November 10, 2014
Dear Friends,
Reports about the US Roman Catholic Bishops response to the initiatives and spirit of Pope Francis feel a bit like looking into someone else's house when and where you shouldn't. And yet, the more conservative of the US RC bishops seem to be quite open in expressing their reticence and concern about the papal trajectory.
I hear in the background of these two voices - the one belonging to Francis and the other to some bishops - two approaches to Christian teaching and to church/society relations that are expressed in every generation.
Those bishops in the opposition, if one dare say such a thing, sound primarily concerned about staying the course. keeping things steady, affirming what has been said and done in past days (including the recent past). A primary concern is doctrinal purity, what is truth, and the putting that forward with energy, whatever be the current pitch of society and culture. There is a real caution here, not to say a fear of change.
Pope Francis gives voice, it seems, principally to another perspective. Without sacrificing anything of the past, his attention is fixed on the current moment and state of affairs and toward the future. God has placed him, I suspect he would say, in this position and ministry at this particular moment in church and world history. there to lead according to the deepest instincts of faith. Here there is openness to saying and doing things in admittedly new ways, in order to express the faith effectively in a radically changed (and changing) context. Here I see also, and this is the key, a trust in the presence and action of God here and now and among present leaders, not only in the past and in the persons of past leadership.
In the introduction to his work on The Meaning of Tradition, the 20th Roman Catholic ecclesiologist Yves Congar, a Dominican priest, wrote the following:
Paul Claudel compared tradition with a man walking. In order to move forward he must push off from the ground, with one foot raised and the other on the ground; if he kept both feet on the ground or lifted both in the air, he would be unable to advance. If tradition is a continuity that goes beyond conservatism, it is also a movement and a progress that goes beyond mere continuity, but only on condition that, going beyond conservation for its own sake, it includes and preserves the positive values gained, to allow a progress that is not simply a repetition of the past. Tradition is memory, and memory enriches experience. If we remembered nothing it would be impossible to advance; the same would be true if we were bound to a slavish imitation of the past. True tradition is not servility but fidelity.
Yves Congar was silenced by the Vatican in the period prior to the calling of the second Vatican Council. During the Council he emerged as a theological expert of great weight and influence. In this movement, the same struggle ongoing now between pope and (some) bishops is seen.
The Meaning of Tradition, incldentally, is still well worth a read by any Christian interested in the interplay of present, past, and future in the life of the Christian community. It was re-published in 2005 and actually chosen this year 2014 as an Amazon Editors' Favorite Book of the Year. You can read Congar's entire introduction to the book here -http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features/congar_introtradition_dec04.asp
That's what I see going on in the house next door.
Dear Friends,
Reports about the US Roman Catholic Bishops response to the initiatives and spirit of Pope Francis feel a bit like looking into someone else's house when and where you shouldn't. And yet, the more conservative of the US RC bishops seem to be quite open in expressing their reticence and concern about the papal trajectory.
I hear in the background of these two voices - the one belonging to Francis and the other to some bishops - two approaches to Christian teaching and to church/society relations that are expressed in every generation.
Those bishops in the opposition, if one dare say such a thing, sound primarily concerned about staying the course. keeping things steady, affirming what has been said and done in past days (including the recent past). A primary concern is doctrinal purity, what is truth, and the putting that forward with energy, whatever be the current pitch of society and culture. There is a real caution here, not to say a fear of change.
Pope Francis gives voice, it seems, principally to another perspective. Without sacrificing anything of the past, his attention is fixed on the current moment and state of affairs and toward the future. God has placed him, I suspect he would say, in this position and ministry at this particular moment in church and world history. there to lead according to the deepest instincts of faith. Here there is openness to saying and doing things in admittedly new ways, in order to express the faith effectively in a radically changed (and changing) context. Here I see also, and this is the key, a trust in the presence and action of God here and now and among present leaders, not only in the past and in the persons of past leadership.
In the introduction to his work on The Meaning of Tradition, the 20th Roman Catholic ecclesiologist Yves Congar, a Dominican priest, wrote the following:
Paul Claudel compared tradition with a man walking. In order to move forward he must push off from the ground, with one foot raised and the other on the ground; if he kept both feet on the ground or lifted both in the air, he would be unable to advance. If tradition is a continuity that goes beyond conservatism, it is also a movement and a progress that goes beyond mere continuity, but only on condition that, going beyond conservation for its own sake, it includes and preserves the positive values gained, to allow a progress that is not simply a repetition of the past. Tradition is memory, and memory enriches experience. If we remembered nothing it would be impossible to advance; the same would be true if we were bound to a slavish imitation of the past. True tradition is not servility but fidelity.
Yves Congar was silenced by the Vatican in the period prior to the calling of the second Vatican Council. During the Council he emerged as a theological expert of great weight and influence. In this movement, the same struggle ongoing now between pope and (some) bishops is seen.
The Meaning of Tradition, incldentally, is still well worth a read by any Christian interested in the interplay of present, past, and future in the life of the Christian community. It was re-published in 2005 and actually chosen this year 2014 as an Amazon Editors' Favorite Book of the Year. You can read Congar's entire introduction to the book here -http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features/congar_introtradition_dec04.asp
That's what I see going on in the house next door.
As always, can access an up-to-date listing of Mercer fall theological/spirituality events today at:
tinyurl.com/MercerFall14
Blessings,
John McGinty+
The Very Rev. Canon John P. McGinty
Dean
Canon for Formation
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