Pope Benedict XVI is our Holy Father, our spiritual Father but do we really believe that? Does it matter if we don’t? I know that even within the ranks of Catholicism there are a number who do and maybe a lot more who don’t believe it matters. In answer to both questions, there will be positive and negative opinions.
So the din of verbal posturing will continue. To what end?
Jesus insisted that His Father was Our Father, giving a definite family slant to faith in the one, living God. He, the Divine Son, promised and prayed earnestly that we should believe in Him: one in the Father and the Father in Him. Accordingly our faith in Jesus (our baptism into Christ) makes us one in Jesus, and collectively One Spiritual Family.
The first Christians understood this perfectly. The evidence is in Acts that they came together, selling whatever kept them apart. All the faithful had equal status. The leaders gave their lives to the service of the Word. Underpinning this covenanted family was the belief that the second coming of Jesus would come soon and this belief consolidated them in solidarity with one another. They bonded as family both physically and spiritually. Gradually the conviction of imminent parousia must have been lost because the way Christian practice developed, the bonding in solidarity also eroded. St Paul was busy spreading Good News to various cultures all over the Middle East. He was able to sustain the bonding with the original group in Jerusalem somewhat by encouraging communities to give them material support.
More or less, this has continued down the ages. Only now the earthly authority of Christ is in Rome (or so we are led to believe).
It is only now becoming evident to all who have access to the media that Christians are a very divided lot – a dysfunctional family!? Catholics are not of one mind and one finds little constructive faith in the Family of God; the family envisaged by Jesus. Every moral and social issue facing the Church results in a spectrum of voices.
Did erosion of the spiritual Family precede the erosion of family life in societies globally? Or was it the other way around? Either way, knowledge alone is not going to help us turn things around! (According to Einstein: imagination is more important than knowledge!)
There is a degree of entertainment in all the verbal posturing between so-called conservatives and progressives. This is sometimes amusing and oftentimes sad. The focus is always on issues with a subsequent loss of the overall picture of Christianity. We need to be a family trying to find common ground, a solidarity that overrides differences of opinion - opinions and beliefs affecting our choices – so long as the choice has an element of compassion: an overriding will to Love.
This reflection was sparked by a number of sources in The Southern Cross [14-20.04.2010] listed below**
Anthony Egan, SJ sheds some light on the purpose of the Church by saying that: ‘The age of the Church laying down the law for society is over.’ A responsible father does not simply demand obedience. He would find a way to persuade, to enable, to empower the son or daughter to choose that which is beneficial to all concerned. A spiritual father does not condemn, but presents all members with moral values and principles, consistent with his own behaviour, acknowledging that this may not be seen to be a solution but in the long run is beneficial both to the individual and the community at large. He uses charitable persuasion which is consistent with truth so that members make choices freely and autonomously. This is also consistent with the principle of religious freedom.
The whole purpose of the Papacy for me (and all levels of fatherhood arising from it) is to act with the integrity of the Holy Founder. It is this integrity which is seen to be lacking in the eyes of so many. The trusted voice of the Father has been jeopardised by the failure of the Church to work with the laws of the State in the critical area of abuse of minors.
Fr Egan believes – like many of us – that this integrity can be regained with hard work. Who is going to be the hero or heroine to step up to the task?
John Thavis confirms that the Pope’s solution to what is seen as a crisis of faith is to propose that Christianity is a religion of Love, not rules. The pope is endeavouring to lead people back to a love of Truth (God) by showing them a God of Love.
The world (including many Catholics) look only for the inconsistencies between what is taught (said) and how it is lived.
Take as an example the very public papal Easter Mass recently when, in an attempt to rally around the pope in the light of a barrage of criticism, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, said in an unprecedented salutation to Pope Benedict: “Holy Father, the people of God are with you, and they do not allow themselves to be impressed by the current petty gossip, or by the ordeals that occasionally strike the community of believers.”
Horribly unloving!
We have no reason to doubt the journalistic integrity of John Thavis.
We have one God, one Church, one Holy Father but not one faith! The Holy Father needs to lead the dean of the College of Cardinals into the truth of Christianity being a religion of Love.
If a man entrusted with one of the highest positions does not see the wood for the trees, how is integrity to be regained? How are we to turn things around?
The real People of God are in desperate need of a spiritual Father willing to first put his own house in order.
In trying to promote Love and Truth, our Pope has written much about what is not Love. A clear example of what is not love is Cardinal Sodano’s attempt to minimize the survivors of abuse who have been soul raped. It shows neither love for the Pope, for himself or for anyone fighting for some sort of integrity, responsibility and accountability in the matter of abuse by clerics.
I hope the Editor of the Southern Cross is right about Pope Benedict being a Pope whose only aim is to be a shepherd, a teacher and pastor, thus emulating a God of Love. Any Holy Father must be seen to be leading people to God’s Love so as to learn that love is at the centre of our faith.
This becomes very hard to believe when everything is undone by confusing statements emanating from pseudo fathers in the Vatican.
There is no interest for me in speculation about how historians will define this present papacy. What is VITAL to me now is whether we will have a hero stepping up to do whatever is necessary to redefine Christ as our only Messiah – now and forever.
**http://www.scross.co.za/
• Pope Benedict XVI in modern society by Anthony Egan, SJ
• Editorial - Pope Benedict’s legacy
• Pope’s first five years by John Thavis
• Vatican Spin caught the pope unaware by John Thavis
• Tlhgale: Church’s image is ‘in ruins’ Front Page report
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