Faith and the Human Enterprise
Dovle, Dennis M.
shows how often the media have been...
...These provocative "No...
...He also discusses its scriptural un- church becoming truly a world church, inderpinnings, its connection with the culturating the gospel in diverse ways principles of Catholic social teaching, its throughout the globe...
...Opening and closthe same testimony as Berry...
...He believes that intering chapters concerning Vatican II and the pretation of the council must go beyond church...
...19S(1 each laments many elements of the pres- He subordinates Weakland's preferred ent state of the church and seeks a solu- image of the People of God to images that Commonweal 12 March 1993: 19 highlight the Christological nature of the begin the implementation all over again, texts...
...grounds for championing progress in matYet some underlying similarities be- ters such as decentralizing decision maktween Ratzinger and Weakland are worth ing in the church and advancing the role noting...
...ISBN 0-8028-0690-2 the ideological moorings of a high-rank- Ratzinger, in contrast, interprets the Paper, $22.99 ing official within the Catholic church...
...For there the term, formed from velopments falsely linked to the spirit of there is room for hope, because each ac- the Greek root diakon- (whence the thethe council...
...In his address, the reception of "Economic Justice for All" case in which a priest was wrongly accused, archbishop shared with us several personal (1986), the U.S...
...NEWTON MALONY opment...
...and thoroughly researched Of the sixteen documents of Vatican II, work...
...We can't all he investigative journalists...
...The second subtheme is the author's own struggle, as a committed Catholic, to J6_ d . maintain some religious equanimity in "But this is ridiculous...
...E terms...
...Weakland re- Ratzinger to admit this explicitly...
...book...
...The media have been accused, theologians in the U.S...
...the poor...
...His and rightly in some cases, of sensational- Such a moment of enthusiasm (though prophetic righteousness is itself balanced 18: 12 March 1993 Commonweal tion to the church's current dilemmas in We Catholics have nothing to be renewed attention to the documents of ashamed r f' if we are concerned about Vatican II...
...The archbishop conSIGMUND reflection of-and yet challenge to-U.S...
...shows how often the media have been reluctant to report what it knows will incense Catholic readers and nervous advertisers...
...bishops' pastoral for nor does he even appear to imagine such stories that touched upon subjects rang- which Weakland served as the commita possibility...
...Many will read the archbishop's the documents themselves to take further work as the antithesis to The Ratzinger developments into account...
...He acknowledges the enthusiasm church, such as the Body of Christ...
...ing from his background in music to his tee chair...
...but oh, tual New Testament employment of the debate during the council itself, and to what a side...
...In Weak- humble, often social-oriented service (a cardinal: each assesses the interpretation land's favor, he seems more inclined than prevalent and rhetorically influential misof the other to be one-sided...
...that he is far more certain about them than is possible when an apostolic leader ex- Although there is some unavoidable I could be...
...Ministries thus promote the church's most remarkable is the transmutation of the notion of "ministry...
...Similarly, one might find an antic- ergies it has released...
...of the priesthood needs no further explaprovide something as elementary as an or- At the same time, Berry's experience nation...
...We have ones to be ashamed This last similarity, in my mind, is an "An interesting and if we take no steps to find answers, if important one, in that it highlights how important contribution we permit ourselves to he frightened deeply both of these leaders remain part to the study o f Freud by the magnitude of the question, i f we of the same church in the same period of history...
...it was intense and im- ing chapters on Vatican II and the current contradict Berry's conclusions but only say passioned...
...It was a rare instance of what state of the church provide a framework...
...ance of Faith and the Human Enterprise, female, or nonhierarchical clergies...
...And structures that represent the will of Christ...
...He even gives church's mission, social justice, ecuUNCONSCIOUS his own frank assessment of the letter's menism, dialogue with world religions, remany limitations ligious liberty, collegiality, and the PAUL C. VTTZ His essays on the pastoral alone make common priesthood of the faithful...
...Though both Collins argues that our current situa- embody God's gift to the church and mong the remarkable tion, in which the notion of ministry has hence are "charismatic," ministries entail developments in post- been extended rather indiscriminately, a specific and indispensable role of teachVatican II Roman has been promoted in part by question- ing and discernment within the commuCatholicism, one of the able translations of key New Testament nity...
...That Catholics in leadership positions-and by of court testimony, anecdote, rumor, and makes the sexual deviations of its celibate anyone still tempted to dismiss this probopinion is too imposing to dismiss them, clergy hard to set aside as not newswor- lem as a media creation or simply "a few and yet too unsystematic to test them...
...S. F...
...are not equivalent concepts...
...Indeed, Weakland In other words, Weakland interprets cites the book-length interview with the council as having established certain Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the principles and set in motion certain forces Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of in a definite trajectory...
...These pieces, along with some In two instances, this writer has inter- hopes and dreams for the church...
...the face of the ugly deeds he repeatedly confronted...
...This "paradigm shift" in the use of the term "ministry," whereby it has come to signify a universal function constitutive of and incumbent upon all the baptized, would lead many to respond spontaneously to the title of John Collins's book, Are All Christians Ministers?, with a heart-felt "As chairman of the board, I have also appointed myself your spiritual leader.' 20: 12 March 1993 Commonweal...
...RA Nr, RA CIn...
...only remaining similarity between these "Vitz's treatise on Freud's Chris--Rcinhcrt weak-land men seems to be that each wears a Roman tian unconscious is a masterful Faith and the Human Experience collar...
...Nowhere does the book carefully compare the church's record with the experiences of other institutions, like FAITH AND THE HUMAN ENTERPRISE I am sure there were some among us who school systems and the Boy Scouts, other A Post-Vatican II Vision were not so moved) inevitably leads to moprofessions, like psychology and medicine, Rembert G. Weakland ments of critical reflection...
...Yes...
...By contrast, the author's signal con- as authoritative proclaimers of God's John N. Collins tribution to a discussion desperately in need Word of judgment and salvation...
...Yet, while indulging Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ipation of Weakland's approach in many no revisionist reveries, Collins submits the (Lumen gentium), rarely Gaudium et spes of Ratzinger's laments concerning dubi- development to a searching examination which Weakland so favors...
...He wholeheartedly projection of his own dynamics serious interest in the pastoral letter to an endorses Karl Rahner's naming of Vatican into his theory...
...Testament usage upon which it pretends apart from what he sees as one-sided de- In mutual accusations of one-sidedness to depend...
...The cardinal accepts other call 800-253-7.521 benefits of contemporary scholarship with- progressive changes, but he subordinates FAX 616-459-6540 out being primarily scholarly...
...Weakland's approach is of the Hellenistic background and the acthem in the light of only one side of the particular, selective, and one-sided...
...clock, not to the pre-Vatican II period, but by the awareness of a world Catholicism Collins illuminates his fundamental to the texts themselves, as if there had been that offers many contending approaches contention by a nuanced description both no development since then, to interpret to Vatican II...
...Each exhibits the the church...
...The essays offer always subordinated to Berry's own in- sustained intellectual argument and reterpretations...
...What is more im- lauds the image of the church as the mediately topical, however, are the fram- "People of God...
...sistently emphasizes the most socially culture, its troubled marriage between progressive elements of the documents, FREUD'S Enlightenment and Catholic ideals, and its such as the political dimensions of the CHRISTIAN reception in the third world...
...the Word, according to the apostolic mandate, to those at table...
...most progressive change at the council as Each represents a popular but controver- the renewed affirmation of the mystery of At your bookstore, or sial school of thought...
...More, not less, reporting might have served the church well at an early stage in this scandal...
...B. EERDMANS ly lends itself to lavish praise from devotees includes an emphasis on essential church PUBLISHING CO and to harsh criticism from opponents...
...In these presuppositions he finds the ern world...
...El derly examination of what is known and still not known about sexual attraction to minors, the categories researchers and therapists use, the range of misconduct and A PRELATE'S PERSPECTIVE of impact on victims, the current modes of treatment and evidence about their effectiveness...
...Nowhere does Berry report on a Rembert Weakland...
...knowledges, at least implicitly, that there ological note of diakonia or the ecclesial And so there does remain another sim- is more than one side, and that all sides office of deacon), refers not to generic, ilarity between the archbishop and the need to be taken into account...
...essential to its writing...
...2SS IF.FF'I:RtiON AS'F...
...Report (Ignatius, 1985...
...For the car- ous progressive interpretations of the coun- in the light and by the norm of the New dinal, the documents are to be read anew cil...
...Each easi- them to this new focus on mystery, which .335I WM...
...He this a valuable volume...
...ecently I was part of a flection, with a surprising scarcity of perNowhere, in a book citing offenses large gathering of the- sonal stories or specific examples...
...Each offers the reader access to of women...
...I would not only enthusiastic...
...of theological critique lies in his careful Collins further proposes that, in I examination of the New Testament evi- Corinthians 12, Paul differentiates beRobert P. Imbelli dence which leads him to respond with a tween "ministries" and "activities...
...The appearand other religious groups with married, Orbis Books, $14.95, 168 pp...
...For reasons both good and rage that both informs and at points detion of priestly vows to be anything but bad, the Catholic church has become a sym- forms this book, but that was probably tolerant of sexual misdeeds with minors...
...on the Church in the Modern World" works dealing with Freud's The archbishop treats those who have a (Gaudium et spes...
...These explanations are provocative, Certainly the church is a leading advocate This book should be read by all but are they true...
...One is the media's role in exposing and experiences of moderate-to-liberal Here his concern for the poor balances off sexual abuse...
...And so construal today), but to authoritative procmarks that Ratzinger's agenda "seems to I continue my applause for the archbish- lamation and mediation of the saving event be inspired by the desire to turn back the op, though perhaps somewhat tempered that is the gospel of Jesus Christ...
...These a collection of the archbishop's talks and matters are discussed in passing if at all, RDennis M. Doyle articles written over the last decade, ofinserted into the flow of sordid revelations, fers such an opportunity...
...presses and embodies a vision that har- repetition, the material on the economic Two subthemes wind throughout the monizes with the prevailing convictions pastoral reveals Weakland at his best...
...will by his evident capacity to listen to criti- socially progressive "Pastoral Constitution rake its place among the crucial cism and to make necessary adjustments...
...bol of traditional restraints on the libido...
...He holds, for example, that in Acts of the Apostles 6, the Seven are not commissioned to serve at table as lowly functionaries, but authoritatively to minister IS THERE A MINISTER IN THE HOUSE...
...Their task is not social service, but proclamation and instruction as Stephen and Philip's subsequent actions manifest, where they appear ARE ALL CHRISTIANS MINISTERS...
...From a word that was hardly employed before the council-save to refer somewhat suspiciously to Protestant "ministers"-it has become almost universally invoked and applied to a seemingly endless variety of pastoral services and activities, whether directed to "church" or "world...
...thy and easy to report in muckracking rotten apples" whose presence in the ranks Nowhere, for example, does the book tones...
...The Liturgical Press, $11.95, 168 pp...
...There is a depth of moral outtory, and too compromised by the viola- izing this story...
...This is committed over three decades, is there a ologians, mainly Cathol- a rather heady book, not for those in search clear presentation of how society and the ic, who were honoring of feel-good homilies...
...turn our hacks on the poor and forget them as we go about our own mediocre documents of Vatican II are to be inter- -THOMAS S. SZASZ lines, i f we are scared off h" those with preted and implemented, however, the jealously guarded positions of pou'rr...
...Church teachings the Faith, several times, making clear his need to be appropriated and applied withdistance from the cardinal's efforts toward in the framework of contemporary con"restoration" and opposition to the mod- cerns...
...MI[ a...
...The volume is readWeakland quotes most frequently from the able and convincing...
...The material on religion and public policy, form viewed some of the same people and read standing ovation that he received was not the heart of the book...
...church have shifted in understanding these Milwaukee's Archbishop Many chapters discuss the writing and matters...
...in-depth analysis of its historical devel- II's most defining achievement as the -H...
...Berry's accumulation of a strict code of sexual conduct...
...When one asks precisely how the and his work...
...but in a controlled and highly centralized this extension has generated and the enRatzinger frequently cites the text of the way...
...his penchant for abstract analysis...
Vol. 120 • March 1993 • No. 5
