Remembering Ignaz von Döllinger

Today I came upon a good, balanced account of one theologian/historian who has been virtually neglected and forgotten in Catholic history. Dollinger has always been one of my theological heroes though. His famous student, Lord Acton, is well-known for his quote, ""Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" (John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902). The historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887)

A time when conscience collided with Church teaching

Story of the 19th century theologian-priest who refuted infallibility

Thomas Albert Howard

October 1, 2014

HERE

/jkk

Donald Cozzens' Talk at King's

  The well-known author of The Changing Face of the Priesthood and other trailblazing works on reform in the Roman Catholic institution, Donald Cozzens, came to give a lecture at King's. He talked about his hopes and fears for the Francis-era Catholic Church. At the end, he gave three scenarios that may happen in the RCC now: a Catholic springtime, a C. thaw and a C. wintertime. 

  The springtime will take place if Francis' reforms succeed. The thaw (he thinks it is the present ongoing situation) is characterized by conservatives (reactionaries) and progressives keeping a status quo of controlled tension. The wintertime, he think, will happen if the reactionary and very right-wing elements of the church succeed to install a man after their own thinking after Francis. 

  He mentioned several times that Faith is trust and hope and that orthodoxy "masquerading as faith" (his words) is not genuine Faith. Of course, I say a firm "Amen" to that.

  I asked a question at the Q&A time about where does the event of Vatican II enter the picture. I pressed him to comment on my reflection that if a whole ecumenical council (Vatican II with its reforming agenda) was undermined by reactionary forces in the Church, what chances does a lone figure (even though he be Pope Francis) really have? 

  He didn't really seriously answer this question to my satisfaction. He evaluated my remark though as "realism", however, he thinks that he (Cozzens) is more "hopeful" than I am. That doesn't really carry weight, does it? I am also hopeful. I'm just trying to insert a little realism to balance what can be an uncritical optimism.

  In fact, a friend (P.M.)  sent me these remarks which basically run along the same lines as my thoughts.

Cozzens comes across as a very likeable person and a skilled speaker, and I was initially impressed with the idea of a Catholic spring. I appreciated his use of Tillich and his emphasis on faith as trust and hope. But the contrast between "hopefulness" and "realism" (the basis of Cozzens' statement about you) is not helpful, for it equates hope with naïvete. And that is the last message one wants to send today. His emphasis on contemplative prayer as the means to reform the Church is, I think, more of a "pious immigration to the interior" which dodges sticky institutional problems than a recipe for reform. One key institutional problem is how bishops are appointed. Not too long ago, I read that in 1829 there were 646 Latin rite bishops, and only 22 of them were appointed directly by the pope. 555 appointments were controlled by states, and the remainder were appointed by cathedral chapters. I'm not in favor of states controlling the appointment of bishops but there has to be significant local input. The Anglican Church does a better job of choosing bishops than we do. Too many members of the curia think of the curia as a permanent fixture. Popes come and go but the curia is forever. Such curial attitudes do not fit well with a servant church of the poor.

  I will have to add here that the Roman Catholic Church is still practically blind to the reality of "empire" and how it corrupts the message of Jesus. There should be a concerted effort to do "Postcolonial Thought/Analysis 101" throughout the church and particularly among the bishops for them to be aware how the reality of empire and its agenda (aka the often unconscious desire for power and--to echo Cozzens--"privilege") which is, in many significant ways, at loggerheads with the compassionate nature of God's basileia, still very much operative in the church institution, often making it a parody of what God's basileia should not be!

  The burning question is, when the demon of empire is finally and significantly exorcised from the RCC, will it still recognizably remain the RCC? I'm not so sure of that. This is one of the reasons why I had to leave the RCC hierarchical structure. I thought it was structurally and significantly adverse to the basileia tou theou. 

/jkk

Jesus as a Zen-Koan

Wow ... It's been a long hiatus from blogging ... the past year has really been so busy for me. I'll try my best to take up writing again little by little and, more importantly, more regularly ... even just a little but regularly.

I attended the Catholic Theological Society of America annual conference in San Diego held at the beginning of June and one of the things that has really stayed with me was what my friend and colleague Ruben Habito (of Perkins School of Theology) was expounding in his presentation at the Asian/Asian-American Theology Consultation. He suggested that Jesus can be a "Zen Koan." Of course, to understand that, one has to understand first what a Koan is. A Koan is a way of grappling with something that is not usually cognitively penetrable. What it could do to the practitioner of Zen requires that the practitioner swallow it into one's system and let it dissolve there like--Habito adds--an Alka-Seltzer tablet. Then, with continuous engagement, the Koan becomes more and more a part of one's system until it can lead one to SATORI (enlightenment).

Jesus, as well as some other significant sections of Christian doctrine, can also be thought of in a way as not cognitively penetrable. Take teachings such as the divinity and humanity of Christ, the various attributes of God, etc. But if one considers them like Zen-Koans, they become, in a way, understandable. They are actually transformed into ways by which we can penetrate deeper the greatest mysteries of life and of reality. They can act as remarkable paths for us to hold what are usually thought of as irreconcilable entities in a creative and harmonious balance of yin-yang.