Correspondence
Correspondence Perfect practice Stony Brook, N.Y. To the Editors: I was encouraged and gratified to see Donald Evans's article on knowing spiritual reality [July 13]. My experiences in parish...
...At the root of this decision, is a ne-glected ecclesiological issue...
...To admit and to give up our anti-spiritual bias is necessary, but by itself it is not enough...
...Direct- ness" is not commonly seen as morally decisive...
...bank...
...Surely not in any consensus of Catholic theologians that all abortions are immoral...
...Though the bishops seem to have missed it, even the "forms of moral rea- soning" in Catholic moral theology have changed in the past fifteen years on this issue...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...And embryology is pressing us to distinctions between personal and pre- personal life, lending support to St...
...Evans is also correct on the risks of narcissistic inflation for one who has such experiences as he describes...
...If the Mystery of God is the "ocean" in which we are immersed, pastoral ministry becomes in large part the giving of swimming lessons...
...As you'move from Reform to (Continued on page 572) II Commonweal., [ISSN 0010-3330] A Review of Public Affairs, Religion,Literature, and the Arts, is published biweekly, except monthly Christmas-New Year's and July and August, by Commonweal Foundation, 232 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y...
...Would Commonweal speak of "the church's view of contraception," and then allow only for disagreement "with the bishops on what, if anything, should be done about it legally...
...All Canadian and foreign subscriptions must be paid in U.S...
...POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Commonweal, 232 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y...
...But say "abortion," and all that changes...
...Protestant views, Jewish views, and Catholic views...
...My experiences in parish ministry and uni- versity chaplaincy leave me convinced that spiritually hungry people turn from what they consider the empty formalism of Christianity because they have never learned to become, in Evans's words, "aware of themselves as spirit...
...I am convinced that even relatively automatic processes such as perception are at root skilled and active performances...
...Commonweal: 548...
...I would, however, like to make two com- ments: one an extension, the other a cau- tion...
...One can't say everything in one short article, but I wish he had said more about the inevitability of egotistic distortions, and thus about our need for continuing per- sonal guidance...
...dollars by International Money Orderor by check on a U.S...
...and perhaps because of my different viewpoint I would move to the foreground what Evans mentions regu- larly but only incidentally: practice...
...VINCENT RUSH No monolithic view Milwaukee, Wis...
...A person who has never learned to swim simply cannot experience the ocean the way a swimmer does...
...They lead to views...
...The dogmatic symbols of our tradition, the rituals of the com- munity, and the moral imperatives of Christian life all are most effectively communicated to an apprentice by a guide who understands through his or her own skilled experience the proper role of these sources of wisdom and protection...
...Polls find Catholics almost'as differentiating and contextual in judging abortions as other citizens...
...Yearly subscriptions, U.S., $24...
...thus to learn to experience "spiritual reality" is to become adept at a skill...
...Canada, $2~ fo~ign, $29...
...unambiguous tradition supported by a critical historiography of abortionrelated texts, since such does not exist in Catholic scholarship...
...The "direct killing of innocent life" rubric has been reevaluated, thus pulling the main stitch in Cardinal Ber- nardin's "seamless garment...
...Like Judaism, post-Vatican II Catholicism is quadripartite, There are Reform Catho- lics, Conservatives, Orthodox, and Hasidic...
...Commonwealis indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Book Review Index...
...Not at all...
...Ordinary forms of moral reasoning" do not lead to a view...
...10016, Telephone: (212) MU 3-2042...
...AI- phonsus's very traditional judgment that "the fetus is certainly not animated be- fore it is formed...
...It is past time for us Catholics to take a lesson from our parent religion, Judaism...
...10016...
...Correspondence Perfect practice Stony Brook, N.Y...
...Where does Commonweal find this single church view on abortion...
...Canada, $47...
...And surely "the view" does not come from faith since Commonweal says it does not, but purportedly comes from "ordinary forms of moral reasoning common to be- lievers and nonbelievers...
...And there is the rub...
...REV...
...Even conservative theologians, like Richard McCormick, S.J., defend direct abortion to save the life of the woman, and other theologians note that saving her life often means more than saving her physical life...
...Surely not in any consensus on what it is that is being aborted in the first eight weeks when most abortions occur...
...Surely not in an...
...Copyright .9 1984 Commonweal Foundation...
...Special two-year rate: U.S., $43...
...Commonweal, in the company of most Catholic theologians, does not accept the relentlessly reasserted view of the popes and bishops on artificial contraception as "the church's view," and then move on to discussions of "policy implementation" of that one rigorous view on the national scene...
...To the Editors: It is unforgivably late in the debate for Commonweal to editorialize about "the church's view of abortion" --as if there were one church view of all abortions that is normative for all Catholics [September 7...
...Surely not from dialogue with women who have faced abortion decisions, since neither Com-monweal nor the bishops have opened the door to this theological source...
...Surely not in the "sensusfidelium...
...Surely this alleged Catholic "view" does not come from respectful dialogue on abortion with Protestant Christians or Jews since mainline Protestants and Reform Jews generally disagree with a monistic view on abortion, and are waiting for Catholic theologians and bishops to take their views more seriously...
...foreign, $53...
...Spiritual renewal will come only with the emergence of teachers within the church who can say with accurate self-knowledge, "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ" (I Cor 11:1...
...Single copy, $1.25...
...I am a psychologist by training, not a philosopher...
...And one mas- ters skills by guided practice...
...Let me unfold the fallacies in this, beginning, Irishstyle, with a question...
Vol. 111 • October 1984 • No. 18
