The rest of Benedict's speech to bishops
Print Friendly VersionBy JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Washington, D.C.
In what is likely to be the most substantive and programmatic speech of his six-day trip to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the country’s Catholic bishops tonight, referring to the sexual abuse of children as an “evil” and bluntly conceding that the recent crisis in the church was “sometimes very badly handled.”
The language on sexual abuse will likely dominate news reports and after-the-fact discussion of the pope's speech this evening in Washington’s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, but in reality the pope covered a great deal of additional ground. It merits a quick recap, especially given that many bishops were listening carefully to the speech for indications of how the pope wants to frame the future agenda of Catholicism in America.
Materialism
Benedict warned that in an affluent society such as the United States, “the subtle of influence of materialism” can be an obstacle to encounter with God. Moreover, the pope said, materialism can breed a sort of me-first mentality that frays a sense of solidarity with others.
“In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy,” the pope said, “it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear towards them.”
Evangelization of Culture
Benedict called upon the bishops to lead a “renewed evangelization of culture,” beginning with a strong commitment to faith formation and religious education, and branching out to include engagement with pressing social issues.
“Yours is a respected voice,” the pope said, “that has much to offer to the discussion of the pressing social and moral questions of the day.”
Moral Formation
Benedict observed that some Catholics don’t “think in harmony with the church’s teaching on today’s key ethical questions.” In response, the pope called for a stronger commitment to moral formation “at every level of ecclesiastical life,” on that reflects “the authentic teaching of the Gospel of Life.”
Later in the speech, Benedict pointed to “the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion” as part of what he described as a tendency to “pick and choose” among the moral teachings of the church.
Marriage
Benedict called the state of the family “a matter of deep concern,” saying that people should be “dismayed” about the “sharp decline of the family.” He pointed specifically to an “alarming increase” in Catholics living together without marriage, or who treat marriage as nothing more than a civil bond.
“It is your task to proclaim boldly the arguments from faith and reason in favor of the institution of marriage, understood as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, open to the transmission of life,” the pope said.
Affirmative Orthodoxy
Benedict hit a note that has become a defining feature of his papacy – a strong call to traditional Catholic identity, but phrased in the most relentlessly positive fashion possible.
The pope stressed that a primary challenge facing the church in America is “cultivating a Catholic identity which is based not so much on externals as on a way of thinking and acting grounded in the Gospel and enriched by the church’s living tradition.
Without strong roots in tradition and the life of the church, Benedict warned, Catholics can drift into what he called a “silent apostasy.”
Yet at the same time, Benedict insisted that this sense of identity and roots has to be presented in a positive light, in order to render it attractive to the modern world.
“The Gospel has to be preached and taught as an integral way of life,” the pope said, “ offering an attractive and true answer, intellectually and practically, to real human problems.”
Reprising one of his most famous phrases, Benedict said that “the ‘dictatorship of relativism,’ in the end, is nothing less than a threat to genuine human freedom, which only matures in generosity and fidelity to the truth.”
Later, Benedict asked the bishops to present the “Catholic vision of reality … in an engaging and imaginative way.”
Ellenannette~ Well put.You
Ellenannette~ Well put.You find posters, myself among them, who critique Benedict XVI because he has and does say other bits and pieces that are seen to be questionable. We often forget to give adequate notice to and respect for the essential goodness of the man and the value of much of what he speaks and writes. As Shakespeare has Antony say of Caesar: "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with the bones". I would urge you though not to neglect trying to understand the conclusions of others.
Let's hear it for the Holy
Let's hear it for the Holy Father.
If someone has "a way of thinking and acting... enriched by the [C]hruche's living tradition" then of course it will show externally by the performance of actions that are traditionally Catholic. Isn’t it obvious that actions enriched by tradition will be external and traditional?
How can there be a contradiction between doing things according to Catholic tradition and thinking like a Catholic? It's those who DON'T act like Catholics that lead one to doubt where there are Catholic thoughts behind the externals.
That's not to say internal formation should be ignored in favour of external pedantry, but then nobody actually argues for that. I think you'll find those most concerned with externals (like acting reverently before God and knowing what the prayer really says) are the same ones who insist on knowing the Catechism and fostering a Catholic interior life, following St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, St Francis de Sales or the myriad of others they keep going on about.
That's why churches where the Traditional Mass is said don't have such a problem with their kids losing the faith.
JP
Jude 12,13
Then why did B16 suggest the
Then why did B16 suggest the need to move away from an emphasis on externals? Perhaps my old memory fails me from just last week?
In the report above, it
In the report above, it claims the Holy Father doesn’t want a Catholic identity BASED on externals.
This is in complete agreement with my point: Catholic actions don't contradict Catholic thought, in fact, they flow from it necessarily. That is why the Pope wanted a "Catholic identity based... on a way of thinking AND ACTING grounded in the Gospel and enriched by the Church's living tradition".
Hence, though the interior acts of religion are more fundamental than the external, externals are important, because things being wrong on the outside are an indication something's wrong on the inside.
Jude 10
Not if the externals have
Not if the externals have been freed from lock-down position already...and the externals convince folks that they've already gotten to the promised land when they've just started the trip..
I say "though the interior
I say "though the interior acts of religion are more fundamental than the external, externals are important, because things being wrong on the outside are an indication something's wrong on the inside"
You reply "Not if the externals have been freed from lock-down position already".
How does freedom from 'lock-down position' (whatever that is) prevent symptoms from indicating a cause?
Then you add "…and the externals convince folks that they've already gotten to the promised land when they've just started the trip.." If that idea is meant to follow my last statement (which is indicated by this clause being part of the sentence starting with 'not if'), the complete idea that you present is that things being wrong on the outside are an indication something's wrong on the inside, BUT NOT IF the externals have convinced folks that they've already gotten to the promised land etc.
I'm sure you didn't mean that.
If you simply meant that some people carry on as if they are already saved by following a set of rules, why do you make it sound like you disagree with both myself and the Pope?
Jude 10
Reading this discussion
Reading this discussion between JP and AnnieO, I keep thinking of those people who I remember from my growing up years, who would cross themselves and invoke the names of saints as they gossiped about the failures of others. I think these are the people that the pope meant, not people who put their relationship with God first and end up exhibiting outward reverence as a result.
JP, (since I gather you've
JP, (since I gather you've come looking for me), I've tried to figure out this discussion after some time away and busy, but admit that I don't see much of where to go with it. Given your dripping sarcasm in another (now closed) thread, I'm guessing that we don't drink coffee together well, and given that this is a cafe, perhaps the conversation simply stopped for that reason. I confess I liked you better when you were in a sweeter space and I don't really know what to do with you when it comes to jumping into the ring for a good sparring. Not so much my thing.
I think that it sounds to you like I also would sound to B16 as though we disagree, but I don't see any reason for your thoughts on that at all. B16 has always been described as a gracious man. It appears that he was advised to take a very hard line with some folks higher up the ladder than me by JPII, but that does seem to have settled down a bit and I am not aware of him ever reacting that way to those further down the ladder, such as myself. I have a hard time seeing a problem between him and me, just off the top of my head. I'm guessing we could drink coffee together and have a very lively and bright conversation. And, I can almost guarantee that he would enjoy himself...
Hello mlou! I think you've
Hello mlou! I think you've been a little hasty in a few of your comments. First, You write that the extraordinary form of the celebration of the ONE Roman Rite ("Latin mass") is "all about externals." Certainly some may approach it in this way, but that is the same with the ordinary form ("novus ordo") - I've known many who attend the novus ordo with only an external attention. Being a fan of both, I can tell you that neither excludes the possibility of interior participation. I point you to the biographies of the many, many saints and holy people that have drawn great spiritual benefit from the Mass before Vatican II.
Secondly, I think you make a false dichotomy between the external and the internal. You write that things such as "bowing during a portion of the creed" demonstrate an emphasis on externals. However, human beings are both soul AND body. What we do with our body is not separated from the state of our soul. Many early Christian errors (eg gnostics, manichees) held that view, because they were scandalized that God would actually "become flesh"(erroneously believing soul=good, body=bad). So, with the Resurrection in mind (the Gospels show this is bodily--even the wounds are present!), what we do with our bodies, etc. is important in worship. For example, to enter the church of the Nativity one must go through the "door of humility," which is too low to walk through. The bending down is an external action, surely, but as the name indicates, it should be echoed by an interior humility. Bowing during the creed is similar in this regard (since we bow during the part about the Incarnation!). I encourage you to investigate what positive truth these externals are designed to protect/encourage.
I agree that education is VERY important. If people do not know the meaning of the external actions, it is very possible for them not to make the interior connection.
Many of the Problems The
Many of the Problems The Pope has identified with a modern secular materialistic society are true. But the solutions that advocate returning to structures, rituals and symbols of the past that have lost their spiritual relevance in terms of "the living Spirit of God being within them" is not acceptable to those who are recognizing a revitalization of the truth of the Gospel as Jesus taught it, "The brotherhood and Sisterhood of ALL HUMANITY under the Fatherhood of God." Those in whom the "Spirit of God" resides will bring the evangelization that the Pope talks about and the revitalization of the “Spirit among us,” to God’s people of the world.
I think the following recognizes many of the problems the Pope mentioned, but it does not recommend a return to Orthdoxy as a solution but rather a return to “The Living Spirit of God” as taught to us By Jesus in his teachings and “The Way” he lived his life.
May God Bless us and Guide in our return to His “Living Word” (Jesus).
CHRISTIANITY'S PROBLEM
Do not overlook the value of your spiritual heritage, the river of truth running down through the centuries, even to the barren times of a materialistic and secular age. In all your worthy efforts to rid yourselves of the superstitious creeds of past ages, make sure that you hold fast the eternal truth. But be patient! when the present superstition revolt is over, the truths of Jesus' gospel will persist gloriously to illuminate a new and better way.
But paganized and socialized Christianity stands in need of new contact with the uncompromised teachings of Jesus; it languishes for lack of a new vision of the Master's life on earth. A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism. Earth is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.
The teachings of Jesus, even though greatly modified, survived the mystery cults of their birthtime, the ignorance and superstition of the dark ages, and are even now slowly triumphing over the materialism, mechanism, and secularism of the twentieth century. And such times of great testing and threatened defeat are always times of great revelation.
Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus' religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of humankind. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.
The modern age will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with facts and out of harmony with its highest conceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness. The hour is striking for a rediscovery of the true and original foundations of present-day distorted and compromised Christianity—the real life and teachings of Jesus.
Primitive man lived a life of superstitious bondage to religious fear. Modern, civilized humanity dreads the thought of falling under the dominance of strong religious convictions. Thinking humanity has always feared to be held by a religion. When a strong and moving religion threatens to dominate humanity, humanity invariably tries to rationalize, traditionalize, and institutionalize it, thereby hoping to gain control of it. By such procedure, even a revealed religion becomes human-made and human-dominated. Modern men and women of intelligence evade the religion of Jesus because of their fears of what it will do to them—and with them. And all such fears are well founded. The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that humans dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity.
Selfish men and women simply will not pay such a price for even the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered mortal humans. Only when humanity has become sufficiently disillusioned by the sorrowful disappointments attendant upon the foolish and deceptive pursuits of selfishness, and subsequent to the discovery of the barrenness of formalized religion, will humanity be disposed to turn wholeheartedly to the gospel of the kingdom, the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.
The world needs more firsthand religion. Even Christianity—the best of the religions of the twentieth century—is not only a religion about Jesus, but it is so largely one which humans experience secondhand. They take their religion wholly as handed down by their accepted religious teachers. What an awakening the world would experience if it could only see Jesus as he really lived on earth and know, firsthand, his life-giving teachings! Descriptive words of things beautiful cannot thrill like the sight thereof, neither can creedal words inspire human's souls like the experience of knowing the presence of God. But expectant faith will ever keep the hope-door of man's soul open for the entrance of the eternal spiritual realities of the divine values of the worlds beyond.
Christianity has dared to lower its ideals before the challenge of human greed, war-madness, and the lust for power; but the religion of Jesus stands as the unsullied and transcendent spiritual summons, calling to the best there is in humanity to rise above all these legacies of animal evolution and, by grace, attain the moral heights of true human destiny.
Christianity is threatened by slow death from formalism, overorganization, intellectualism, and other nonspiritual trends. The modern Christian church is not such a brotherhood and sisterhood of dynamic believers as Jesus commissioned continuously to effect the spiritual transformation of successive generations of mankind.
So-called Christianity has become a social and cultural movement as well as a religious belief and practice. The stream of modern Christianity drains many an ancient pagan swamp and many a barbarian morass; many olden cultural watersheds drain into this present-day cultural stream as well as the high Galilean tablelands which are supposed to be its exclusive source.
THE FUTURE
Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all humanity. It is futile to talk about a revival of primitive Christianity; you must go forward from where you find yourselves. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus' life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. And when Jesus becomes thus lifted up, he will draw all humanity to himself. Jesus' disciples should be more than conquerors, even overflowing sources of inspiration and enhanced living to all humanity. Religion is only an exalted humanism until it is made divine by the discovery of the reality of the presence of God in personal experience.
The beauty and sublimity, the humanity and divinity, the simplicity and uniqueness, of Jesus' life on earth present such a striking and appealing picture of humanity-saving and God-revealing that the theologians and philosophers of all time should be effectively restrained from daring to form creeds or create theological systems of spiritual bondage out of such a transcendental bestowal of God in the form of humankind. In Jesus the universe produced a mortal human in whom the spirit of love triumphed over the material handicaps of time and overcame the fact of physical origin.
Ever bear in mind—God and humanity need each other. They are mutually necessary to the full and final attainment of eternal personality experience in the divine destiny of universe finality.
" The kingdom of God is within you " was probably the greatest pronouncement Jesus ever made, next to the declaration that his Father is a living and loving spirit.
Peace and God's Love to ALL on this site. :-)
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
Joer~ There is much of value
Joer~ There is much of value in your statement. I would only question your contention that the regeneration must await leadership that is exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of humankind. I see your point that their followers in turn will be the temporal doers. Nevertheless, learning and teaching that is disassociated from the realities of existence and application is incomplete and ultimately prone to lose its direction or fossilation while reality moves on. The teachers must be of the land and walk the land and taste the fruit of its labour.
Your right, what the world
Your right, what the world needs now is Chirst.
The Holy Father is also right. What the world needs is Christ, which means Christ's Church, because the Church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23), which is united in one body as well as one spirit, with the same Lord and the same faith, and with the same baptism (Eph 4:4,5). This baptism is how one must become part of Christ's body (1 Cor 12:13), and it must be of water as well as of the Spirit (John 3:3).
It is through membership of this Church (through baptism) that we become united with Christ's sacrifice, the condition for our sharing in Christ’s life(Rom 6 2-11), which is the point of it all, really.
The Holy Father is calling us to the fervent practice of the one true faith of that One True Church, because it is not enough to cry "Lord, Lord" (Mat 7:21), we must also keep Christ's commandments (John 14:15), which include Christ's desire that we belong to the Church He built (Mat 16:18), and will remain with till the consummation of the world (Mat 28:20).
God Bless,
JP
Jude 12,13
Dear Mlou, When talking
Dear Mlou,
When talking about "externals" I believe Pope Benedict is addressing those who would simply donate money to charities or the Church, rather than "think and act" in a way that makes their activites oriented towards God. Do not do 'good' works for work's sake, but for the love of God. This is very much a call to internalized faith, as you mention Vatican II emphasizes.
You seem jealous of the role of priests. The role of priest in being Christ's vehicle for the offering of the sacrifice seems important, if for no other reason than Christ specifically told them to do it. The tradition of the Church was not overthrown in this with Vatican II. All the things you mentioned Pope Benedict calling for in the rubrics of the Mass seem important for the proper order therein, and respect to Christ. Most of them sound just like good customs present in the Church for thousands of years.
Particularly, I will just address your concern about being an observer. Isn't that right? I mean, shouldn't we "feel" like observers in part? In a way, we are all observers because it is Christ's sacrifice that saves us, not our sacrifice. The priest is just as much an observer as anyone because God sanctifies the gifts after his speaking, his speaking is not the cause of their sanctification. On the other hand, we are not simply observers because we all (including the priest) offer ourselves as sacrifices in union with Christ and eat His body and drink His blood.
I hope this helps. I simply mean to point out that the Holy Father's opinions on these issues seem to have good explanations, and one's in accordance with the tradition and teaching of the Church.
Spiritus Sapientiae nobiscum
- Eric Closs
I am sorry, but the pope
I am sorry, but the pope himself has put the focus on externals.......who gets to place the consecrated hosts into individual patens, the priest confined to the sanctuary during the handshake of peace, ONLY the priest or deacon going to the tabernacle, the priest having to hand the paten or chalice to the extraordinary ministers, the insistence that prayers be translated from Latin word for word instead of a translation that is born of the spirit of the prayer, bowing during a portion of the creed, allowing freer use of the Latin mass which is all about externals as no one can participate and bring their whole being to prayer because one is reduced to an observer. Vatican II has called this church INTERNALIZE our faith so that we can develop a Catholic identity that comes from the very essence of our being. Instead of moving forward and finding ways individual parishes can develop processes by which this can happen (such as figuring out how to practically use the RCIA process as a model for ALL of faith formation), the pope has chosen to fall back on ways to make us LOOK catholic instead of actually acting catholic. Religious formation/education is the elephant in the living room of our church......everybody knows it there, but no one wants to tackle it.
When we ponder the guidance
When we ponder the guidance of Pope Benedict XVI, it is easy to take issue with ideas that have not born fruit in our lives, and not look at the full picture of his heart. A convert since 1987, I have no experience with the Latin Mass except through choral music, and would find it hard to participate in the same way as in the vernacular. However, at the same time I hear the Pope describing the very things I do know - that God is love, that being made in the image of God, we are also made out of love. God wants to commune with us, Jesus commandment is to love one another. Jesus wants to make his home in our hearts (can you tell I've been reading John 15 a lot lately?). I see that same emphasis in Benedict's writings, and heard it in all of his talks last week. At the bottom of my faith is love, to be received from within the Church, to shared with others around me in the Church, to be brought to those in need outside the Church. This is what I believe the church teaches, and I hear the resonance of these truths in what he says and writes. Therefore I try not to judge other conclusions he comes to if I don't understand them. They are outside my bailiwick and I spend my efforts in trying to be open to God's love for me, and hope he uses me to bring his love to others. That is the core of my Catholic faith, and I see it in Pope Benedict as well.
Sue
A Catholic Convert who has found the treasure chest of the Catholic Church