2000 Conference Speaker's Texts
Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ "Friends of God, and Prophets: Toward Inclusive Community"
Anthony T. Padovano "Ambiguous Victories"
George "Tink" Tinker "Dreaming a New Dream: Cowboys, Indians, Global Violence and the Gospel"
Sr. Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike "How Effective is the Prophetic Role of the Catholic Church in Kenya?"
Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, ocd "A Call to Action: Towards an Inclusive Community"
Mary Ann Mueninghoff, CTA Board President "Sunday morning talk at CTA 2000 National Conference"
Friends of God, and Prophets: Toward Inclusive Community
By Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ
Presented at Call to Action 2000
National Conference, Milwaukee WI
Introduction
Good morning ... Thanks to the planners of this Call to Action meeting for inviting me to speak with you in plenary session this morning. It is a real honor.
Call to Action is a reform movement in the church. Like any genuine reform movement, it is a work of the Spirit freely moving in peoples' hearts. This is to say it is a charism or gift, not initiated or mandated by those in church office. Theology has always pointed out that these two elements of the church exist in some tension, though both are the work of the Spirit. The role of office is to teach, rule, and sanctify, thus assuring right order. The role of charism, freely given in unpredictable ways by the Spirit, is to break through routine, apathy, and even corruption with a renewed sense of the gospel for different times and places. This impulse has historically led to the rise of religious orders, new forms of spirituality, and movements for reform, among other events. To use Hildegard of Bingen's image, these help to keep the sap flowing strong and green in the branches, refreshing the institutional church grown gray with bureaucracy, meanness, or fear.
Call to Action is a charism, a gift in the church. Carrying out its mission on various fronts - peace, justice, and the integrity of creation, transformation of ministries, inclusion and dignity for all peoples - is a concrete way of bringing forward the love sown in the world through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the dramatic words of Edward Schillebeeckx, "The living community is the only real reliquary of Jesus."1 In the community of the church the future of what Jesus started is being lived out. But Jesus left no exact blueprint. Empowered by the Spirit we follow Jesus not by slavish imitation but by discerning how the truth of his compassionate, gracious message and presence can best be embodied in new situations. "By following Jesus, taking our bearings from him and allowing ourselves to be inspired by his Spirit, by sharing in his experience of God and his selfless care for the 'least of these,' and thus entrusting our own destiny to God, we allow the history of Jesus, the Living One, to continue in history as a piece of living christology, the work of the Spirit in the world."2
I start this address with these two theological points - the church as the community of disciples following Jesus Christ and the inevitable tension between charism and office, in order to position us on the religious core from which our actions spring. At the dawn of this third millennium, the world as a whole is still torn with injustice of all kinds, with exploitation of the poor, with racism and sexism, with terrible hunger, and the temptation to solve everything by violence. Despite the leaven of the gospel, God's will is not yet done on earth as it is in heaven, neither in society nor the church. In the midst of this suffering, the more deeply rooted we are in the religious reality of the Christian vocation, then the more watered our spirits will be, the more wisely we can critically and self-critically discern the way forward, and the less likely we will be to burn out. Indeed, the theme of this whole meeting, "Friends of God and Prophets: Toward Inclusive Community," is designed to give us food for the journey of reform. Let us think, then, about what it means to be church in the power of the Spirit. I would like to zero in on this reality using the familiar symbol of the communion of saints.
In the third article of the Apostles Creed, we confess that we believe "in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen." Just imagine this communion of saints: down through the centuries, as the Holy Spirit graces person after person, in land after land, they form together a grand company of redeemed sinners. This community stretches backward and forward in time and encircles the globe in space, crossing boundaries of language, culture, race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and all other human differences, stretching into eternity.
If the term 'communion of saints' seems a little overly familiar and lacking power to awaken the impulse to reform, we can find the same truth in different language in the biblical book of Wisdom. Describing the work of the Spirit, this time in female imagery, the text reads:
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
from generation to generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets. (Wis 7:27)
Friends of God: to be a friend means to be freely joined in a mutual relationship marked by deep affection, joy, trust, and support in adversity; knowing and letting oneself be known in an intimacy that flows into common activities; as in Abraham, "friend of God"(Jas 2:23); as in Jesus' pledge, "No longer do I call you servants, but ... friends" (Jn 15:15). Prophets: to be a prophet means to be called to comfort and to criticize in God's name because, being a friend, your heart loves what God loves, namely this world, and you want it to flourish. When harm comes to what you love, prophets speak truth to power about injustice, thus creating possibilities of resistance and resurrection. Holy Wisdom keeps on weaving together a circle of companions who are friends of God and prophets.3
Let us explore this reality in three all too brief points: 1) the living community alive today as sacred; 2) the connection of this community with persons who have died; and 3) the inclusion of even the natural world in this holy community.
The Living Community Today: A Holy People of God
In light of historic neglect, we need to be clear: both in scripture and in theology, the communion of saints refers first and foremost to those who are alive on earth rather than to those who have died. Happily, God's blessings are not limited to the church. Within human cultures everywhere God's Holy Spirit calls persons to seek truth, and live in love and justice with others, so that "friends of God and prophets" can be found in every tongue and nation, even, anonymously, among religion's cultured despisers. We gather as Christians, though, and so we concentrate our reflections on how holiness marks our own community.
A rich vein of understanding opens up when we see how deeply the notion of the living community being a holy one is rooted in Jewish tradition. After liberating the Hebrew people from slavery and gathering them into a covenant relationship, God who alone is holy shares this sacredness with the community: "For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy" (Lev 11:45). The result is that they now belong to God as a consecrated community. Let me underscore a key point: this holiness is not primarily an ethical matter, being holy as being innocent of sin or morally perfect or engaged in pious practices or something earned by one's own merits. Rather, it is a consecration of the very being of this people due to God's free initiative. They participate in God's own holiness, a deep identity that flows out into responsibility to bear witness in the world, in accord with the loving kindness and faithfulness of God that now marks their own being.
Although not a people in the same sense that the Jewish people are, early Christians draw upon this biblical theme of being a holy people to articulate their own sense of identity newly formed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Inspired by their experience of the common waters of baptism and a shared eucharistic meal, they come to realize that the power of the Spirit was forming them into a consecrated community of disciples with responsibility to bear good news into the world. As with the Jews, their community's center of gravity is not located in itself but is a divine gift and claim: God calls them to share in a holy life together. And as in the Jewish tradition, the holiness of baptized persons is not simply an ethical matter, being holy as being morally correct. Rather, it is participating in the very life of God through Jesus Christ.
New Testament writers express this sense of the community's holiness by calling everyone "saints" (hagioi). Over sixty times the term "saints" points to the community as a whole: "To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints"(Rom 1:7); "To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi" (Phil 1:1) ; "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to all of you who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints " (1Cor 1:2); "All the saints greet you" (2Cor 13:13). All together and without discrimination, Christians gathered here or gathered there are a community of saints.
This point is highlighted by the Pentecost story. Paintings usually depict only 13 people present when the Holy Spirit descended, namely, the 12 apostles with Mary in their midst. But Luke tells us in Acts that the group numbered about 120 people, and included Jesus' women disciples and some of his family members. Then: "tongues as of fire rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak ..." (Acts 2:3-4). Here is the nucleus of the church, each woman and man filled with the Spirit as a member of the community.
This point is also highlighted by key thinkers in our tradition. Listen to the voice of the North African bishop Augustine, who preached to the assembled congregation: God is at work among you as if you were an orchard of trees, causing growth, producing buds, putting strength in your branches, clothing you with leaves, and loading you with fruit. And then, referring to the consecrated bread and wine they were soon to receive, he radically notes: "If you receive them well, you are yourselves what you receive."4 Together, all together, you are the body of Christ, sent to seek the lost, preach good news to the poor, set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Too often theology has squeezed this inclusive meaning of the holy community dry, eliminating most baptized persons from sainthood in favor of a small group of elite office-holders or canonized saints. But denying baptismal holiness woefully shortchanges the gift of God, whose gracious mercy in Christ calls, blesses, and sends us forth as a community of friends and prophets for the sake of the world in need.
Vatican II made a remarkable rediscovery of this subversive truth with its teaching on "the call of the whole church to holiness" (Lumen Gentium, Ch. 5). Through baptism persons are put right with God in Christ; receiving the Spirit, they become sharers in the divine nature. "In this way they are really made holy." (#40). This same holiness, furthermore, is essentially the same for everyone. There is not one type of holiness for lay persons and another for those in religious life or ordained ministry. There is not one kind of indwelling of the Spirit for office-holders in the church and another for unnoticed, faithful members. Rather, "in the various types and duties of life, one and the same holiness is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God." (#41). In other words, the church is not divided into saints and non-saints. Vivified by grace, every woman, man, and child, in whatever diverse circumstances and of whatever race, class, ethnicity, sexual persuasion, or any other marker that divides human beings, participates in God's holy life as the source of our compassion in and for the world. [Hello - saints!]
If this be the case, then the symbol of the communion of saints emerges with a luminous prophetic edge. It challenges lay persons to reclaim their extraordinary status. Too often people say "I'm no saint" but in truth, you are. The holiness of ordinary persons in the midst of ordinary time needs to be ever more strongly taught and celebrated if people are not to be robbed of their true baptismal identity. If the community shares in the one and the same holiness of God, this spiritual equality also pushes the question of political and structural equality in the church institution to the fore.
It is especially important to press this point with regard to women, who have long been denied equality with men in access to sacred times, places, actions, and even identity. Whether it be theories like Augustine's, who claimed a man taken alone was fully in the image of God, but a woman was fully in the image of God only when taken together with man who is her head; or philosophies like Aquinas' which argued that women are misbegotten males with weak minds and defective wills; or current official statements in the ordination debate, still not retracted, that locate the image of Christ in the male body rather than in the whole person being made christomorphic by entering into the dying and rising of Christ - women have been consistently robbed of our full dignity as friends of God and prophets. Nevertheless, women have persisted with bold mettle, touched with the grace of the Spirit, bequeathing life and goodness to the world, usually under the title of "anonymous." A theology of the communion of saints rooted in scripture and baptism reclaims these human persons: women from our own families and women of different races, classes, and ethnic cultures; women who bear and give birth and do the cooking and cleaning that makes life itself possible; women who ponder and pray, heal, protect, teach, and guide; women who exercise their wits in a patriarchal world; marginalized and silenced women; raped and brutalized women; caring and ministering women; strong and vibrant and artistic women; sexually active women; dreaming, shouting, scared, or defiant women; setting-out-not-knowing-where-they-are-going women; all holy women of the world. All are friends of God and prophets through the grace of Holy Wisdom.
A classic incident in American feminism occurred when Gloria Steinem, youthful feminist leader and editor of Ms. magazine, reached a significant birthday. In surprise, a reporter objected, "But you don't look forty." Her retort was, "This is what forty looks like"- perfect for its assumption of authority and rejection of stereotyping. Similarly, women friends of God and prophets in the communion of saints today must simply declare of themselves, "This is what Christ looks like," affirming in this way their deepest baptismal identity and resisting its denial until the heart of officialdom be converted.
From generation to generation the great Spirit of God, Holy Wisdom herself, passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets. We who are alive today are bearers of this holiness, connected to each other around the world in all our differences in order to participate in Christ's great work of redemption.
We push this idea further when we ponder the fact that we do not live forever. At some point, having made our own contribution, we pass through the shattering of death into the life-giving hands of God, to be followed by the fresh young faces of a new generation of saints. What then? What about all those who have lived and died before us?
Cloud of Witnesses through Time
Christians cling to the hope that not even death "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:39). Hence, the community of friends of God and prophets stretches to include even those who have died. But how to understand this in a contemporary secular and scientific culture, where we have to honestly admit that death truly ends life as we know it, and no one knows what happens next - the future is empirically unknown? While writing a book on the communion of saints, I wrestled with this question in an unexpectedly fierce way. I tried to make different philosophical systems work to assure personal life after death, but none of them would go the distance. And so I humbly offer you the conclusion I came to as a theological conviction: since the darkness of death is unconquerable, the only way to resolve the issue of the fate of the dead is not with rational argument but with an act of radical faith in God. Can God be trusted to come through in the face of death? For the Christian community, the bedrock of this faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This cruel death was a real death; it violently tore apart his whole life, no piece of him slipping through its mesh. In face of this destruction, the Easter message proclaims that the crucified one dies not into nothingness but into the absolute mystery of the glory of God. Starting with Mary Magdalene, the disciples announce Vivit: the godforsaken one lives forever with God as pledge of the future of all the dead. How to understand this as an affirmation of God? By connecting resurrection with creation.
There is a surprisingly strong correlation between the Spirit of God who raises Jesus to new life and the action of the same Creator Spirit bringing the world into being. In both cases one begins with virtually nothing: no world, no future for a dead person. Then the vivifying breath of the Spirit who creates the world "in the beginning" moves again and, in an act of new creation, keeping faith with the beloved creature, carries the crucified one through perishing into new life. Our creeds trace this logic, starting with belief in God who makes heaven and earth, and ending with belief in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Hope in eternal life for oneself and others is not some curiosity tacked on as an appendage to faith but is faith in the living God brought to its radical depth. It is faith in God that does not stop halfway but follows the road consistently to the end, trusting that the God of the beginning is also the God of the end, who utters the same word in each case: let there be life.
Based on the character of God, then, there is reason to hope that persons are not lost in death but are enfolded into the mystery of the gracious being of God which to us is darkness but to them is the fulfillment of their lives in the sphere of the Spirit. All the biblical images of light, banquet, harvest, rest, singing, homecoming, reunion, tears wiped away, seeing face to face, and knowing as we are known point to a deep, living communion in God's own life. Thus the loving, faithful character of God is the foundation for including the dead in the communion of saints. They die not into nothingness but "into the embrace of God." In the end there is God or there is nothing.
The company of saints in heaven beggars description. While a few are remembered by name, millions upon anonymous millions of others are also included, people who made their own contribution to the goodness in the world. Among these saints are also those untimely dead, killed in godforsaken incidents of terror, war, and mass death. Among these saints are also numbered some whom we know personally. To say of all these people that they form with us the company of the redeemed is to dare to hope in God.
When we alive today seek to relate to this great multitude, two possibilities lie open. In one, which I call the patronage model, these persons stand between us and God, offering help. In its extreme form, this model imagines God to be like a powerful king ruling in splendor. Being far from the distant throne, we little people need saints as intercessors who will take our case and obtain spiritual and material favors that would otherwise not be forthcoming. We have friends in high places, so to speak. This patron-client relationship is not found in the New Testament nor in the early Christian centuries. It developed in the late Roman empire under the influence of the civil patronage system once the church had been officially established.
A more ancient pattern of relationship can be discerned in biblical and early Christian texts, one which I call the companionship model. Rather than standing between us and God, those in heaven stand with us in the one Spirit-filled community. Rather than the main action being prayers of petition from a client to a patron, although that is certainly possible, we remember them in such a way that their memory energizes our own action. Perhaps the finest example of the companionship model can be found in the New Testament's letter to the "Hebrews." Here there is an extraordinary roll call of Jewish ancestors, each of whom responded with faith to the challenge of their lives: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, the parents of Moses, Rahab, David, along with myriads of others who both acted and suffered in the name of God. The dramatic highpoint is reached when the author writes: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith ..." (Heb 12:1-2). The image here is of a stadium packed with a crowd of people, each of whom had once run in the race, now cheering for those on the tarmac. Here the faithful dead are not proposed as the objects of a cult nor even as exemplars to be imitated, but as a throng of faithful people whose journey inspires us today. Their struggles and ultimate victory awaken hope that we too might win the race.
In the age of the martyrs, this mutual, collegial relationship between the living and the dead came to new expression as the community drew strength from those who had given their very lives. As Augustine preached: If you think you can't do what they did, just remember they lived by the grace of God, and "the fountain is still flowing, it hasn't dried up" (Sermon 315). Indeed, we have it a little easier, thanks to them: "by passing along the narrow road they widened it .. they made our path smoother" (S. 306c). People who lived before us had no idea that one day there would be a community in this place, a church of the future praising God: "they weren't yet able to see it; yet they were already constructing it out of their own lives" (S. 306c). Their adventure of faith opened a way for us, and now we go ahead of others in an ongoing river of companions seeking God. And when our own journey grows hard, we can draw strength from the memory of our forebears' sufferings and victories: "How can the way be rough when it has been smoothed by the feet of so many walking ahead of us?" (S. 306). Their lives leave us "lessons of encouragement" (S. 273) from which we draw strength to witness in our own lives.
In this companionship model, the communion of saints is practiced as a disciplined way of remembering that connects us together across time and empowers our own struggles for justice, peace, and wholeness of life. At root this works because of the power of critical memory. Tyrants have long known that to reduce a whole group to servitude, keeping them quietly in bondage, they must take away the memory of the peoples' heritage, ancestors, and traditions; destruction of memory is a typical maneuver of totalitarian rule. Only official history is allowed, and this tells the story of those who have triumphed and conquered while the story of the defeated ones is repressed. Poet Adrienne Rich notes that it is nothing new to say that history is an account of events told by the conqueror: "Even the dominators acknowledge this. What has more feelingly and pragmatically been said by people of color, by white women, by lesbians and gay men, by people with roots in the industrial or rural working class is that without our history we are unable to imagine a future because we are deprived of the precious resource of knowing where we come from: the valor and waverings, the visions and defeats of those who went before us."5 By contrast, personal and community identity is formed when suppressed memory is aroused. Witness the fact that every rebellion is fed by the subversive power of remembered sufferings and freedoms.
The communion of saints reveals its prophetic edge again when we exercise it by remembering our ancestors in the faith in this critical way. This is not a nostalgic, sentimental kind of memory, or one that glosses over scars and defeats. Rather, it summons the dead into our company precisely by telling the story of their struggles, unfulfilled hopes, and their victories over oppressive forces. By so doing it breaks through our own apathy or despair and opens up new possibilities. Joannes Baptist Metz calls this a "dangerous" memory precisely because it shakes up the status quo. "Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'; and she told them that he had said these things to her" (Jn 20:18); or "Mary McLeod Bethune, with $1.50 and a prayer, started a school for girls in Daytona" - these are memories with the seed of the future in them. The memory of the struggles, defeats, and victories of those who have gone before us is a critical, liberating force that galvanizes our response toward justice and peace. Across the generations we become partners in hope.
But here one more problem needs to be flagged. Those who have had the power of shaping public memory in the church have mostly been an elite group of men. The process of canonization, requiring large investments of time and money, virtually ensures that lay persons and poor persons will be largely excluded. Furthermore, the list of official saints has come to mirror the face of the bureaucracy that created it, being largely clerical, celibate, aristocratic, European, and male, except for groups of martyrs. The position of women in the public memory of the church as a result of canonization is particularly troubling. A simple head count shows that 75% of the persons on the current roster of canonized saints are men, if Mary be counted once. Three fourths of saints days on the liturgical calendar honor men. Does this mean that men are holier than women? Of course not. But it does highlight who has the power of naming in the church. Least represented among these saints are married women who remained so for their lives (i.e., did not become nuns), reflecting the assessment that to be female is a handicap but to be a sexually active woman renders one almost incapable of embodying the sacred (the few exceptions are queens). As a result, the history of women's holiness has been largely erased from the collective memory of the church.
Even when they are remembered, the lives of exemplary women are narrated so as to emphasize the patriarchal ideal of the "good" woman: stereotypical feminine virtues such as obedience and submission, sexual purity, and acceptance of suffering overshadow the history of real women's raw struggle in the Spirit. The result is a meager feast for our souls. Most women today do not find inspiration for their lives in the traditional lives of the saints, which they dismiss as narratives of fading power. For the memory of the saints to function in a liberating way for women and the whole church, deliberate attention must be paid to this history of neglect. We must read the whole host of neglected foremothers and foresisters, this lost heritage of holy lives, onto the list as equal partners in the company of God's friends and prophets.
To sum up: the communion of saints embraces even the dead, thanks to the faithful character of God. Critical memory of their stories sparks our own creative witness: one fire kindles another. Together we are partners in memory and hope.
The Whole Community of Life
On the face of it, the communion of saints seems to be thoroughly focused on the human community, living and dead. However, the same Spirit of God who makes holy the people is also the Creator Spirit, Lord and giver of life throughout all creation. From the perspective of God, it is not possible to divorce the natural world from the holy community of life. In Latin the term for communion of saints is communio sanctorum, which has a double meaning: either the community of holy people (sancti), or the community of holy things (sancta). When the early church used the term communio sanctorum in relation to things, they were referring to the eucharistic bread and cup of salvation, gifts of the earth that sacramentally made Christ present and so made the people holy. Throughout our tradition theology has played with both the human and the non-human meanings: holy people and holy things in mutual interchange.
We live in a time when healing the ever-more damaged Earth requires as a moral imperative that we treat it as sacred creation with its own intrinsic rather than instrumental value. Now the elusive quality of the 'communion of saints' original meaning is a happy circumstance, for it makes room to include the Earth. At its best, sacramental theology has always understood that things in the natural world - bread, wine, water, oil, and sexual intercourse - when taken into the narrative of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, become avenues of God's healing grace. Now, in the time of earth's agony, the inclusive community must be pushed to its widest meaning to include the gifts of land, air, water, and the myriad creatures that share the planet with human beings in interwoven ecosystems: our brothers and sisters, as St. Francis of Assisi called them. The primordial sacrament is the earth itself. An inclusive community of God's friends and prophets reveals its prophetic edge as its cosmic dimension calls forth an ecological ethic of restraint of human greed and promotion of care for the earth.
Conclusion
To recap: Under outstretched wings of Holy Wisdom, the Spirit of God, all people of God are connected in an inclusive community of friends of God and prophets: different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, women with men, the poor and marginalized with the powerful, all of those living with the dead and the yet to be born, in a circle around the eucharistic table, the body of Christ, which encompasses the earth itself. At this moment in time, in this broken but beautiful world, we are the ones who bear the flame of remembrance and hope. We conclude these reflections on the communion of saints with the voice of New Zealand novelist Keri Hulme, who writes in her book The Bone People: "They were nothing more than people, by themselves. Even paired, any pairing, they would have been nothing more than people by themselves. But all together, they have become the heart and muscles and mind of something perilous and new, something strange and growing and great. Together, all together, they are the instruments of change."6
Go for it, Call to Action!
Notes
1. Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord (New York: Seabury / Crossroad, 1980), 641.
2. Ibid., emended.
3. See Elizabeth A. Johnson, Friends of God and Prophets: A Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints (New York: Continuum, 1998).
4. Augustine, Sermons, 10 Vols., trans. Edmund Hill (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1990-95), Sermon 227.1.
5. Adrienne Rich, "Resisting Amnesia: History and Personal Life," in Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Poems 1979-1985 (New York: Norton, 1986), 141.
6. Keri Hulme, The Bone People (New York: Penguin Books, 1983), 4.
By Anthony T. Padovano
Presented at Call to Action 2000 National
Conference, Milwaukee WI
Introduction
In the last five hundred years there have been three massive efforts to reform the Catholic Church. The Church is always in need of reform.
These efforts succeeded, I believe, but on a schedule no one preferred and with suffering no one wanted.
Some might question whether the reforms succeeded. The successes were ambiguous.
Indeed, ambiguous successes may be the most enduring.
Reformation
The first of these reforms was the Reformation. In a sense, it is the most comprehensive reform ever attempted in Catholic Church history. Its sweep, in retrospect, was breath-taking. There will be nothing like it until the Second Vatican Council some five centuries later. This Council, however, will complete the Reformation rather than starting out in an equally radical path. In actual fact, the reformations of the last five hundred years seek to reverse the medievalism put in place during the past five hundred years of this millennium. This medievalism gave us a Church of law and authoritarianism, of feudal obligations (such as celibacy) and of imperial prohibitions (such as the denial of divorce).
In the first five hundred years of the millennium a Church of external structures and canons was put in place. Not only this, of course, but it was a Church preoccupied with power and empire. The second five hundred years were a search for interiority, a yearning for God in the depths of the soul rather than in the alignment of the self with the institution. Not only this, of course. But the anxiety of the first five hundred years was for justification in terms of the Church. In the second five hundred years it was for justification in terms of God. The first five hundred years were less lonely but also less free.
Let us, however, return to our initial point.
The Reformation was formed in the cauldron of Martin Luther’s agitation for God and on the anvil of substantial failure in papal leadership of the Church. It is difficult for us to realize how little spirituality mattered to the papacy of the first five hundred years of the millennium and of how much the raw politics of military alliance, money and monarchs dominated papal thinking. Luther’s Reformation will impose on the papacy a need for, at the very least, the appearance of a spiritual papacy.
Luther’s anxieties had less to do with reform of the Church than with finding God’s approval and the serenity of soul that would follow from that. In this, he was a thoroughly modern person at odds with a fundamentally medieval Church. God meant more to Luther than his own suffering, more than the Church itself.
Luther, of course, did not go about his task blamelessly. Nor did Rome. There is no need here for the simplicities of saints and villains.
The Reformers, including not only Luther but Calvin and Zwingli and a host of others, believed that God would be more accessible if the Church were less intrusive. This too is a modern theme. Eventually, however, the Reformers created intrusive churches of their own and literal readings of the Bible which made it a paper pope.
Yet the Reformation was a singular grace for Christianity although people of the time demonized it, just as John Paul II demonizes present-day reformers. Like all grace the Reformation coexisted with sin and, like all grace, it brought suffering to those it saved.
Reformations are driven less by choice than it seems. Circumstances demand a reformation and enlist frequently unwilling participants. Had it not been Martin Luther it would have been someone else. But it could no longer be nobody. The distortions in the Church were too twisted for the Spirit to breathe freely through them. The Church was suffocating for lack of life.
Those who reject reformers mistakenly believe that a few people are responsible. They assume that the following a reformer gathers, is due to the reformer’s charism alone and to the pleasure-hungry and ignorant masses. When reformations enlist overwhelming numbers and employ convincing theology and create, in effect, an alternative Church, these reformations are guided by destiny rather than misguided by dissenters. When the official Church resists them, it loses.
The Reformation was successful because it targeted the right issues: God over Church, Gospel over law, pastoral care over papal control, grace over sacraments, faith over works. It failed at those points where it became an alternative infallibility and when it began to demonize: papacy and tradition, celibacy and good deeds, sacraments and structure.
The road to reform, then, was arduous and ambiguous. It gave us a divided Church with all the acrimony and lost life divisions frequently bring with them. It is not easy to be inclusive.
Granting the scandalous and corrupt failure of papal leadership in the two centuries preceding the Reformation, granting the greed of the Avignon papacy and the deadly sins of popes fighting each other for legitimacy, granting the lust of the Renaissance papacy and the deceit of popes who made not only women but the Church itself their concubine, granting all this, the Church of Christ was weary and angry, longing for purity, starved for the Gospel, spiritually malnourished, ecclesiastically abused.
Looking back five hundred years one is astonished at the blindness of Rome’s unwillingness to accommodate some of Luther’s reforms. Erasmus had it right at the time when he wrote in praise of folly. Barbara Tuchman has it right now when she calls it a march of folly.
In 1520, merely three years into the Reformation, Philip Melanethon, Luther’s close colleague, signaled Rome that reconciliation was possible if Rome would agree to two reforms, both of them canonized in the New Testament: a married priesthood and communion for the laity in bread and wine. A celibate clergy and communion in bread alone were seen as papal intrusions into the intimate life and sacramental rights of God‚s People. Luther wanted no new Church and said explicitly that he would never become a Lutheran.
Had the papacy responded favorably, half a millennium of division and bloodshed would have been avoided. Perhaps the most grievous wound the Church sustained in all its history was self-inflicted. Five hundred years after Luther the Church would praise married priests of the Eastern Church, multiply exceptions to mandatory celibacy in the Western Church and invite the laity at communion to take and drink as well as to take and eat.
Some ten years after the 1520 overture, Melancthon, still a Catholic, drew up the Augsburg Confession. The Confession became the organizing charter for the Lutheran Church. Recently, on the occasion of the second millennium, Rome formally accepted the Augsburg Confession. Had an enlightened pope done so in 1530, the Church would have been spared centuries of agony.
Once again, as late as 1541, four years before the Council of Trent opened, the reformers sought reconciliation. This time the stakes were higher but nothing of biblical or even traditional substance was at issue. The reformers made four proposals: a married priesthood; communion in both forms; an affirmation of real Eucharistic presence but without the language of transubstantiation; and papal primacy without universal jurisdiction.
Rome could have accepted the first three readily. Transubstantiation was a term coined for the first time just a few centuries earlier. The Council of Trent had not yet been summoned and so transubstantiation did not have the strong conciliar endorsement it received there. Papal primacy was also ready for reform. Just a century before, the Council of Constance had called for ecumenical councils every twenty-five years, as a way of balancing that primacy.
Rome, however, gave not an inch. Soon it was too late. By 1545, a Council is convened at Trent, without Luther. He had appealed for the pope time and again to call a council and invite the Reformers. Luther died two months after Trent assembled.
Modernism
The medieval papacy preserved by the Council of Trent was on a collision course with the modern era. It was grieved by the Enlightenment and the scientific method, by Galileo and democracy, by the American and French Revolutions and by almost all the fundamental freedoms which define modern life.
Let us begin this reflection with Gregory XVI (1831-1846) the last pope to preside over the Papal States for his entire term of office. He was chosen after a long, fifty-day conclave because of his deep suspicions about the contemporary world.
Gregory, for example, condemned railroads and refused to allow them in the Papal States, calling them _engines from hell._ He railed against street lamps fearing they would give revolutionaries an opportunity to gather and plot by night.
Gregory issued the encyclical Mirari Vos (1832) the year after his election. This charter for his pontificate denounced freedom of conscience as a kind of madness, freedom of the press and the separation of Church and State. The United States had written these freedoms into its Constitution four decades earlier. Gregory, furthermore, resisted the emerging Italian State, setting a pattern that would endure at the Vatican for the next hundred years.
The forces moving the Church into the modern era remained, nonetheless, powerful and unrelenting. Railroads were built around the Papal States and street lamps were lighted; constitutions were written and fundamental freedoms were guaranteed by democratic governments. Rome stopped nothing but its own progress.
The next pope, Pius IX (1846-1878) made some accommodations as his pontificate began. He freed prisoners from papal jails and seemed open to some aspects of Italian nationalism.
The crisis came when people demanded change as a right of their own rather than as a papal privilege. When a constitution was proposed for the Papal States, Pius opposed it vigorously.
Reaction was swift and violent. His prime minister, Count Rossi, was assassinated in 1848. Terrified, Pius fled in disguise to Gaeta in Southern Italy for almost a year and a half. He returned to Rome in 1850 under the protection of French troops.
He ordered the papal army to fight the Italian Risorgimento. In 1860, the army was destroyed and the Papal States seized, except for Rome where French soldiers held the city.
Pius blamed modernity for what he believed was a catastrophic defeat for the papacy. He put swiftly into place an arsenal of weapons against contemporary thought. _The Syllabus of Errors_ (1864) insisted that the papacy would not be reconciled with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization. Four years later, in 1868, he excommunicated Catholics who participated in the new Italian Government. In 1870, he wrested from Vatican I his prized declaration of papal infallibility, now a defined dogma.
There were objections to the unrelenting assault. John Henry Newman refused to attend Vatican I and called supporters of Pius "an insolent and aggressive faction." He hoped that a future council would rescue the Church from the liabilities of Vatican I. He observed that a papacy of twenty years or more was unhealthy for both pope and Church.
Nothing, however, stopped the onward march of history. Two months after the definition of papal infallibility, the Italian army seized Rome and Pius retreated to Vatican City in a self-imposed imprisonment. The Italian Government offered Pius personal immunity, sovereignty for Vatican City State, compensation for lost territories and extra-territorial status of large numbers of universities, churches, seminaries and embassies throughout Rome. Pius would have none of it.
In such an all-out war on modernity, theologians and scholars who sought a reconciliation with the new age were brave indeed. We gain some insight into Rome's mood by the term it used to vilify them, Modernists.
The most prominent of the Modernists was a French priest, Alfred Loisy, whose field was biblical studies. He observed that Scripture was not intended to be science or critical history. This already caused him trouble. His book, Gospel and Church (1903) went further and critiqued the Greek categories in which Catholic Christology is written. These categories distort the biblical image of Jesus, portraying him as a Son of God with clear Platonic insight into everything rather than as a prophet whose consciousness develops in a fully human manner.
Loisy claims, additionally, that Jesus had no intention of establishing a Church and therefore gave no explicit directions for Church structures or a papacy. These developed as the early Christians dealt with pressures imposed on them by their culture and history.
The Modernist criticism was far reaching. Nothing quite like it had been seen since the Reformation. Loisy went further and noted that Church doctrine is not unchangeable truth but an expression of how the Church experienced God and Christ at a particular point in its history.
Loisy was neither blameless nor unerring in his work. Nor was the papacy. He did, however, raise the right questions and even provided some impressive answers.
The response of Rome was swift and cruel. In 1907, Pius X (1903-1914) condemned all of Loisy's precepts, excommunicated him and other Modernists and required Catholic pastors and theology professors to take an oath against Modernism.
Vigilance committees were set up from the Vatican with informers throughout the world and a secret code for filing reports. Any charge was enough to disrupt a life; evidence and due process were disregarded. A modern-day witch hunt against learning ensued and the quality of Catholic scholarship withered.
When German armies invaded Belgium in World War I they discovered some of these coded documents and enemies_ lists but assumed they had uncovered not Church reports but a spy network put in place by the allies.
The causalities of that period included Catholic integrity, Catholic justice and simple honesty. Scholars said things they did not believe to preserve their careers. Judicial proceedings in Rome were not public, appeals were not allowed, legal counsel not permitted, accusers not identified, innocence never presumed.
Rome rejected more than Loisy and the Modernists. It went at its task so insensitively that it rejected the spirit of an age. Pius X imprisoned himself and the official Church in the past as surely as Pius IX had once imprisoned himself in the Vatican.
Rome would not, of course, prevail in the long run.
The ecclesial nightmare would be over on the morning of October 11, 1962 when John XXIII would open the Second Vatican Council proclaiming that our era is a good time and that everything, including our differences, leads to the Church’s growth. In the past the church condemned people _with the greatest severity. It is time for mercy instead of harshness, a time to demonstrate the validity of Church teaching, without condemnations. _Violence inflected on others_ solves nothing; love alone creates the Church and the world the Gospel intended.
In Vatican II, Luther and the Modernists would find a home for many of their ideas. It is ironic that they would be more at home in such a Council than Pius IX and Pius X. The popes who condemned these thinkers would also have condemned Vatican II had its documents been written earlier.
Vatican II
If Vatican I was the last medieval Council, Vatican II was the first modern Council. It brought Luther and Loisy, the Reformation and Modernism into the Catholic Church.
It took five centuries for Luther’s ideas to reach the Catholic Church because a Council, Trent, had explicitly condemned his thinking. It did not require a council to condemn Loisy because, after Vatican I , the pope was seen as a Council in his own person.
Loisy was isolated and defeated because the Pope was judged, after Vatican I, not as part of the Church but as the whole Church in himself.
By 1950, if one were to assess the Catholic Church, one would have been convinced no changes were possible and contemporary scholarship would not reach it. The list of condemned behaviors and teachings was impressive: divorce and remarriage, married priesthood, abortion of course, homosexuality, Communism and Protestantism, Orthodoxy and separation of Church and State, ecumenism and modern biblical studies, vernacular liturgy and birth control, public schools and missing Mass and meat on Friday and the many books on the Index. A Catholic in 1950 walked in a mine field in negotiating the modern world. Eighty years after the Papal States were lost and the pope was declared infallible, the papacy dominated Catholic life as never before in its history. The pope lost the Papal States but conquered the Catholic world. Vatican I triumphed and Catholics fled from modern thought, the world at large, other Christian Churches and religions as though they were incarnations of Satan. Suspicion was everywhere; doubt was nowhere. On the level of everyday life, things were less grim. Social justice healing and acts of kindness, Catholic action to make the world a better place, hospitals, schools and orphanages siphoned off Catholic energy in creative projects. But the Catholic conscience was deeply troubled, the Catholic laity thoroughly docile, the Catholic clergy fully in command, the Catholic Church a militant bastion and fortress against much of what the second millennium accomplished.
Fifty years later, in the year 2000, the Catholic world of 1950 is incredible to young people and rejected almost in its entirety by Catholics at large.
The conservative and reactionary policies of John Paul II must contend with an Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, which moved the Church in the direction of reform, and indeed, with the memory of a Pope, John XXIII, who witnessed a different style of leadership. Neither Luther nor Loisy had such a council or such a Pope.
Today the climate is different and a reformed Church is a certainty.
Vatican II called for collegiality. No one can deny that. It called for freedom of conscience. No one can deny that. It called for ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue. No one can deny that. It adopted the cry of the Reformation, ecclesia semper reformanda, the Church must be continually reformed. No one can deny that. It called for an approach to Scripture which the Modernists favored, historically critical, exegetically rigorous. No one can deny that.
None of these attitudes or policies was in place, indeed all of them were condemned when Luther and Loisy were on the scene. Today, even John Paul II recognizes that these reforms are Catholic policy. One might interpret them narrowly but one cannot deny their validity.
For the first time in centuries we are dealing with a papacy that does not have an ecumenical council at its disposal for its reactionary agenda.
After Trent and after Loisy’s excommunication, Catholics saw resistance to Luther and to Modernism as a sign of Catholic loyalty and fidelity. When the papacy did endorse modest reforms, for example, under Pius XII when the communion fast was modified and the Holy Week Liturgy renewed, these reforms came as a surprise. They were confusing and eventually accepted not because they were seen as valuable in themselves but because the Pope permitted them. Ironically, even progressive policies reinforced the conservative allegiance of Catholics to a pope who could lead them anywhere because he was Christ’s Vicar. Reform was seen as the Pope’s prerogative; there was no right to reform emerging from the faith of the Church at large or even in the name of the Gospel.
The Catholic response today is different. It measures the papacy by what are considered higher norms: Vatican II, Scripture, even pastoral experience. Statistics such as we see now were unimaginable during the centuries after the Reformation. Today Catholics in substantial numbers support and enact contrary positions to papal policies and teachings, even those seen by the Pope as touching on the substance of Revelation itself. Most Catholics today, certainly in this country, see the Pope as Christ‚s disciple, not Christ‚s Vicar, as the Church‚s presiding bishop, not as its infallible teacher, as a sincere and perhaps holy priest, not as the Spirit‚s preferred spokesperson.
And so, the situation today is thoroughly different.
This papacy is the only one to have begun in the last five centuries (apart from the short tenure of John Paul I) with these "higher norms," so to speak, in place. When Catholics dissented with their behavior in the past, for example, the large number who practiced birth control before Vatican II, they accepted that they were wrong, that their behavior was sinful but that they were driven to what they did by necessity. They assumed they were sinners because the Pope told them that they were.
The deep respect Catholics maintain for the papacy in general and John Paul II in particular is premised on a papacy kept in its place, so to speak, by higher norms, a papacy Catholic can easily dissent from with impunity. Catholics will no longer give up their behavior or convictions only because the Pope orders them to do so.
All this is not seen by Catholics at large as defiance or as sin, not even as an unwarranted way of being a Catholic. It is, in its own way, an oblique consultation of the laity when no formal consultation is available. It is collegiality by default when no meaningful collegiality is in place. It is less self-indulgence or cafeteria Catholicism than it is conscience Catholicism asserting, as John Henry Newman noted, the priority of conscience to the Pope. In its own way, it is a quiet, relentless, irreversible way of going about reform. If the reform is not official it will continue nonetheless, as water does, seeking its own level no matter how it is obstructed.
Were the papacy able to enforce its decision by law as it did in the Middle Ages so that artificial birth control and abortion and homosexual relationships and marriage after divorce and optional celibacy were interdicted by law and even punished by the State, Catholics would rebel. Indeed the State protects all Catholics who choose these alternatives from Church abuse. The fact that Catholics can go their own way has preserved the papacy. The papacy prevails today because it is singularly impotent. It reaches especially those it carefully selects as loyalists and those already embittered by modernity. This impotence allows the Pope to be celebrated as a symbol of ideals. Pius IX was never more celebrated than when he was rendered impotent by the loss of the Papal States. John Paul II has lost the Papal States, so to speak, of Catholic conscience and conviction. He is celebrated for what he chooses not to be, a symbol rather than a teacher, a fallible but beloved figure rather than an infallible guide for Catholic identity.
Vatican II liberated Catholics more deeply than most realize. It was not only the heady issues of liturgical reform, collegiality, conscience, religious liberty, ecumenism, biblical studies and modernity which made the difference but something more profound.
Catholics discovered new norms, without always being fully cognizant, to guide their future lives. Scripture, personal experience, and the unwritten spirit of Vatican II would now be alternatives to papal authoritarianism.
The Church now became a place for all God’s People and not only an enshrined hierarchical presence. The Church would still be a resource for Catholics at large, at times a deeply moving resource, indeed a home which they affirmed with affection. It would never again become for them, however, the Pope‚s home, one in which patriarchal dominion required obedience of all the inhabitants, a dominion in which dissent was punished and in which even those being punished believed they deserved the punishment. Such a patriarchal home, I suggest, is still, it pains me to obverse, the model and the ecclesiology of John Paul II. It has no chance of prevailing.
It took a century once to build a Temple in Jerusalem. That Temple was destroyed in four years by the Roman armies. A century after the definition of papal infallibility, the structure built on it was effectively destroyed in fours years by Vatican II. If God no longer dwells in a Temple, then God must be found in God‚s People. A temple is never a home; people at large, however know how to build communities and homes. We were once strangers in the Temple of the Church we once loved. We have become, as of late, a family in the home of our own lives.
Conclusion
Catholic reformers curiously are driven by the ideals and visions of a future Church and become easily discouraged when they must settle for the present Church. It is, furthermore, difficult for Catholic reformers to be responsive to the lessons of history since they look back less willingly than conservatives do. Yet it is the very patterns of the past and the very dynamics of the present Church which can reinforce their hope.
There are two fears Catholic reformers experience. One of these is the fear that the restorationist agenda will prevail, that the cause will be lost, that the guiding spirit of a future church will be Pius IX and not John XXIII.
There is no possibility, as I see it, that the cause will be lost. Looking at the past one can understand that the Reformation succeeded far more than Luther imagined and even in areas where he did not envision reform. The substance of the Reformation is now Catholic doctrine and Catholic conviction.
And Modernism abides at the heart of Catholic identity today. Even a reactionary such as John Paul II would not affirm that Moses composed the Torah and that Genesis is scientifically accurate in contemporary terms. A predecessor of John Paul II, however, censured and excommunicated Alfred Loisy for these very declarations. In the vast majority of Catholic universities around the world it is taught that Jesus did not explicitly found a Church and, indeed, that history played a decisive role in the development of Church structure and papal office. Indeed ecumenical dialogue today takes all this for granted.
Contemporary Catholic Christology has a place for the developing consciousness of Jesus. Vatican II endorsed modernity and stated that the Church could learn from it.
Loisy and the Modernists did not imagine that a Council and a pope and the informed Catholic community at large would one day accept all this.
And so the cause cannot be lost because only a Pope opposes it. The Council and the People of God are more than any Pope. Even reactionaries would understand this.
There is a second fear among Catholic reformers, a melancholy that they will not live to see their dreams realized. There is a sadness that we shall not see what we worked so hard, so whole-heartedly, so hopefully to build. There is a distress that we shall die on the borders of the Promised Land as did Moses who looked longingly on the Land he could not enter, the goal of all his dreams There is a sorrow that we shall die as Martin Luther King did surveying from the mountain top of his hopes, the possibilities he would not experience.
We might remind ourselves that the Promised Land was sweeter to Moses from a distance and that the land of milk and honey, once inhabited, became also a land of blood and tears. And should we not note that Martin Luther King would hardly find present day America a Promised Land.
We might add a further thought. Is it not possible that we are already in the Promised Land and do not know it? Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, is home, in the land of his dreams, long before he realizes where he is.
How, some might object, can we call this the Promised Land when we hurt so much, when we have a Pope who seems at times more Pharaoh and Shepherd?
But are we not already in the Promised Land when we have been liberated in our hearts, when the task master is no longer the norm, when enough of the desert has been passed for us to know there will be no turning back, when the future is already here, not in its fullness, but in the first Springtime of its promise?
Clearly we are in the Promised Land, at last on its borders, when we feel free to do all that was unfairly denied us before we arrived.
If we hold to the course set by the Second Vatican Council in the face of contrary winds pushing us back to the desert of our distress, to the Egypt of our former bondage, if we press on, then we are truly free and are, in a sense, already home. For we no longer require the task master for our security and for our identity. And we are no longer beguiled by the many collaborators, and co-conspirators, once former friends, who serve the oppressor. We learn to forgive this and to press on, with all humility and without rancor because we are no longer defined by all that was but abide, rather, in a new place, a safe place, a promised homeland.
We were sent on this mission not by our own choice but by a Council we did not choose and a Pope we did not expect and a Spirit that led us to know we were not home where we once were.
We may yet be denied the formal recognition by the Church of the reforms we sought. But they are alive in our hearts, purified in the crucible of the long struggle and the long journey.
If the reforms had come more quickly and more easily they would have shaped our faith and fidelity less deeply. And we would have been grateful to an institutional Church for giving us so readily reforms that were never truly ours, for which we had not suffered.
There would have been losses either way. By not having much sooner the Church we labored to build, we endured isolation and exhaustion, compelled to act in a contrary way when this was not our nature, embarrassed by an institutional Church we loved.
But had the Church of Vatican II come about more quickly, there still would have been disappointments and reverses, tears and labor, since no Church is ideal
Married priests might have been granted canonical ministry in a Church which remained angry at their choice. Women may have been ordained into a Church system which would yet exclude them. Divorced Catholics might become fully part of the Church’s life but still feel the sting of self-righteousness from unhappily married Catholics. Even a Church with a less rigid sexual ethic could not free us from the complications of sorting out our own sexual options in the isolation of our own conscience
I do not wish to give the impression that the delayed reform has not been tragic. Nor do I underestimate the pain and suffering it has caused. Nor do I choose to be foolishly patient and understanding in the face of so much hard-heartedness and cruelty, inflicted often by leaders ever eager for their own careers.
In any case, this is how it went.
It was glorious to have been part of such an era in human and Church history. It is, after all, life itself which breaks our hearts and mends them, not a particular moment in history. Suffering is never missed. Nor is joy. Nor is grace.
At any point in which we enter the river of life we may find that the currents are different but some of them will always be contrary. It is not possible to find an ideal place to enter the river. In any case, the river runs to the same sea. It is there that we find God who teaches us to look back on the journey with joy. When one arrives, if the passage was more difficult for one of us than the other, for such a person the sea is more splendid.
I remember once as a young professor in the seminary, thirty two years of age, swimming alone before breakfast on a July morning in a remote area of the Seminary property. I loved the stillness, the contemplative silence, the isolation. I did not realize the danger until I was seized with an inability to swim and began to drown. It was useless to cry for help. I remember deciding that I would cease trying to reach the shore in a moment and allow myself to drown since I was exhausted by my wild effort to reach safety.
I wondered why it was necessary for me to die so young and so soon, before I had a chance to do all the glorious things I thought possible. And I grieved at the grief my parents and sister would suffer.
Would all my dreams die with me, I remember asking as I struggled and gasped and went down. Would I find God in the depths to which I was falling?
Suddenly I felt a surge of energy and started to move toward shore. I prayed in wild mantras that the energy would not leave me before the shore. When I finally arrived and felt the earth, I laughed and wept and remained a long time silent. Eventually I felt strong enough to stand and walked back to my room
How much I would have lost had the swim that morning gone easily!
How Effective is the Prophetic Role of the Catholic Church in Kenya
By Sr. Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike
Presented at Call to Action 2000 National
Conference, Milwaukee WI
Introduction
The Face of Africa Full of Scars
Africa is seen in the world community as a continent of misery. Ecological disasters such as floods and droughts, which bring agriculture production to a standstill.
Warring groups prevent farmers from cultivating fertile land.
Economic depression of unparalleled proportions make existing authoritarian regimes more repressive.
Dictatorships and civil wars uproot women, men and children from ancestral homes to neighbouring countries. In Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Angola and Liberia it is difficult to silence the guns.
Ethnic strife makes it impossible for people to live in peace Bahutu Vs Batusi in Rwanda Burundi¡ Kokumba and Namumba of Ghana and Togo and ethnic clashes in Kenya
Refugees in Africa Number over seven million--about 50% of the world population of Refugees.
Disease continues to plague those uprooted from their homes as well as those who live in relative peace. Malaria is still the greatest killer. Hard won gains in life expectancy and child survival are being wiped out. AIDS related sufferings of individuals, families and societies are enormous. It is believed that one out of every forty Africans is supposedly a carrier of this deadly paramedic HIV/AIDS.
How Effective is the Prophetic Role of the Catholic Church in Kenya
The topic is very wide and one could approach it from different angles. I decided to limit my presentation to the prophetic Role of the episcopal conference of Kenya as expressed in their public exhortations, admonitions and instructions.
In the first place I would like to define what a prophet is in this presentation. A Prophet is a person who speaks out and condemns the evils in the society and is ready to give the message even at the face of death. For example the prophet Hosea in the Old Testament was concerned about the idolatry of the people of God and their faithlessness.
A prophet is a spokesperson of God. A prophet reveals the will of God to people. This could be done in the form of instruction, admonition, exhortation, glorious promise or stern Rebuke. This prophet does not wait to be consulted but goes into public squares and the Religious assemblies to condemn crime, prophecy, divine punishment and rally the courage of the people. A prophet is a defender of faith and morality and human rights. She stresses moral duty to promote the interest of truth and Righteousness.
The Episcopal Conference of Kenya in response to this prophetic Role in their ministry set up a justice and peace commission whose objectives were:
To develop programs for the education of the people towards a stronger sense of justice. This was to educate the people on their individual responsibilities and collective responsibilities for the requirement of justice.
To co-ordinate and foster pastoral justice action in the church and in the social, economic and political life of the Country.
To work towards understanding and eradication of injustices in fields of land distribution, violation of human rights, unfair practices in agriculture, education, health, media, tourism, housing and environment. The justice and Peace Commission was empowered to enlist help from experts in fields of anthropology, Culture, Legal, economic, political, religious and Spiritual. These experts were to assist in giving adequate analysis of the problem and to suggest proper action.
To advise, encourage and support, all those involved in the promotion of justice. The Episcopal Conference stressed that in fulfilment of these objectives the Church has to be guided by the Spirit of Charity, dialogue and reconciliation and must be careful to witness to justice in her own internal life and activities. (The Bishops of Kenya, 1988:6-7)
This indeed was a very powerful statement and showed the heroic prophetic direction the Bishops wanted for the Church in Kenya
The bishops from hence on have issued pastoral letters to the faithful addressing political problems e.g. the unlimited authority of the Ruling party and the abuses of power that was being witnessed (Bishops of Kenya 1990:7). Many voices joined those of the Bishops, the government gave in and allowed. Multiparty politics in with multipartism came ethnic clashes or land clashes, which unleashed terror on the villagers and destroyed life and property. In addition, all the big tribes put up their own presidential candidate. The country was clearly divided along ethnic lines. Therefore, the kind of political change that was hoped for did not happen, and instead political problems emerged.
In 1992 just before election the Bishops issued a statement instructing the people as to who to choose for leadership. This was an ecumenical statement encouraging all Christian believers to elect people of "genuine integrity, moral courage in the cause of truth and Justice and who are competent for the post entrusted to them." (Bishops of Kenya; 1992:15)
The election results did not give the people what they hoped for but multiparty politics had been restored to Kenya. The Bishops issued another letter on democracy asking the government not to derail democratisation process in Kenya but to respect and protect human Rights of each individual and of all groups especially minority groups. (Bishops of Kenya, 1994:14-15).
Since the Bishops of Kenya started speaking out, several people have been killed, especially those who speak out against human rights abuse and Social injustice for example Mr. Robert Ouko who challenged his fellow Cabinet Ministers on corruption and misappropriation of donor funds, The Anglican Bishop Alexander Muge who dared to challenge the powerful politicians on the issue of land grabbing, Brother Larry Timmons, Father Martin Boyle, Luigi Andeni, Stallone and graiff and last august 24th 2000 Fr. John, Anthony Kaiser. All these (one brother & 4 missionary priests) have been murdered while in guest for justice and Truth. Their bodies were killed but their hearts live on and their blood still pours so that justice and truth can prevail in Kenya. This is a commendable effort, which has lead to conscientisation of the people.
Since the establishment of Justice and peace Commission by the Bishops of Kenya, many burning and critical issues have been addressed but one wonders why the issues of women in the Church and society have not been addressed. These have been instances which have called for this kind of strong statement from the Bishops but the response has been silence. For example in July 13th 1990 19 girls were murdered and 71 were raped by boys at St. Kizito High School, and recently there has been series of kidnapping raping and murdering of young girls between the age four and ten.
The recent letter of the Bishops addresses the problem of Constitutional Review. In this letter "The Truth shall set us free," the Bishops stress the importance of the participation of all the Kenyan people in the Review process. The President in response to the Bishops retorted "What does 'Wanjiku' know about Constitutional Review?" "Wanjiku" stands for an illiterate rural woman. This meant that "Wanjiku" could be dismissed as irrelevant in the process of Constitutional review. This was again another chance lost by the Bishops instead of grasping the moment and addressing the issue of justice for marginalized illiterate rural women who need empowerment with information about human Rights and the law. Gender equality has remained an abstraction to many and an irrelevance to some even to the Church leadership.
The girl child is at risk in many ways although the government has formulated policies and guidelines that aim at advancing the status of the girl child.
The girl child faces cultural orientation that she is less important than her boy counterpart. The parents place less reward on the girl child for example in famine time some communities would rather feed boys before the girls and in financial hardship fees and other provisions are given to the boy child at the expense of the girl child. This treatment perpetuates the feeling of Low-esteem in the girl child and she is painfully relegated to the periphery without complaining. It is believed that the girl child will grow up, get married and leave her parents' home. In this way the girl child is not interpreted as a direct investment for the family due to her roles in society.
The girl child's rights are abused in some communities She is booked for marriage as soon as she is born and when she grows up she is forced to get married to the person who made the choice (booking) regardless of the age difference, status, etc.
The government has attempted to stop this practice by making education cheaply accessible to all the children, irrespective of gender. This is still a long way to go due to the philosophical presupposing that continue to operate at the subconscious level and this is being shaped and perpetuated by the institutional church.
The Bishops of Kenya could write a letter on the state of the girl child giving society a challenge to set up programmes to empower the girl child. To help the people in accepting that a girl child is as good as a boy child to show that the girl child can be successful if given a chance. To assist the girl child in developing a stronger self-esteem, self-confidence and assertiveness.
At the African synod the Bishops emphasized inculturation as a way forward for the church in Africa. This process can seriously be embarked on if liberation is initiated in those cultural realities that are oppressive and continue to dehumanise and affect people negatively. For the example the practice of wife inheritance, widowed, rituals and female circumcision in some communities need to be seriously condemned by the Bishops. The people have very high regard for authority. Therefore, if the Bishops speak out against these practices the people would listen and do otherwise. African people still have reverence for Religious leaders. They are seen as divine symbols of the people's welfare. They are expected to promote Social harmony, encourage mutual support and co-operative participation. They are ministers of Reconciliation and symbolize unity, harmony and peace, security and health of the people. The Bishops should use this opportunity to recreate the society.
Due to this African value of authority, the Bishops statement against cultural stereotypes and socialisation patterns that continue to dehumanise and affect women negatively could generate new life for the church in Africa particularly in Kenya.
It is common knowledge that many cultures condone gender inequality or even violence against Women. In some communities women even view physical abuse as justified in certain circumstances. The disadvantages of this adverse cultural predicament are many and have a telling impact on development, particularly in Africa, where they continue to persist at disturbing levels.
A person who has little or no control over her own body cannot succeed in controlling her social environment. The governments of Botswana, Egypt and South Africa have woken up to the challenges posed by gender inequity and inequality and have established some empowerment structures for women.
In Botswana penalties for sex offenders have been increased. In Egypt divorce legislation has been relaxed to favour women after a 15-year legal Showdown. In South Africa women's reproductive rights are elaborately enshrined in the constitution. The government is setting up 20 rape courts to address rampart cases of rape and abuse. As stated by wandera Ojanji, this is the first such initiative in the world. This could be replicated in other countries in empowerment of girl children and women.
Most African governments' attention is focused on political instabilities and endemic economic hardships. Some African NGOs and Churches have spoken up against every shade of violence against women, including rape, wife beating, female circumcision and early marriages. In some countries struggle for equality has been dismissed as an offshoot of female chauvinism. It is the governments who have the prerogative to remove legal barriers to equality by changing laws, policies and programs that complement restrictive customs.
Women must be seen as partners in development because gender inequality limits the potential of individuals, families, communities, and nations in achieving quality of life.
Religious Influence
The Christian tradition that was given to the Africans has a distorted understanding of the image of God, which was seen only in relation to male person. The Catholic Church speaks of scripture & tradition as the authoritative sources of our faith. And as we know up to recently only the male work is considered a source of authoritative foundation and rooting of our faith. The women's work has never been a source authoritative tradition. The Church in Africa has inherited a Religious distorted understanding of woman and what she is able to do in the church. She is more identified with her body through reproduction or alienating herself from the body by virginity. The refusal by Christian theology to attribute the fullness of the imago Dei to women is much more devastating. Theories of female and male nature have curiously been tied up with the doctrine of god and that of the church.
Although one of the objectives of the Bishop's justice and Peace commission is the church to carefully witness to justice in her own internal life and activities (Bishops of Kenya 1988:), the Church in Africa has to remain faithful to the teachings of the Roman Church. The Roman Church has created a dependence system whereby the third world churches depend financially on an orthodox theological interpretation of the faith on Roman Church. This explains why the Kenyan Bishops are silent on the burning issues affecting women.
Since Vatican II the Church has called for inculturation as a way of making the church relevant in any given cultural context. In Acts 15 the Council of Jerusalem clearly upheld that each culture can uphold their culture and still remain in communion with other Christians of other cultures. In Galatians 2:28 Paul says in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. This statement is quite revolutionary, it breaks boundaries of race, culture, class and sex. Despite this teaching, the human need for stability and safety in the Roman Catholic Church has enshrined one model of interpretation, universalised and absolutized it, yet to be in communion with so many other "different" people is to leave one open to the table of different theologies which reflect the different perspectives of doing theology and reflecting god.
Christianity was taught to Africans as a culture rather than as a challenge to every Culture. Thus it was assumed that Christian gospel cannot speak directly to Africans in their own cultural and religious context. Missionaries to Africa refused to accept the African Root metaphor and imposed their own Root metaphor on Africans. In spite of the Africans imitation and aspirations to be truly integrated in the Roman Catholic Root metaphor, they have remained second rate members, while African women are treated as third rate members, or as guests and strangers who may rise to the status of permanent resident "aliens" in the Church.
Jesus in teaching his disciples said that he did not call them servants or strangers any more but friends. My question is when are the strangers going to become integral members of the Christian Community-Church? This message challenges the established Roman Church, which continues to treat indigenous people as foreigners. We have to reclaim the gospel message, which nullifies the segregation and uses our differences to enrich and make us enter into communion with one another in Christ Jesus.
Whether we are women, Third world people, second world people or First world people we have to create an inclusive community of sisters & brothers instead of perpetuating our relationships as strangers. We are all in some degree sexist, ethnocentric and racist and need to open ourselves up to re-education and conversion. The gospel is about change--metanoia--but who is the agent of change? The Holy Spirit who has to lead the concerned parties to metanoia.
The Church in Africa has to reclaim its spiritual and religious wealth and share it with the rest of the church. In African traditional life both women and men experienced equal participation in the ministerial roles in the religious and spiritual spheres. The communities believed that any human person be it female or male could be a worthy instrument of the Divine manifestation. Women and men could be priests, medicine persons, rainmakers, diviners, seers, prophets etc. In some communities women could only perform their religious duties if they were virgins and after they had past childbearing age. The flow of blood was associated with life and life originates only in God. When a woman was in the mense period she was believed to have some mystical powers and if she went to the shrine she would nullify the divine powers. These women's ministerial roles were rejected and new systems were put in place, which did not respect women, but further burdened them and made their situation complicated and worse.
Other important traditional African vatues that continue to nurture the people are the celebration of life. Life is a vital participation in the source of life God-Self. The gift and value of life is best expressed in a human being. The human being is the value of values in the African concept. The human being is at the centre of existence. Africans like to celebrate life at family and at community level. Song, dance and rhythm shape the life of the African people. In celebrations, a community's unit is cemented.
Religion
African traditional Religion permeates all the departments of life. To be is to be religious in the Religious world.
Communitarian existence was highly valued. In community values of hospitality sharing, loyalty, obedience, teamwork, generosity, cheerfulness and kindness were proudly lived.
Listening gives value to the person being listened to and to those listening as good listeners. This value is linked to that value of time.
Hope for the Future:
African rerooting into its cultural and religious values is what is going to lead to healing the political, economic, Social and religious misery of Africa. The journey back to our Roots must be made with a rigorous sociohistorical and comparative study of the past and present in order to find materials for philosophical and theological reflection.
The African Church which is committed to the Social transformation of Africa and leads by example--a church which is self-reliant at all levels. Teaching by example that we must learn to depend fully on our own resources, being aware of the Realities of a modern world and a global Village.
A Call to Action: Towards an Inclusive Community
Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, ocd
Bishop-Prelate of Infanta, the
Philippines
Presented at Call to Action 2000 National Conference, Milwaukee
WI
An Outline:
1. Intro.
2. The Road Blocks towards an Inclusive Community.
2.1. First World - Third World (on Development).
2.2. Capitalist-Democratic - Socialist-Communist (on Ideologico-Economic System).
* Democracy.
* Democracy: a Pagan Virtue.
* The Tripod of Stability.
2.3. Christian - Non-Christian (on Religion).
2.4. Catholic Christian - Protestant Christian (on Christianity).
2.5. Masculine - Feminine (on Gender).
2.6. Oppressor - Oppressed (on Colonialism/Domination).
2.7. Rich - Poor (on Beneficiaries of the Economic System).
2.8. White - Black (on Race).
2.9. Mono-Culture - Cultural Diversity (on Culture).
2.10. Fashion and Commerce - Nature and Culture (on Governance)
3. An Inclusive Community: A Community of Integrity!
4. How do we move Towards an Inclusive Community?
5. Jesus-Christ is Our Center and Our Life.
5.1. Faith and Religion.
5.2. The Human Dilemma.
5.3. Incarnational Spirituality.
6. Conclusion.
1. Intro.
Today we gather here to reflect on how we can effectively respond in solidarity to what we consider is the Call to Action nowadays. The theme of our gathering expresses well this present-day call to action: Towards an Inclusive Community. We hope that our gathering will bear fruit in our personal and communal commitment in solidarity to the present Call to Action.
The tendency in human history is to homogenize, to bring about one form (uni-form). This tendency definitely creates a blind spot to the reality of heterogeneity and pluralism in the world. It is reducing to one's perspective the whole pluralistic reality. It is imposing one's perspective on the rest of humankind. It is a form of violence. It is disrespect and disregard for others. Such is the case of colonialism, slavery, oppression, exploitation. This violent human tendency underlies today's globalization of the planet under one economic system. It seeks to legitimize the system through the mono-culture of consumerism. And all for the sake of material/monetary profit!
Our theme suggests that as yet we are not an inclusive community. Either we are a fragmented community or we are mutually exclusive of one another. Dichotomies and exclusivity divide us and block the road to an inclusive community.
Our theme challenges our inability to discover unity in the midst of plurality. We get hung up on superficial differences. We are unable to probe our depth where we encounter our common humanity and assume our common responsibility to our one human family and one planet earth.
Our journey towards a meaningful and fulfilling inclusive global unity faces road blocks, and labors under our innate shortcoming. How are we to overcome, if not remove, the road blocks, and go beyond our narrow perspective and human shortcoming? How do we move towards an inclusive community?
There is a long list of road blocks that we have to reckon with. They are the actual dichotomies in our present world. The challenge is how to reconcile these dichotomies and arrive at an inclusive community, an inclusive world where all relationships harmonize for the sake of life for all and for the good of everybody. A world where there will be no master and slave, no oppressor and oppressed, no rich and pauper, no exploiter and exploited, no male and female, no white and black. A world where we shall see in the face of one another a sister and a brother in the one human family and in the one planet earth.
2. The Road Blocks towards an Inclusive Community.
What follows are the dichotomies that block our road towards an inclusive community. The list does not pretend to be exhaustive.
2.1. First world - Third world (on Development).
The United Nations declared the sixties and the seventies as two successive decades of development. They were meant to close the gap between the developed and the underdeveloped nations. This dichotomy of two worlds is referred to as: First World and Third World, North and South.
Unfortunately, these two decades failed to attain their objective. Instead, they made the gap between the developed and underdeveloped nations wider. The late Barbara Ward, an economist, expressed the widespread peoples' reaction to this fiasco in her book: The Angry Seventies (1971). She stated that if the decade of the seventies would be no better than the decade of the sixties, the seventies will experience the anger of the masses. Sure enough, disillusioned and feeling cheated the masses rose up in anger. Provoked, the governments responded with military force.
The Philippines declared martial law in 1972. Korea declared martial law the same year. Shortly afterwards, India declared Emergency Status. The underdeveloped nations could not help but feel the advent of a new face of colonialism, where the rich and powerful nations continue to exploit the human and natural resources of the poor nations for the sake of their own economy.
There is a long story to the North-South dichotomy. It dates back to the era of the old face of colonization. Powerful nations ventured to subdue and dominate less powerful nations for their own economic advantage.
The colonial relationship is that of domination, oppression and exploitation of the weak by the powerful.
Today, on the occasion of the great Jubilee 2000 of Reconciliation, a step towards inclusivity among nations is advocated in terms of the cancellation of debts of the indebted poor nations to the rich banker nations.
Justification for this cancellation lies in the historical past when the rich nations exploited the poor ones. They owe their present advanced economy to the capital they extracted from their colonies, either in terms of human labor (slavery) or of natural resources.
There is no sense in saying that the poor nations are indebted to the rich ones. On the contrary, the rich nations owe restitution- to the nations they robbed and exploited.
We still have fresh in our memory the peoples' protest at the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization (1999). The issue was the global economic imbalance created by the new face of colonization: the globalization of the neoliberal capitalist economy. Seattle II brought the protest before the White House in Washington D. C. Enough is enough!
This recent peoples' protest gives us a ray of hope for an inclusive community.
2.2. Capitalist-democratic - Socialist-communist (Ideologico-economic).
Liberal capitalism is an economic system that promotes the free market. It came in the wake of the industrial revolution. With the discovery of the machine there came about mass production of consumable and usable goods. To get these goods in the hands of the consumer and the user, the market had to be organized. In the market profit is made from the sale and purchase of goods. In no time profit became the key motive of the economic system. Profit for profit's sake!
In the course of time, the obsessive drive for greater profit took its toll on the working class. The entrepreneur thought of increasing the margin of profit by keeping low the cost of production and increasing the selling price in the market.
The worker became the victim. The rate of the salary of the worker was either kept in status quo, or its deserved increase postponed or curtailed.
In the light of this oppression of the worker, Marx sounded his battle cry for the uprising of the workers: "Workers unite! What have you to lose except your chains (of oppression and exploitation)."
In the process of revolutionary change, Marx offered his alternative economy to liberal capitalism, that is, the socialist economy. Its principle is: "To each according to his/her need. From each according to his/her capacity (to contribute)."
This principle reflects the principle that shaped the early Christian communities: "...all believers lived together and shared all their belonging. They would sell their property and all they had and distribute the proceeds to others according to their need." I And there was no one in need among them!
The socialist economy envisions a community where the produced goods and the benefits thereof are equitably shared. For this reason, the goal is communism. Communism, in its original sense, meant the promotion of a people in communion with one another, the promotion of an inclusive community.
The socialized societies of the Scandinavian nations are proof enough that an inclusive community is realizable. There, social security is assured 'from the womb to the tomb.'
* Democracy.
On the other hand, liberal capitalism upheld the freedom of each individual to think and make a choice for oneself. This principle translates into the form of government called democracy: government of the people, by the people, for the people. The form it has taken is either representative or parliamentary democracy. Such forms have yet to realize really and truly the definition of democracy.
It is rather unfortunate, in the interests of clear thinking, that the two leading parties of the United States take the titles of Democrat and Republican. It makes it difficult to speak of democracy and republicanism without leading some of those who hear these words to fancy that one of the two great job-hunting organizations is meant.
When I call Lincoln a 'democrat' I have, of course, no intention of identifying him with any political faction, but refer to the fact that he believed in the rule of the people which is the root-meaning of democracy, and not of the classes and political parties. (Reference in Wisdom reading in Covey's Seven Habits Tools.)
Once I had a conversation with an American in Lafayette, Louisiana. I remarked: "You, Americans, came to the Philippines to install democracy. That was almost one hundred years ago! I must tell you that we do not have any democracy yet today in the Philippines. "
Quickly he retorted exclaiming: "I have news for you! Even here in the States we do not have democracy!"
Actually here, it is not a matter of an ideological confrontation between democracy and communism. Rather it is using ideology to legitimize two opposite economic systems: capitalist and socialist. Ideology is even used to legitimize the political platform of the political party which supports and promotes a particular economic system.
This dichotomy led to the East-West confrontation that lasted for forty-five years. And just think of the countless lives that such confrontation sacrificed, the communities that it destroyed and the irreparable damage it wrought to the ecological system. Only to come together, after all, in the one present globalized liberal capitalist economy. The U.S.S.R. joined the G-7, the powerholder nations behind globalized capitalism, and China consorts with the World Trade Organization, the principal trade mechanism of globalized capitalism.
* Democracy: a Pagan Virtue.
Incidentally, democracy is a pagan virtue whose cradle is ancient Greece of the 5 th century B.C. The pagan ethos or approach to democracy in ancient Greece and even down to the modern era of America as a reborn Roman Empire, recognizes all the ramifications of realpolitik. Democracy, as a pagan virtue, does not strive for the highest good of moral perfection espoused by religions like Christianity and Islam, but only an apparent common good in a finely-tuned political compromise that enables a peaceful and orderly pursuit of happiness among a competing and possibly diverse citizenry. (Dean Jorge Bocobo, Democracy, a Pagan Virtue, Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 16, 2000. See Appendix)
Today the cyber space communication has raised the consciousness of people all over the world on current events. People, more and more, identify the root of their mass impoverishment, and organize themselves to take action in the hope of liberating themselves from oppression. Would that this liberation pave the way to an inclusive community!
* The Tripod of Stability.
In the course of time, the thinkers and actors of globalization today had thought of a tripod that would give the globalized free market economy its stability.
The tripod is a perfect symbol For the tripod to stand stably all three legs must hold together! What are these three legs?
The first one is Business and Finance. This leg points to the International Monetary Fund-World Bank tandem, and to the transnational business corporations.
The second is Pacts and Treaties. The banking system and the business sector have entered into pacts and treaties to strengthen and stabilize the globalized economic system. By mutual agreement of Business and Finance, workers all over the world have lost their job security tenure. They have been reduced to contractual and casual workers. Unionism has become a thing of the past! Unfortunately, the politics of nations have been co-opted into this second leg. Just think of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) (By the year 2020 all trade in the Asia-Pacific will be tariff free.), the AFTA (Asean Free Trade Agreement), the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). The whole thrust of this connivance is to completely free the market of any and every encumbrance, particularly tariffs.
The third leg is the Intelligence Agency and the Military. To ensure that unmanageable mob protest be prevented, the third leg provides the economic system with the capacity to pre-empt and to contain such mob protest.
No wonder among satellite countries of the industrialized countries the budget for the intelligence and the military supersedes that of social welfare and education.
All the dichotomies that follow subscribe to the same principle of superiority and domination which is expressed in exclusivity.
2.3. Christian - non-Christian (on Religion).
The dichotomy or the divide between the Christian and the non-Christian world is obvious. The non-Christian world comprise all religions that are not Christian, such as, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism.
It is unfortunate that religion which is meant to unite peoples has historically divided us and even pitched us against one another, sometimes in bloody wars.
The politics of nations co-opted religion for its partisan and vested interests.
2.4. Catholic Christian - Protestant Christian (on Christianity).
The protest of Luther against the practices of the Catholic Church on the sale of indulgences is well recorded in church history. The knee-jerk political reaction of the catholic church was to excommunicate Luther. This rift led to the Protestant Reform. We know the multiplication of Protestant institutional groups in the course of time. This proliferation of groups is due to exclusive institutional politics, and diverging interpretation of the Scriptures.
2.5. Masculine-Feminine (on Gender).
The Gender-issue is well known and widespread. It is the burning issue that gave birth to two movements: women's liberation and feminism. It speaks of the struggle of women to liberate themselves from a long-standing male domination. The discrimination against women is common in cultures of the world.
Because of the rather aggressively exaggerated assault of women on the macho-culture, polarization set in. Now, thank God, the movement has tapered down to a more balanced way of considering the complementarity of the masculine and the feminine. Psychologists even talk of the left and right lobe of the brain; the left is associated with the feminine and the right with the masculine. The movement of women's liberation has turned into the feminist movement.
The movement has brought about an inclusive language. There are more areas where inclusivity may be promoted, for example, in the sharing of household chores between husband and wife, in job opportunities, in ministries.
2.6. Oppressor - oppressed world (on Domination/Colonialism).
This is simply a corollary of the above dichotomies: first world-third world, north-south, capitalist-socialist, masculine-feminine.
2.7. Rich - Poor (on the Economic System).
Similarly, this is the effect of the liberal capitalist economic system which is now globalized. The progressive widening of the gap between the rich and the poor is systemic. Wherever the system is operative this widening gap is inevitable. This system has created the rich class-poor class dichotomy.
The United States of America, that is reputed to be one of the richest nations in the world, has around ten per cent of its population living below poverty line.
2.8. White - Black (on Race).
Racism on the basis of color - black and white - in the United States has a long history which persists until now. Deeply seated in American history was the institution of slavery of the people from Africa who later became the black Americans. Before the blacks, colonization created the cultural discrimination against the red-faced. Up to now we feel the cultural carry-over of such racial prejudice which extends nowadays to other colored people, such as the Asian brown and the Latin American Hispanics.
Racism in Europe took the form of Nazism, under Hitler, which advocated ethnic cleansing.
2.9. Mono-culture - Cultural Diversity (Cultural).
Today the process of Globalization seeks to promote the mono-culture of consumerism It is the culture that legitimizes and energizes the free market economy. It stimulates wants and desires. Eventually, desires become needs. Moreover, consumerism foments addiction to the material (materialism), to instant passing pleasure (hedonism), and to selfish and vested interests (individualism).
Mono-cultural promotion militates against the stark reality of the historic diversity of cultures of peoples. Peoples have walked different historical paths. Their stories gave birth to diverse cultures, traditions and religions. Their culture is what distinguishes them from peoples of different cultures. Their culture identifies them as a people.
An inclusive community recognizes, accepts, and respects the story of each people with their respective culture, tradition and religion. It even goes farther by finding out what each people could learn from the others, by way of cultural cross fertilization, for the sake of the inclusive universal common good.
2.10. Fashion and Commerce - Nature and Culture (Governance).
Fashion and Commerce move at a fast pace; nature and culture at a slow pace. The blending of the pace of the two spells stability and resiliency. The blending of the two depends on good governance that has at heart, not the next election, but the common good in the long run. It also challenges corporations to think more, in the long haul, of the common good rather than of the next-quarter perspective.
Proponents of an inclusive community have only one option, that is, to blend the fast pace of fashion and commerce and the slow pace of nature and culture for the sake of social stability and resiliency. To opt otherwise would be to put aside the universal common good and to block the way to an inclusive community at the risk of global instability and conflict.
3. An Inclusive Community: A Community of Integrity!
What is an inclusive community?
An inclusive community implies that nobody and nothing is excluded. All peoples and the rest of creation find their respective identity and reason for being in the whole network of relationships within which they exist. Buddha, in the state of Nirvana, contemplated a universal inclusive community: he saw all and each and every constituent part of the whole created world as interconnected, interrelated, interwoven in harmony for the sake of life and the good of all.
Why talk about an inclusive community?
An all-inclusive community enjoys harmony of relationships, unity in the diversity, fullness of life, integrity of creation; it is the fruit of justice, compassion, love and wisdom. It is this inclusive community that is the answer to our persistent and ever deepening aspiration to lasting peace.
The long story of the search for lasting peace tells us definitely that violence is not the way. In war everybody is a loser; in peace everybody is a winner. Neither is exclusivity and marginalization of the masses the way. Wars continue to be waged because of divisions and dichotomies. An inclusive community is what the whole world needs today if it is to survive and lasting peace is to reign.
The yearly message on peace of the Popes rings out loud and clear! Without justice there is no peace. Peace is the fruit of solidarity of aft peoples. Paraphrasing this message of peace: "Without an inclusive community, there is no peace."
And does not our need for an inclusive community affirm God's Wisdom in Jesus-Christ, the incarnate Word of God?
"In all wisdom and understanding, God has made known to us His mysterious design, in accordance with His loving-kindness in Christ. In Him and under Him God wanted to unite ... everything in heaven and on earth." ( Eph 1:9-10.)
4. How do we move Towards an Inclusive Community?
The present globalization of the neo liberal capitalist system is legitimized, strengthened and stabilized by the cultural promotion of consumerism. The social communication media effectively promotes consumerism. Pope John Paul II rightly calls consumerism the culture of waste and indifference to the plight of the masses and the deprivation of peoples all over the world (Solicitude Rei Socialis, n. 28.)
As we said, here in the United States of America at least some twenty-five million Americans live under the poverty line. This explains why people sleep in parks and why some people freeze to death during winter, not to talk about the racial riots, like that of Watson.
Given the socio-cultural conditioning of the globalization of the free market economy, there is need for a counter socio-cultural conditioning if we are to move towards an inclusive community.
A correct understanding of human development is fundamental to knowing what this counter socio-cultural conditioning should be.
Pope Paul VI states categorically, before a distorted understanding of development today, that development cannot be limited to mere economic growth. For human development to be authentic it must be integral, that is, inclusive It has to promote the good of every man and woman, of the whole man and woman. (Populorum Progressio, n. 14; Solicitudo Rei Socialis, n. 29. )
Furthermore, the Pope teaches that development is inclusive of both the personal and communal responsibility which involves all the nations of the world.
"Just as the whole creation is ordained to its Creator, " the Pope states, "so spiritual beings should of their own accord orientate their lives to God, the first truth and the supreme good But there is much more: this harmonious enrichment of nature by personal and responsible effort is ordered to a further perfection. By reason of his union with Christ, the source of life, man/woman attain to new fulfillment of themselves, to a transcendent humanism which gives them their greatest possible perfection: this is the highest goal o personal development. "
"But each man/woman," the Pope continues, "is a member of society. S/he is part of the whole of humankind It is not certain individuals, but all who are called to this fullness of development. Civilizations are born, develop and die. But humanity is advancing along the path of history like waves of a rising tide encroaching gradually on the shore We have inherited from the past generations, and we have benefited from the work of our contemporaries: for this reason we have obligations towards all, and we cannot refuse to interest ourselves in those who will come after us to enlarge the human family. The reality of human solidarity, which is a benefit for us, also imposes a duty. (Populorum Progressio, nn. 16-17.)
5. Jesus-Christ: Our Center and Our Life.
Jesus-Christ is our center and our life, the center of the universe and of history. (Eph 1:9-10; Redemptor Hominis, n. 1.9 )In the Incarnation of the Son of God, God became the son of a woman. ( Gal 4:4.) As such, God became a citizen of humankind and, as such, flowed with the story of humankind and the rest of creation. In Jesus Christ, earth joins heaven, time flows into eternity, mortality enters immortality, God weaves his story into the story of the cosmos, God dwells in the human heart that man/woman may dwell in the heart of God. In the heart of God all peoples meet in their Creator and Redeemer. Redeemed creation recovers the harmonious relationship of all its constituent parts for the sake of life and the good of the whole cosmos.
But how is it that history testifies to the fact that many consider Jesus-Christ and his Church a cause of division?
5.1. Religion and Faith.
The Church, as an institution, is a translation of our gift of Faith in baptism into creed, code, celebration and sacrament. As an institution, the Church is an organized body of Bishops, Clergy and Laity. Some of them are Religious. Others are not. This whole reality has been known as the Catholic Christian Religion.
Religions are meant to unite. But, historically conditioned, religions have turned into political tools of partisan division. We have pointed out above, among others, the division of the Christian religion into catholic and non-catholic.
Faith, on the other hand, has the capacity to critique religions and convert them, by virtue of the living God. As such, Faith is God's providence towards an inclusive community. Vatican II testifies that it was living Faith that broke open the Catholic Church, and got her out of her institutionally exclusive isolation directing her towards her pastoral mission in the modern world.
It was this lived and living Faith that impelled Pope John XXIII to call for a Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. His famous phrase - "Let us open a window" - revealed his desire to get the Catholic Church out of her lethargic exclusivity, and to set her on the road to inclusivity.
He wanted to indicate to the Council Fathers that the whole universe is God's household. The Catholic Church must assume responsibility to manage the cosmos towards inclusivity in keeping with Jesus' priestly prayer: "Holy Father, keep them in your name (that you have given me,) so that they may be one, just as we are one " (Jn 17:11) And Paul writes to the communities in Ephesus saying: "God had made known to us his mysterious design, in accordance with his loving-kindness in Christ. In him and under him God wanted to unite, when the fullness of time had come, everything in heaven and on earth." (Eph 1:9-10.) This is what cosmic ecumenism is all about: the enlightened and responsible management of God's cosmic household. The Council's monumental document, The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, sums it all up.
Faith in God, the Ultimate One, is universal! It underlies all religions in the world. Even sciences, such as anthropology and philosophy, recognize an ultimate being. Anthropologists tell us that they have not come across any organized human community that does not recognize and relate to a Supreme Being. Philosophers speak of the ultimate Truth, the supreme Good, the ultimate Beauty and ultimate Nobility. Faith relates the Muslims with Allah, the One God, who is always the Greater. Faith relates the Hindus with Vishnu or Krishna. An innate human instinct relates the Buddhists to Nirvana. Faith related our Fathers in the Faith to Yahweh, Elohim, El Shaddai. Faith in Jesus-Christ finally relates us to the Triune God: Father, Son and Spirit.
When Faith translates into Religion then it can get trapped in an institutional set-up which becomes an establishment with its attendant bureaucracy and rigidity. Then religion shifts from being God's providence towards inclusivity to becoming the human political tool of exclusivity. Religion that was meant to unite, then becomes the tool of division and exclusivism. This was the fate of the Jewish religion in the hands of the scribes and the pharisees.
Think of the vicious phenomenon of religious fundamentalism which persists till now. It even uses religion to provoke and justify war. How many wars were fought in the name of religion! I say religion, despite the fact that these wars were declared in the name of God. God had simply been used as a political tool of religion!
5.2 The Human Dilemma.
The steadfastness of human involvement is questioned in the move to an inclusive community: Is the human spirit sufficient unto itself alone and unaided to attain the prospect of an inclusive community?
The question is asked having in mind the human weakness which is evident in human history. There are many cases in history where people set out on the road to a better future with noble intentions. At a certain stage, these noble intentions got confused and entangled with political vested interests and turned to the opposite direction.
The industrial revolution ventured to supply people with adequate goods according to their needs. After the market had been organized and entrepreneurs got the inebriating taste of profit, the noble intention to serve the public turned around to serve one's own vested interests to the disregard and exploitation of the masses.
We are presently caught in this global maelstrom of rapid economic growth where the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' progressively and rapidly widens, and where we face an impending shortage of food and water for all. Wars are fought for selfish gains unto the loss of countless human lives, the ruin of human communities, and the unimagined destruction of our ecological environment which is the wellspring of all life and its sustenance.
To top the present process of globalization of the economic system, the world powers have consolidated behind it, as we have seen above.
People's solidarity in action nowadays, like the one in Seattle, provides us with a new ray of hope!
But how long will this movement be sustained? Will those who are involved now continue to be involved in the future? Will this movement, if sustained, finally bring us to the realization of our dream of an inclusive community?
The Catholic Church herself is not exempt from this phenomenon of reversibility. Vatican 11 was the twenty-first universal Council of renewal of the Church. And, believe you me, that will not be the last! The saying goes: "The Church is always in need of renewal. "
As if to answer our queries, God himself became a human being, one of us, one among, us. As human history testifies, no human project has any guarantee for the future. God in the flesh joins us to provide the guarantee we are seeking. The guarantee lies not in the hands of humans alone, neither in the hands of God alone, but jointly in the hands of both God and the human!
The joint-1ife of God's Spirit and the human spirit, that is, spirituality, is the
guarantee! (Rom 8:14-16; Gal 4:6) Here we discover the culture that will counter the mono-culture of consumerism. It is the Gospel culture proclaimed by the Incarnate Word of God. The Gospel culture proclaims the vocation of each and every human being to be fully human, fully alive assuming responsibility for setting right the whole cosmic network of our relationships. human and ecological.
Let me share with you my experience in Kuala Lumpur. Together with other religionists, I addressed the issue of globalization from my perspective of Faith in Jesus-Christ, from my own experience and from my own response. I concluded saying that my Faith in God who rooted himself in human flesh, which we have in common with you of other religions, impels me to commit myself to work together with you and with all peoples for an inclusive community.
When I stepped down from the stage, many people flocked to me. They exclaimed: "Bishop, what you just told us, that is what we are looking for!" Upon inquiry I found out the group consisted of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Catholics.
I felt good! We know that despite the long-standing mission of the Church in Asia, Christians are hardly three per cent in Asia. That was because of the Church's exclusive and patronizing approach to mission. Now I feel that my Faith in the God in the flesh is the key to an inclusive community in Asia and in the world.
Spirituality is as natural to Asians as is the patchquilt of diverse religions and cultures that is Asia.
5.3. Incarnational Spirituality.
By spirituality I mean the life and growth of the human spirit. Every human being is born with a human spirit. The growth of the human spirit attains its fullness in psychic maturity. In fact, psychotherapists say that the psyche develops according to certain normative principles which are, in fact, the expressions of the dynamic vitality of the human spirit.
We ask: Will psychic maturity be enough to make a human person meaningfully committed for life to the realization of an inclusive community? Is this prospect within the possibility of the human person without any exterior intervention or help?
Jesus himself answers our query: "I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing. "(Jn 15:5.)
And the psalmist rejoins saying: "Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do its builders labor. " (Ps 127/126).
In categorically stating what he said, Jesus reveals God's wisdom in sending him to become a human being. In and through Jesus, God's Spirit (Jn 7:37-39.) joins our own human spirit to supplement the human spirit's (Jn 15:5.) inadequacy for a lifetime steadfast commitment to the realization of the Father's dream's (Eph 1:9-10; Rev 21:1-5.) for the cosmos: "We wait for a new heaven and a new earth in which justice reigns, according to God's promise " (2 Pt 3:13.) I qualify: God's promise in Christ Jesus, a promise made to those who believe God's presence in our flesh revealed in Jesus-Christ.
The human spirit gives us the power to transcend ourselves but it falls short of taking us to the ultimate goal of this transcendence. The most we can do is "to dream the impossible drean4 and to gaze at the unreachable star." The Incarnate Word of God tells us that for that dream and for that star the Creator created us. But we cannot realize the dream neither can we reach the star by ourselves alone. But jointly with the Spirit of the risen Lord we can. For this union of the Lord's Spirit with our human spirit, the Son of God rooted himself in our human flesh. (Jn 1: 14.)
Self-transcendence is the very heart of any and every spirituality, Christian or not. Asia's world religions recognize and subscribe to self-transcendence as the way to the ultimate goal for which the human spirit exists and aspires to.
We ask: Do people reach the ultimate end even without knowing Jesus-Christ? The mystical experience of non-christian holy men and women gives us a positive answer. Mystical experience is possible without the explicit Faith in Jesus-Christ but not without Faith in God, the Transcendent One. The great theologian Karl Rahner referred to these mystics and holy people as anonymous Christians. But such nomenclature was dropped later. It smacked of the christian patronizing attitude to non-christians.
For us, Christians, Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Through our long Judaeo-Christian story and tradition, God walked with us and brought us to encounter and know Jesus-Christ in Faith.
The one saving God of the cosmos surely must have accompanied also other peoples in their story and tradition. Where God walked with them, there they are accountable to his saving will, in exactly the same way that we are accountable to God in our Judaeo-Christian story and tradition.
Whether God will bring them finally to come to know and believe the God in the flesh - Jesus-Christ - that is God's prerogative, not ours. Ours is to bear witness to our Faith in Jesus-Christ. And should God, through our witnessing, draw them to Jesus-Christ that is still God's prerogative. Our role is likened to that of John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord.(Jn 1:23; Mt 3:2.)
For this reason, Bishop Kenneth Cragg, an Anglican Bishop in South Africa, puts it succinctly and clearly:
"When we approach another people, another culture, another religion, our first task is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy; else we may find ourselves trampling on peoples' dreams. More seriously still, we may forget that God was there before our arrival. "
6. Conclusion.
In the midst of an explosion of ideas today, our confused and troubled world, whether it accepts it or not, is actually searching for an inclusive community. It is within an inclusive community where the whole cosmos and its component parts will enjoy a harmonious relationship with each other for the sake of the life of all and for all, and where the good of all will reign. An inclusive community is the wellspring of a just and lasting peace.
People in different parts of the world, like the recent Seattle demonstration at the meeting of the World Trade Organization, and the Seattle II before the White House, reveal both the malaise of the human heart and its unquenchable thirst for a just and lasting peace. Simply, these phenomena reveal the imperative need for an inclusive community.
In the final analysis, our quest must face the restlessness of the human heart. Unless this restlessness of the human heart is settled, no human being can ever be at rest. Wars, violence, conflicts, dissension, oppression, exploitation, abuse will continue and spread.
The question, therefore, to ask is: "What will settle the restlessness of the human heart?" St. Augustine journeyed for a good part of his life in search of what will satisfy the longings of his human heart. He searched far and wide, high and low. He experienced an increasing restlessness and e
