This from ZENIT:
Vatican Official Notes Catholics' 3 Weaknesses
Challenge Is to Return to Roots, He Says
TREVISO, Italy, JAN. 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The modern Catholic world suffers from three main weaknesses, says the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
According to Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, Catholics during the last decades have shown the following weak points: the promotion of the notion of secularism as neutrality, thus weakening its identity; an inability to understand that the issues of life and bioethics are also social and political issues; and the failure to promote the Church's social doctrine in a systematic and comprehensive manner.
The Vatican official opened a recent seminar on "The Common Good and the Social Doctrine of the Church from the Second Vatican Council to Benedict XVI."
"We have all endured many difficult periods in our recent history," said Bishop Crepaldi at the Jan. 20 seminar, sponsored by the Italian episcopal conference. "We have not always succeeded, despite the careful guidance of the magisterium, in resisting leaps forward, partisan interpretations and the weakening of our identity.
"A theology of the separation between faith and politics has been alternating with a theology of direct engagement, while, at the same time and almost undetected, a culture of agnosticism and relativism was advancing, becoming imposing and almost dictatorial, striking the very heart of the Christian message and radically hindering its reception."
Bishop Crepaldi contended: "Once we lose sight of the fact that man is 'capax veritatis,' it is impossible to think that he can be 'capax Dei.'"
According to the prelate, the current Catholic challenge is to reflect in depth on "our own roots because the anthropological question has now become the social question."
"We will not be able to make a valid contribution to the common good," he said, "unless we expand the culture of life, from bioethics and beyond bioethics, and succeed in making it a true social and political culture."
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Here's an interesting-looking paper, by Joel Nichols, "Dual Lenses: Using Theology and Human Rights to Evaluate China's 2005 Regulations on Religion."
In order for China to move forward in the international community, it needs to continue to improve its standing on human rights issues. Of particular concern to many observers is the relationship between the government and religion. While foreign religious organizations and missionaries are still heavily regulated by a 1994 law, a new law respecting religious citizens and organizations within China went into effect in 2005. This new law is salutary in some respects in that it provides a much fuller delineation of the relationship between government and religion within China, and it appears more solicitous toward religious rights than previous regulations. But the new law is very vague in places and contains several provisions that could be troublesome and problematic depending on how and whether they are implemented.
This paper is primarily built on a lecture given at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2005. Its premise is that international human rights laws are a useful but not sufficient benchmark by which to assess China's law. It is also important to understand the theological premises of some of the religious communities and believers for a broader measure of the efficacy and fairness of China's law. By focusing upon and using these dual lenses of law and religion, the paper offers both preliminary assessments of the 2005 law and also some possible ways forward that will further China's efforts to respect its heritage while simultaneously allowing it to better align itself with prevailing international norms regarding religious rights and obligations.
Friday, February 2, 2007
I've mentioned his work a lot here at Mirror of Justice, I know, but I cannot resist, yet again, plugging Philip Bess's new book, "'Til We Have Built Jerusalem: Architecture, Urbanism, and the Sacred." I have my copy, and am loving it: Chesterton and Nietzsche, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, "A Proposal for Catholic Churches in the 21st Century," and Van Eyck -- it's all here.
