Correspondence
Consumer survey To balance January 30's "Fourteen Reports from file Pews" (an excellent set of pieces), may I suggest that Commonweal follow up with interviews, a la Studs Terkel, with...
...Typology and allegory are associated with reading "for wisdom and delight," but do they really appeal to the modern Catholic...
...By no means is a "Catholic" approach to be identified (and Johnson does not say that it should) with the patristic and medieval use of typology and allegory...
...Yes, it is "indispensable...
...After the homily, Father Macedo invited the children--about a dozen, from toddler to pre-teen--to stand close to the altar, where they watched him with rapt attention...
...Bultmann said it: There is no understanding without a pre-understanding...
...They indicted the c u l t u r e of consumption, not so much for its inequality and "materialism," b u t more for Rs fostering abstracting and utilitarian practices toward ourselves and the rest of creation...
...For Hildegard el Bingen {10981179~ one ot the first and ~eatest medieval mystics, to pray meant to stand at the window of faith, to see, to hear, to respond and to be responsible, This book...
...From the Editors: Luke Timothy John son will respond to the Reverend Murphy and other writers in a future issue...
...a prayerful selection of Hildegard's visionary and prophetic writings, encourages us all to look through the "windows of faith" 2448-0 Hardcover, 104pp.,5%x87a.$13.95 That All May Be One Hierarchy and Participation in the Church Terence L. Nichols...
...BROTHER THOMAS MORE, C.F.X...
...Consumer survey To balance January 30's "Fourteen Reports from file Pews" (an excellent set of pieces), may I suggest that Commonweal follow up with interviews, a la Studs Terkel, with those in the pews-such as "those who drifted in late, who sat with dully blank faces, who didn't sing hymns...
...4. Catholic biblical scholars also participate in what the 1993 Biblical Corn(Continued on page 29) Commonweal 4 February27,1998 sitive, and spiritually informed ways of life...
...I find it very hopeful that priests like this are working the field, with such devotion but so close to the people they serve...
...Before starting Mass he invited visitors to say who we were and where we came from...
...But sometimes, however "responsible" it be, the conclusion scares church authorities, who simply disregard it...
...Alleva on Duvall Richard Alleva's excellent review of The Apostle [January 16] is almost as good as Robert Duvall's extraordinary film...
...David Efroymson...
...Father Macedo's homily was timely, appropriate to the readings, made use Correction • Inthelist of Commonweal Associates that appeared in the February 13 issue, we regret that Joan C. Silva's name was misspelled...
...EORRESPONDENCI (Continued from page 4) mission statement called "actualization" of the biblical text...
...I disagree with none of his observations but wish to add two footnotes...
...Open Catholicism The Tradition at Its Best: Essays in Honor of Gerard S. Sloyan...
...Must hierarchy mean 'Itt AT A~ L dominance, patriarchy, MA, V ,qE and oppression...
...At the kiss of peace almost everyone came over to hug us and welcome us again...
...Louisville, Ky...
...the Presence was certainly Real to him...
...Wolburga Starch, O.S.B., Editor...
...At the moment of consecration, the priest whispered loudly to "please bow," but I peeked beneath my bow to see him not only genuflect on both knees but bow almost to the floor...
...Surely, much of their vision of "the simple life" has been commodified into n u t r i b a r s and Birkenstock sandals...
...The image of screen evangelists provided by Burr Lancaster's Elmer Gantry and more recently Steve Martin's bogus preacher-healer in Leap of Faith is so negative that moviegoers' faith may be challenged in seeing a film present a sincere and effective evangelist...
...5. Johnson's examples are all from the New Testament, understandably for that is a n area of his expertise...
...They d o n ' t have two heads...
...of his own experiences of growing up on a farm, and was keyed to the interests of the mostly Hawaiian congregation...
...In the contemporary movie world, this itself may be a minor miracle...
...The hymns (traditional) were sung with enthusiasm...
...CatholMsm and former students "n,~r,,auic,,,,a,~,~ probes the most crucial : : concepts in the Ca tholic * ;':'~ '~':~ tradition: God, Jesus, Church, ethics, liturgy, religious education, Catholic-Muslim relations, and Catholicism itself...
...It contains a two-week arrangement of morning and evening prayer and essays that provide an introduction to monastic spirituality: 2431 6 Hardcover, 256 pp, 4 74 x 6 '~/< $19,95 Commonweal 2 9 February 27, 1998...
...Does it retain a certain primacy...
...While written primarily for Benedictine oblates, this simple yet elegant prayerbook also gives the unfamiliar user a starting place from which to progress into a more intense practice...
...There are many works of haute vulg, arisation that expose the spiritual value of the literal sense, and also succeed in applying it meaningfully to modem circumstances, "actualizing" it...
...5879-2 Paper,232pp.,Sxg,$19,95 The Windows o f Faith Prayers of Holy Hildegard Hildegard of Bingen...
...Linda M, Maloney, ~. Translator God is self-revealed as "through a window" re those who look to God in faith...
...6. Are Catholic biblical scholars influenced by academe...
...Indeed, multiple meanings are practically a hermeneutical commonplace...
...Historical criticism Some brief observations relative to Luke Timothy Johnson's article [January 16] on Catholic biblical scholarship: 1. I know of no Catholic biblical scholar who would deny "biblical texts having multiple meanings...
...Thanks for a lively and thoughtful article...
...Such a survey would, I believe, "help us better understand what American Catholics [in the pews] believe today...
...B Eugene McCarraher, when not drinking c@ fee at Starbucks, teaches history at the University of Delaware...
...See also the Biblical Commission statement of 1993 (Origins, January 6,1994...
...He greeted us as we entered, showed us to an empty pew, and gave us the song sheets of the day...
...Warm liturgy in Hawaii In response to your "reports from the pews" [January 30], I want to describe a liturgy my husband and I experienced at Sacred Heart Church in the small town of Naalehu on the Big Island of Hawaii on January 18...
...3. Luke Johnson recognizes that "the literal sense of the text is the indispensable instrument of discernment and decision making in the community of faith, and historical criticism continues to play an indispensable role in maintaining the 'otherness' of the text that protects it from manipulation...
...It bodes well for the future of our church, and for our grandchildren...
...Nichols details his notion of participatory hierarchy, grounding it in Scr pture and in Christian tradition...
...2. A historical note: It was not until the second half of this century that Catholic biblical scholars in the United States turned seriously to historical criticism and eventually succeeded in equaling the achievements of their peers...
...d To Nichols the notion ~,~,*i6~.~,a,, of hierarchy as domina- in #It Church tion is distorted, because hierarchy's role is to preserve apostolic teaching and the unity of the Church, and to foster participation and integration...
...It also includes a brief "intellectual autobiography" by Father S]oyan and a bibliography of his writings published during the last terry-five years...
...or with "the Hispanic mother, a black woman who could have been a model, an aged Irishman...
...DONNA M. MIROCHA Saint Paul, Minn...
...ROLAND E. MURPI IY, O.CARM...
...But some k i n d of " s i m p l i c i t y " - - o n e which, like the asceticism of old, aims at restoring a genuine love and pleasure in o u r relation to the material w o r l d - - remains an indispensable source of freedom from the t y r a n n y of cool...
...We have never felt so welcomed anywhere else...
...7. As for die "impasse facing the historical-critical method" (your summary on the contents page): There is no impasse, b u t simply the realization t h a t the "method" has (always had) limitations but is not to be blamed for something that it could never deliver...
...everyone received, and everything was done with great reverence...
...5857-1 Paper, 368 pp., 6 x 9,829,95 Work o f God Benedictine Prayer - } :x Judith Sutera, O.S,B., Editor For those looking for an everyday grounding in Benedictine spirituality and who wish to pray according to the Benedictine style of Liturgy of the Hours, Wed< of God is an ideal resource...
...The lectors, an Asian man and a Caucasian woman, read slowly and well...
...And this despite bitter opposition in certain quarters, involving charges of treason to the faith...
...Washington, D.C...
...REV...
...Readers can go through the literal historical sense to arrive at a spiritual and responsib]e meaning for today...
...With the insight and precision of language we have come to expect from him, Alleva articulates for us feelings we may have experienced during the movie but are less able to put into words...
...then the altar boy put leis made of seashells around the necks of the visitors to this very small community (fewer than forty people in the church...
...Second, Duvall's performance, as Alleva notes, will dominate people's minds as they leave theaters, but even more impressive to me (and perhaps inseparable from the performance) is the film's serious and admiring attitude toward religious faith...
...Personally, I was delighted by Origen on the Song of Songs, b u t married Catholics will resonate more to the interpretation of the Song as inspired love poetry between a man and a woman--gremted that this does not exh a u s t the meaning of the Song, as illustrated by the Spiritual Canticle of the Carmelite friar, Saint John of the Cross...
...First, though Alleva is correct in noting the change in cinematic style halfway through The Apostle--from powerful psychological drama to neardocumentary (what he calls a "stylistic fissure")--this switch is necessary to give viewers a real flavor of evangelism...
...Women were the eucharistic ministers...
...The pastor, young Father Stephen Macedo, with his shaved head and bare feet, could have passed for a karate instructor but for his chasuble...
...Both testaments have their "otherness," but especially is this true of the Old, which is often reduced to a Christological meaning (see also "the Bible II," as in your cartoon on page 3...
...But he was something special...
...and John Raines, Editors This collection of essays honoring Father St0yan Open by his colleagues, friends...
...Of course, b u t also by the Catholic church tradition and ethos...
...Should not one expose the spiritual experience o f / i n the text (for example, psalms) as more compelling and fruitful...
...The writer is professor of philosophy at Saint John's University...
...ROBERT E. LAUDER Jamaica, N.Y...
...Or is ONI there an alternative H;~,~,~hy view of hierarchy...
Vol. 125 • February 1998 • No. 4
