Apr 29th 2017

A Recovery Plan For the Catholic Church

by Charles J. Reid, Jr.

Charles J. Reid, Jr. was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he majored in Latin, Classics, and History, and also did substantial coursework in classical Greek and modern European languages. It was during his undergraduate days that he developed an interest in canon law, doing a year of directed research in Roman and canon law under the supervision of James Brundage. Reid then attended the Catholic University of America, where he earned J.D. and J.C.L. (license in canon law) degrees. During his time at Catholic University, he organized a series of symposia on the bishops' pastoral letter on nuclear arms. The proceedings of these symposia were published under Reid's editorship as "Peace in a Nuclear Age: The Bishops' Pastoral Letter in Perspective" (Catholic University of America Press, 1986). This book was called by the New York Times "among the most scholarly and unsettling of responses" to the pastoral letter (December 28, 1986).Reid then attended Cornell University, where he earned a Ph.D. in the history of medieval law under the supervision of Brian Tierney. His thesis at Cornell was on the Christian, medieval origins of the western concept of individual rights. Over the last ten years, he has published a number of articles on the history of western rights thought, and is currently completing work on a book manuscript addressing this question.In 1991, Reid was appointed research associate in law and history at the Emory University School of Law, where he has worked closely with Harold Berman on the history of western law. He collaborated with Professor Berman on articles on the Lutheran legal science of the sixteenth century, the English legal science of the seventeenth century, and the flawed premises of Max Weber's legal historiography.While at Emory, Reid has also pursued a research agenda involving scholarship on the history of western notions of individual rights; the history of liberty of conscience in America; and the natural-law foundations of the jurisprudence of Judge John Noonan. He has also published articles on various aspects of the history of the English common law. He has had the chance to apply legal history in a forensic setting, serving as an expert witness in litigation involving the religious significance of Christian burial. Additionally, Reid has taught a seminar on the contribution of medieval canon law to the shaping of western constitutionalism.  Recently, Reid has become a featured blogger at the Huffington Post on current issues where religion, law and politics intersect.

Gabriel Moran has spent a lifetime laboring on Catholic themes. He was a member of the Christian Brothers until the age of fifty, when he left that religious order to marry. Even after this shift in vocations, Moran remained committed to Catholic concerns in his position as a professor of education at New York University. He has thus brought a wealth of experience and learning to his most recent book, “Missed Opportunities: Rethinking the Catholic Tradition.”

The work begins by frankly acknowledging the crisis the Catholic Church encounters in the early years of the twenty-first century. When we speak of crisis, however, we should always do so with some perspective. The Church is old enough to count as crises the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the West, the Great Schism, the Protestant Reformation, and the French Revolution. Each of these events, while a crisis, was also simultaneously an important turning point: the Church reframed its institutions, modified its organization, and, yes, even adapted its ideals and doctrines, to accommodate shifting realities.

Moran’s book rests on the premise that the Catholic Church is faced with another such turning point, especially in the English-speaking countries and in Western Europe. In the United States, the number of Catholics, at least on paper, seems to be holding steady. But probe very deeply, and you begin to wonder whether those numbers have a Potemkin-quality to them. The number of baptisms are down across the United States, as are confirmations. The number of Catholic marriages has declined precipitously. Amazingly enough, even Catholic burials have fallen. And some of the steepest declines have occurred in so-called “conservative” dioceses and archdioceses, which like to imagine themselves as the vanguard of some “new evangelization.”

Moran would very much like to revitalize the Church. Writing from a generally progressive persuasion, he begins by proposing that the very idea of “tradition” needs re-imagining. In contemporary Catholic thought, the term has grown “stunted” (p. 2), being seen as a mere “piling up of human practices” (p. 3), to which unquestioned loyalty is assumed.

Tradition is a term, Moran contends, that must be redefined and reinvigorated. Tradition has a richness to it, and a diversity that is overlooked not only by its opponents, but even more by its chief defenders. It is an ongoing, centuries-long conversation with the world about the great, perennial moral and political questions. Moran gives the example of the Catholic Church and war. The tradition is far more complex than most people realize. He acknowledges the early Church’s opposition to war and military service; he takes account of the emergence of just-war thinking in the middle ages. But he also appreciates that there is another side to this story. Thus he takes steady note of the pacifist tradition that evolved alongside the concept of the just war. There was Meister Eckhart in the fourteenth century; there was Desiderius Erasmus in the first years of the sixteenth century; in the twentieth century, one encounters Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. St. John XXIII’s prophetic encyclical, Pacem in Terris, fits within this alternative narrative (pp. 136-151).

Moran, in other words, does not “load the dice.” He has not picked a winner in a long, long process of debate, discernment, and disagreement. He makes clear that some of the most important developments on the subject of war and violence were not the result of the formal teachings of popes and bishops, but were, rather, the product of activist Catholics, moved to respond to the horror of armed conflict in their own times and places. And he emphasizes that there is not one right answer to the moral problem of war, but rather a tradition that points in two directions at once. It is up to us to choose.

We might also look at Moran’s treatment of contraception. He wishes to bring to bear on this question his expansive understanding of tradition, and what he takes to be the sensus fidelium, the sound opinion of the Catholic people. The Church’s present institutional position on contraception is said to be grounded on natural law. So Moran begins with the idea of nature. First, he argues that there is no such thing as “natural birth” (p. 47). Human beings have taken many steps over the years to ensure that the process of birth is safer for both mother and child. The use of contraception might be seen as one more development in this continuum.

Along these lines, Moran notes that Pope Pius XII in 1958 authorized the use for the treatment of hormonal disorders the use of medication that had the effect of preventing pregnancy. Moran would like to utilize these arguments to reopen the debate on contraception.

This a compellingly important proposal. If surveys are to be believed, it is the case that a majority, probably a large majority, of Catholic families of child-bearing years use contraceptives for at least a portion of their marriages. It is also true that many other Catholics have left the Church over the question of birth control. The institutional Church, Moran pleads, must recognize what the Church in the pews already knows: that most Catholics have concluded, as a matter of conscience, that contraception and Catholic marriage are compatible.

This observation leads to Moran’s most general, but perhaps also his most important point: the institutional Church must rethink what it means by “teaching.” In recent decades, especially in America and in other Western countries, Catholic teaching has come to be equated with Catholic doctrine. Catholics, it is said, to be Catholics in good standing, must know and observe a number of propositions about their faith, as they relate to belief and to behavior.

For Moran, who has spent a lifetime in the education profession, this definition of teaching represents a narrow and misleading way to conceive of what is really a multi-dimensional phenomenon. Teaching embraces many human endeavors. If institutional Church leaders reflected on it, they would realize that there are many ways the Church — understood not as bishops and priests alone but as the entire body of believers — teach. Catholics teach when they tell stories, when they seek or grant forgiveness, when they look after the needs of the vulnerable, when they mourn their dead, welcome the new generation, or when they talk to one another in the marketplace of ideas. Catholic leaders, who have come to see teaching as nothing more than formal declarations of doctrine, must remind themselves that all Catholics teach, and that their lessons might prove valuable. Moran does not wish to overturn hierarchies, but he sees great advantages in a hierarchy that actively listens, watches, and learns, as well as preaches.

Moran has written a timely and important work. It is the fruit of decades of involvement in Catholic matters, and can really be described as a set of recommendations offered not in anger or in frustration, but out of a deep love for the Catholic Church. And for sure, the Catholic Church is an important world-wide institution, a voice of conscience and morality. But its well-being is threatened by a narrow, bunker mentality. Moran would bring Catholics out of the bunkers, and back into the daylight to engage the world with vigor, enthusiasm, and originality. We should pay attention to this work.

 


This article is brought to you by the author who owns the copyright to the text.

Should you want to support the author’s creative work you can use the PayPal “Donate” button below.

Your donation is a transaction between you and the author. The proceeds go directly to the author’s PayPal account in full less PayPal’s commission.

Facts & Arts neither receives information about you, nor of your donation, nor does Facts & Arts receive a commission.

Facts & Arts does not pay the author, nor takes paid by the author, for the posting of the author's material on Facts & Arts. Facts & Arts finances its operations by selling advertising space.

 

 

Browse articles by author

More Essays

Nov 28th 2024
EXTRACT: "Researchers analysed data from two major prostate cancer prevention trials, linking them with Medicare health records to track outcomes for over 29,000 participants. Among these, nearly 4,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Of this group, 655 underwent surgery to remove the prostate (prostatectomy), 1,056 received radiotherapy, and 2,235 did not receive treatment."
Nov 17th 2024
EXTRACT: "The weight-loss jab Wegovy made its debut on June 4 2021. It was the first new weight-loss drug to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration since 2014. There has been a lot of excitement since the launch. Not only is the drug extremely effective (people lose about 15% of their body weight in a year), it also appears to have many benefits beyond just weight loss. It’s worth noting that the drug (generic name: semaglutide) was first used to treat diabetes, and indeed is still a blockbuster diabetes drug. So that’s two benefits already. Let’s look at some of the other potential benefits. Here are eight (and the list isn’t exhaustive)."
Oct 11th 2024
EXTRACTS: "Between 1939 and 1945, around 10% of concentration camp guards were women, yet these Aufseherinnen (overseers) as they were known, barely feature in Holocaust history or literature." ------ "One little Aufseherin, twenty years old, who had so little knowledge that she said 'excuse me' when walking in front of a prisoner, and who was visibly frightened by the first round of brutality she saw, needed exactly four days to adjust her tone and procedures, although it was totally new to her." ----- " 'The most frightening news brought about by the Holocaust and by what we learned of its perpetrators was not the likelihood that ‘this’ could be done to us, but the idea that we could do it.' ---- The true horror of genocide is found in the similarity between us and the perpetrators, not in the difference."
Oct 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "In 1928, Walt Disney's fledgling animation studio lost most of its staff to a rival company, his two latest cartoons had not found a buyer, and he had had to sell his car to meet payroll.  Disney's innovative response changed his industry, and American popular culture."
Sep 26th 2024
EXTRACT: "When it comes to economic policy, Carter is sometimes blamed for excessive regulation, government spending, and runaway inflation. His successor, Ronald Reagan, is often credited with ending the era of “big government.” But the conventional narrative fails to acknowledge that it was Carter who launched the deregulatory push that bore fruit during the Reagan years."
Sep 26th 2024
EXTRACT: "Buffett's status as the Oracle of Omaha stemmed from his ability to develop the wisdom and judgment that transformed him from a good conceptual investor into an exceptional experimental one."
Sep 26th 2024
EXTRACT: "Last year, a social-media trend featured women asking men how often they thought about the Roman Empire. The answer, it seemed, was “very”: many men claimed that the ancient empire crossed their minds weekly or even daily. That did not surprise Mike Duncan, the host of the popular 'History of Rome' podcast, and probably not Tom Holland, who has written multiple bestselling books on the topic. Mary Beard certainly understands the popular fascination, too. Her study of ancient Rome – together with her unpretentious style and brash charisma – has made her what one observer called 'a national treasure, and easily the world’s most famous classicist.' ” ----- "Beard challenges this mythology of whiteness, arguing in her 2016 book SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome that the story of the Roman Empire, which was necessarily ethnically diverse, is 'the history of people of color'. In fact, the book concludes with Emperor Caracalla’s grant of citizenship to all the empire’s subjects. The old Roman aristocracy lost its privileges, because it had not shared them."
Sep 22nd 2024
EXTRACTS: "Since the golden age of Athenian democracy, freedom of speech has been viewed as a defining feature of open societies, even as it remains under constant attack. The Athenians believed that the proper functioning of government depended on free and honest exchange of ideas, no matter how controversial or unpopular. In ancient Rome, by contrast, only senators enjoyed anything resembling free speech – and even then, as the statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero learned the hard way, speaking out could have deadly consequences." ----- "In our hyper-connected world, where mobile phones outnumber people and most of the global population has internet access, the decline of traditional news outlets has deepened our dependence on social media. As opaque algorithms shape the news we consume and our perception of reality, the corporations and oligarchs controlling these platforms pose a growing threat to free speech. Although they claim to be its ultimate defenders, their business model, by amplifying disinformation and identity-based grievances for profit, renounces the responsibility that sustains it."
Jul 27th 2024
EXTRACT: "Some conservative intellectuals think the west has already adopted Christianity-lite. Many point to the book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind (2019), by historian Tom Holland. Holland argues that despite declining religious belief, Christian ideas remain central to western civilisation. He views liberalism – our dominant political philosophy – as secularised Christianity. For him, core western ideas, like universal human rights, equality and dignity, stem from Christianity."
Jul 26th 2024
EXTRACTS: "We often hear about the importance of the human microbiome – the vast collection of bacteria and fungi that live on and inside us – when it comes to our health. But there’s another, equally important part of this microbial community that remains far less known: the virome." ----- "Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth, with an estimated 10³¹ viral particles globally and about 10¹³ in each human being." ----- "Understanding the virome could revolutionise medicine and public health."
Jul 16th 2024
EXTRACTS: "Trump joins tens of thousands of Americans treated for non-fatal gunshot wounds each year. Such experiences can shatter people’s assumptions that they are living in a safe, understandable and controllable world, leaving them feeling unworthy, unsafe and unsure. As a result, survivors of non-fatal gun violence face increased risks of depression, anxiety, substance use and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD can feel overwhelming." ---- ".... some trauma survivors experience post-traumatic growth. They may develop greater empathy, stronger relationships, deeper spirituality and find new meaning in life. After being shot in 1981, the then president Ronald Reagan’s trauma seemed to deepen his sense of empathy and humility. He felt God had spared him for a reason, spurring him to reduce nuclear tensions with the Soviet Union."
Jul 15th 2024
EXTRACTS: "Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose are not metabolised by the human body so they are excreted – this is what makes them low-calorie sugar alternatives. And that’s where the environmental problem begins. Current wastewater treatment plants are unable to remove these sugar mimics, meaning they end up in our environment – in our water, rivers and soil." --- "Forever chemicals are increasingly present in our streams, rivers and oceans – most notably per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that don’t degrade. PFAS are synthetic chemicals found in many consumer products, including skincare products, cosmetics and waterproof clothing. PFAS can remain in the human body for many years, and some present significant risks to our health – potentially causing liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, infertility and cancer."
Jul 3rd 2024
EXTRACTS: "Psychologist, James Hillman had concerns about what I like to call the 'loneliness-as-pathology' "---- "....Hillman went on to argue...: 'If loneliness is an archetypal sense built into us all from the very beginning, then, to be alive is also to be lonely. Loneliness, therefore, will come and go as it chooses in the course of a lifetime, quite apart from our efforts to deny or avoid this reality.' "
Jul 3rd 2024
EXTRACT: "How can we be at least 15 times richer than our pre-industrial Agrarian Age predecessors, and yet so unhappy? One explanation is that we are not wired for it: nothing in our heritage or evolutionary past prepared us to deal with a society of more than 150 people. To operate our increasingly complex technologies and advance our prosperity, we somehow must coordinate among more than eight billion people."
Jun 25th 2024
EXTRACTS: "What’s interesting about the entire Russia-North Korea showy display of camaraderie is China’s response: silence. China has misgivings about how things are unfolding, which reports suggest prompted Chinese president Xi Jinping’s call to Putin to call off the latter’s visit to Pyongyang. Obviously, Putin didn’t heed Xi’s request." ----- "The Sino-Korean animosity dates back centuries and took shape when Korea was a vassal state of imperial China. Unfortunately, this animosity extended to modern times when Mao Zedong decided to station Chinese troops in North Korea even after the conclusion of the Korean war, and when Beijing did not aid Pyongyang in its nuclear ambitions. It didn’t help either that the founding leader of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, was suspected of espionage and was nearly executed by the Chinese Communist party in the 1930s."
Jun 19th 2024
EXTRACT: "Ultra-processed foods (such as packaged snacks, sugary drinks, instant noodles and ready-to-eat meals) often contain emulsifiers, microparticles (such as titanium dioxide), thickeners, stabilisers, flavours and colourants. While research on humans is limited, studies on mice have shown that these ingredients alter the gut microbiome (the community of microorganisms living in the intestines) in several ways. These many microbiome changes can in turn affect the way the immune system functions."
Jun 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "Alzheimer’s disease can be split in two subgroups, familial and sporadic. Only 5% of patients with Alzheimer’s are familial, inherited, and 95% of Alzheimer’s patients are sporadic, due to environmental, lifestyle and genetic risk factors. Consequently, the most effective tactic for tackling Alzheimer’s is preventative and living a healthy lifestyle. This has led researchers to study risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s."
Mar 8th 2024
EXTRACT: "This study suggests that around 10% of people diagnosed with dementia may instead have underlying silent liver disease with HE causing or contributing to the symptoms – an important diagnosis to make as HE is treatable."
Jan 28th 2024
EXTRACT: "Health disparity is a powerful weapon in the savage class warfare otherwise known as neoliberalism. (In 2020, the RAND Corporation did a study of the transfer of wealth over the last several decades from the working-class and the middle-class to the top one percent. Their estimate is a staggering $47 trillion – that is how much the “upward redistribution of income” cost American workers between 1975 and 2018.) Neoliberalism is a brutal form of labor suppression, which uses health as a means of maintaining and reproducing a condition in which wealth is constantly being redistributed upwards, and the middle-class is kept in a constant state of fear of sinking into the ranks of the poor. Medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcies in America – and that’s according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. The ballooning costs of healthcare serve to maintain a system marked by morally unacceptable health inequity and injustice."
Jan 28th 2024
EXTRACT. "But living longer has also come at a price. We’re now seeing higher rates of chronic and degenerative diseases – with heart disease consistently topping the list. So while we’re fascinated by what may help us live longer, maybe we should be more interested in being healthier for longer. Improving our “healthy life expectancy” remains a global challenge. Interestingly, certain locations around the world have been discovered where there are a high proportion of centenarians who display remarkable physical and mental health. The AKEA study of Sardinia, Italy, as example, identified a “blue zone” (named because it was marked with blue pen),....."