Established recently in St Louis (USA)
In the wake of Second Vatican Council which stirred the still and
deep waters of theological opinion in the Church, there began to surface
various interpretations of what the Church actually taught in the
Council. This is not a new phenomenon in the Church. Each age has seen
writers and teachers who highlight one or another of the doctrines of
the Church or aspects of her divinely revealed message. Study of the New
Testament reveals what can be called the various "voices" of
the apostolic age. St. John touches on one intuition of the meaning of
Jesus' resurrection while Paul points out another and yet again Mark
gives us still a different and equally beautiful reflection on the glory
that is Christ. All passed on to us their faith-work that we now know to
have been inspired. So in every age the whole Church is enriched when
several schools of thought approach the faith and try to penetrate what
ultimately remains a mystery—to make it, at least, in part more
intelligible.
There was, for a while, after the Council a brief moment of confusion
when it seemed that the richness of the Church's perennial teaching
might be overshadowed by those who rushed to take up the "new
theology", the "new morality", and became exponents of
the "new breed", and "new lifestyle" as they were
then called. One of the side effects of this dash was that disputation
in too many cases gave away to harassment and the perennial theological
wisdom of the Church fell under the ban of the bell, book and candle of
much of the mass media. The burden of proof passed in some areas of
theological reflection from those who proposed strange views of the
Christian faith to those who authoritatively and authentically
interpreted and proclaimed the teaching of Christ in His Church. Thus in
part the renewal that the Council stimulated was marred.
Return to balance
In no small part the flaw was found in the manner in which the
teaching of some theological writers tended to separate those writers
from the mainstream of Catholic thought and consensus and in so doing
cut themselves off from the life-giving continuity of the Christian
tradition. This became a plague on the house of theology in the late
60's and early 70's. Much solid productive theological work, work full
of insight, continued to be done but it was overshadowed by what had
come to resemble more the "Sunday Supplement" feature than
serious theological reflection. In too many instances bizarre ideas got
the publicity. The newspapers and magazines including those that were to
form opinion in the Catholic community latched on to the story that
Father X or Doctor Y advanced his own extravagant notion of some aspect
of Church teaching or morality and failed, or were not in a position, to
point out that the great majority of priests or teachers in the Church
held no such position but continued to teach in communion and in
solidarity with the rest of the teaching Church.
But as always happens—with the passage of time—the need for
balance reasserts itself. Signs of this return to a more central
position among many who are responsible for teaching the faith
and pursuing theological investigation are evident today. The most
recent Synod, which had as its subject catechesis, called for a return
to the full teaching of the faith and a complete presentation of the
doctrine of the Church. It reasserted the value and place of formulas of
the faith and their memorization as also the learning of prayers in the
training of the young believer. Much of this would have been quite
unthinkable five years ago. The trend was certainly in a different
direction and many people would have preferred not to hear the word
"memorization" or "formulas of the faith". And yet
today with a more balanced starting point these words and instructions
seem also natural.
Purpose of Fellowship
Another interesting sign that the Church in various parts of the
world, and in this case particularly the United States, is re-appraising
the tendency to contrast too sharply the teaching of the Church as
proclaimed by her teaching office and the contributions of theological
writers is the formation recently in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) of the
Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. The statement of purpose of the
Fellowship notes that its members "in various disciplines join in
fellowship in order to serve Jesus Christ better by helping one another
in work and by putting our abilities more fully at the service of the
Catholic faith...
"Throughout the course of history, the Church's understanding of
this unchangeable faith develops and becomes more explicit under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. And it must be faithfully and creatively
proclaimed in a way which meets the challenges of every age. We accept
the responsibility which a Catholic scholar may not evade: to support
the faith of the whole Church and to assist every member in personal
assent to the mystery of Christ as authoritatively taught by the Pope
and bishops in communion with him".
"Founding Fathers"
The fellowship has brought together many prominent intellectuals into
the group of "Founding Fathers". America magazine
describes some of these members: "such distinguished thinkers as
the philosopher Germaine Grisez, the Jesuit theologian John Hardon, S.J.,
the moralists William May of the Catholic University of America and John
Mangan, S.J., of Loyola University of Chicago, the physicians Hannah
Klaus and William Lynch, the Benedictine sociologist Paul Marx, the
Redemptorist marriage specialist Henry Sattler as well as the historian
James Hitchcock...
"To lead the Fellowship the founding convention elected the
eminent Capuchin scholar Ronald Lawler as the Fellowship's first
president. Mons. James Kelly, the Fellowship's godfather, will serve as
executive secretary" (America, November 5, 1977, p. 313).
The Fellowship at its founding meeting noted that it will strive to:
1. come to know and welcome all who share our purpose;
2. make known to one another our various competencies and interests;
3. share our abilities with one another unstintingly in all our
efforts directed to our common purpose;
4. cooperate in clarifying the challenges which must be met;
5. help one another to evaluate critically the variety of responses
which are proposed to these challenges;
6. communicate our suggestions and evaluations to all members of the
Church who might find them helpful;
7. respond to requests to help the Church in her task of guarding the
faith as inviolable and defending it with fidelity.
Given the purpose of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, its
eventual service to the Church will centre probably in the area of
technical assistance to the teaching office in the Church. It certainly,
given the credentials, writing and reputation of its members, can
provide the bishops with theological expertise. Perhaps in an age which
increasingly looks toward dialogue between the hierarchy and theologians
this instrument will be a useful tool in productive theological
conversation.
Several theological suppositions seem to be connected with the idea
of theological expertise being placed at the disposition of the teaching
office of the Church. Among these is the concept that every Christian is
a witness to the Gospel of Jesus (Evangelii Nuntiandi 14, 15).
Yet when we come to the question of witness we also come to the matter
of validating that witness. Authentic witness must be related to the
Church and identified with her mission, for both participate in the same
mediation and witness of Christ. As Christ is the unique witness of the
Father, and the Church the divinely appointed one of Christ, so the
individual believer is a witness to revelation. He participates as does
the Church in the revealing action of Christ but precisely as a member
of the Church. His witness is valid only in the context of the principal
testimony given by the Church.
He shares in the Church's ministry of testimony and office of witness
only as he is in communion with her. This unity necessarily pertains to
the doctrine taught and the faith handed down.
As to the continuation of Christ's witness and the verification of
the testimony concerning Christ himself, the Church is the first and
complete witness to God and the force of his mediation in the world
today. This witness in doctrine and moral matters is found in the
teaching of those who fill the divinely commissioned teaching office.
The witness of an individual to the truth of the faith can never be
independent of the witness of the Church for both speak of what they
have—not of themselves but of another.
Witness of the Church
When dealing with the faith one testifies to something which is not
his own in the sense that it is a communication of God's self-knowledge
and his plan, and not the position or opinion of any human. The witness
to the faith relies not on his own understanding of the revelation, but
on the truth of God that gives it validity. "It is not ourselves we
preach, but Jesus Christ", as St Paul puts it. The message is
beyond human understanding and is thus called supernatural. No human
can, therefore, witness the faith as he sees it, divorced from the way
it is presented as believed by the Church. Ultimately the witness is
valid insofar as it testifies to that which God has revealed and which
the Church proclaims. This is so since the individual witness
participates in the witness of the Church and receives what he has to
hand on only in and through the Church.
Witness does not exist in a vacuum. Neither can theological studies
be carried on disconnected from the mainstream of Catholic teaching,
theological investigation and thought.
Witness essentially relies on continuity between the fact witnessed
and the testimony to it. Continuity is absolutely essential to authentic
credible witness. And only in union with the Church can the individual
find the continuity. His witness as it shares the testimony of the
Church can lay claim to the continuity of the living witness of the
Church only as he is in communion and conformity with the Faith as the
Church believes and receives it. Saint Paul in his first epistle to the
Corinthians argues the authenticity of his testimony in terms of what
the Apostles believe and, therefore, its continuity with what the whole
Church believes.
Church's obligation
In the Acts, to safeguard the testimony of the Church and to
ensure its historicity and credibility, it was insisted that the number
of Apostles, diminished by Judas' death, be filled only by "one of
those who bore us company all the while we had the Lord Jesus with us,
coming and going, from John's ministry of baptism until the day he was
taken from us—one of those must now join us as a witness to his
Resurrection" (Acts 22). The individual witness participates in the
witness that is the Church. He, therefore, shares in her continuity and
her infallibility while he is joined to her as a witness. All the
authenticity in his testimony depends on the relationship he maintains
to that same Church. For as the witness to Christ and God's mighty
works, the Church is the first and only witness. All individuals share
in this work as members of the Church and are to be always humble before
her witness.
To the teaching Church is entrusted the obligation of spreading the
faith of passing on the saving word. She must bear witness to the
presence of God and our life in him. If man is to be saved by his
participation in the saving action of Christ—if he is to be counted as
one who "knows Christ" so that everyone who has faith in
Christ may possess eternal life, then he must know of that supernatural
reality that is Christ and his Redemptive plan. Each one must be given
an opportunity to hear of that truth, to have it witnessed before him,
to have its reality testified in his presence. This is the function of
the witnessing, leaching Church.
Service of Magisterium
The Magisterium by its authentic witness provides an enormous service
to the faith community. In authentically witnessing the Gospel, the
Church not only proclaims the truth about Jesus Christ but validates the
proclamation of the individual believer and confirms the truth of his
faith. All individual testimony to the truth revealed in Christ Jesus
must find its touchstone of authenticity in relation to that voiced—given
flesh in words—by the Church through her official witness. This does
not mean that witness within the Church is limited only to the Bishop.
Instead it is supposed that obligation to bear testimony concerning all
that Jesus said and did falls to every believer.
But in that body of believers—gifted with various talents, gifts,
callings and ministries—there are also those chosen specifically to
see that the witness of all is never lost, confused, misunderstood. The
office of official, authentic witness becomes necessary in a Church that
is incarnate in a world not yet perfect. It corresponds to the most
obvious and deep need of all society for an authentic spokesman of the
values that establish and maintain the given society. Teaching authority
in the Church exercises a function that represents the community's
awareness of itself and its belief about itself. It is in one aspect the
community's self-expression of its faith as received and believed.
One of the particular qualities of the Fellowship of Catholic
Scholars is that it recognizes the unique place of the teaching office
in the witness function of the Church. It holds in proper regard the
witness value of the individual teacher, writer or theological student,
yet at the same time, in order to praise this dimension of witness it
does not feel obliged to lessen the validity of the teaching office of
the Church.
Disciplined witness
The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars offers a disciplined academic
witness to the faith in the continuity of the understanding of that
faith as expressed in the Church's teaching office. As a group of
scholars the Fellowship claim to remain faithful to the laws internal to
specific disciplines and thus help further the development of their
chosen field of study. Yet in what pertains to the living faith they
hope to work in close collaboration
with those who have the office of proclaiming authentically the
teaching of Christ. Thus the witness of scholarship and the witness of
proclamation might continue to serve the Gospel.
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