I am concerned by recent declarations and decisions made by Pope Benedict XVI and where he is leading the Roman Catholic Church. I want to say unequivocally that I love the Roman Catholic Church. Whether we like the things she has done, she is the mother church of all Western churches. We would not exist without her. But lately the Pope has been making some other than kind comments about other churches.
Several years ago, Pope John Paul II seemed to be very interested in ecumenicism. He spent a good bit of his time making overtures to Lutherans and Anglicans and historic trips to Orthodox countries in the name of church unity and peace. This was one of the most significant things to come out of the Vatican II Council (and the use of a revised, vernacular Mass liturgy). I was moved to see the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church pray the Lord's Prayer with the Pope--something that was considered nigh unto a heresy for Orthodox believers. At least it was a start. But as the Pope began to age, he began to become more traditional in his statements about Protestants, calling them "lesser brethren."
Now, Pope Benedict has gone against these great decisions of Vatican II. A month or so ago, in an attempt to appease a very traditional Catholic group, he distributed the Tridentine (Latin) Mass to all priests and encouraged them to use it if there were enough parishioners who wised to to have a Latin Mass celebrated in their parish church. Prior to this ruling, bishops were given the right to determine whether or not the Latin Mass would be used. Now any priest can decide to use it or not. Now, I enjoy the Latin Mass. One of my fondest Christmas memories was when I was in college and sang a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. It was all in Latin and wonderful. But I can't imagine doing this every Sunday. At the time I read that the Pope would allow the Tridentine Mass to be celebrated, I was intrigued. Then it got worse.
In an alarming move, Pope Benedict made a recent statement that (1) only Catholics are true Christians; (2) other Christian denominations are “not true churches”; and (3) all non-Catholics lack the “means of salvation.” So, we have gone from "lesser brethren" which I could live with, to completely outside salvation. This is not only alarming, but very disheartening for someone like me who has taken so much from the Catholic faith. I am very ecumenical in my faith, having taken from many traditions--Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Pentecostal, and Methodist. I used to teach a course on church music history and we studied the liturgies of all of these traditions. It was amazing how much Scripture is involved in each of these liturgies. The Spirit of the Lord is truly in these places where His name is glorified and His Word spoken. It is just sad that the Pope has taken the "mother church" back a thousand years. It is as if the Reformation never happened. And even worse for Catholics, it is as if Vatican II never happened.
I am trying to understand all of this and I think that the reason we say we are the only true church or that we become more dogmatic about the least little thing, is that we are insecure about where we are going or what our place in the evolving world will be. You know, the Church of Christ and other Fundamentalist groups have long preached that they are the only true church. But the truth of the matter is the church is wherever we gather together in Jesus' name. I guess I am naive enough to believe that a time will come when the Church will be one again. I wish it were today, but it looks further away today than it did just a few years ago.
So my question is: How do we pray for the unity of the holy, universal Church when we have enough problems with unity in our own fellowships?
BTW, I think that Benedict has the best style of any recent Pope. I mean, the Holy Father wears Prada and Gucci for Pete's sake. I love the hat!
UPDATE & NDY GIG
12 years ago
3 comments:
First of all, I was having a discussion with a Greek Orthodox the other day who informed me, in no uncertain terms, that it was the Catholic Church who broke away from the Greek Orthodox Church, and not the other way around, making the Greek Orthodox Church the first Christian church. I, like you, have always been taught and believed that the Catholic Church was first. I’m now determined to find out why the Orthodox Church believes differently. Probably for the same reason that some Baptists don’t consider themselves to be Protestant. They believe that they broke away before the Protestant Church. Sigh. The things that people waste their time on.
As for your question, of course, I have no idea. In fact, I spent my high school years, as you know, arguing doctrine over frito chilli pies. I don’t know why we do that. Insecurities? Maybe. A complete non-understanding (which is different from misunderstanding) of Jesus’ life, story, and message? Absolutely.
Funny that when it came to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes, Jesus never lined up with any one of them, nor did he ever debate the question of the body rising from the dead, because that was never the point nor what mattered. The only thing he ever debated with them was their oppression of the people around them. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from Jesus. ???
Btw, while I had a great love for JP2, and truly mourned his loss, I had high hopes for the next Pope. I think it would be fair to say that I’m not quite the fan of him that you are.
I wonder what most Roman Catholics think about the Pope's new opinion. And, is this an opinion or was he speaking for the Lord this time?
Well, just because I think he is stylish does not mean I am a fan of B16. I too had hopes that JP2's vision of the church would continue. I guess fear leads us to do things that are not always the wisest.
As for the reason Orthodox Christians consider their church the one and only Church is a long story. But it mainly has to do with politics and geography. As far as I am concerned they both have their reasons to consider themselves the first church, legitimate reasons. The reasons for the Great Schism between the two churches (primacy of the Pope among the other patriarchs, use of unleavened bread for Mass, the interpolation of the filoque into the Nicene Creed, allowing priests to marry in the East, etc.) are a good starting point. But I really think Orthodox Christians believe they are the real church because they got the Gospel first. Antioch, Alexandria, Asia Minor, and Greece are geographically closer to Jerusalem than Rome.
Rome was never a fan of Constantinople for political reasons. When Constantine moved the capital to Byzantium, he elevated the church at Constantinople to equal with the church at Rome. Since Rome was a more ancient church, this offended the Roman side of the church (and also left the Pope to take care of more temporal issues in Rome).
If you want a full catechism of the Orthodox Church, I can help direct you to some sites that delineate their beliefs. Needless to say they are not ecumenical and never have been, unlike Vatican II Catholics.
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