Autor: Little, Joyce

Buch: The Church and the Culture War

Titel: The Church and the Culture War

Stichwort: Pantheon vs. katholische Kirche; katholisch (Wortbedeutung: katha, holis), universal (3 Weisen); Laien

Kurzinhalt: As lay people seek new ways to renew the Catholic faith, they ought to keep before them the three ways in which their faith is "catholic" or universal.

Textausschnitt: THE ROMAN PANTHEON OR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH?

168a The temptation to "inclusivity" is not new. The Roman Empire was quite content to embrace in an altogether inclusive fashion the gods of every people and tribe and ensconce them within the Pantheon alongside the gods of Rome. The Jews and later the Christians refused to allow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be subsumed into the Pantheon. Because of this refusal, we are forever indebted to them. (Fs)

168b Today the temptation is offered again, this time in the form of a multicultural inclusivity which would reduce the Trinity to one "expression of ultimate concern" among many and the Catholic faith to one "belief system" in a world awash in belief systems. The question before us is whether we are going to let our faith be subsumed into today's multicultural pantheon of the gods, or whether we are going to challenge the nihilism of that pantheon with the good news of Jesus Christ. (Fs)

168c As lay people seek new ways to renew the Catholic faith, they ought to keep before them the three ways in which their faith is "catholic" or universal. It is universal in that all are called to be united with God through Jesus Christ. Traditionally this has meant seeking to convert as many people as possible to the Catholic faith. But the faith is also universal in the sense that the truth of Jesus Christ, the truth of the revelation, is true for everyone in every age and culture. This means that everyone and every culture can benefit from this truth, even if not every person or culture is converted to it. For this reason the Pope speaks of the "dialogue of salvation" begun by Vatican II, as intended for the whole world. "Truth, in fact, cannot be confined. Truth is for one and for all."1 (Fs)

169a And this brings us to the third sense in which the Church is universal. "Catholic" comes from two Greek words, kata, meaning "throughout", and holis, meaning "whole". That the Church is "catholic" means that the Church should influence the whole or penetrate the whole of society. Christ used the images of leaven and salt to express this characteristic of the Kingdom of God which is the Church. In this understanding of "catholic", what is important is not so much that everyone become Catholic as that the faith act as a leaven which raises up the whole society or as the salt which gives flavor to every culture it seasons. If the Church is to be catholic in this sense, the laity must make it happen. They are the only ones in a position to make the Catholic faith, in their homes, neighborhoods and jobs, felt throughout the whole of any society in which they live. (Fs) (notabene)

169b I have cited several times here Crossing the Threshold of Hope, because by this unprecedented book, John Paul II has sought to speak directly to every member of the Church and indeed every person in the world. He recognizes that the world needs now, perhaps more than ever, the truth of Jesus Christ. And he recognizes as well that if that truth is to be extended to the whole of the world, lay people must be its primary bearers. (Fs)

169c The revelation is definitive, as the Pope says. And the Pope himself is a symbol of that choice which each person, faced with the revelation, must make. But every lay person can also be the bearer of that revelation, and every lay person, by what he believes and how he acts, can also be a symbol of the choice which must be made. In Crossing the Threshold of Hope, the Pope offers many reasons why we might hope. He also makes it abundantly clear that much of his hope resides in the very people to whom the book is addressed. It remains to us to ensure that his hope is indeed well-placed. (Fs)