George Weigel, Basic Books, 2013
Every so often I read something, be it a book or an article, and I'll say to myself, "Self, this person is saying what I've been feeling but haven't been able put into words." George Weigel's new book, Evangelical Catholicism, is one such book. In it Weigel tries to cut through the politicized and polarized ways many Catholics, in the United States anyway, have tended to view things religious over the last fifty years in order to set in motion the "deep reform" of twenty-first century Catholicism along evangelical lines.
Before going on some definition of terms is needed. Catholics and Main Line Protestants usually hear the word "evangelical" and think Christian fundamentalist, with all that that implies. But what we mean by evangelical is that the central mission of the Church is the spreading of the Gospel message, and leading more people into a personal encounter, and ultimately friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church's mission is not one of self maintenance where the criteria of success is measured purely on how the latest parish capital campaign is going, or if it reached it's quota on the bishop's annual appeal. It's not that these things are unimportant, but rather they are good only in so far as they assist the overall mission of the Church which is the spreading of the Gospel. When things that are ancillary become central, or when the Church gets caught up in theological debates over Her identity, as we will see, then She becomes self referential and irrelevant to the outside world: the very antithesis of what Evangelical Catholicism means.
In recent decades we have seen the Church break into two camps. On one hand you have progressive Catholics, who tend to be somewhat low church when it comes to liturgy, strong in promoting the social justice teachings of the Church while de-emphasizing the teachings on abortion and sexual morality. They are often for a married clergy and women priests, and may be in favor of gay marriage. On the other side you have traditionalist, who, in some cases want to go back to the pre-Vatican II liturgy, and place a greater stress on personal morality, especially on sexual matters, as opposed to the Church's social doctrine. They're for a strict adherence to liturgical regulations and the excommunication of political office holders who publicly descent from Church teachings, especially on abortion. While I have no doubt from reading this book, and some of Weigel's other writings, that his sympathies are more with the traditionalist side, he takes a pox on both your houses approach to this divide. For him both sides exist within a Counter Reformation Catholic framework that sees the Church as She is and either wants to go back to a more stringent observance of "the rules," or else wants to loosen up the reins. But neither model of Church, if you will, is sufficient to confront an ambient culture that is increasingly hostile to Catholic values.
The proper response to this hostile culture is a Catholicism that understands that many, including those who are baptized members of the Church, do not share the traditional Catholic world view. The answer is not to abandon traditional teachings, but to make an appeal from the Gospels as opposed to from ecclesiastical authority. Contemporary Western culture has a mistrust of institutions and authority. To appeal to the Code of Canon Law or a papal pronouncement to defend a position is useless in an argument with someone who doesn't recognize their validity to begin with. But to appeal to the Gospel, Weigel argues, is to change the conversation from one of authority to one of challenge that will prompt a response. It may be a thoughtful rejoinder or it may be hostile, but it will not be indifferent, and hopefully the conversation will continue.
Weigel does not see this process of evangelical reform as something that is just beginning now. He traces its roots to the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878-1903) and sees it progressing through the popes of the twentieth century and leading to Vatican II, with Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI giving it its philosophical and theological character. The book was published just as Pope Benedict was stepping down, but in recent interviews he has said that he sees Pope Francis as following right in line with this evangelical movement.
This really scratches the surface of what the book talks about, so I might revisit it at a later time. I guess what I identified with was this idea that we have come to the end of one historical phase of Catholicism and are now entering into another. Counter Reformation Catholicism was vibrant and powerful; it held the Church together during a difficult period of Her history, and did oversee the evangelization of large parts of the non-European world. But now we face new challenges that demands a new new expression of the faith. Not that the content of the Catholic Faith changes, but how it is communicated and expressed needs to evolve and how it's lived deepened. We must not be content to simply maintain institutions, but have the courage to alter them, or even abandon them for new models if they are no longer effective in serving the Church's central mission of evangelization. This is a frightening proposal, but one that must be taken seriously if the Church is going to be true to Herself, and the Divine Spouse that She serves.
1 comment:
Gorgeous!
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