"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."-1 Cor 2:2.

It really would behoove academics to take a hard look at many of their assumptions especially when they spend more time on natural law and casuistry than the gospels. Casuistry is a solid part of Catholic tradition to a certain extent. Moral theologians used casuistry to rescue the faithful from absurd theologians who saw sin everywhere and virtually terrorized people. Similarly, with natural law, academics can show that Christians can be no slouches when it comes to philosophical complexities.

Yet the following of Jesus is much more simple than our learned brethren oftentimes make it . And that includes Augustine, Origin and Thomas, among others. Origin used to complain that he tried to explain the finer points of the faith to people but all they were interested in was “Jesus Crucified.”

Archbishop Dolan of New York expressed consternation recently at the Pew study which showed that people were fine with Jesus and God. But did not like or identify with bishops or the clergy. The faithful still teach the hierarchy of today as well as they taught Origin and others who strayed from what was essential to the mission of Jesus.

Should U.S. bishops resign?

Four Irish bishops resigned and counting over the scandal in Ireland over the coverup of sexual abuse by clergy. Yet only Cardinal Law resigned in the US. How did the US bishops get away with it. We are still waiting for any honest report in New York while the Bridgeport report implicated Egan who suppressed all knowledge of what happened in NY as well.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2009/12/sexual-abuse-irish-bishops-catholic-church/1

Irish Catholic Church covered up abuse, report finds

Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern pauses at a news conference at which he released the report on the churchÂ’s handling of abuse cases. Ahern said he felt "revulsion" when he read the report's finding of a cover-up, which he called "scandal on an astonishing scale." (Peter Morrison / Associated Press / November 26, 2009)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-ireland-abuse27-2009nov27,0,1653487.story
One can rightly say that the number of clergy who abused children correspond to the same percentage in other professions. What is the serious problem is the majority of clergy and hierarchy covered up the abuse. We cannot forget that here is the real problem. For the sake of the hierarchy the cover-up took place. Yet too many of us are concerned about the finances of the dioceses when lawsuits are filed for access to all the files and that the SOL should not be extended. We fall trap to our political Catholicism and equate the quest for justice as an attack on Catholicism. Many of us were alarmed at the story in the New York Times which reported that a priest "in good standing" was guilty of serious abuse. We juridicized it and forgot that when it comes to the gospel abusing children is the ultimate crime. That person would be better if tied to a milestone and thrown into the ocean.

But let's continue to rave about 100 million dollar cathedrals, flowery encyclicals while the children and the downtrodden are thrown to the wolves and death. The status quo prevails and those are termed radical who demand justice. Stockpiles of wealth reign and the children are sacrificed to expediency.

Future of Faith by Harvey Cox

The Future of Faith
by Harvey Cox

The Dawning of the Age of the Spirit
A review by Chris Faatz
In book after book, Harvard University's Harvey Cox has proven himself one of the most astute observers of contemporary religious life. From The Secular City to Fire from Heaven, from Feast of Fools to The Silencing of Leonardo Boff, Cox has persuasively demonstrated depth of knowledge, acquaintance with relevant texts and movements, and an overall inspiring level of both passion and compassion for the peoples of the world and their journeys through the landscape of belief. In his new book, The Future of Faith, Cox takes his wisdom and commitment one step further, painting an engaging and convincing portrait of a Christianity on the verge of something utterly new, completely transformative, and thoroughly grounded in the very best that 2,000 years of the religion has to offer.

Cox's thesis, in short, is that there have been three great ages in the history of Christianity. The first of these, which he calls the Age of Faith, roughly corresponds to the early days of the Christian movement, when followers were less concerned with doctrinal orthodoxy than with living out the great message of liberation and transformation of Jesus of Nazareth. This was a radical and exciting time in the history of the church, the time of martyrs and great theologians, and a period when people of very different ways of practicing Jesus' message coexisted in a broad and diffuse movement. In Cox's words, "as the Christian movement entered the second century, it continued to thrive, sometimes in the face of severe persecution, with a polyglot of theologies and numerous different styles of governance."

The second age, according to Cox, was the Age of Belief. This period was launched in the fourth century with the Church's cozying up to the Roman state in the form of the emperor Constantine, the revolutionary -- or reactionary -- impact of the Council of Nicaea which focused on doctrinal orthodoxy and the reining in of those on the fringes of what was considered theologically proper, and the first persecutions of "heretics" of whatever stripe. The Age of Belief lasted roughly through the middle of the 20th century, and was highlighted by its Eurocentric nature, its commitment to hierarchy and doctrinal correctness, and a commitment to uniform and universal beliefs as set forth in creedal form by the religious powers of the day.

In some ways, this Age of Belief was deeply schizophrenic. While inherently extremely conservative, it also contained such remarkable outpourings of a true and revolutionary faith as the movement launched by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Mystics always make prelates nervous, but it seems they are always with us. They have appeared and reappeared both within the Catholic Church and around its edges every century, sometimes to be banished, sometimes to be burned at the stake, and other times (after they are safely dead), to be canonized.
Overall, though, the Age of Belief was marked by caution and conservatism in the theological arena, a commitment to traditional hierarchies in the area of governance, and a fear of enthusiasm and upheaval in popular religious life. Both fundamentalism and conservative evangelical Christianity arose in the context of the Age of Belief.

But, according to Cox, all of that is set to bust wide open, as we enter the new Age of the Spirit.

The Age of the Spirit is delineated by a new discovery of the reality of the prophetic movement of God in people's lives. It's discernable by the explosive growth of the church in the global south, and by a new and profound commitment to social justice on the part of believers everywhere. Don't get me wrong: the hallmarks of the emerging Age of the Spirit are not universally the same. Rather, it's a kind of return to Cox's "polyglot" of the early church, a movement typified by the coexistence of such diverse trends as Liberation Theology and the massive growth of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches throughout the world. Change is coming fast.
[D]uring the past few decades the demography of Christianity has changed, shifting dramatically to the south and east. The population numbers tell the story. In 1900, fully 90 percent of Christians lived in Europe or the United States. Today 60 percent live in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, and that figure will probably rise to 67 percent by 2025. About 1975, Christianity ceased to be a "Western" religion.
Cox goes on to assert:
This is not just a geographical issue. It means that the new homelands of the faith of Jesus of Nazareth are not the inheritors of either Greek philosophy or Roman civilization. They have minimal interest in the metaphysical issues that obsessed such early Christian theologians as Origen and Athanasius. In Asia their cultures have been nurtured not by Homer and Plato, but by the Ramayana, the Sutras, and the Tao Te Ching. In Africa they have been maintained by a congeries of local rituals, customary healing rites, and the veneration of ancestors. Nor is this recent dislocation mainly cultural or religious. It also has to do with justice. Since the vast majority of people in this "new Christendom" are neither white nor well-off, their theological questions center less on the existence or nonexistence of God or the metaphysical nature of Christ than on why poverty and hunger still stalk God's world. It is little wonder that liberation theology, the most creative theological movement of the twentieth century, did not originate in Marburg or Yale, but in the tar-paper shacks of Brazil and the slums of South Korea.
One of the highlights of this book is just this, Cox's commitment to, and his elaboration of, the prophetic vision of social justice as a core element of this new movement of the spirit. We're tempted to think in boxes, and while it's easy and logical to recognize the commitment of such religious radicals as adherents of Liberation Theology to such a vision, we're unlikely to see such a perspective in movements of charismatic or Pentecostal Christians. This, however, has changed in the last several decades. Pentecostals in Africa and Latin America, thoroughly committed to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in all things, are also finding themselves thoroughly committed to the radical discipleship modeled by Jesus of Nazareth and his followers, challenging structures of power and oppression in a multitude of new and creative ways.

The Future of Faith is a slim book, but it's huge in scope. It ranges widely, and cogently argues a case for our entering a new Age of the Spirit where the reality of God's Kingdom of Shalom, his reign of peace and justice, is becoming more and more a central commitment for believers of all stripes. We are moved by and in the Spirit to transform our lives in the image of Jesus; we are moved by and in the Spirit to transform the world in the image of justice. This is a beautiful and deeply inspiring vision, one that excites believers internationally, and challenges them to rise above the dusty bounds of tradition. Early in the book, Cox proclaims:
The Old Testament cycle begins with creation and ends with the renovation of the world into a commonwealth of shalom, a place of justice and peace. This is a very large promise for which the promised land of Canaan is mere foreshadowing, a sort of down payment. This enlarged promise is not just to Jews, but to everyone. Also, according to some of the most lyrical passages in the Hebrew scriptures, it includes the whole creation, the plants and animals, the seas and stars. This means that one way to see the mystery of space-time is to view it as an unfinished narrative, a work in progress. It can be seen as a process in which the new, the surprising, and the unexpected constantly emerge. It means we live in a world whose potential is yet to be fulfilled.
And to this, a hearty Amen.

The Overture to the Anglican dissidents

“But if, in conscience, some [Anglicans] want to become Catholics, we cannot shut the door,” Kasper said. “We must respect freedom of conscience and of religion. There are also some Catholics who want to become Anglicans, and we have to respect that too.”

Can you imagine? Times are a changing. Next thing Benedict will revise his Assissi condemnations. You know that praying together thing. John Allen’s article is very good and comprehensive. http://ncronline.org/news/what-vaticans-welcome-anglicans-means# He reports rather than opines which he should stick to.

The paradox of this possible event is that it will bring us back to the early Christian church where there was real diversity before the Orthodox/Constantinian ax fell. So maybe we should not get upset that the framework is anti-women and anti-gay. The fact that diverse communities will be allowed in Catholic Christendom on this wide a scale is a paradigm change. So much good can come out of this. Not least of which will be the softening of the orthdox hammer and the emphasis on faith in Christian communities rather than conformity. Once you allow diversity it will be hard to stop. This does not mean a lack of ethics but rather a respect for the Spirit which is the quintessential Christian quality.

The Christian Church and Torture

Can we finally address this as a failure of Christian leadership. When even the amiable Archbishop Dolan of New York talks about "prudential judgment" we know he is continuing a long history of abuse from the Christian church. It is acknowledged that Augustine was the justification for the use of force to control heretics. When will we acknowledge that the clergy has too often encouraged the use of violence rather than seeking more peaceful ways.

Her are the words Augustine used; nisi hoc terrore perculisi -- under the terror of this danger. By "terrorizing" the Donatists (Augustine's word) they would return to the church and be faithful Catholics.

What an uproar over a commencement speech at Notre Dame by the President of the United States. But only words with no follow-up when it comes to criticizing terrorizing prisoners. Again the bishops fail.

Obedience, orthodoxy and the Holy Spirit

Emperors, kings, presidents and prime ministers have always demanded obedience over truth. It is a more comfortable way of governing even if it leads to more serious problems. This is why heresy has always been the number one sin in the church because it essentially challenges orthodoxy. Governing which respects the rights of others is more uncomfortable than suppressing any dissidence. This is why we have the restorationists led by John Paul II since the council. It is easier to go back to absolute obedience than to be a St Paul and work hard with the churches to bring the life of Christ into the communities.

The whole saga of the Legionairres of Christ show us that we need hard word and indomitable spirit (not dominating) to build the church. It is easier to use the guillotine than the carrot. A leader who ends up crucified is not a model but is considered a failure. Yet look what he built. He clearly had many problems with orthodoxy.

In defense of an honest Catholic history

Isn’t this the problem we face within the church where so many Catholic historians, present and past, have fudged or altered history in the name of preserving the faith. We have made saints out of some very dubious people to say the least. Up to Vatican II the clergy had us all convinced that most of the popes were good which is doubtful at best. Third, we were lied to about the treatment of heretics until John Paul II officially apologized for their treatment. (Benedict never approved of those apologies) Fourth, the Jews were officially in hell until the Second Vatican Council said no. Fifth, for most of our history Constantine and Charlemagne were eulogized as saints tho thankfully never declared so. The Vatican still believes Europe is the predestined continent and no thank you for the Tukey country. Etc.

The lack of true history colors our outlook, the way we look at the clergy and our overall theology. It is still a prodigious lacuna in Catholic academia.

Benedict XVI and Empire

The New York Times notes that with instant communication nowadays such as the internet and blogs the Vatican got caught by surprise at how the whole world turned on it in fierce criticism. Especially Germany.

That is only a small part of it. Remember throughout the centuries emperors, kings and princes enforced compliance with the church. When force was no longer fashionable secular leaders were happy to spin for the church in exchange for support. That unique guy Angelo Roncalli explicitly set out to change that noting how secular rulers unduly influenced the church.

Lacking the old means the restorationist papacies that followed John XXIII latched on to automotons such as LC, Opus Dei, who vowed unquestioned obedience. In exchange Rome overlooked their obvious deficiencies. Couple that with the appointment of vastly incompetent but LOYAL bishops who wooed wealthy far rightists with attention and honors.

So Rome is more directly responsible for the scandals that ensued. So much was overlooked as long as their was no overt resistance or disobedience.

Empire continues to attempt to dominate. It is a horror or whore. But it is our whore. We must push for its reform not sentimentalize into inaction.













http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,605945,00.html

Should Pope Benedict Resign?

From the whispers in the Loggia.

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2009/02/communication-breakdown-vatican-edition.html

"As frustrated as the pope may be about the continuing debate, at least one Vatican insider thinks Benedict may even consider turning in his resignation. Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of the German language staff at Radio Vatican, said the pope “has his back to the wall,” in comments to German radio. “As I know the pope,” he said, “then it is certainly possible that he has thought to himself: ‘At some point I might have to step down so that the papacy is respected.’”
Horrifying is when children are abused and the poor do not have the gospel preached to them.
We should feel for all that are in pain. But too much pain has come from this peritus turned dogmatist. Nobody wanted the job more than Joe R. The truth is he has been very heartless with many in the church. Over orthodoxy not orthopraxy. He is finding there is more accountability as pope. No more wondering whether it is he or John Paul.

I find it something how you believe he is the best for the job. Maybe all of us long consciously to re-enter the womb of the hierarchy.

He should resign and let the bishops be bishops of the people. Not automotons of Rome.

Votf calls on Bishops to resign

Here is Votf’s latest call for specific bishops resignation:

“We call on those leaders who failed to protect the well-being of our children by knowingly and secretly transferring predator priests from parish to parish without informing the laity to resign their current office or position of authority on or before June 30th, 2009.

It is our position that in cases where bishops, despite the weight of evidence against them, refuse to resign their offices, Pope Benedict XVI should request their resignations. As examples, we cite five current bishops where records from public documents, court testimony, and multiple survivor accounts clearly indicate “culpable negligence … with harm to another …” and thus have a clear obligation to the Body of Christ to resign: Cardinal Francis George, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Bishop William F. Murphy, Bishop John B. McCormack, and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk. In addition, Cardinal Bernard Law should resign from all ecclesial positions he currently holds in Rome.”

Here is the documentation. http://www.votf.org/resignation.pdf

For the complete press release.
http://www.votf.org/Press/pressrelease/010709.html

Erie Benedictines: Standing by Joan Chittister

Erie Benedictines: Why we said no to the Vatican demand
August 2001


In this press statement, Benedictine Sr. Christine Vladimiroff, prioress of
Joan Chittister’s Erie, Pa., community, explained their deliberations with the
Vatican. For more background, visit www.eriebenedictines.com
For the past three months I have been in deliberations with Vatican officials
regarding Sister Joan Chittister’s participation in the Women’s Ordination
Worldwide First International Conference, June 29 to July 1, Dublin, Ireland.
The Vatican believed her participation to be in opposition to its decree
(Ordinatio Sacerdotalis) that priestly ordination will never be conferred on
women in the Roman Catholic Church and must, therefore, never be discussed.
The Vatican ordered me to prohibit Sister Joan from attending the conference
where she is a main speaker.
I spent many hours discussing the issue with Sister Joan and traveled to Rome
to dialogue about it with Vatican officials. I sought the advice of bishops,
religious leaders, canonists, other prioresses, and most importantly, my
religious community, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie. I spent many hours in
communal and personal prayer.
After much deliberation and prayer, I concluded that I would decline the
request of the Vatican. It is out of the Benedictine, or monastic, tradition
of obedience that I formed my decision. There is a fundamental difference in
the understanding of obedience in the monastic tradition and that which is
being used by the Vatican. Benedictine authority and obedience are achieved
through dialogue between a member and her prioress in a spirit of
co-responsibility, always in the context of community. The role of the
prioress in a Benedictine community is to be a center of unity and a guide in
the seeking of God. While lived in community, it is the individual member who
does the seeking.
Sister Joan Chittister, who has lived the monastic life with faith and
fidelity for 50 years, must make her own decision based on her sense of
Church, her monastic profession and her own personal integrity. I do not see
her participation in this conference as “a source of scandal to the faithful”
as the Vatican alleges. I think the faithful can be scandalized when honest
attempts to discuss questions of import to the church are forbidden.
I presented my decision to the community and read the letter that I was
sending to the Vatican. 127 members of 128 eligible members of the Benedictine
Sisters of Erie freely supported this decision by each signing her name to
that letter. Sister Joan addressed the Dublin conference with the blessing of
the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.
My decision should in no way indicate a lack of communion with the Church. I
am trying to remain faithful to the role of the 1500-year-old monastic
tradition within the larger Church. We trace our tradition to the early Desert
Fathers and Mothers of the fourth century who lived on the margin of society
in order to be a prayerful and questioning presence to both church and
society. Benedictine communities of men and women were never intended to be
part of the hierarchical or clerical status of the Church, but to stand apart
from this structure and offer a different voice. Only if we do this can we
live the gift that we are for the Church. Only in this way can we be faithful
to the gift that women have within the Church.
© 2001, Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pa.

Pax Christi finds Christ's little ones.

Report and photos from December 2-5 delegation to Haiti
Patrick Cashio, Pax Christi USA national staff, went to Haiti December 2-5 to meet with Pax Christi Haii leadership, document their program in Cite Soleil and shoot video and take photos of their program. We will be posting video in the weeks to come, but currently have posted this short report on the delegation and photos from the trip.

The great Jesuit theologian, Ignacio Ellacuria (one of the Jesuits killed in the 1989 University of Central America massacre in El Salvador) said
that the truest understanding of reality comes from "coproanalysis" (literally the study of feces), a medical term he employed as a metaphor for understanding the true health of a society based on the "waste" of civilization--namely examining the status of the poor and discarded of the world to really gauge the health of our world. So imagine a city by the sea built for about 200,000 people--but with 3,000,000 crammed into it. Imagine the trash that piles up. Imagine the overwhelming smell of human excrement and trash flowing through the slums. Imagine people selling everything imaginable--from fruit to cell phones--on every crowded corner. Imagine UN soldiers patrolling your streets armed and ready to "keep peace." Imagine people that have been threatened, killed, or forced into working in sweatshops. Imagine a people that are so proud of their independence but the history and presence of political violence subjects them to a humiliatingly handicapped municipal infrastructure. This is the feces of the west. This is the feces of the U.S. This is the feces of power. This is the feces of capitalism.

Pax Christi Haiti has an impressive and ambitious program focused in Cite Soleil (Sun City), one of the poorest slums in the capital city Port-au-Prince. About 18 months ago after two years of extreme violence and gang wars in Cite Soleil, Junior St. Vil and Daniel Tillias, Pax Christi Haiti's executive and program directors, decided that if a culture of peace was to be cultivated in Haiti, it must start in Cite Soleil. Their program now has about 85 kids representing about 75% of the neighborhoods in Cite Soleil.

The kids come as a package of needs. Most of these kids need to be fed. Money and resources are scarce for many of these families and anywhere that kids can eat is well worth it. Tuition help is also a crucial need for keeping these kids in school. Pax Christi Haiti's soccer program provides them with an outlet and a space to practice non-violence with themselves and others.

With a very small room, one fluorescent desk lamp, one table, one dry erase board, one full book case, and one chalk board, the children of Cite Soleil try and do their homework and wait patiently for a meal that may or may not be provided for them today. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the teams have soccer practice and usually always get fed. On Sunday morning, the directors lead a peace and nonviolence workshop for the teams and any other kids that show up. The hope is that through modeling new behaviors for kids a culture of peacefulness and reconciliation will spring up around the other children in Cite Soleil. Also this program hopes to redefine for Port-au-Prince and Haiti what kind of children and people can come from the poorest slum in their country.

Here is a quick message from Daniel Tillias, the program director, shortly after my return from Haiti:

"Again thank you very much for this time spent among us that gave us hope that our work will have more voice and more resources for the cause of peace. I feel bad that you could not be in the yesterday game with the category of 13 years old. This was so great to see these angels playing for their neighborhood in a spirit that reflects the philosophy that we try teaching them. We won the game, but the best victory for me is that these kids are happy and they feel confidence in a staff that can lead them to something more positive in their future than what they have experienced in the past."

http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_Events_more.asp?id=1492