- The First Quick Take: - Dr. Karl Barth [a great 20th century Protestant Theologian] and Dr. James V. Schall, S.J. [Catholic Theologian cum Professor at Georgetown University]
Does it look like the Church makes
a mistake when it tries too hard to engage the
world, meaning... trying to 'answer'/please the media or the secular
world during these days of the CONCLAVE and how it tries to leverage the
proceedings at the CONCLAVE itself?
Reading through Karl Barth, one of the great Protestant
theologians of the twentieth century, it is striking that he pointed out after the Second Vatican
Council (to which he had been invited but couldn’t attend owing to illness):
“Is it so certain that dialogue with the world is to be placed ahead of
proclamation of the Word of God to the world?”
That’s a call for a prophetic stance, not some
peaceful marketing campaign. Vatican II’s sweeping blueprint for Catholic
social engagement, Gaudium et spes,
in particular, struck Karl Barth as not only overly optimistic, but out
of tune
with the understanding of the “world” in the New Testament.
Historically, he
pointed out, Christianity has often clashed with “the world.” Christ had
come into the world NOT to seek the consent of any, but to witness to
the TRUTH, and Himself was the TRUTH, right! We’re going to
have to think through this and many other challenging truths in the days and
weeks to come.
Well,
the esteem for the Church and the prophetic value in the documents of
the Vat. II, does in no way come an inch down, but... it is not unlikely
that the Protestant Theologian had an insight to offer to the Church
especially when trying to engage too much with the 'world'.
Now
coming over to Dr. James V. Schall, [S.J.], a renowned Theologian and
Professor at Georgetown, who in his recent interview to the
'NationalReview' was in fact very pointed and astute in his remarks on
Pope Benedict XVI [Emeritus], and it is here what he said...
How is retirement? Do you feel a kinship with Pope Benedict XVI
because of his transition?
FR. SCHALL: Retirement is a funny word,
isn’t it?... Actually, I gave pretty much the same reasons he did, except the
“burden” of our respective offices cannot be at all compared. When Benedict XVI
talks of “retirement,” it means very little, in a way. He is a man of mind.
Mind remains the same waiting to be thought, be it that of Plato, Aquinas,
Samuel Johnson, or Chesterton. Few in the world have really been willing to
come to terms with the reordering of mind that this man has accomplished in his
long and fruitful life. It is in this reordering that the real seeds of our
future lie.
How do you think history will remember Pope Benedict XVI?
FR.
SCHALL: It will remember him as the greatest
and most learned intellect ever to occupy the Chair of Peter. No public
official in our time has been anywhere near his intellectual equal. This
disparity is itself the cause of much disorder, if we grant, as we must, that
truth is the essence of intellect and indeed order. In reading Benedict, I have
always been struck by how familiar he is not just with the Old and New
Testaments (in their original languages) but with his constant referring to the
Fathers of the Church, especially Augustine, and the intellectual popes like
Gregory the Great and Leo the Great, and also Irenaeus, Basil, Maximius,
Origen, Bonaventure, and I do not know them all. He knows German philosophy
well, and always cites Plato. He is at home with all the Marxist philosophers.
Indeed, in Spe
Salvi, he cited two of the most famous ones
as witness to the logical need of a resurrection of the body. Benedict is a
member of one of the French academies. No one has really begun to do his homework
on what this pope has thought his way through. The media and most universities
are, basically, hopeless. I suspect his final ‘opera omni’ in a critical German
edition will equal in length that of Augustine, Aquinas, and Bonaventure.
----------------------------- The Second Quick Take: - Since, 'betting' on the would-be Holy Father does not involve 'excommunication'... just thought of tossing a few opinions.
The Church's mission throughout time is to bring the
Incarnate, Crucified, and Risen Christ to the world. As early as St. Athanasius,
the Church began to recognize who Jesus really was. This has continued in
recent times through Pope Paul VI with his ‘Humanea Vitae’, John Paul II and
his ‘Theology of the Body’, and BXVI through his ‘Deus Caritas Est’ and his
recent ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ writings.
[In my opinion], the next person to the Chair of St. Peter, besides
the other crucial things needing the attention of the Church, will have to
continue to bring the mystery of the Incarnation to the world. The sexual,
familial and dignity of life sins of today can be directly attacked by a proper
understanding of the Incarnation, and how even in our human sexuality God built
a part of His message of creation.
Actually
what qualification did Jesus really notice in St. Peter when he said,
"you are Peter... and on this Rock I will build my Church..." IN FACT,
he only asked him, "Simon... do you love me more than all the others",
which he repeated three times, and got the reply he wanted from Peter,
and then added, "feed my sheep". And so, only deep love for HIM... is
the most needed qualification, asset or skill. Anyway, Christ will see
to it.
------------------------------
- The Third Quick Take: Adopt a Cardinal www.adoptacardinal.org
There is something interesting going on for the Conclave to elect
the New Pope. The Cardinals, who weighed down by the weight of years and
authority... they need our prayers. Some enterprising folks on the internet... also
aware of this great need of prayer for the princes of the Church... have
developed a very simple approach to the need. They have developed a website
called ADOPT A CARDINAL and it’s easily accessible by going to the rather
obvious name of www.adoptacardinal.org
It takes about 20 seconds to go through the process and having a
randomly chosen cardinal assigned to you for whom you agree to make whatever
sacrifices and offer whatever prayers you choose in order to bolster him
spiritually in the work in which he is currently engaged. I did it and got
assigned 66 year old Cardinal João
Braz de Aviz, from Brazil. He's been a
Cardinal just about one year to the date... so he’s one of Pope Benedict’s
cardinals. The simple email confirmation you receive will also tell you what
his office is.We can do
it right? Let us pray for them, because through prayer, grace flows through us
and touches them. Therefore log into www.adoptacardinal.org and start praying for 'your' Cardinal.
-----------------------------
- The Fourth Quick Take: Encyclical of Pope Pius X [written on March 12, 1904] concerning Pope Gregory the Great
Continuing
to reflect on the Mother Church, [in continuation to the previous
mail], there is an excerpt from the encyclical of 1904, I reproduce it
here below:
“Kingdoms and
empires have passed away; peoples once renowned for their history and
civilization have disappeared; time and again the nations, as though
overwhelmed by the weight of years, have fallen asunder; while the Church,
indefectible in her essence, united by ties indissoluble with her heavenly
Spouse, is here to-day radiant with eternal youth, strong with the same
primitive vigor with which she came from the Heart of Christ dead upon the
Cross. Men powerful in the world have risen up against her. They have disappeared,
and she remains. Philosophical systems without number, of every form and every
kind, rose up against her, arrogantly vaunting themselves her masters, as
though they had at last destroyed the doctrine of the Church, refuted the
dogmas of her faith, proved the absurdity of her teachings. But those systems,
one after another, have passed into books of history, forgotten, bankrupt;
while from the Rock of Peter the light of truth shines forth as brilliantly as
on the day when Jesus first kindled it on His appearance in the world, and fed
it with His Divine words: “Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not
pass”[Mt. 24:35]
-----------------------------
- The Fifth Quick Take: A few more thoughts on 'Pope and Twitter'
The last mail spoke of the Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and his Twitter
page, which in a span of just months had earned 3 million followers. In one of
his earlier sermons he did mention that Church should use technology to sanctify
the world. Sadly, the world does not reciprocate its appreciation. If you take
a moment to observe the responses which the Pope’s tweets received, you’ll see
the filthy underside of the internet: foul language, abuse, libel. Underneath
the responses to the Pope lies incredible hate. His recent announcement of
resignation and the recent abdication has only provoked more hatred.
What is it
about this mild-mannered and diminutive academic that provokes so much hate?
Pope
Benedict doesn’t stand for himself, but for the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And in rejecting him, people really are rejecting what they perceive of
Christianity. The world isn’t free to perceive the Gospel as light and truth.
In truth, the Gospel answers the deepest aspirations of the human heart, and
sets us free from the slavery of sin and the unhappiness it causes. But the
world perceives the Gospel’s light as darkness. The restrictions the Gospel
places on human moral action seem like a terrible and abhorrent tyranny. We
might well cite the Gospel of John which says, “And this is the judgment, that
the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil…for everyone who does evil hates the light, and
does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (Jn. 3:19-20).
One
Christian writer from the second century, in the ‘Epistle to Diognetus’,
expresses our paradoxical relationship with the world. He says, “what the soul
is in the body, that the Christians are in the world. The soul is spread
through all members of the body, and Christians throughout the cities of the
world. The soul dwells in the body, but is not of the body, and Christians
dwell in the world, but are not of the world… the flesh hates the soul, and
wages war upon it, and the world hates the Christians though it has suffered no
evil, because they are opposed to its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh which
hates it... and Christians love those that hate them… the soul dwells immortal
in a mortal tabernacle and Christians sojourn among corruptible things, waiting
for the incorruptibility which is in heaven.”
Our
culture is diverging sharply from Christianity. We no longer hold similar goals
and values in common. It is no surprise that as we do so, the world becomes
increasingly intolerant of us. It pours the foulest slander on the Pope. It
also expresses itself by promoting and enacting laws, and tries to do-away with
Christ and His Gospel. These conflicts and setbacks can be the occasion for us
to reflect fruitfully on how being Christian affects one's relationship with the
world. It
may be surprising that we, [Christian] are always in tension with the world, as
similar to the views held by Karl Barth, ‘Christianity
constantly clashed with the ‘world’ and its culture.
In
relation to this thought, there is an article by Mr. Scott P. Richert,
"Do the Anti-Catholics have no shame?". It sounds interesting, read on.
------------------------------
Thank you.
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