ARTICLES

It's the One True Church -- For Me

Faith-talk at St. Dominic's

By Stephen Frankini

"Have you ever felt like you don't fit in your own Church?" "Are you frustrated by the tensions between different points of view?" "Would you like to understand what each perspective offers the Church?" "Would you like to help us all grow closer together?"

The above questions appeared on a flyer handed to me after Mass at St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco. It advertised a three-session dialogue (to be held February 5, 12, and 19) between conservative and liberal Catholics, with the goals of learning the roots of the tensions within the Church and how to deal with those tensions. It sounded like a worthy experiment, so I attended all three sessions. Much of it consisted of speakers, two self-labeled conservatives (Tim and Carey) and two self-labeled liberals (Scott and Tiffany), sharing personal experiences and giving presentations about how to dialogue. They noted that they did not want to debate particular issues, but to come to a greater understanding of each other's "approach to faith."

At the first meeting, Scott Moyer, head of St. Dominic's Adult Faith Formation, started us off discussing various obstacles to our unity -- encouraging us to listen to opposing points of view. He tried to put us in the right frame of mind by quoting writer Anne Lamott -- "you can safely assume you have created God in your own image, if God hates the same people you do."

Following some advice from Tiffany on how to have an enriching dialogue, we had the opportunity to practice our own dialogue skills. She asked us to break up into groups of at most four people and discuss Luke 11:14-20, 23, where Jesus exorcises a demon and people accuse Him of casting it out by the power of Beelzebub. The passage ended: "he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters." One man in my group complained Jesus was being "needlessly divisive" and "polarizing." I asked him if his problem was with Jesus' words or people's interpretation of the passage. He said he thought there was an error in the translation. I asked him if he claimed there's a translation error every time he doesn't like what Scripture says and asked him how he determines what is true and what is not. He replied, "I don't deny what Scripture says, I simply question it." He had no explanation for how he determines the difference between truth and error but went on at great length about how errors creep into the Church with the passage of time. After emerging from our groups, the same man asked Tiffany how Jesus' words, "if you are not with me, you are against me," are compatible with the concept of dialogue. Tiffany replied that he was assuming that the other person is against Christ because the other person disagrees with him. "As long as we're listening and talking and discussing and bringing God along, then we're not against each other," she said.

Carey talked about how the two sides often use different words but mean the same thing. For example, liberals think conservatives are "rigid," but conservatives would describe the same trait as "faithful to the magisterium." She disapproved of definitions of liberal and conservative, based on issues; there is more to us than that. "Each of us may simply have a part of the puzzle," she said.

One man in the audience said, "you'd be shocked how many people hold on to Catholic myths that have been thrown out by Vatican II. [Like] how people are supposed to treat those from other religions, for example, and the role of the laity." He noted that this was a Dominican parish and his was a Jesuit parish. "Does this mean we're divided? There are Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans, yet they're all Catholic," he noted.

In a discussion about labels, someone suggested that instead of "conservative" he preferred the term "orthodox." But, a "liberal" then objected to being called "unorthodox." Another audience member argued the term "orthodox" doesn't apply, because having a particular view won't necessarily put you "outside the Church." Tim cited the quote from St. Augustine: "in essentials unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

Near the end of the meeting, one bold woman warned, "the Church is not a democracy. It requires obedience. The Son of God was obedient unto death. Why should it be any different for any of us? It is up to us to go humbly through the documents of the Church until we understand and accept Christ's teachings".

At the second meeting on February 12, without any reference to grace and free-will, Tim talked about different psychological factors that affect one's approach to faith -- including personality, negative and positive influences, exposure to other points of view, and sheer circumstance. The four speakers then sat side by side to share personal experiences. Throughout the series, the four showed not a trace of animosity or tension towards each other.

The first panelist, Carey, said that, at one point in her life, when discerning if she wanted to remain a Catholic, her mother told her the Catholic Church is the One True Church. She also did not want to give up Mary as her Mother by becoming Protestant.

Tiffany claimed she was very devout in grade school, going to confession every two weeks. "And what did I confess?" she said with a mocking tone of voice, "things like swearing or fighting with my mother." Paulist priests at her college instructed her on how to develop her conscience. "It was liberating!" she exclaimed. "I became an individual and a rebel, not being simply what my parents want me to be." She finished by quoting her brother: "the Church is a big circus, and there's enough room for all the acts."

Scott shared with us that in college he had a faith that he "did" and not a faith that he "believed." He attributed his pre-college indifference to the Bible and to the fact that he was "just given a bunch of rules." He said he "struggles" with Church teaching, such as the prohibition on the ordination of women. He claimed to be pro-life, though he doesn't think we should legislate morality. Nevertheless, he said he supports First Resort -- a "compassionate" pregnancy counseling center. One self-criticism he acknowledged is that he dismisses old ideas too quickly, though he thinks conservatives dismiss new ideas too quickly. One Lent, he "challenged" himself to go to confession. From that experience he learned that traditional isn't synonymous with bad. The Church's teachings on social justice and the role of the laity give him an opportunity to be both traditional and radical.

Tim, showing off his Cardinal Ratzinger coffee mug, claimed some might quibble with his calling himself a conservative. He never questioned going to Mass but "grew up with every liturgical aberration." He said he loves the "smells, bells and pageantry of it all." He entered the seminary but found he was the only conservative. He attributed his conservatism to a reaction against the "rigid liberalism" he grew up with. Briefly addressing what may be the philosophical root of the divisions, he stated, "amidst all the dialogue there is an objective truth and that truth is God." He said he loves to argue about religion, and sometimes "one of us is right and one of us is wrong".

One man asked the liberals how they justify their dissent from Church teaching. Tiffany responded that she "struggles" with the abortion issue. But she doesn't want to tell others what to believe. "I'm not God after all. It is O.K. with my conscience." After further explanation, she stated, "I know that's not a black and white answer, but the Paulists taught me to talk in colors." She continued, "some people say the Catholic Church is the one true Church. It is. For me".

Someone else asked how one should proceed when one disagrees with the Church.

"Understand the question," Scott answered. "A lot of Church teaching is hard to understand. You can't just read one document. Even when you understand the Church's teaching on homosexuality, you must ask yourself, 'what does that mean?' 'How do I talk about that with my friends?'"

Tim answered, "if I disagree with the Church, I ask myself what I am not understanding."

Scott lamented that although Church documents are very complex, people rarely read them. "If the Church would explain its views better, it might not seem so harsh," he said, and blamed harsh interpretations on the media.

At the February 19 meeting, Scott reiterated that liberals may say the same thing but say it in different ways. We hope to "gain a respect for what the Church does offer. We don't want to accept the Church in an unhealthy way, nor reject the Church in an unhealthy way. Hopefully, we all recognize the complexity of it all." He discussed inclusive/exclusive language positions as an example, noting that gender exclusivity was not part of Old English, but started to enter the English language in the 1500s to show male superiority over women.

We again broke up into small groups to discuss factors that affect our approach to faith. I asked one man if he thought the magisterium of the Church changes. He said, "of course. Take for example the death penalty and limbo." He labeled himself a conservative, because he comes from a strict, traditional family.

A woman in my group shared that she doesn't believe the Church's teaching on homosexuality and abortion. People are born homosexual, she said. I asked her if she thought Scripture was inspired. She said emphatically, "yes, but they didn't have all the data."

Apparently we do use words in different ways.

Tim and Scott then both discussed the meanings of the words, "deposit," "doctrine," "dogma," "discipline," and "devotion." Scott explained that doctrines are statements of faith "that may change over time." For example, Mary's assumption may have been considered doctrine until it is defined as dogma. Limbo used to be a doctrine of the Church, but it is not talked about anymore. "Doctrines are not considered infallible, they may become infallible.... The concept of doctrine is really complex." To bolster his claim about the complexity of Church doctrine Scott cited Archbishop Fulton Sheen: "there are not 100 people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church; there are millions who hate what they wrongly believe the Catholic Church to be."

In the balanced manner so characteristic of the series, Tim said liberals tend to believe the minimum, whereas conservatives might mistakenly say dissenters are "outside the Church".

Someone asked how the Catechism of the Catholic Church fits in. Tim answered that it contains elements of the deposit, doctrine, and dogma. It was not promulgated as an infallible document, but as a compendium containing various levels of teaching.

Tim explained discipline doesn't touch on the teaching of the Church, but on practical living, such as not eating meat on Friday. In the middle ages, he said, most people ate meat only at celebrations; so a similar practice for us, as an example, might be to abstain from champagne.

Speaking on the subject of conscience, Tiffany said people often ask her how she can be a liberal and a Catholic at the same time. She explained, "I'm not done.... I'm still learning and praying about it. Ask other people their opinion. Don't debate them. Dialogue with them."

Scott quoted the former Dominican master general, Father Timothy Radcliffe, saying, "dogma doesn't make it all clear. Dogma pushes you beyond positions that are too small. Heresies are when you settle for something too tiny. Dogma isn't giving you the answer. It's pushing you beyond the small answers. Dogma is provocative."

We were given a handout concerning the proper manner of interpreting magisterial documents. Some interesting points were: "no text is self-evident, nor self-interpreting, nor selfapplying (all texts need to be first translated, read, understood, interpreted and then applied);" "errors are 'corrected' and/or teaching is 'changed' not by saying 'we were wrong' but by ceasing to repeat a certain position, e.g., the teaching that interest-taking was intrinsically evil;" "Even some teachings that have been 'frequently repeated' over a long period of time still can be changed (e.g., the teaching on freedom and religion, which was explicitly condemned by Gregory XVI and Pius IX, but which was affirmed by Vatican II in Dignitatis humanæ);" "a magisterial text might function a bit like a musical score: the notes, time, value, key etc., are all given, but the level of 'perfection' in the execution of the score depends much on the virtuosity of the performer."

Frances Peterson, an attendee who describes herself as conservative and traditional, yet open minded, commented, "the meeting was beneficial as it helped us get beyond stereotypes and divisive labels and fostered understanding. The panelists had a lot of courage, integrity, and humility. The conservative panelists appeared almost apologetic, which is sad since they are the ones who seemed most informed, in union with, and loyal to, the Church's teachings."

Bonnie Soong, a self-labeled "centrist," commented, "I did not necessarily like the panel's 'story' approach because the subjective appeal of each person was based on presentation rather than content. My position is that the Catechism defines our Catholicism; therefore, it, by design, is central: neither skewed left nor right. I don't agree that dissenting opinion from the Church is equally valuable with the magisterium."

Asked if she thinks liberals and conservatives are saying the same thing, but in different words, Bonnie replied, "absolutely not. I find that a strange statement."

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