The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church is the
Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently
Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to the original Christian
community founded by Jesus Christ and led by the Twelve Apostles, in
particular Saint Peter.
The Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church and the largest
organized body of any world religion. The majority of its membership is
in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
As the oldest branch of Christianity, the history of the Catholic Church
plays an integral part of the History of Christianity as a whole. Over
time, schisms have disrupted the unity of Christianity. The major
divisions occurred in 318 C.E. with Arianism, in 1054 with the East-West
Schism with the Eastern Orthodox Church and in 1517 with the Protestant
Reformation.
The Catholic Church has been the moving force in some of the major
events of world history including the evangelization of Europe and Latin
America, the spreading of literacy and the foundation of the
Universities, hospitals, monasticism, the development of Art, Music and
Architecture, the Inquisition, the Crusades, an analytical philosophical
method, and the downfall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late
twentieth century.
Origins
Catholic (katholikos in Greek) with a small c means universal or not narrow-minded, partial, or bigoted. General usage, both within and outside the Church, is that Catholic with a capital C
refers to that historical Christian church, continuous with the
Apostles and currently centered in Rome. Catholics claim to be founded
by Jesus the Christ and to be the authentic declaration of the good news
of Jesus Christ throughout the centuries.
The Church is composed of eight distinct rites or traditions with the
Pope as its leader. Each of these rites has its own set of customs,
laws, ways of worship, doctrinal emphases, languages, and communal
traditions. These are: the Armenian, Byzantine, Caldean (East Syrian),
Coptic, Ethiopian, Marionite, Roman (Latin), and West Syrian. In general
these reflect the Eastern Roman Empire which is composed of the rites
acknowledging the Pope in Rome and Christian churches who do not
acknowledge his full authority. The Roman or Latin Rite, which has its
origins in the Western Roman Empire, is by far the largest and most well
known of these traditions. Some mistake this Rite to be the only
representative of the Catholic Church. This mistake is made because of
its size and because it has the Bishop of Rome as both its Patriarch and
its Pope. The adjective “Catholic” began to be used in reference to the
Christian church by Ignatius of Antioch (second century). “Roman” was
added to “Catholic” by many Christians as a result of two serious
breaches of collegiality among the Christian Churches. The first breach
was in the eleventh century between Eastern (Orthodox) Christianity
centered in Constantinople and Western Christianity centered in Rome.
The second in the sixteenth century among Western Christians –
Protestant, mainly Northern Europe, and Catholic, Southern Europe. “Old”
Catholics is a title given to Roman Catholics who refused to recognize
the authority of the Council Vatican I (1870).
The Catholic Church is a currently a worldwide organization made up of
one Latin Rite and 22 Eastern Rite particular Churches, all of which
have the Holy See of Rome as their highest authority on earth. It is
divided into jurisdictional areas, usually on a territorial basis. The
standard territorial unit is called a diocese in the Latin Rite and an
eparchy in the Eastern Rites, each of which is headed by a bishop.
History
For the first 250 years it was a martyrs' church; the persecutions were
fueled by the refusal of Christians to worship the state and the Roman
emperor. There were persecutions under Nero, Domitian, Trajan and the
other Antonines, Maximin, Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian and Galerius;
Decius ordered the first official persecution in 250. In 313,
Constantine I and Licinius announced toleration of Christianity in the
Edict of Milan. In the East the church passed from persecution directly
to imperial control inaugurated by Constantine, enshrined later in
Justinian's laws. In the West the church remained independent because of
the weakness of the emperor and the well-established authority of the
bishop of Rome.
From the ninth century to 1520 the church was free for centuries from
grave interference from civil rulers. Charlemagne was the exception. In
the chaotic ninth and tenth centuries every part of the church
organization, including the papacy, came under attack from the secular
rulers.
The restoration of order began in monasteries; from Cluny a movement
spread to reform Christian life. This pattern of decline of religion
followed by reform is characteristic of the history of the Roman
Catholic Church; the reform goals have varied, but they have included
the revival of spiritual life in society and the monasteries, and the
elimination of politics from the bishops' sphere and venality from the
papal court. The next reform (eleventh century) was conducted by popes,
notably Saint Gregory VII and Urban II. Part of this movement was to
exclude civil rulers from making church appointments—the beginning of a
900-year battle between the church and the “Catholic princes.”
The twelfth century was a time of great intellectual beginnings. Saint
Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians revived practical mystical
prayer. Gratian founded the systematic study of the Canon Law, and
medieval civil law began its development. This double study was to
provide weapons to both sides in the duel between the extreme papal
claims of Innocent III and Innocent IV, and the antipapal theories of
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Also in the twelfth century, Peter
Abelard and other thinkers pioneered the rationalist theology.
From early rationalist theology and from the teachings of Aristotle
developed the philosophies and theologies of Saint Bonaventure and Saint
Thomas Aquinas. This was the work of the new thirteenth-century
universities; to them, and to the friars—the Dominicans and
Franciscans—who animated them, passed the intellectual leadership held
by the monasteries. Saint Dominic's order was formed to preach against
the Albigenses (a campaign that also produced the Inquisition). The vast
popular movement of Saint Francis of Assisi was a spontaneous reform
contemporary with the papal reform of the Fourth Lateran Council. The
thirteenth century saw also the flowering of Gothic architecture.
The contest between church and state continued, ruining the Hohenstaufen
dynasty and, in the contest between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of
France, bringing the papacy to near ruin. Then came the Avignon
residence—the so-called Babylonian captivity of the papacy (1309–1378), a
time of good church administration, but of excessive French influence
over papal policy. Except for isolated voices, such as that of Saint
Catherine of Siena, the church seemed to lose energy, and a long period
devoid of reform began. A long-enduring schism and a series of ambitious
councils followed.
There were popular religious movements, characterized by revivalism and a
tendency to minimize the sacraments (along with church authority); they
encouraged private piety, and one group produced the inspirational Imitation
ascribed to Thomas à Kempis. The popular tendencies were extreme in
John Wycliffe, who developed an antisacramental, predestinarian theology
emphasizing Bible study—a “protestant” movement 150 years before
Protestantism.
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation
The fifteenth-century councils did little for reform, and the popes,
stripped of power, were unable to cope with the Protestant revolt of
Martin Luther and John Calvin and the ensuing Protestant Reformation.
The Protestants aimed to restore primitive Christianity (as described in
the Bible), and they succeeded in weakening the hold of the church in
all of Northern Europe, in Great Britain, and in parts of Central Europe
and Switzerland. Politics and religion were completely intertwined (as
in England, Scotland, and France).
Pope Paul III initiated the Council of Trent (1545-1563), a commission
of cardinals tasked with institutional reform, and to address
contentious issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, indulgences, and
other financial abuses. The Council clearly rejected specific
Protestant positions and upheld the basic structure of the Medieval
Church, its sacramental system, religious orders, and doctrine. It
rejected all compromise with the Protestants, restating basic tenets of
the Catholic faith.
With the reign of Pope Paul IV (1555-1559), known for his resolute
determination to eliminate Protestantism and the ineffectual
institutional practices of the Church that contributed to its appeal,
came the Counter-Reformation. Two of his key strategies were the
Inquisition and censorship of prohibited books. The Papacy of Pius V
(1566-1572), represented a strong effort not only to crack down against
heretics and worldly abuses within the Church, but also to improve
popular piety in a determined effort to stem the appeal of
Protestantism. As pontiff he practiced the virtues of a monk and was
known for daily meditations on bent knees.
From this effort to stem the tide of Protestantism came new religious
orders. Orders such as the Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, the
Barnabites, and especially the Jesuits strengthened rural parishes,
improved popular piety, helped to curb corruption within the church, and
set examples that would be a strong impetus for Catholic renewal.
The Jesuits, founded by the Spanish nobleman and ex-soldier Ignatius of
Loyola (1491-1556), were the most effective of the new Catholic orders.
His Societas de Jesus was founded in 1534 and received papal authorization in 1540 under Paul III. Loyola's masterwork Spiritual Exercises
reflected the emphasis of handbooks characteristic of the earlier
generation of Catholic reformers before the Reformation. The efforts of
the Jesuits are largely credited with stemming Protestantism in Poland,
Bohemia, Hungary, southern Germany, France, and the Spanish Netherlands.
They also strongly participated in the expansion of the Church in Latin
America and Asia, conducting efforts in missionary activity that far
outpaced even the aggressive Protestantism of the Calvinists.
In France, Catholicism found new life, beginning with Saint Francis de
Sales and Saint Vincent de Paul. There, too, began the cult of the
Sacred Heart (i.e., God's love for men), which would affect Catholic
prayer everywhere. A contrary influence was Jansenism, an
antisacramental middle-class movement.
The Seventeenth through Nineteenth Centuries
The seventeenth century saw an increase of state control over the church
in all the Catholic countries, and in the eighteenth century the
Bourbons began a course openly aimed at eliminating the papacy. The
suppression of the Jesuits was part of the campaign, which reached a
climax in the legislation of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. The
revolutionary movement eventually destroyed the Catholic princes, and
the church had to live with secular states, some anti-Catholic, some
tolerant. The facts of the change were not clear at once, and for much
of the nineteenth century the popes (and other Catholics) would look
back to an idealized eighteenth-century golden age before “liberalistic”
atheism and materialism. The last of these popes was Pius IX, who was
forced to give up the Papal States. In denouncing the dogma of papal
infallibility Pius did much to cement church unity.
In Pius's successor, Leo XIII, the church found new leadership; he and
his successors worked and preached to urge Catholics to take part in
modern life as Catholics, abandoning reactionary dreams and seeking some
social reform. In some countries Catholic political parties were
formed. Meanwhile oppressive conditions and the development of a mass
socialist movement combined to detach much of the working class from the
church. Otto von Bismarck (in Germany and “liberal” governments (in
Italy, France, and Portugal) passed hostile measures, especially against
religious orders.
The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries
In the twentieth century the tensions between the church and national
governments sometimes led to outright suppression of the church, as in
the former Soviet Union and Communist Eastern Europe, Mexico, Spain, and
China. Mussolini and Hitler also ruined as much of the church as they
could. The 20th century was marked more noticeably, however, by new
trends in the practice and outlook of the church. The encyclical of Leo
XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891), was followed by the Quadrigesimo Anno (1931) of Pius XII, and the Mater et Magistra (1961) of John XXIII, the Progressio Populorum (1967) of Paul VI, and the Laborem Exercens (1981), Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987), and Centessimus Annus
(1991) of John Paul II. The purpose of these was to fundamentally
readjustment to the moral and social problems of modern life and a
greater stress upon the role of the laity in the church. Linked with
this was a movement for church “renewal” both by laity and the clergy.
This was particularly strong in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the
United States.
Another revival involved the restoration of relations between the Roman
Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and various Protestant
churches.
All of these “progressive” currents came together at the Second Vatican
Council (1962–65), which, under Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI,
initiated broad reforms in the areas of public worship, government, and
ecumenism. The long-reigning John Paul II made the church more
international and continued his predecessors ecumenical trends, but he
affirmed (as the popes preceding him did) the church's traditional
stands on marriage, abortion, homosexuality, and other doctrinal
matters, opposed relaxing the rule of celibacy, and reemphasized the
primacy of the Vatican in church government.
The church began the twenty-first century confronting a major crisis
concerning sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests and a
challenge by an archbishop to change their rules of celibacy for
priests.
In May 2001 the former Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, of Zambia (age 71),
was excommunicated when he married a Korean woman in a group wedding
conducted by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. After briefly leaving his wife
and returning to the Vatican, Archbishop Milingo returned to her in
2006 and started a group known as Married Priests Now!, which calls for
priests who are currently married, and all national and international
married priest organizations to unite in an open call to the Roman
Catholic Church to reconcile married priests to active service.
In 2002 multiple revelations that some bishops had allowed priests
accused of sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood and to continue to
perform their duties in situations where abuse could and sometimes did
recur sparked outrage in the United States; such cases were also not
reported to civil authorities. Various dioceses faced civil lawsuits and
criminal investigations, several bishops resigned after their
involvement in sexual relationships was revealed, and Bernard Cardinal
Law of Boston resigned because of criticism over his handling of sex
abuse charges. The issue led to a meeting between American cardinals and
the pope in Rome, and, after a meeting of American bishops and
discussions with the Vatican, to the establishment of new policies that
included barring a priest who has sexually abused a minor from any
ministerial role and that committed the hierarchy to alert legal
authorities to instances of abuse.
Authenticity
The history of Catholicism is the story of how Christianity began and
developed until the present day. That history is written using the
perspective of contemporary Catholicism to discern both authenticity and
the historical strands that sustain that authenticity.
The spokespersons for this authenticity are the pope and bishops. Their
most important statements are written in Latin. Not all statements have
the same authority of claim to such authenticity. The historical reality
is that those responsible for providing interpretation of the teachings
have developed methods for distinguishing the most authoritative
statements from the least authoritative. They have also developed
methods for indicating what is called a “hierarchy of truths” so people
know what are the most important doctrines.
The word Imprimatur (Let it be published) is found on materials
dealing with matters of faith and morals. It is usually found on the
first or second page of a book and indicates that the local bishop has
given his approval that there is nothing in this book that is against
what is stated as authoritative in matters of faith and morals for
Catholics. Other terms such as imprimi potest (able to be printed) and nihil obstat
(nothing hinders) may also be found. Again, indicating that there is
nothing against Catholic faith and morals in this material.
The principal sources of authentic Catholic doctrine are: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Code of Canon Law (Latin-English Edition), and The Rites of the Catholic Church.
As official documents they were originally written in Latin. Latin has
always been the official language of the Roman Catholic Church.
Originally it was the language of the Roman Empire but gradually, with
the advent of the various vernaculars, it became the official language
of the Catholic Church. Until the end of the 20th century all liturgical
celebrations such as Sunday Mass, Baptisms, and Marriages used Latin.
All clergy learned to read, speak, and write Latin as part of their
training. Today it is still used in official documents although the
majority of these were originally written in a modern language.
Today, these sources are the result of centuries of development updates
and have been adjusted to current circumstances by the authority of the
bishops and/or the pope. There are many other documents written by the
pope, individual bishops, bishops gathered together in synod, members of
the pope’s or a bishop’s curia.( A curia is a group of people who help a
pope or bishop govern the people he leads.) Each document has only the
authority given to it. For example the words of a pope in general audience, an encyclical, and a solemn pronouncement have different levels of authority.
Beliefs
Catholics believe that God shows us a common pattern of life that leads
to a better world. This revelation is found in its purest form in the
life, words and actions of Jesus who is both human and God. It may also
be found in the Christian Bible, which is the principle touchstone of
revelation after Jesus, as well as in the world around us and its
natural laws. Our individual and communal understanding of this
revelation is aided by the use of our minds, statements of the pope, the
bishops, the lives of holy people, and experts of various kinds. God is
one and therefore the truths about God should be one. The sources of
revelation, Bible and tradition, and the interpretations of this
revelation should agree in order to claim this is who God is and what
God wishes.
Catholics share the following with all Christians who accept the Creeds
of the early church: belief in the Trinity; in God as Creator of Heaven
and Earth; of Jesus as redeemer, messiah, savior, both human and divine;
of the Holy Spirit as God who loves us unconditionally; of Jesus as our
judge. They share with many Christians the belief that Mary, the mother
of Jesus, is also the mother of God and that Jesus was born through
virgin birth. They believe too that the Christian Bible is the central
book of faith and that the Church is the community of God’s people on
earth so much so that it may be called Jesus’ body (Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 10:17).
There are several beliefs which, while not necessarily unique to
Catholics, are identifying characteristics in the total pattern of the
Catholic way of life. These are: the Church as mediator, doctrines and
customs associated with Jesus’ mother Mary, purgatory, the presence of
Jesus in the bread and wine at the Eucharistic celebration
(transubstantiation), and the role of the pope.
The Church as Mediator
“Church” has five meanings: 1) a gathering of the baptized, 2) a
gathering of those of the local Catholic community, 3) all the baptized
throughout the world, 4) all the Catholics throughout the world, 5) the
building where Christians/Catholics gather for worship. When Catholics
say that the “Church” is the mediator between God and humanity they mean
that these gatherings of Catholics are the bridge between God and the
individuals in the church community as well as the church community and
others. Certainly Jesus is the mediator between us and his Father.
Indeed, with all Christians, Catholics say salvation comes to people
through the grace of God but they emphasize the principle role the
church plays in mediating that grace to people through the sacraments,
through the community, and through those who teach in succession to the
Apostles, the bishops – particularly the bishop of Rome, the Pope.
The saints, especially Mary, Jesus’ mother, play a role in placing us in
contact with God. Mary and the saints are all human but they are the
interlocutors between God and us, us and God. “The Communion of Saints”
is a phrase which refers to this type of mediation. Mary, as the mother
of God, plays a central role in this communion. Catholic churches, art,
hymns, poetry, and stories are filled with Mary acting to help the
others in this communion of saints – the church. Sometimes people
mistake this devotion to Mary as treating her as a God or a fourth
person in the Trinity. This is not so even though Catholic doctrine
affirms Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Assumption into heaven. The
dogma of Immaculate Conception says that Mary began her life as a human
without Original Sin and filled with God’s grace. Two theological
metaphors many times provide the substrate of further discussion of this
dogma: Original Sin as “stain,” and “grace” as an energizing fluid.
Sometimes this dogma is confused with the “Virgin Birth” which is the
belief that Jesus, not Mary, became human without a human father. The
doctrine of the Incarnation also refers to Jesus, not Mary.
Purgatory
The doctrine of purgatory states simply that when a person dies with an
imperfect relationship with God they are able to perfect that
relationship through a purification/betterment of their personality.
Usually this doctrine is presented within a pre-Copernican cosmology
which places heaven above, hell below, and purgatory in between. It is
also presented with the typical ancient Western philosophical
distinction between body and soul, along with the theological metaphor
of sin as a “stain” on this soul. Thus “purgatory” is a place where a
person’s soul goes after death to be cleansed of the stain of sin so
they can enjoy the “beatific vision” of God for all eternity in heaven.
Limbo
Aside from the doctrines of “heaven” and “hell,” which they share with
most Christians, and the doctrine of “purgatory” which they share with a
few, many Catholics still retain an affirmation of another after life
place, limbo, It is a place where the non-baptized dead can enjoy
eternal happiness without God. The famous theologian St. Augustine ( d.
430 ) started with the premise that only the baptized can get to heaven,
thus everyone else goes to hell. Other theologians had difficulty
seeing how a good God who intended salvation for all could send all the
non-baptized, including babies, to hell and developed the idea of limbo.
Today it is seldom invoked and is not found in the Catechism. A ritual
remnant of it may be found at times in Catholics baptizing a dead fetus
or new born so, according to their view, they would enter heaven.
Eucharist
All Christians gather on Sunday to read the scriptures, sing, pray,
reflect, eat and drink. Most Christians do all these things. Some only
eat and drink once a month. Some names they give to what they are doing
are: Worship, Lord’s Supper, Communion, Divine Liturgy, and Eucharist.
Catholics generally call it “Mass “or “Holy Mass.” The Catholic Mass is
divided into two parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the
Eucharist. In official documents the term Eucharistic Liturgy is used
instead of Mass.
The Catholic Catechism states that The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life (#1324) and The
Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion
in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the
Church is kept in being. (#1325).
The focus of the first part is upon the readings from the Bible which
are read according to a three year cycle. These readings are
supplemented with song, prayer, and a homily. A homily is a sermon
given, usually by the priest, reflecting and applying the readings to
contemporary life. Catholics believe that Jesus is present in these
readings. The readings from the Bible, usually called scriptures by
Catholics, are understood to be God speaking to the people and Jesus
“…present in his own word.” The focus in the second part, as a result of
several historical developments, is upon the bread and the wine and in
particular the bread. Catholics believe that Jesus is also present at
Mass in the bread and in the wine. “Christ is present whole and entire
in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in
such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.”
(#1377) Most Christians believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharistic
celebration in many ways. So do Catholics. (#1374)
Transubstantiation is a term that has come to distinguish how Catholics
understand Jesus’ unique presence in the Eucharistic species. Throughout
the centuries Catholic theologians have sought to understand the
reality this term suggests. That same reality is often misunderstood by
both Catholics and non Catholics. Transubstantiation summarizes where
the theologians and Church authorities were in this understanding in the
sixteenth century. Whether it conveys the same meaning today as it did
in past centuries is a matter of controversy. Part of this ancient way
of thinking made a distinction between “substance,” what makes a thing
to be what it is, and “accident” what provides the means through which
the five senses may engage substance such as weight, smell, taste, and
touch. Thus “trans” “substantiation” says that the substance of the
bread and the wine are replaced by the substance of Jesus in both the
bread and the wine while the accidents remain the same. It does not say
that Jesus’ body is in the bread without his blood; nor his blood in the
wine, without the body. Actually it’s saying that whatever makes Jesus
to be who he is (substance) is in both the bread and the wine. Not his
accidents. Remember too that the Jesus we are speaking about here is
Jesus as he lives now, not as he lived in Jerusalem. The bottom line,
without the philosophical language, is that Catholics point to the bread
and the wine and say “Jesus” is really there, “real presence,” as they
call it.
This belief in Jesus’ real presence had consequences in architecture,
devotion, sacramental practice, and ritual procedures during the Mass.
The belief says that Jesus is always in the bread and wine after certain
words, called the “Words of Consecration,” are said. This belief was
enhanced by certain cultural presuppositions that resulted in the
consequences mentioned above. These were the presuppositions of Jesus as
God, as King, and as principally present in the bread (host). These
enhancements within the Medieval culture resulted in deemphasizing his
humanity, brotherhood, service and his presence in the wine. Because
Jesus was God mere humans could not touch the Eucharist, only special
people such as the bishop or priest could do so after their hands were
anointed with oil and blessed. To chew the host would allow one to chew
God! Actually it became more important to see Jesus than to eat and
drink the bread and wine, thus the priest would lift the bread and wine
for all to see after the words of Consecration. Because Jesus was King
his subjects should acknowledge his kingship as they did a human king by
genuflections and other forms of kneeling. Because Jesus was in the
host it should be available at all times for people to pray to him, see
him, sing to him, acknowledge his Lordship and Kingship by long hours of
adoration. Ceremonies such as 40 hours devotion, Benediction, prayers
after and during Mass, and infrequent reception of Communion all
resulted from this Medieval view of real presence so that when Popes in
the twentieth century began to re-emphasize other things about the
Eucharistic celebration such as its being a meal where people eat and
drink, it took almost one hundred years for people to eat and drink at
Mass. Even still few Catholics drink the wine at Mass.
Papal Primacy and Infallibility
The role of the bishop of Rome, the pope, has always been a matter of
controversy in the Christian Church. Because both Saint Peter and Saint
Paul were martyred in Rome, the Christian community in Rome was
acknowledged by all Christians to have central importance in the Church.
The Bishop of Rome was the successor to both these Apostles. The Bishop
of Rome was, at least originally, also the Bishop of the Christian
church in the most important city in the Roman Empire. Consequently he
was important among the Christian community of Churches as well as
politically as a spokesperson for Christianity at the center of
political power. That, you might say, is how it all began in the first
century: a small group of persecuted Christians gathered around their
leader, the Bishop of Rome. Approximately nineteen hundred years later
the Bishop of Rome is head of Vatican City and head of a church with
over a billion members. The controversy is greatly influenced by
cultural circumstances such as when there were multiple popes and when
many of them lived scandalous lives. In the context of the 20th century
two celebrity popes, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, put a warm,
human, devout face on the papacy which strengthened their role, given by
the media, as principle spokesperson of Christianity. While many
non-Catholics remember the popes of the Middle Ages, contemporary
Catholics remember the engaging spiritual countenance of popes projected
around the world by television.
There are many religious terms used to describe this role but two
non-religious terms highlight the uniqueness of the papacy vis a vis
other Christian churches: primacy and infallibility. Papal Primacy means
that in addition to his moral leadership the pope has the coercive
authority to rule the church. Papal Infallibility means that the pope’s
statements, under certain conditions, do not contain error. Catholic
doctrine also recognizes that the Church itself and all the bishops,
including the Bishop of Rome, are infallible. Yet, it is the
infallibility of the pope that has gained the most attention since
Vatican Council I (1870). Primacy is authority: “Do this; don’t do
that.” Infallibility is a truth claim: “Jesus is human.”
The Second Council of Lyons (1274) says it best “The holy Roman Church
possesses the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal
Catholic Church which it recognizes in truth and humility to have
received with fullness of power from the Lord himself in the person of
Blessed Peter…” The Bishop of the Rome, therefore, possesses this
jurisdictional power. Many Christian Churches recognize that the Bishop
of Rome has the primacy of honor. No one recognizes it has
jurisdictional authority. How this fits into the ancient views of the
communion and collegiality of churches throughout the world is a
constant source of friction within the Catholic Church as evidenced in
its history and most recently at Vatican Council II (1962-65). Part of
the friction, too, is caused by a type of ersatz Papal Primacy and
Infallibility in which every word and action of the pope is seen to be
that of God.
The doctrine of Papal Infallibility is often misunderstood because of
this ersatz Papal infallibility. Only God is totally immune from error.
Church documents are very clear about what Papal Infallibility is while
many clerics and people are not. Here is what Vatican I (1870) declared
regarding Papal Infallibility in the conclusion of the fourth chapter of
its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Pastor Aeternus: We teach and define that it is a dogma Divinely revealed that the Roman pontiff when he speaks ex cathedra,
that is when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all
Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a
doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church,
by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed
of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that his
Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals,
and that therefore such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of
themselves and not from the consent of the Church irreformable. So then,
should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this
definition of ours: let him be anathema. (Denziger §1839). Note that
infallibility is not defined but rather that the Pope has the
infallibility that the Church has. Note too the conditions of ex cathedra
(from the See): He speaks as head of the Church and invokes full
authority. He speaks on faith or morals. He speaks to all believers.
Infallibility does not mean that the pope is sinless, that the pope is
omniscient, that the pope gets special revelations from God, or that he
alone possesses infallibility. Actually the ability to exercise papal
infallibility pertains to the office, not the person. If the person who
is bishop of Rome resigns being that bishop, he can not longer make an
infallible declaration.
Celebrations
Sundays are important to Roman Catholicism. Easter Sunday has always
been of central importance in celebrating Jesus’ resurrection to new
life after being crucified on Friday. Every Sunday of the year is a
celebratory remembrance of his death and resurrection. The term “Paschal
(Easter) Mystery” refers to this life-death event that Catholics’
believe they participate in together with Jesus. Pentecost, fifty days
after Easter, celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit among the first
Christians and the beginning of the Church. Christmas has gradually
grown as an important day of celebration over the centuries although for
Eastern Rite Catholics Epiphany (January 6) is still more important
than Christmas. The times of fast such as Advent, before Christmas, and
Lent, before Easter are times set aside for interior spiritual renewal.
There are other important “feast,” or celebratory, days called Holy Days of Obligation.
These are days particular to each nation which are set aside for
Eucharistic celebrations to commemorate significant saints or events in
the Church’s life such as the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Our Lady of
Guadalupe, All Saints and All Souls days. Catholics have a “liturgical
calendar” which marks the “liturgical year.” “Liturgy” being the times
of Eucharistic celebration and what person or event is important to
remember on that day.
These celebrations are composed of rituals that have developed over the
last two thousand years. The most important ones, for example, Holy Week
(the week before Easter) retains customs and ways of acting from the
earliest centuries of the Church. Although the Roman Church abandoned
Latin as the universal language for its Roman Rite celebrations after
1970, that language is gradually seeping back into all its major
celebrations. Roman Catholicism shares, with all Christians, the use of
ancient Hebrew by proclaiming Amen or Alleluias, ancient Greek by using
the title Christ(os) for Jesus, ancient Latin by speaking of the Seven
Sacraments (sacramenta). The celebrations of any community retain the
old while acknowledging the newness of the present. Catholicism is no
different.
Sacraments
Today seven particular celebrations are of importance to all Catholics.
These are the seven sacraments. What they mean and how they are
celebrated today is the result of a long history of development. Today
there are seven sacraments titled: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist,
Reconciliation/Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Marriage.
Sacraments of Initiation
The first three Sacraments are generally titled The Sacraments of Christian Initiation
because they provide a person’s full entry into communion with the
Catholic community. The appropriate time for the celebration of Baptism
is at the Easter Vigil Mass. Generally it is celebrated within Sunday
Mass. A person’s age is not a restriction for baptism. Anyone may be
baptized. If one is baptized as an infant one is required to become
educated in the Catholic faith; if as an adult, one participates in a
long process called The Christian Initiation of Adults. Catholics
usually pour water over the person’s head or, less seldom, immerse the
person in the water. Although there are many prayers said in the total
celebration there is always included in some way “I baptize you in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Catholics
believe that as a result of the baptismal celebration (sacrament) the
individual is forgiven all their sins, born into a new life which
includes their being adopted by God the Father as a daughter or son of
the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. “By this
very fact the person baptized is incorporated in the Church, the body
of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ.” (Catechism
#1279).
The ritual of Confirmation was always included with baptism in the early
Church and still is today among Catholics of the Eastern Rites. Roman
Rite Catholics separated the ritual of anointing from baptism early on
in its history and reserved that anointing to the bishop. Today
Catholics of the Latin rite are Confirmed by the local Bishop or his
delegate usually around the time of Pentecost in a ceremony which always
includes the laying of his hand on the person’s head and anointing that
person with blessed oil saying “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy
Spirit.” (Catechism #1300). Many Roman Rite Infants are also receiving
Confirmation with Baptism. Eastern Catholics, usually anointing an
infant, anoint forehead, eyes, nose, ears, lips, hand, and feet saying
“The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Confirmation emphasizes and
deepens one’s life in the Holy Spirit as it completes Baptism.
(Catechism #1316)
Catholics believe that God is present in and acts through these
sacramental celebrations. As a consequence of God’s action the
sacramental celebration changes things. We have already seen this in
talking about transubstantiation. The term “Sacramental Character”
(Greek: karakter, distinctive mark) is used to indicate that change in
the person in three sacraments. The person has been changed by God. Thus
there is no need to be re-Baptized or Confirmed again. Another
sacrament, mentioned below, that has a Sacramental Character is Holy
Orders.
The Eucharistic celebration is the final sacrament for those initiated
into the Catholic church. At the same time it is a celebration that
occurs every day and especially on Sunday. Every Sunday is a time for
gathering and celebrating for Catholics in the Eucharistic celebration.
Recently, however, in the industrialized West, for example the United
States, some Catholics have a Communion Service where there is a liturgy
of the Word and a service of communion but no Eucharistic liturgy. The
reason is that only Priests may lead the Eucharistic liturgy and say the
Words of Consecration. Because of a shortage of priests there are fewer
Masses or Eucharistic celebrations.
Where there are Eucharistic celebrations they are composed, as already
mentioned, of the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic Liturgy. The
Jewish roots of the Eucharistic celebration are still evident today in
both the Liturgy of the Word using the general outline of ancient
synagogue gatherings and the Eucharistic liturgy using the Jewish
prayers of thanksgiving and praise (eucharistia in Greek) said by the
head of the household at meals and at the Passover meal over the bread
and the wine. The Holy Scriptures are the focus of the Liturgy of the
Word; the bread and wine prayed over, eaten, and drunk are essential to
the Liturgy of Eucharist.
Except where there is a dense clerical gathering most Catholic Masses
will have many ordinary Catholics helping celebrate it. The priest is
evident since he presides over the entire celebration from a special
chair in the front of the assembled people and is vested, or dressed,
differently than everyone else. Many others are present to help
celebrate the Mass: the deacon and altar servers are also dressed
differently, as is the choir sometimes. Of course there are the vast
majority of Catholics who form the main body of celebrants. But there
are also many “ministers” who greet you at the door, take up the
collection, sing in the choir, direct the choir, help at the altar
table, read the holy scriptures, and distribute communion. The bread is
usually not leavened and the wine is in one or several chalices.
Communion is the sharing of the bread and the wine by individual
celebrants by forming a line so each receive a “host” (piece of bread)
in their hand or placed on their tongue and offered the wine to drink
from one of the chalices. Upon doing so they return to their seat.
Catholics are asked to fast for one hour from solid food before
receiving communion. For the most part all Catholics in good standing go
to communion. This is a dramatic shift from the centuries old practice
of not receiving that resulted from the, then, emphasis upon the
Eucharistic celebration as sacrifice and producer of Jesus’ real
presence in the bread. Since the early part of the twentieth century
popes and then the bishops, by mid century, were emphasizing the many
presences of Jesus at Mass as well as the memorial prayer of
thanksgiving-praise (Eucharist) at the meal-sacrifice which necessitated
the completion of the meal by eating the bread and drinking the wine.
Because of the many practical abuses consequent upon the Medieval
concept of the Mass as sacrifice, the Protestant reformers refused to
consider the sacrificial nature of the Eucharistic celebration. A
reconsideration of the early church’s view of the Eucharistic
celebration as memorial has enabled many theologians of the original
Protestant Churches and contemporary Catholics to join with the New
Testament and early Church in recognizing the sacrificial nature of the
Mass. Catholics believe that when they gather in Jesus’ name to remember
what he has done he is really present. He is present as the one who
sacrificed himself for all on the cross. It is this sacrificed Jesus,
now resurrected, who celebrates with them at every Mass. (Catechism
1407-1410). Joined with this resurrected Jesus in memory, Eucharistic
prayer, and eating and drinking the Catholic believes there is a deep
communion between the individual celebrating the Mass with Jesus and
with all other Christians present and not present. Resulting from the
Mass is a deep communion of the baptized (saints) throughout time
enabling them to petition God for help in every day matters, as well as
for forgiveness of sin, as well as for a deeper unity among them in
every day ecclesial affairs. The hope is that from this communion the
Kingdom will come in which all will be able to enjoy the presence of
Jesus “face to face” as Paul says.
Sacraments of Healing
Both the Kingdom of God and Salvation are for real people: body, soul,
spirit. In a like manner “healing” is always wholistic: to “heal” body
is to heal soul and spirit; to heal soul and spirit is to heal the body.
Reconciliation emphasizes the spirit; Anointing of the Sick, the body.
The principle celebration of reconciliation with the community and God
through forgiveness of sins in the Catholic church is called Confession,
Penance, and/or Reconciliation. Each title emphasizing one aspect of
this sacrament: the confessing of sins, the making up (satisfaction) for
the sins committed (penance), the deepening of one’s life with God as a
consequence of abandoning a life of sin (reconciliation). The
twenty-first century witnesses several modes of celebrating this
sacrament. Each of these necessitates the same elements of: sorrow for
sin, asking for forgiveness, promising not to sin again, making up for
the consequences of one’s sins, telling one’s sins to a representative
of God and the Church (the priest), and a prayer of forgiveness. The
manner of celebration may be individual, where the penitent comes into a
special room and, in a counseling atmosphere, reviews one’s life with
God and desire for conversion into a deeper life with God. The priest
helps the person look more deeply into her or his life and offers means
to do so which includes a penance for past sins along with a prayer of
forgiveness. Sometimes the older, more secretive mode, of individual
confession occurs where one enters into the narrow confines of a closet
like structure, kneels, and, through a screen like window, tells the
priest one’s sins, is given a penance, and is absolved of one’s sins. A
communal form of penance is celebrated in may Catholic churches. One
form is where through scripture readings, prayer, song, sermon, and
examination of conscience one is invited to reflect on a sinful life. At
the end of the ceremony you are invited to meet individually with a
priest for absolution, the forgiveness of sins. There is also a form of
communal celebration of reconciliation with general confession (one does
not declare their individual sins aloud) and general absolution. This
is usually had in a situation where it is impossible for all these
people to go to an individual priest. (Catechism # 1480-1484)
As a result of these various types of celebration Catholics believe
their sins are forgiven, God enters more deeply into their lives, their
life is renewed to begin again the struggle to build the Kingdom and
enter more deeply into God’s life.
Anointing of the Sick is celebrated sometimes individually with
only a few people and at other times with a large number of people,
usually in a church or hospital chapel. It is to ask God to heal, to
provide energy and strength in the midst of illness, to forgive sins of
the one anointed. It is done by the priest laying hands and, usually,
anointing the head of the sick person. In large gatherings there are
readings of scripture, song, homilies, and prayers that provide a
context for the laying on of hands and anointing. For the last half of
the second millennium this sacrament was called Extreme Unction
because, over time, it became reserved for those near death, thus,
“extreme,” or last; “unction,” or anointing. Vatican Council II returned
to the more traditional, and scriptural, emphasis upon healing the
sick. Often, when it was called Extreme Unction, it was mistaken as the
Last Rite for Catholics near death. The last rite, celebration, or
sacrament, is Eucharist, usually titled Viaticum when received near death in memory of Jesus’ statement in Saint John’s gospel …Who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. (Jn 6:54). The Last Rites are: Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, and Viaticum.
Sacraments of Service to Community
The means through which a man becomes a deacon, priest, or bishop in the
Roman Catholic Church is ordination. It is the means through which the
person enters into the Holy Order of deacons, priests, bishops.
An “order,” from the times of the Roman Empire, is a group of people so
designated for governing the people. The fullness of the Sacrament is
found in the bishop and secondarily in the priest or presbyter. The
deacon’s role is to help them and the people they serve. The bishop is
to serve the people of the local church and, in union with the other
bishops, the entire church. The bishop is responsible for both local and
universal church but primarily for the local church which
responsibility of service he shares with priests and deacons. The priest
is the co-worker with the bishop in the service of the sacraments,
teaching, bringing the people together in and for peace and justice.
Priests and Deacons in the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic church are
to remain celibate throughout their lifetime of service. Deacons may be
married. In the Eastern rites of the Roman Catholic Church priests may
be married but the bishop may not be. Sometimes priests from other
Christian churches become Roman Catholic. These priests many times are
married and, while still married, function as priests in the Latin Rite
Churches of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church recognizes that when a man and women marry
each other in the presence of a priest they are married forever. They
are bound to be community to each other. This marriage, in which each
partner is a minister of the marriage to the other, is a reflection of
God’s covenant love to each of them and to the world. In their own way
this is joining in the Order of the married (Catechism #1631) For those
who are physically able marriage is understood to be the foundation of
family life and the natural place for the procreation and raising of
children. The intricacy of Marriage law in the church is such that it is
best to consult a Canon Lawyer as to whether, in a troubled
relationship, counseling, civil divorce, ecclesial dispensation, or
declarations of invalidity are necessary regarding that relationship. In
the end each marriage is unique as the reflection of God’s covenant
love that they embody.
Other types of Celebrations
Because God is found in all of nature and all living things there are
special times, ritual words and actions that bridge this presence of God
and humans, especially Catholics, who participate in them. Because of
this, bells are anointed, animals blessed, prayers said before meals,
sports events, and public meetings. All of these occasions, and many
more, the Catholic church calls sacramentals because, as in the original
Greek which the Latin word sacramentum imitates, mysterion, God
evidences the depth and mystery of his love and plan for us through all
things and people. Catholic life is full of these sacramentals and some
find the uniqueness of this Church in its rosaries, holy cards, novenas,
healing shrines, manifestations of Mary, and so much more.
Moral Life
The living of a moral life in imitation of Jesus and in struggling to
bring about the Kingdom of God is a challenge for every Christian. The
Catholic shares with all Christians in this imitation and struggle.
Together with every Christian, the Catholic follows the public norms
evident in the beatitudes, the command to love everyone, the natural and
Christian virtues, and the twofold commandment to love set forth in the
Ten Commandments. (Catechism #1697) The Catholic shares with every
Christian the more personal challenge of shaping a unique spirituality
to discover, enliven, and challenge his or her call to build the Kingdom
of God in imitation of Jesus.
The way, or pattern of life, which is contemporary Catholicism evidences
its two thousand history in all its manifestations but especially in
its ways of discerning how to live a moral life. This discernment
depends not only upon a sensitive reading of the Christian scriptures
but also attendance to the human sciences as well as the individual
needs of its members. The Catholic church has been slow in recognizing
the importance and usefulness of the social sciences but it has a long
history of engagement with various philosophies, especially those of
ancient Rome and Greece. The results of this engagement influenced
authoritative proclamations on marriage, procreation, war, the end and
beginning of human life, and civil and workers’ rights. It starts with
the presupposition that there are moral laws able to be derived from the
use of reason that are applicable to all humans everywhere, at all
times. These moral laws, if broken, will cause the disintegration of
self and society. While most Catholic theologians saw significant
weaknesses in natural law theory from the mid-twentieth century onward,
it was only from the late twentieth century onward that the authorities
in the Church began to see the necessity of using more biblical based
arguments for discerning human morality.
However another typical Catholic part of the pattern enters into this
picture of describing Catholic morality through authoritative eyes: the
difficulty of admitting the evolution and or change of Catholic moral
law, doctrine, or sacramental thought and celebration. In this instance
many of the distinctive Catholic moral stances originally were founded
on natural law theory. Once stated, however, they obtain a life of their
own and become binding upon Catholics everywhere because of natural law
theory. This is true without considering whether these binding
statements are infallible or even if a pope can make infallible
statements about moral actions.
Another unique part of the Catholic moral stance is its continual
attention to individual moral actions and case theory. Until the middle
of the twentieth century most authoritative Catholic moral statements
were developed with the sacrament of penance in mind. Penitents were to
tell the priest what sins they committed and how many. The priest would
attempt, when necessary, to understand what circumstances surrounded the
commitment of these sins so as to ascertain the penitent’s penance for
them. Catholic moral theology developed around case studies: individual
actions with specific intentions done under certain circumstances that
broke divine or natural law. These actions were then judged by the
priest as venial, mortal or no sin at all. This juridical nature of
Catholic moral theology shaped both the theory and practice of Catholic
moral life and authoritative decisions about it.
It is out of this mixture of divine and natural law used to judge
individual actions that theologians argued about what should be done by
Catholics and bishops and popes declared what was to be done. What
follows suggests some of those decisions which make Catholic moral
living unique within the general Christian mandate to love one another.
We will concentrate on the three: Social Justice, Sex, and Life issues.
Social Justice
The work for peace and justice has become, from the official
perspective, an identifying characteristic of Roman Catholicism. In
particular the positions associated with the call for social justice are
seen as essential to living a Catholic’s baptismal pledge to follow
Jesus. From the end of the 19th century onward the Catholic Church began
to wrestle with the real human problems consequent upon modern
economics and globalization. The Catholic Catechism takes up some of
these issues in its consideration of the seventh commandment, “Thou
shall not steal.” It does so using all the tools tradition provides. The
results of this work challenge how individuals and nations do business.
It begins with certain presuppositions that contrast with many
contemporary ideologies. Two of which are: that everything on this earth
is destined for the good of all and that the human person is primarily
social. This “common good,” should norm our relationships with each
other and our communities.
Four themes provide a brief review of this essential characteristic of contemporary Catholicism.
1. A Catholic is one who works for justice. Action on behalf of justice
and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us
as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or - in
other words - of the church’s mission for the redemption of the human
race and its liberation from every oppressive situation. This means
that, from the Catholic perspective, acting justly and acting to insure
just societal structures is necessary for the Catholic Church to fulfill
its destiny.
2. Our Individual Humanity is Dependent upon Our Relationship with Each
Other The documents affirm and argue that one is fully human only in
community. People are able to enjoy full humanity only when they are
committed to bringing about a just society. As the U.S. bishops state:
“How we organize our society - in economics and politics, in law and
policy - directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals
to grow in community.” This commitment of society to each individual is
expressed in the “rights” language of the U.S. bishops already quoted
and in the charter document of modern Catholic thought The Church in the Modern World (1965): Let
everyone consider it his sacred obligation to count social necessities
among the primary duties of modern man and to pay heed to them. [What
are these necessities?] … food, clothing, and shelter, the right to
choose a state of life freely and to found a family; the right to
education, to employment, to a good activity in accord with the upright
norm of one’s own conscience, to protection of privacy and to rightfully
freedom in matters religious too.
Such a recognition of rights leads to a corresponding social
responsibility of guaranteeing these rights to everyone. The economic
consequences of this logic are clear: if everyone has a primary right to
the earth’s goods and riches for their survival, then private ownership
is never an end in itself. Private ownership, while strongly defended
by the bishops, is understood to be a means to the better stewardship of
such goods, their development and distribution. Ownership and use are
subordinate to the prior right to the earth’s goods for the fulfillment
of everyone’s basic needs. This principle is a challenge to the
foundation of economic liberalism and to current practices of
international trade.
3. People Are More Important Than Things The relationship of the economy
and the free market is dealt with in the context of the communal nature
of human beings. The bishops’ position is that the economy is for
humanity not humans for the economy: Every economic decision and
institution must be judged in light of whether it protects or undermines
the dignity of the human person. For instance, the bishops of South America state: A
business, in an authentically human economy, does not identify itself
with the owners of capital because it is fundamentally a community of
persons and a unit of work which is in need of capital to produce goods.
A person or a group of persons cannot be the property of an individual,
of a society, or of the state.
Workers must become the responsible subjects or masters of their
activity. They should never be equated to a tool of production or to so
much mechanical or marketable energy. Work is human as the worker is
human. The rights of workers have priority over the maximization of
profits, over growth of capital or the introduction of new technology to
that end. Individuals, groups and citizenry must retain some real and
reasonable control over the socio-economic order. It is to favor such
freedom and responsibility that the Canadian bishops have encouraged
worker-participation in management, shared ownership, profit-sharing,
cooperatives of all kinds, and small to medium enterprises.
4. The Poor Are The Most Important People Decisions must be judged in
light of what they do for the poor, what they do to the poor, and what
they enable the poor to do for themselves. The fundamental moral
criterion for all economic decisions, policies, and institutions is
this: They must be at the service of all people, especially the poor.
Although the cry for social justice is rooted in ancient philosophies
and modern economics it was planted in the Catholic culture by the
prophets of the Hebrew scriptures and Jesus who said we would be judged
by how we treated the homeless, hungry, thirsty, and those in jail. How
Catholics hear that cry in first world countries will determine the fate
of both the Catholic Church and the economically well off.
Sexual Morality
The development of Catholic understanding of sexual morals is dependent
upon natural law theory especially its understanding of the universality
of such a law and its view of an end or purpose of marriage being
reproduction. Natural law would say that organs of the body have certain
ends. For example, the eye’s end is to see. One treats the eye
appropriately by making sure it can see. Human reproductive organs’ end
is to produce babies. One should do all they can to guarantee this end
is fulfilled. The current declarations, against artificial birth
control, homosexual marriage, masturbation, and premarital intercourse
as inherently evil and personally sinful result from these centuries of
development. It should be mentioned that current Catholic thought does
not see the only end of marriage as having children but also admits
other ends such as love.
Beginning and End of Life Issues
These issues are usually summarized in discussions surrounding abortion,
euthanasia, stem cell research, war, and capital punishment. In the
United States the controversial nature of these stances about moral evil
usually divide into two slogans: Right to Life, dealing with abortion, and Seamless Garment, demanding equal emphasis upon abortion, euthanasia, and the social justice issues.
The official Catholic position is both clear and nuanced. To
deliberately, consciously, and directly kill a human is intrinsically
evil and a sin. Such killing is discussed under the Fifth Commandment,
“You shall not kill,” in the Catholic Catechism. Hidden within such a
clear statement about killing are discussions about what is a human,
when does a human exist or cease to exist, and what does it mean to
deliberately, consciously, and directly kill someone? These discussions,
as mentioned above, take place within a two thousand year discussion
about birth, death, consciousness, free will, and the biology of humans.
They will continue over the next thousands of years.
At present the official Catholic position is that doing certain things
may be immoral - For example, killing an innocent child or an innocent
dying adult. Your level of responsibility for doing that wrong is
dependent upon many things. For example, your car’s brakes were
defective because of the weather and you ran over a child in the street;
you were drinking and ran over the child; you were trying to avoid
killing a squirrel and lost control of your car and hit the child.
Circumstances modify human responsibility for an action. What you intend
to do may also influence your responsibility for the action. The famous
distinction between killing and letting die is one of these
distinctions, as well as that between ordinary and extraordinary means
of sustaining life. Nuance in morality is as important as nuance in
life; it may be the difference between prison and/or sin.
Official Catholic policy, for example, supports hospice in its purpose
of making the last moments of a person as physically, mentally, and
spiritually comfortable. It does so because it does not advocate using
every means possible to sustain life. But should the killing of another
result in your own death, capitol punishment, or in the death of many
others, war? These two moral dilemmas have undergone, and are
undergoing, significant modifications in contemporary Catholicism.
Perhaps the following quote from the Catholic Catechism summarizes best
the current state of affairs: If bloodless means are sufficient to
defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and
the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such
means because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the
common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human
person. (#2267)
The Catholic response to contemporary life reflects its struggle to
adhere to the gospel of Jesus as it has been preached through the
centuries. It shares with many people of good will and many Christians
the general principles of compassion for one’s neighbor necessary to
live in a global environment, while supporting specific means to bring
these principles into action. It is the support of these means that
provide the identity of the Roman Catholic Church today.
Thy Kingdom Come on Earth
Historians of the early Catholic church say that the room to house goods
gathered for the poor many times was larger than the church itself. The
origins of hospitals, education, and service to the needy are found in
the churches and orders of religious men and women who tended to those
in need. Only recently, in the historical scale of things, has service
to the needy separated out from its religious origins. The Catholic
church in many countries, but especially in the United States, supports
large networks of care for the needy. The Catholic Church in the United
States supports one of the largest health care networks, educational
systems, and the charity services in the country. It must be remembered,
however, that all of these networks, systems, and services are not
coordinated but rather each is part of a diocese or order of religious
men and women. What is important, however, is the fact that the Catholic
church, as every Christian church, is not only concerned with God’s
will and truth but also in God’s command to help those in need. A
substantial part of every Catholic church’s budget goes to helping those
in need as well as striving to bring peace and justice to our world.
Spiritualities
The index of the Catholic Catechism has no references to spirituality.
Yet over seven thousand offers are made on Amazon.com and over five
thousand books on the Barnes and Noble website. The world and its
billion Catholics obviously are seeking something beyond what the
Catechism offers. At the same time the Roman Catholic church is rich
with thousands of years of exploring and developing spiritualities. Most
of the current spiritualities, while aware of the wonders of the past,
are revealing new ways of encountering God, living the life of the
Spirit, and advancing the Kingdom of God on earth.
Toward the end of the 20th century numerous factors intersected
resulting in the burgeoning spiritualities’ movement among Catholics.
Catholics involved in contemporary movements such as Charismatic
renewal, the retreat movement, the House of Prayer movement, Cursillo,
Marriage Encounter, Renew, and Peace and Justice, found that they were
experiencing something their Religious Education did not prepare them
for. At the same time theological education began to emphasize the role
of experience in contemporary theological methods. When Catholics looked
to the myriad Catholic spiritualities available to them, none met their
needs. While aware of what the spiritualities suggested for dealing
with religious experience, they tested new methods for how to live these
new found experiences in the present. Meanwhile the entire Western
Culture seemed to become involved in what was titled spirituality.
The result was that “Spirituality” is used in so many ways in
contemporary speech that it is difficult to give it a precise meaning or
get a general sense of where it is going. In general Catholics would
agree with Elizabeth Dreyer’s description of Christian spirituality as …
the daily, communal, lived expression of one’s ultimate beliefs
characterized by openness to the self-transcending love of god, self,
neighbor, and the world through Jesus Christ and in the Power of the
Spirit.
Catholic spiritualities
A few tested Catholic practices have proven beneficial to the
development of these new spiritualities: The discernment of spirits, A
spiritual director, sensitivity to types of spirituality, and modes of
spiritual development.
The discernment of spirits is a method offered by many traditional
spiritualities. The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
(1491-1556) is one of the most prevalent today. Generally it occurs over
a thirty day period with the aid of a spiritual director enabling one
to discover how to live their life in the light of Gospel values. All
traditional spiritualities have means of discerning spirits.
The practice of spiritual direction by one learned and experienced in
the ways of the Spirit goes back to the first centuries of the Church’s
existence. Most spiritual directors in modern society would be practiced
in mental health counseling as well as in the discernment of spirits.
One meets regularly with one’s spiritual director. By discussing one’s
prayer and life experiences one comes to a mutual understanding of their
meaning and the direction they indicate one should take in leading
one’s life.
Two important types of spirituality are the ktaphatic and the apophatic.
A katephatic spirituality will provide the means of discerning God’s
presence in all created things; whereas apophatic spirituality attempts
to transcend creation to discover God in the silence of God’s total
otherness. Most traditional spiritualities were apophatic, oriented to
monks and nuns, leading one out of the ordinary and everydayness of life
to find God in the extraordinary. Most new spiritualities are
katephatic, engaged in the everydayness of life’s experience enabling
one to find God in the ordinary. Realistically speaking no one develops a
totally kataphatic or apophatic spirituality. Since we are a mixture of
body, mind, and spirit our spiritual life is our body, our mind, and
our spirit life.
This mixture may be described as a wholistic approach to spiritual life.
Most traditional spiritualities divided spiritual development into
three stages: purgation, illumination, and perfection. Purgation is
getting rid of sins and replacing them with virtues. Illumination is our
getting to know God and God’s will for us. Perfection is getting to
know God in a very personal way as one whose warm and loving presence we
sense at special moments in life and many times for very long periods
of our life. It is close to, if not identical with, a mystical
experience. The Dark Night of the Soul, is a negative experience
for those in the illuminative or perfect stage. It is the experience of
the total absence of God’s presence and a sense that all one is doing is
useless. Many contemporary spiritualities begin with a positive
experience of God in nature, in a person, and/or some action. Out of
this positive experience one realizes the God one wishes to be with and
the distance one needs to travel to be with that God. Out of this total
experience one seeks spiritual direction and begins the road to God and
God’s Kingdom.
Choices for the Future
In a church with a two thousand year history, a discovery of past
traditions for future development is both necessary and challenging.
Necessary because of the claim of continuity of that pattern of
religious life called Catholicism; challenging, because individuals and
groups may discover false historical claims as well as basis for new
historical claims. The Liturgical Movement which developed during
the late nineteenth century gave birth to the liturgical reforms of the
twentieth century, looked to the first thousand years of tradition to
support significant changes in the way Catholics celebrated the
sacraments and the Mass. Catholic women look to the New Testament, the
first two hundred years of the church, and the Middle Ages, to present a
challenging picture of Christian equality, jurisdictional power of
Abbesses, and diaconal service of women to demand changes in the role of
women in the Catholic church. Histories of contraception, usury,
ensoulment, and pacifism remind Church authorities that the moral law
has undergone significant changes over the years. Even the evolution of
ecclesial authority and its exercise by pope and bishops provides many
new avenues of choice for the future development of the Catholic church.
Various dialogues among theologians from Protestant and Catholic
churches, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic church, Jews and Catholics, and
Muslims and Catholics have found a great deal of agreement upon
doctrines and practices which were once the cause of bloodshed among
these communities.