on liberation theology in the 1980s. In 1997, the commission issued "Christianity and the Religions," and the next few years witnessed a series of disciplinary actions against theologians working in the area of religious pluralism. That campaign culminated with Dominus Iesus in September 2001.

Hence it's worth paying attention when the commission tackles a subject, because one can be sure it's on the Vatican's radar screen.

This week, a new group of members assembled to start their five-year terms, and they settled on three topics for reflection.

o Infant baptism and Christian hope: . . . [see the link if you are interested]

o Natural Law: Building on the pope's encyclicals Veritatis splendor (1993) and Fides et ratio (1998), the commission will take up the subject of "natural law," what Catholic philosophy regards as a law implanted in creation by the Creator that can be discovered by human reason. One motive for the study is to attack what the CDF has long seen as a "positivistic" tendency in reactions to its pronouncements on moral issues, such as gay marriage or stem cell research. Often it's assumed that the Catholic church expects people to follow its teachings because it says so ("positivism,") when in the Vatican's view, the church proposes a teaching because it's true. The hope is that by recovering a natural law framework, the church can shift the terms of debate from its own authority to the inherent persuasiveness of its teaching.

o Theology and the Academy: . . . [see the link if you are interested]"

It's difficult to convince someone who disagrees with you that what you are saying is "right" because it is "true". Some people believe everything is up for grabs, and enforcing doctrine may be viewed as a sort of power-play. My prayers are certainly with the Commission in their work. I hope it bears much fruit. This is not an easy time we are in.

The St. Cecilia Schola is very pleased to distribute Jubilate Deo in a printable booklet (6 pages) for use by scholas and parishes. It was issued by the order of Paul VI in 1974 by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. It was to be distributed and reproduced "free of charge," according to the letter, which also said: "Those who are tying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse to Gregorian chant the place which is due to it."

[Via St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum]

In George Weigel's recent article, we read of his conversation with a very liberal-minded priest, who believes the Church's problems would be solved by doing away with the "all-male, unmarried clergy."

Mr. Weigel counters that, in fact, the faith is alive and well in those centers where orthodoxy reigns.

The Church is dying in places where the Gospel is preached as a lifestyle option in a global supermarket of spiritualities. The Church is thriving, or being reborn with the vigor anticipated by Vatican II, where the full Gospel is preached -- in charity, but in its full integrity. That's a matter of empirical fact, confirmed time and again in Europe, North America, and Australia. Catholic Lite leads to Catholic Dead. The adventure of orthodoxy is what attracts young people today. In a world that constantly panders to the young, a Church of challenge, which combines the truth with love and pastoral care, is a very attractive proposition indeed. That's what I find on campuses, in seminaries, in parishes, and at World Youth Days.