When I left the Roman Catholic Church 11 years ago, I made a promise to myself that I would not be a bitter ex-Catholic, that I would not go about bashing the church which was my home for so many years. For the most part, I have kept that promise, except for an occasional slip. I attended RC schools for 17 years of my life, and, for the most part, I was well-taught. Since I live in an area that is heavily Roman Catholic, my family and many of my friends are Catholic. We live in peace together.
For some time, I have enjoyed James Carroll's columns in the Boston Globe. I have read his books, and his fat tome, Constantine's Sword is next on my reading list. Carroll is a former priest of the RCC, who left the priesthood and married, but has remained a loyal member of his church.
In his latest column, Carroll writes of the recent decision by the Vatican to authorize once again the common use of the old Tridentine Mass liturgy. Up until my 30s, the Latin Mass was all I knew. A stateliness and grandeur characterized the liturgy, when it was done properly, and I understand folks wanting to experience that again. As Carroll says, permitting the use of the old liturgy seems innocent enough.
The most important change in Catholic belief involved recovering the memory that Jesus was a Jew, and that his preaching was an affirmation, not a repudiation, of Jewish belief. Vatican II's high point was the declaration "Nostra Aetate," which condemned the idea that Jews could be blamed for the murder of Jesus, and affirmed the permanence of God's Covenant with Israel. The "replacement" theology by which the church was understood as "superseding" Judaism was no more. Corollary to this was a rejection of the traditional Christian goal of converting Jews to Jesus. The new liturgy of Vatican II dropped all such prayers.
But the Latin Mass published by the Vatican last year resuscitated the conversion insult, praying on Good Friday that God "lift the veil" from "Jewish blindness." Catholics and Jews both objected.
I'm pleased that there were protests about the language, which is, most certainly, a step backwards and not at all helpful to relations between Catholics and Jews. The Vatican backed away a bit and changed the language to "enlighten" the hearts of Jews "so that they recognize Jesus Christ, Savior of all mankind."
That's not good enough. The Vatican is still heading in the wrong direction.
Carroll begins his column with a joke:
AS THE priest began his sermon, he had trouble with the sound system, and muttered, "There's something wrong with this microphone." To which the congregation automatically replied, "And also with you."
Carroll ends his column with these words:
This is a drastic retreat from the most important theological development of the modern era. Something is wrong with that development, now say Vatican reactionaries. To which the people reply, "No. What's wrong is you."
Ouch! James Carroll, a loyal Roman Catholic, said it. He's right, and that makes me very sad.
As an Anglican priest who is steeped in Catholic tradition, thought and theology, and yet who has Jewish blood flowing through my veins (my mothers side) - I simply want to sigh, and cry!
ReplyDeleteYes, RR, it makes me want to cry, too. This is not bashing, is it?
ReplyDeleteno, it's not bashing, Grandmere. It's just telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteOh Grandmere... I know that you take this all so seriously and as your friend and a Catholic, I appreciate your approach.
ReplyDeleteAs my pastor (who shares the name of your son) often says of B16 "but he's an Augustinian!" in response to some of the more backward things. However our PB also winces with pain.
Like in this case. It is really a sad and scary time in the RC church.
So no- you are not bashing and in fact I think you write the truth because it makes your heart hurt.
Diane, Fran, thanks. To read this was painful for me, truly. Fran, I know it's painful for you, too.
ReplyDeleteThere's a strain running through the Christian denominations that I can only call noxious, whose adherents seek a pure church that can never be, because the church is made up of sinful humans.
I'm so glad you wrote about this. My partner is a Christian of Jewish heritage who is brought up short all to often by ignorant Christian supersessionism. I have been privileged to see this through her eyes. It gets worse as we move into Holy Week, even without the dreadful prayer for the enlightening of the Jews.
ReplyDeleteThese guys forget, the Messiah came among the nations as a Jew.
Grandmère, it is one more true step backward and, to my eyes, an unenlightened and hateful one. We decry this attitude and sort of behavior in any faith tradition, so I don't think we are bashing, or even picking, on the RCC.
ReplyDeleteYou, whose roots lie there (and whose faith was born there), and many others of us who stand outside the Roman Church, love her for all that is good in her, and we rail at all that is ill. It is a variant of a lover's quarrel and if we did not care we would not bother to object.
Heaven knows, we have plenty to say about violations of compassion and justice in our own Communion and other traditions. I believe you have spoken the truth in love.
The Jewish people can tell us what bashing is; they have been on the receiving end for two millennia.
It seems to me the prayer should be to lift the veil from ALL our eyes, to enlighten us.
ReplyDeleteAs Paul said, we see through a glass, darkly.
Sounds like in RC church, moves to the orthodox and traditional have to be examined as carefully as in the Episcopal Church!
Jan, I can only imagine! Lord, have mercy!
ReplyDeleteI have never understood anti-Semitism among Christians. How can they ignore that Jesus and most of his first disciples were Jewish? Gentiles were late to the party.
How can Christians miss that we owe a profound debt to the Jewish people for the preservation of the Jewish Scriptures?
Paul, a lover's quarrel is a good description.
Pat, note to the powers in the RCC, "Get the log out of your own eye first".
I know that we have our own problems in the Episcopal Church. That's another reason that I hesitate to criticize other denominations.
I, too, was raised Roman and left that branch 25 years ago. It is just another step backward for them and their wish to return to an authoritarian and fear-filled experience.
ReplyDeleteJust let it go and thank God you are where you are!
PS- How is Diana doing? The cats send their best.
Grandmere Mimi,
ReplyDeleteI too am appalled that the Vatican won't edit the GF prayer. But ours comes pretty close:
"Let us pray for all who have not received the Gospel of Christ;
For those who have never heard the word of salvation; For those who have lost their faith; For those hardened by sin or indifference;
For the contemptuous and the scornful; For those who are enemies of the cross of Christ and
persecutors of his disciples; For those who in the name of Christ have persecuted others; That God will open their hearts to the truth, and lead them to faith and obedience."
We don't come right out and say Jews and Muslims, but this language is a remnant of when we did. And in fact, isn't that what we mean? Do we not automatically include all those of whatever religious, or non-religious tradition, who are not explicitly Christian in this prayer? And should we? I think there is a tension here that is abest unresolved. I don't have any easy answers at the moment, either.
FWIW on a Friday in Lent
RFSJ
RFSJ, the prayer does not express my views exactly, because I would not feel comfortable evangelizing a Jew or a Muslim who was satisfied in their faith. However, it's not the obvious finger-pointing and labeling as the phrasing in the Tridentine Mass.
ReplyDeleteThere is a tension there that is unresolved in my own life. I sometimes feel that I fall short in sharing the faith, because I tend to wait for a door to open, before I talk about my faith.
In one area, I am a bit more comfortable in sharing. I find it easier to speak of how my faith has supported me through difficult times.
No..this isn't bashing...it's a real sadness Mimi.
ReplyDeleteVatican II held out a lot of promise.
All that promise is being swept under the rug.
Sigh.
I sometimes feel that I fall short in sharing the faith, because I tend to wait for a door to open, before I talk about my faith.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just me, but...I am actively turned off by people "sharing their faith" without some invitation from me.
Which is why I don't do it to other people. If they ask me about my faith or beliefs, I'm happy to share. And I'll offer to pray for people if they are in trouble or sorrow, without worrying too much about offending them by the offer. (I don't think I ever have, but who knows?)
But "share my faith" like a cold-call sales rep? Ain't gonna happen in this life...
Well, the response of the Vatican is intrinsically disordered AFAIAC since they only talk about mankind and not humankind. How long will we have to duke that language battle out?!
ReplyDeleteNot quite the same as rural rector but my maternal great-grand-father was Jewish.
Eileen, Vatican II was a time of great hope and promise. When I see God face to face, I'm going to ask her why she let John XXIII die.
ReplyDeleteDoxy, you rock! I ain't gonna do it either. That would be worse than cold-calling someone to sell them insurance or magazine subscriptions.
Caminante, the powers in Rome are hopeless on the female of the species, however, on the RCC parish level, a quiet revolution is taking place and spreading. Maybe the powers don't even know that, yet.
Mimi- you do know that I too have Jewish roots?
ReplyDeleteMy father was the son of a mixed marriage, but mother was Jewish and he was raised as a Jew.
And re Jesus-
born a Jew
lived as a Jew
died as a Jew
Early church- not Christian, Jewish.
Oy vey.
Yep..Jesus was definitely a Jew. No doubt about it.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to stand behind you while you ask God @ John23 - I have a feeling she'll answer you when you ask, while she'd tend to laugh her ass off at me...
Fran, I did know. So many who visit here have a Jewish connection. I believe our Johnieb does, too. I wish I did. I would be proud and honored.
ReplyDeleteThe Jews are in error and denial.Jesus Christ was/is the son of God and who gave Barrabas freedom ?There is nothing wrong for Christian Roman Catholics to pray for their enlightenment.Jesus was unexpected not decked out with gold and diamonds just a humble person
ReplyDeleteAlbert Cooper, thanks for visiting. I will pray for your enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteI was raised RC, Catholic school through the 8th grade, and all the way through Confirmation. I would say by the end of high school my transition to atheism was complete. And I'm very angrily anti-Catholic, I consider the church a corrupt, misogynistic, homophobic bureaucracy and it's anti-birth control attitude is probably responsible for a large number of HIV-deaths around the world.
ReplyDeleteSo, because Fate loves a jest, here I am married to a Roman Catholic who sings in her church folk choir and is about as serious as a Catholic can be, well, except for that part about her being a divorced lesbian.
I consciously have to reign in my anti-Catholic choler quite a bit; I think I understand my partner's faith a lot better than she understands my absence thereof. But we love each other beyond measure, so our mixed marriage manages to work out.
I even step foot in Church to keep her company on occasion, but I have to tell you, viewed with distance, Catholicism (whether Roman or Anglo) is a pretty weird religion, with this statue of a torture victim and symbolic cannibalism. Do you folks ever think about how that looks from the outside?
IT
IT, my favorite atheist of all, it's good to get your input.
ReplyDeleteCatholicism (whether Roman or Anglo) is a pretty weird religion, with this statue of a torture victim and symbolic cannibalism. Do you folks ever think about how that looks from the outside?
IT, I think about it a lot. It must appear quite weird. But it is integral to the Christian faith, and somehow it makes sense to me.
The cross as an example of self-giving for others, even to the point of death. But you know that explanation, since you grew up in the RCC, and it doesn't work for you, which is fine.
The Eucharist is quite dear to me, and that's why, when I left the RCC, I looked for a church that celebrated the Eucharist every Sunday, not just several times a year.
When Jesus told his disciples, "Unless eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you", it drove some of them away. It is a hard saying, and I understand why it drives folks away.
As for you, IT, I think that you are heroic in the exemplary manner that you live with your love, despite your great difficulties with the Catholic Church, and that you even manage to darken the door on certain occasions.
Well, Mimi, you are too kind. But I adore my beloved, and i dare even say she adores me, so what can we do?
ReplyDeleteI will admit to shameless crying at weddings. (My most recent endurance of Mass was a cousin's wedding.) i want one of my own, and I view it as very annoying that I can't have one! (Sorry, commitment ceremony doens't cut it for me, I want the Real Thing)
IT
i want one [a wedding] of my own, and I view it as very annoying that I can't have one!
ReplyDeleteAnd you should have one. If I had my way, you would have one.