Theology Today - Vol 42, No. 4 - January 1986 - BOOK REVIEW - Church: Charism and Power-Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church

520 - Church: Charism and Power-Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church

Church: Charism and Power-Liberation
Theology and the Institutional Church
By Leonardo Boff
New York, Crossroad, 1985. 182 pp. $14.95.

Theologians encounter many contradictions when they apply Roman Catholic social teaching to the social reality of the Roman Catholic Church itself. The ancient principle of subsidiarity, which demands that higher authority not intervene in the operation of smaller units unless they are unable to attend to their own needs, favors de-centralization. In antiquity, the Catholic Church respected this principle. Since the centralization of the Church in the papacy, the principle of subsidiarity has not been applied nor has it been a topic of reflection in the official ecclesiologies.

Recent church teaching, especially through John Paul II, has emphasized that people are meant to be subjects, not objects, in the social organizations to which they belong. Workers are to be subjects, not objects, of the productive process. People are meant to participate in the important organizational decisions that affect their lives. Again, that Christians are to be subjects in the Church and hence co-responsible for the important ecclesiastical decisions has not been taken seriously in the official Catholic ecclesiologies. The recent emphasis of Roman Catholic social teaching on human rights, and civil liberties has not given rise to serious reflection of what this means for Catholics in the Catholic Church.

Leonardo Boff's new book, a collection of essays on ecclesiological topics, is an attempt to deal with these contradictions. The book is written wholly from within the Roman Catholic tradition; the arguments it proposes have validity in Catholic theology; and while the book is very critical of the authoritarianism in the Church, it faithfully defends the Catholic tradition of ministries and sacraments. What is new and startling for the North American reader is Boff's reliance on his pastoral experience in Latin America, in particular on the emergence of base communities as cells of new life in the Church.

The present book offers serious theological reflection on the nature and reality of Roman Catholicism. Boff presents a dialectical under-

521 - Church: Charism and Power-Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church

standing of the Church that affirms simultaneously, despite the tension, the "is" and the "ought" of Catholicism. Catholicism is defined as the earthly mediation of the Gospel; at the same time the Gospel stands above Catholicism, judges it, and summons the Church to become a more faithful mediator. Catholicism becomes pathological when the dialectical tension is dissolved, that is, when the inherited structures of mediation are identified with the Gospel. Boff also acknowledges the prophetic temptation to proclaim the "ought" of the Church in disregard of the "is," the inherited structures of mediation. He himself does not want to fall into the latter temptation.

There are a few sections in the book when the contrast between the old, inherited Church and the new, emerging Church is made into a dichotomy. The old has to be rejected, and the new must be embraced. Since Boff does not want to fall into the prophetic temptation, the reader regrets that these sections have not been worded more carefully. They, too, should reflect his dialectical principle.

The radical tone of Boff's book is derived from his Latin American experience. He believes that the Church is in need of conversion. Reform is too weak a word for him. His insistence on conversion is derived from the Latin American Bishops Conference of Puebla (1979), which demanded the conversion of the whole Church to the preferential option of the poor and called for the Church's "self-evangelization," that is, the testing of its institutional life in terms of participation and community. Boff is not a lonely scholar dreaming of a new Church; he is a theologian deeply involved in the Church's pastoral ministry.

The class structure of Latin America, the tragic gap between the wealthy sector and the impoverished masses, confronts the Catholic Church with a radical "either/or." Whom shall the Church serve? Can it serve both the minority and the majority, at the same time? Boff argues that the time has come, thanks to the intervention of the Spirit, for the Church to opt for the victims of society, for the poor, for the great masses. Salvation comes to the rich only as they stand in solidarity with the poor.

Boff's book has not been well received at Rome. Cardinal Ratzinger has censored the book. According to press reports, Boff has been told not to write and publish for a while. However, the problems raised by him will not go away. They are generated by two historical factors, the pastoral experience of the Church in Latin America and the contradiction between the Church's social teaching and its own practice. This interesting book makes an excellent beginning of an inquiry that will continue in the Church of Rome.

Gregory Baum
St. Michael's College
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario