OTHER COLUMNS

1997
October
September
May
April

Letters
Little Notes

Confessions
Talk About Movies
Follow Me




Contents © 1997
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

April 1997

According to the Wanderer's congress review: "A surprising number of speakers this year expressed belief in the Church, many of them adding that the Church 'should not throw anybody out.' Indeed, the common theme of many speakers seemed to be: 'Strategic Retreat, or Women's Ordination? I never said anything about women's ordination.'"


NOTRE DAME THEOLOGIAN RICHARD MCBRIEN has spent gallons of ink in the past two years, analyzing historical trends in papal succession, assuring his followers that every "conservative" pope is followed by a "moderate" pope.

But McBrien's March 7 editorial in the Tidings, the official Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper, indicated a new argument: It doesn't matter what kind of pope we get next, because so many times in Church history, several popes have been elected at the same time by different factions. McBrien argued against the term "anti-pope," traditionally used to describe someone who claims the papal throne while it is occupied a valid pontiff, saying it was not always easy to tell which man was the true pope. He misled his readers, insinuating that the first anti-pope, Hippolytus, was canonized because of his attempted usurpation of the papacy. (In fact, Hippolytus renounced his claim and was reconciled to the Church.) McBrien coined a new term, "co-popes," saying there are several instances where the Church has not made a determination on which of two concurrent popes was valid, so the Church must therefore consider both to be valid.


WHAT WITH THE DEMISE OF MARXISM, the philosophical foundation of their movement, liberation theologians have been pretty hard up lately. The new trend in the movement, according to Religious Ed Congress speaker Father Bryan Massingale, liberation theologian and professor at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, is the pursuit of individual "liberation theologies" for groups oppressed by Church and society (feminists, gays and lesbians, minorities, etc.). Like the political movements from which they spring, these groups will pressure for the "right" to have their ideologies accepted. (Father Massingale had no comment on possible conflicts between these ideologies -- such as pro-family Hispanics versus feminists.)

Massingale's views appeared to be based on the assumptions that: 1) Jesus and his Church are imperfect and not authoritative, and 2) the Church and the Bible are of purely human origin. Criticizing the Church as unjust, Massingale said this is to be expected, since the Church's founder was not enlightened himself. Illustrating his point about Jesus being unjust: "Jesus said, 'Slaves, obey your masters.'" When an audience member pointed out that St. Paul had made that particular statement, Massingale replied that Paul said many other inappropriate things as well, unjust to women and others.


THE L.A. CALL TO ACTION affiliate hosted a talk by "Church historian" Terry Dosh January 24. Dosh, a former monk, has been active in numerous Church "reform" groups since the '60s. Dosh said his talk followed Karl Rahner's historical theory, which holds that there are exactly three epochs in Church history -- the Jewish epoch (to the year 150), Epoch Two (150 -- 1960) and Epoch Three (1960 -- the end of time). Within Epoch 3, Dosh said that "the period of the 1960s through 2020 or 2050 or so" is/will be the "revolution" phase. He stated that, after a revolution begins, there is always a "restoration" or reaction phase (the pontificate of Pope John Paul II), followed by a "reformation" phase. He said reform groups like CTA, CORPUS, ARCC, We are Church, Catholics for a Free Choice, and the Women's Ordination Conference constitute the reformation phase of the Vatican II revolution. "We need to have things in place for the new papacy and the new era in the Church," he said.

Dosh quoted a statement made by Jesuit theologian John O'Malley (Weston College), who told his students, "John Paul is the most dangerous pope we've ever had. He's consciously trying to reverse Vatican II." Dosh noted that O'Malley "would never say that in print."


NUESTRA SEÑORA LA REINA DE LA PAZ (Our Lady, Queen of Peace) in Keene, California is the headquarters of a labor union unique for its blending of Catholicism and labor activism -- the United Farm workers.

"The Faith is all," says Dolores Huerta, who in the early 1960s founded the union with César Chavez. "Both [César and I], like a lot of Latinos, come from a strong Catholic background. I think César especially felt that the practice of religion was not an abstract thing; it's got to be incorporated into what you do. Prayer, daily rosaries, whatever, is part of daily life."

Their Catholicism leads the UFW to embrace ideas and foster activities that one does not always associate with labor unions. "We are dedicated to the whole idea of non-violence," says Huerta. "When we practice non-violence that shows our spirituality. We fast, César fasted, twice for 25 days for non-violence, and another fast for the issue of pesticides. The whole idea of fasting is very spiritual; it's an offering, right? And when [two of] our martyrs were killed, César asked everyone to fast for three days, and everybody did. When César fasted, the only thing he took was Holy Communion."