|
 Father
Neuhaus Talks on
Loving the Church
Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things
and author of “Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy and
the Splendor of the Truth” shared with Zenit his thoughts
on thinking with and loving the church and why lack of faith is
the Pope Benedict XVI's greatest challenge.
Father Neuhaus explained that one of the main themes
of his book is St. Ignatius Loyola's exhortation that we should
“think with the church.” He said that the phrse “sentire
cum ecclesia” is a marvelous phrase which means that to think
with the chuch is also to feel with the church and in short, love
the church. If we love the church, then we will her to be, we will
flourish, we will her to succeed in the mission she has been given
by Christ. It is necessary to cultivate the communion of shared
devotion, affection and purpose in a very disciplined way for not
all aspects of the church is lovable, just as we Catholics are not
always lovable. Nonetheless, we are loved by the church and most
particularly by all saints in the Church Triumphant. “Sentinera
cum ecclesia” means being concerned never to betray St. Paul,
St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine, St Thomas, St. Theresa and the faith
for which they and the innumerable others lived and died. He further
stated that for all the inadequcies and sins of the Church and her
leadership in our time, it means always doing one's best support,
and never to undermine, the effectiveness of her teaching ministry.
After all, the church is is the bearer and the embodiment of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, which is nothing less than the story of
the world-without the world and we with is, is lost.
Moreover, Father Neuhaus clarified about his background
as a Lutheran pastor who was known as someone who “spoke truth
over power” and the docility and obedience as typical Catholic
virtues which he extols in his book. “ I hope i am still someone
who speaks truth ver power, although that phrase has in it the temptation
to an arrogant assumption that i have a unique hold of the truth”,
says Father Neuhaus. He pointed out that politics is the realm of
justice while the Church is the relam of love, as Pope Benedict
wrote in “Deus Caritas Est”. This does not mean that
questions of power and politics do not arise in the Church. They
do, but they are alien elements. The Church is constituted by and
for love. Docility and obedience are strong, not weak, virtues.
They require sensitivity and responsiveness to the beloved. In such
a relationship, one may sometimes admonish, reproach and suggest
a better way, but always within the bond of love.
Father Neuhaus also expressed that he is always honored
to be associated with Chesterton, one of the great Catholic sipirits
of modern times. For Father Neuhaus, orthodoxy is a high adventure-intellectually,
spiritually, aesthetically and morally. It is ever so much more
interesting than the smelly conventions that so many, viewing orthodoxy
as a burden, embrace in the dismal ambition to be considered progressive.
He stated further that the Catholic church imposes nothing, she
only proposes as Pope John Paul II wrote in the encyclical “Redemptoris
Missio”. But what the Church proposes is an astonishment beyond
the reach of human imagining -- the coming of the promised Kingdom
of God, and our anticipation of that promise in the life of the
Church. It is a great pity that so many are prepared, even eager,
to settle for something less than this high adventure. He pointed
out then that in the book, Catholic matters, he discussed the preoccupation
with being an "American Catholic" when we should really
want to be "Catholic Americans." Note that the adjective
controls. The really interesting thing is not to accommodate our
way of being Catholic to the fact of our being American but to demonstrate
a distinctively Catholic way of being American.
The main problem in the church today s it has been
from the apostolic era and will be until our Lord's return in glory
is a lack of faith, says Father Neuhaus. Our sinful nature resists,
does not dare to believe, the good news of our salvation now and
forever. This has intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic, moral and
whatever dimensions you want to name. We have turned the high adventure
of discipleship into something dreary, drab and predictable. This
is nowhere so evident as in the long-standing intra-Church squabbles
between left and right, liberals and traditionalists. In the book,
Catholic matters, he referred to the "discontinuants"
of both left and right -- those who speak of a pre-Vatican II Church
and a post-Vatican II Church as though there were two churches.
The alternative is to gratefully and loyally take our place in the
glorious, and sometimes stumbling, march of the one Church through
time to the end of time.
One major theme in the book, Catholic Matters, is
the importance of a revitalized liturgy for renewing Catholic life.
According to Father Neuhaus, the banality of liturgical texts, the
unsingability of music that is deservedly unsung, the hackneyed
New American Bible prescribed for use in the lectionary, the stripped-down
architecture devoted to absence rather than Presence, the homiletical
shoddiness. The heart of what went wrong, however, and the real
need for a "reform of the reform" lies in the fatal misstep
of constructing the liturgical action around our putatively amazing
selves rather than around the surpassing wonder of what Christ is
doing in the Eucharist. All that having been said, however, be assured
that there has never been a second or even a nanosecond in which
I've had second thoughts about entering into full communion with
the Church of Jesus Christ most fully and rightly ordered through
time.
When Pope Benedict VXI got elected, Father Neuhaus
first words were “Deo gratias” and he repeated those
words everyday since. For him, the Pontiff was Pope John Paul intimate
collaborator who has pledged himself to continue and expand John
Paul's initiatives and expecially his teaching initiatives. Pope
Benedict brings an exquisite clarity to the confusions and set forth
the truths by which the Church is constituted, and invite the world
to engage the truthc upon which its future depends. The Pope likewise
brings a pastoral heart and gentle firmness to the controversies
that can turn rancor into reason and recall those who are at odds
with one another to their shared devotion- as in “sentire
cum ecclesia”. Finally, Father Neuhaus stated that the Pope
is not going to straigthen out everything that is wrong with the
Chruch, beginning with ourselves. Our Lord will do that in due course. |
“Jesus’
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