Posted on by Kurt Bodling

I could be wrong

“Now in individual cases, it may be that they say something that we find very hard to accept because of our own earnest convictions. Here we must rethink our own positions in the light of what authority has said and, if possible, try to see the reasons why authority has spoken as it did, the presumption being that they had good reasons to do it. However, it may be that with the best will in the world we cannot really convince ourselves that this is right. And if so, we are inevitably thrown into a position of dissent. But I think we must be modest about it and realize that our own opinion is not necessarily the last word. Maybe somebody is wiser than we are. And maybe the church has a wisdom from which we have to learn. So we shouldn’t constitute ourselves as a kind of alternate magisterium.”

Dulles, Avery Cardinal. “Reason, Faith and Theology.” Interviewer: James Martin, SJ.  America. 5 March 2001 issue. Viewed online 12 December 2015 at http://americamagazine.org/issue/338/article/reason-faith-and-theology

I’ve heard two phrases that everyone should have at the ready. One is “I could be wrong” (as above). And the other is “I guess I don’t see it that way.”

The way of humility is paved with phrases like these, not with clinchers, or closers, or zingers, not with shutting down the opposition, or winning at any cost.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

just talk together, already

“First of all, we have to listen to one another and sit down and talk together in a civil spirit. I regret the way in which some go off in a sectarian way within the church and make their own little home in one wing or the other and become either liberal Catholic reformist types or truly adamant conservatives. Then they just tend to shoot across at one another from their trenches. This is not a healthy thing within the church. We have to cultivate the spirit of unity among Catholics and to try to understand one another’s point of view and learn from one another. This would be my hope.”

Avery Cardinal Dulles. “Reason, Faith and Theology.” Interviewer: James Martin, SJ.  America. 5 March 2001 issue. Viewed online 12 December 2015 at http://americamagazine.org/issue/338/article/reason-faith-and-theology

Note: There has to be a better way to live together, says Cardinal Dulles, than in constant sniping, argument, and disagreement. Especially within the Church. You’d think this would be obvious to people whose Leader once prayed to His heavenly Father “that they may be one, as we are one.”

On the other hand, if your first move is to define the other folk out of the Church because they think/say/do something you think they shouldn’t, then I guess you feel like you aren’t violating the Savior’s prayer intention. Not a smart strategy. And you’ll have further to go to get to the point I want to see: cultivating the spirit of unity among all Christians (and not just the Catholics).

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

engage in dialog

“Good Catholics embrace dialogue; it is only our latter-day cafeteria Catholics who think they can omit dialogue from their theology, piety and practice.”

Clooney, Francis X. “Compassion and Dialogue Shall Embrace” America Magazine 27 November 2015 < no page number as it was found online >

Catholics, yes. But also Lutherans. And, really, everyone. Without dialogue what we’re left with is stony-faced, rigid wall-building, or a simmering misunderstanding set to boil over at the slightest provocation. Let’s not omit dialogue.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Living Faith of the Heart

“But the monastic understanding of Jesus is far more than mere correct doctrine about Catholic or ecumenical Christian faith and morality, church and monastery structures, or the correct performance of liturgy and sacraments. It is a life experience. We become ‘like Christ,’ or ‘Christian.’ Perhaps that is why monastics have always been both protectors of orthodoxy and pioneers in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.”

Talbot, John Michael. Blessings of St. Benedict. Collegeville, MN : Liturgical Press, 2011, page 126.

Talbot says that while correct doctrine is necessary, it isn’t enough. That would only be head knowledge of Christ; and it’s important not to forget a heart knowledge of Jesus. I wonder whether he would admit that this “life experience” of the Lord can be gained through immersion in “correct doctrine.” I ask because I have known many folks utterly concerned about protecting “pure doctrine” and orthodoxy, who never wanted to get tainted by being involved in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.