386 - The Riddle Of Roman Catholicism

The Riddle Of Roman Catholicism
By Jaroslav Pelikan
272 pp. New York, Abingdon Press, 1959. $4.00.

Not in many years has a book appeared on the subject of Roman Catholicism which is so significant and worthy of study as this volume. Here is a scholarly and objective treatment of a difficult and delicate topic. It is the work of a man who studied for a period of time in a Roman Catholic institution. The Riddle of Roman Catholicism combines in Tare and balanced measure both criticism and appreciation.

In the course of the three Sections into which the book is divided "The Evolution of Roman Catholicism," "The Genius of Roman Catholicism," and "A Theological Approach to Roman Catholicism"-the author provides ample material to justify his use of the term "Riddle" in the title. For the Roman Catholic Church he finds is in every respect a deep enigma, a profound mystery.

I

Professor Pelikan draws attention to several contemporary developments in Roman Catholicism which are highly significant. Throughout the Roman Catholic world today fresh attention for example is being devoted to the study of the Bible. For the first time in history the Scriptures are being translated into several vernacular tongues from the original Hebrew and Greek with the official blessing and backing of the Church. The laity moreover are encouraged to read the Scriptures. Two special achievements should be referred to in addition to what is said by Dr. Pelikan. Some most admirable work in the field of Bible translation has recently been done by Roman Catholic scholars. In 1944 there was published in Madrid a complete and extraordinarily fine Spanish translation of the Old and New Testament by two Roman Catholic scholars, Nacar and Colunga. In 1958 a French translation of the New Testament was published in Paris. It was the work of the group of Roman Catholic scholars who form "L'Ecole Biblique" of Jerusalem. It is a striking fact, perchance one phase of the "riddle," that not yet has a Roman Catholic translation of the Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek been published in the English language. The outstanding translation by Father Knox, which was first published in one volume and with due ecclesiastical authority, in 1955, was "a translation from the Latin Vulgate in the light of the Hebrew and Greek originals."

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No less interesting and significant is the spirit of self-examination which has recently manifested itself in Roman Catholic circles. Professor Pelikan senses a "restlessness" in certain quarters. The question of the adequacy of the Thomistic theology is being raised. Concern is being expressed regarding the Church's relationship to contemporary culture and to the form in which it communicates its faith. It might be added that, especially in France and in the United States, Roman Catholic thinkers have become increasingly critical of, and concerned regarding, the particular character of Hispanic Catholicism as found in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. Protestant Churches have very much to learn from the new heart searching that is going on in the Roman Communion.

Another development worthy of note is the encouragement being given to Roman Catholic clergymen of recognized stature to participate in the discussion of important issues along with Protestants, Greek Catholics, Jews, and others. This trend, to-ether with the awakened interest in the ecumenical movement which has become manifest in Roman circles, tends to break down the Church's traditional aloofness from everything and everyone claiming to be Christian outside the Roman tradition. Very significant in this regard, the present reviewer would suggest, is the rediscovery and use of the term "ecumenical," in high Roman Catholic circles. There is also observable an increasing tendency to drop the term "Roman" and to monopolize the term "Catholic" in all references to the Church. Whatever may be thought of this trend, it is most important that intelligent and friendly dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestants continue. For in human relations, and very especially in relations between Christians, there can be no substitute for face to face encounter. No question should ever be regarded as too difficult or delicate to form the subject of conversation.

II

The central problem of Roman Catholicism became clearer, just as its "riddle" became more complex and enigmatic, in the period following what our author justly designates, the "tragic" Council of Trent. The reflections which follow are a personal contribution of the reviewer to the discussion of the "riddle." They are based upon the potent influence of the Hispanic spirit upon the Mother Church.

The Council of Trent, which was dominated by the followers of that extraordinary Spaniard, Ignatius de Loyola, went far beyond the classical Catholic tradition by making the Roman and the institutional in that tradition the supreme object of loyalty. From now onwards tile Organizational Church, the Church as an institution, was to be the Church of Christ and his representative upon earth.

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The subjective and the mystical, however Christo-centric, came under suspicion.

In the great Cathedral of Cordoba in Southern Spain there is a strikingly significant painting, full of theological meaning. The crucified Christ and the cross upon which he hangs both bend in obeisance before a dark robed representative of the Church. What idea did the artist mean to convey? The Redeemer of mankind, having completed his work, bowed himself out of history, and retired to the celestial places. The Church took over in Christ's name. It assumed his authority. The words of the Grand Inquistor, "we will finish thy work in thy name," are a true interpretation of the contractual authority claimed by the Roman Catholic Church.

The institutional Church became the center of glorification. Obedience to Christ became obedience to the Church. The logic of a tremendous claim moved inexorably forward on the road of history. The authority of Scripture and Tradition moved progressively into a secondary role. In the course of time the human head of the Church was proclaimed to be infallible; the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to. have been sinless from the hour of her birth. Our Lady was subsequently acclaimed as having been translated bodily into Paradise, there to assume divinely delegated prerogatives. It will not be long undoubtedly before she, the Church's supreme creation, is declared to be coredemptrix with the God-man, the one and only Lord and Saviour, to whom she gave birth.

While he continues to be the heart of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ as a free, potent, contemporary reality does not for Roman Catholicism exercise effective unmediated Lordship, whether over the Church or the world or the individual human spirit. Between the Risen Christ and the human situation, whether it be the problems of the soul or the welfare of the nations, stand the Church and Our Lady. Within history it is they who are in effective control.

III

In the judgment of this reviewer, here is the essential "riddle" of Roman Catholicism. "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour," as he was designated in the ancient fish symbol (ichthus) of the early Christian Church, is both adored and ignored. His Real Presence is mediated eucharistically in the Roman Mass but under severe ecclesiastical control. Christ's human concern is suggested aesthetically by the symbol of the "sacred heart," a creation of the seventeenth century. He will return to earth judicially at the last day. But in the meantime the Redeemer of mankind has no direct unmediated relationship to men and history. "The Crown Rights of Jesus Christ," that dynamic spiritual battle cry

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which inspired Protestant Christians and Churches in crucial moments of history, has ceased to have meaning.

What can only be described as a supreme aberration from Biblical and classical Christianity has resulted in two post-Tridentine manifestations. First, that glorious Christ-centered evangelical mysticism which marked the lives of so many of the medieval saints, Francis of Assisi, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, became condemned, was discouraged, and is no more. The great tradition of direct, uninhibited communion with the Risen Christ, which goes back to St. Paul, disappeared progressively in the Roman communion. It was replaced by a devotional life that in a mediated way became centered in the Eucharist, or that found its supreme popular expression in an unmediated devotion to Mary. In the meantime, that profoundly evangelical Christo-centric mysticism, which marked pre-Tridcntine Catholicism passed into and enriched the devotional life of Protestant Christianity.

Second, visions of the Virgin began to replace visions of Christ, who became increasingly remote and unrelated to the events of history. The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared as an ethnic reality; the Virgin of Lourdes as a therapeutic reality; the Virgin of Fatima as a cosmic, history making reality.

Once again the Hispanic Catholic tradition, which has been under criticism in certain Roman Catholic circles in France and the United States, has provided the needed symbol for the new Mario-centric development of Roman Catholic theology and devotion in our time. For the Virgin of Fatima, in accordance with the symbolism which adorns her shrine on a Portuguese plateau, has been crowned by the Holy Trinity. Our Lady has been constituted The Executive Director of Deity in everything that relates to humanity. She controls all life and history. Moreover, according to a distinguished Roman Catholic thinker, writing in a book which appeared a few years ago under the title Mary and Modern Man, it is the humanity of Mary and not the humanity of Christ that must be taken as the inspiration and pattern of true human selfhood.

In the new Mariology the "riddle" of Roman Catholicism reaches its highest degree of complexity. It is the potent growth of the Fatima cult, together with the progressive deposition of Jesus Christ from direct relationship to human life, that constitutes the supreme spiritual issue between Roman and non-Roman Christianity today.

By knowledge and by temperament, the distinguished author of The Riddle of Roman Catholicism is unusually fitted to lead the way in shedding light upon the particular phases of the "riddle" which, to the reviewer of his outstanding book, appear to have basic relevance.

John A. Mackay
Chevy Chase, Maryland