Article 3 is the last in the series. A Historical Perspective portrays the Church's continuing victory over the world, culminating in the Year 2000 and the advent of the New Springtime.
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There was another reason that the diminished freedom of individual Christians could not be avoided -- the hierarchy needed to protect a generally illiterate Church from the divisions of heresy and argument. To further strengthen the Church, St. Ignatius of Antioch and other reformers promoted the bishop's role as representative of the local Church. Through the first one thousand years, Jesus methodically established his body around the episcopal anchor. This establishment of episcopal authority in the minds of the faithful required almost a millennium to accomplish. In the fifth century, some of the western European clergy proposed a method of evangelizing more of the common people, many of whom were not being reached, especially outside urban areas. They proposed that priests' faculties be increased, allowing them to preach and to prepare young men for Holy Orders. St. Caesarius of Arles used his considerable reputation to promote this increase in priestly powers. The strong opposition he encountered from among his closest episcopal associates illustrated the great difficulties the Church faced carrying out the most elementary mission in the countryside.1 In the ninth and tenth centuries, reformers renewed efforts to expand presbyter faculties, setting the stage for another adventure in God's kingdom. The parish systemDuring the first millennium Church life centred on the urban basilica (under the direct authority of the bishop) and on the nobleman's chapel, attached to his villa for its support and protection. The social climate changed around 1000 A.D. The dawn of the second millennium did not bring the end of the world as many feared and the need for prompt military protection had diminished, leaving grateful commoners free to distance themselves to some extent from the local noble. The lower classes moved the church away from the castle and created the parish. The French monk Raoul Glaber exulted in the year 1003, "It was as if the earth had shaken itself, and everywhere dressed itself in a white garment of churches."2 With their increased faculties, local clergy had sufficient authority to shepherd their flocks in the new setting.3 Local people made the parish church centre of village life, a social-religious system that persevered during the upheavals and movements of the last one thousand years. The parish organization remained in place through all the schisms, and in various forms was taken for granted by all church denominations. It is easy to forget that the parish scarcely existed before the year 1000. Now, with the increased faculties and responsibilities of the priest, the Church had an institution in place to evangelize and disciple rural (and urban) areas much more intensely. The Church needed nearly one thousand years to define the central role of the bishop in each diocese. Similarly, she needed another thousand years to define the priest's central role in each parish. Some writers say the Reformation exaggerated the authority of the priesthood, that "the pendulum swung in the opposite direction" from a time when clergy were despised and ignored for moral laxity.4 They overlooked the fact that the priests' authority in the parish increasing from before the Reformation. The increased faculties assured their authority regardless of lifestyles. (And by no means were all priests were given over to immorality and politics -- far from it.) Protestantism provided an unacknowledged balance, with the pastors of Protestant denominations never quite acquiring the same authority as Catholic priests. Authentic Protestant traditions concerning pastorship gradually permeated Catholic minds and added a greater emphasis to the laity's mission. Pius XII's encyclical letter On The Mystical Body Of Christ revealed that the seeds of the lay mission were already sprouting.5 Contrary forces -- the modern cultureThe world, meanwhile, continued to strive through the second millennium for enlargement of its independence from the Church's authority. As early as the thirteenth century, business leaders sought ways around usury laws and any other 'unprofitable' restraints to the conduct of trade. Although Calvinism did not open the door to the capitalist system, a certain (convenient) interpretation of Calvinism helped many capitalists achieve their goals of great wealth.6 Capitalism reflected a new view of the world, a view so powerful that it created a stable, unconscious way of thinking throughout Europe. This worldview evolved into huge social pressures of subconscious opinion that eventually formed one 'coherent' whole.7 It was made up of three complementary assumptions: (1) that we are separate from nature (instead of placing ourselves in the same creation under God,) leading to (2), subjective understanding of ourselves, and (3), the demand for personal autonomy from authority.8 Objectifying nature encouraged its study by the empirical method. Only those facets of nature that could be observed and mathematically analyzed were considered 'real'. Making nature 'other' also gave it a cult status and led to the nineteenth century Romantic's infatuation with nature. Man's subjective understanding of himself on a ground other than his relationship with God generated the individualism of the modern age and a greatly diminished sense of corporate society, of being responsible for others. In demanding unrestricted liberty, "freedom has been restricted to psychological advantage or social privilege...."9 Modern culture gave something of worth to the Church. "The modern age did further the intrinsic worth of personality, of individual freedom, of responsibility and dignity, of man's inherent potentiality and dignity, of man's inherent potentiality for mutual respect and help."10 We should not be surprised that the modern world's genuine values had been implicit in Christianity from earliest times. For the secular world these benefits ultimately proved insufficient. By the twentieth century secular man had lost his cultural security, which had been derived from nature and knowledge of himself. The interaction of nature and the individual proved destructive. Man lost both a secure place to live in and secure relationships with those around him. As the twentieth century rolled by, the world has maintained little more than a pretence of morality, demonstrating that it could justify any behaviour it found pleasurable or convenient. We entered an era of doublespeak; George Orwell's predictions in his novel 1984 proved true. The late twentieth century faces "a moral and cognitive crises that shows few signs of letting up, though more voices are raised in protest each year...."11 |
Why did God permit such carnage?Religious beliefs are the foundation of our cultures, regardless of the lack of religious fervour in many persons. "The interpretation of religious beliefs and social institutions as different expressions of a common psychological attitude... is no longer so novel as when Max Weber] advanced it. Once stated, indeed, it has the air of a platitude."12 The fusion of religious belief and social attitude is deeply entrenched in each individual's subconscious. Only great upheavals can break the strong grip that old religious cultures hold on the minds of people in each society. Roman Catholic culture lost its grip in Europe and Latin America during the oppressions of fascist regimes, from World War I until the 1980s. European Protestant cultures lost their national characters in the same way. Communists deliberately and successfully undermined the Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic cultures in eastern and central Europe. Secular powers separated American culture from its religious roots. The American Congregationalist culture, (which had evolved into the 'American Way'), crumbled under the weight of unrestrained hedonism. The Far East, meanwhile, is losing a deeply entrenched immaterial religious culture through the onslaught of communism and American materialism. Everywhere Church culture has lost its hold on society, a hold that has kept her divided and disorganized. "Father, may they be one"Jesus prayed to his Father that the Church remain one. Centuries-long schisms could not prevent his prayer from being heard. Through most of the first millennium, the Church used ecumenical councils to heal rifts and define doctrine. After the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787 A.D.), the Eastern Churches recognized no councils convened with the permission of the pope; they withdrew all recognition of the Papacy in 1054. The Council of Florence attempted a union of the eastern and western Churches as the armies of Islam menaced at the gates of Constantinople. However, the rank and file members of the Orthodox Church rejected the union which they regarded as a sell-out by their aristocracy. To the north, circumstances proved more favourable. The Treaty of Brest (1596) sealed the permanent reconciliation with Rome of the Ukrainian bishops subordinate to the Metropolitan of Kiev. Protestant churches in the United States made efforts during the late nineteenth century towards the establishment of a federation of Churches, having already cooperated with each other in dealing with the grave social problems of that era. This proved impossible. The delegates to one 'federation' conference defined the obstacles facing Protestant reunification by noting that such a federation "would be but a cluster of class churches, not one church of all classes."13 As Guardini emphasized, the work of reunification "will make such tremendous demands of man that he could never achieve it by individual initiative or even by the united effort bred to an individualistic way."14 An ecumenical movement, led by such visionaries as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, gathered momentum in the twentieth century and continued a fruitful dialogue.15 Some Christians waited for Armageddon, the great battle which would inaugurate the Lord's reign on earth. Hal Lindsey, in his Late Great Planet Earth, promised that the final battle would rage one generation after the founding of the state of Israel. Not only did the great battle fail to transpire, the evil empire of the north (which Lindsey hypothesised to be the Soviet Union) collapsed on its own.16 The signs of the timesThe Holy Father identifies many signs of hope that reunification can now be achieved. (1) Vatican Council II summed up the work of the Holy Spirit to that point and created a pastoral structure for the Third Millennium; (2) "a greater attention to the voice of the Spirit through the acceptance of charisms and the promotion of the laity; (3) a deeper commitment to the cause of Christian unity and the increased interest in dialogue with other religions and with contemporary culture";17 (4) the increase in persecutions of Christians. (5) Experiments in ecumenism, besides making "possible essential clarifications with regard to the traditional controversies concerning Christology" illustrate the deep desire in the hearts of many Christians to again be one.18 (6) The Pope also cites the lifting of mutual excommunications and, (7) the Council's references to "particular or local Churches gathered around their Bishop as 'Sister Churches'" instead of as 'Separated Brethren'.19 Jesus' prayer in John 17 makes it painfully plain that schism undermines our witness to Jesus' divinity and to the Father's perfect love for us. It also deeply grieves the Holy Spirit. More Christians are convicted than ever of God's demand for genuine unity. During all these tragic centuries, the Universal Church received graces from every orthodox denomination, graces that brought all her different members to life and created a spiritual condition that made reunification possible.20 "The elements of this already-given Church exist, found in their fullness in the Catholic Church and, without this fullness, in the other Communities, where certain features of the Christian mystery have at times been more effectively emphasized."21 The Lord is preparing his Church for reunification, with all members able to live a full life in Christ, functioning as one person, under one visible head.22 The pope will be the only visible sign in a world where every other visible certainty has disappeared. We can no longer trust any other sign -- whether natural, cultural, or from the state. Unity is present in the Papacy while every other sign is gone forever. A number of influential Protestant pastors and teachers have entered the Catholic Church in the last twenty years, all attracted to her life and teaching, often beginning with one aspect that especially attracted them. This small stream of converts could become a flood. Orthodox Churches never abandoned the apostolic tradition as Catholics understand it. Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, expressed by a longing in the faithful, we pray Orthodox hierarchies will overcome the jurisdictional problems stemming from recognizing the primacy of the pope. The New SpringtimeThe Lord has raised up a prophet to prepare a way for the Lord and make his paths straight.23 John Paul's prophecy is to the present age, to conditions as he sees them now. Hear his word: "There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is active in this endeavor [full communion of all the baptized] and he is leading the Church to the full realization of the Father's plan, in conformity with the will of Christ.... Just as he did then, today too Christ calls everyone to renew their commitment to work for full and visible communion."24 United, the Church will manifest a true witness sufficient to convert the world. But even before the Lord begins this new wave of evangelization, we will be able to rejoice in the wholeness of his Body. When the reconciliation occurs, we will sing like the exiles returning from Babylon: When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing. Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them."25 |
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[1] William Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles: the making of a Christian community in late antique Gaul, Cambridge University Press, 1994, p.144 [2] Claudia Sommers, "Scanning the X-Files for God", Catholic Insight, April/97, p.13 [3] L Genicot, Rural Communities in the Medieval West, Baltimore, 1990 p.60 [4] Carter, p.48. [5] "In a natural body the principle of unity unites the parts in such a manner that each lacks its own individual subsistence; on the contrary, in the mystical Body the mutual union, though intrinsic, links the members by a bond which leaves to each the complete enjoyment of his own personality." (Pius XII, On The Mystical Body Of Christ, 61) [6] R.H. Tawney, Forward to Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1958, pp.6-11 [7] In Article 2, I compared this cultural formation to the geological tectonic plates. [8] See Romano Guardini, The End of the Modern World, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1956, Trans. J. Therman and H. Burke, pp.8-50. [9] Guardini, p.122. [10] Guardini, p.120. [11] David Lehman, Signs Of The Times, Deconstruction And The Fall Of Paul De Man, Poseidon Press, New York, 1991, p.267. |
[12] R.H. Tawney, Forward to Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1958, p.5. [13] Aaron I. Abell, The Urban Impact on American Protestantism 1865-1900, reprinted by Archon, Hamden, London, 1962, p.100. [14] Guardini, p.84 . [15] Mary Bosanquet, The Life And Death Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Hodder And Stoughton, 1968. See index under ecumenism. [16] Stephan D. O'Leary, Arguing The Apocalypse, A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric, Oxford University Press, New York, 1994. [17] John Paul II, Toward the Third Millenium, 44,4; Christian Unity 46,7. [18] See John Paul II, Christian Unity 12,1, quoting The Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium 15. See also Unity 55,2. [19] Christian Unity 56. [20] Christian Unity 87. [21] Christian Unity 1. [22] Christian Unity 88-98. [23] John 1:23. [24] Christian Unity 100,2. [25] Psalm 126:1,2. |
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ATTITUDE OF PASSIVITY crept into the ancient Church. It
could not be avoided, because the Church needed to escape
the quagmire of a Jewish culture over-encumbered with
legalistic safeguards to the faith. The Church also needed
the freedom to embrace gentile cultures who found Jewish
customs impossible. Non-Christian Jews co-operated in the
Christian escape from Judaic culture by expelling Christian
Jews from the synagogues after the destruction of the Temple
in 70 A.D. The Church earned her independence from Judaism
at a high price: she lost a sense of assembly, of equal
participation by all members of the congregation, a sense of
equality in her mission.
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