The Meaning of Reform in Things Catholic

 

Today, September 3 is Labor Day in the United States. In Milan on this same day, the church of that great city will bury its former archbishop Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini, S.J. who went home to God last week. He was a teacher and scholar of sacred scripture; in his later years he was nominated by Blessed John Paul II to serve as archbishop of Milan where he, Martini, was ordinary for twenty-two years. When he retired from that post in 2002, he spent much of his subsequent time at the Jerusalem house of the Pontifical Biblical Institute studying the word of God, which he lovingly taught for many years. During his appointment to the Milan archdiocese, he issued some nuanced views that challenged and possibly conflicted with Church teachings on several neuralgic issues.

A short while before he died, he gave his last interview in which the challenges he posed to others and the conflicts with Church teachings persisted. One theme from that interview which I find particularly intriguing, which has a bearing on all Catholics but especially those who shared the teaching profession with him, concerns the situation of the Church in the more prosperous regions of the world. Martini described the situation of the Church in Europe and in America as one of “weariness.” One of the reasons for the weariness according to him was the absence of caritas. He was not the sort of man who would identify a problem without offering a solution, and he proposed the need for conversion as one of the antidotes for this weariness. But here he pointed his finger at the Church’s leadership suggesting, amongst other things, that the understanding of human sexuality needs reconsideration; moreover, the use of the sacraments as a means of discipline rather than as acts of caritas is also in need of re-examination. While His Eminence may have offered some provocative thoughts for prayerful consideration, he limited his criticism on the source of the “weariness” to some members of the Church.

In this regard, I think he missed an important teaching opportunity. Why do I say this? He did not mention even once the existence of sin amongst all of God’s people. He did not discuss or mention sin at all in his interview nor did he raise the need to combat it by everyone. Is it not sin that permeates the human condition since no one is free from the temptations which are the source for the need for conversion? Has sin and the discussion of it gone out of fashion? Are only certain persons capable of doing the things which we used to acknowledge as sin? Even though he was a renowned Biblical scholar, had the cardinal forgotten the important lesson of the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 8, that everyone is a sinner—not just some. That is why the need for conversion is universal and an ongoing life-long project for everyone. The cardinal used, in his interview, the Rahnerian image of the glowing embers being hidden by the ashes. By employing this image, his suggestion was that the ashes represent some in the Church (especially her leadership) who smother the embers of others who are the goodness and source of love. However, I think that he did not use this image to its best potential for each of us is a combination of ashes and embers—that is, each of us has committed, so each of us is also in need of conversion. As we are all sinners, each of us can and needs to muster the critical holy desire for conversion. We also possess the ability to recognize that the path to holiness is for us and for all others. If the cardinal had talked about this in his interview, I think he would have provided a better response to the weariness that not only affects the Church but all of human society.

So, you might ask, is there a counter-proposal to what Cardinal Martini had to say? I begin with his final comment to the interviewer which was, “What can you do for the Church.” Well, that’s a good question for anyone to address. It begins with a sound formation from which no person should escape or be permitted to escape. It is an education that is first and last premised on virtue and the life-long pursuit and cultivation of virtue. Virtue is an important and accessible counterpoint to sin and sinfulness. If sin comes from bad habits that go unattended, virtue comes from those good habits that are or should be a part of anyone’s education. Today’s education is saturated with the messages of self-esteem and empowerment. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that if education also includes other elements which primarily include the cultivation of the virtuous person. But if the essential virtue element is eliminated, where will the instruction of self-esteem and empowerment take any person? Does he or she know not sin because he or she does not know virtue? That seems to be the product of such an education which concentrates on the self, and the significance of caritas about which Cardinal Martini spoke so much will become all the more elusive.

 

RJA sj